How often do you listen to AM radio?
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- How often do you listen to AM radio? Posted on February 13th, 2025 | 85 comments
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Poll is probably beside the point (Score:2)
I suspect the point is that we all have the ability to listen to emergency alerts when necessary and cars are a good focal point for the large portion of the US population who own one. Not that anyone really listens to AM radio regularly. Down here in TX AM is infested with shitty evangelical noise 100% of the time. I haven't turned on my car radio function *at all* in 10 years, the local stations were always playing the same shitty playlist of whatever the music industry is pushing today and that gets old
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Re:Poll is probably beside the point (Score:4, Funny)
The point is to receive emergency alerts from distant transmitters, particularly at night.
Not to listen to old men complain about their gout, as one would hear on the HF ham bands.
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Any young ham who's spent time around old hams would feel that way.
And by young ham, I mean any ham radio operator under the age of sixty.
I've been licensed since 2002 and I could probably count on one hand the number of times I've met fellow hams that are younger than I am.
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Be careful talking about it in public and making it seem not cool, or else you risk making it the next retro-fad like LPs. "My parents and grandparents think it's not cool? Oh, I am so there!"
Re: Poll is probably beside the point (Score:2)
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You think 2m is bad, check out 40m or, particularly, 80m, some night. :)
Re: Poll is probably beside the point (Score:2)
On 80m at night I'll hear Russia.
For medium wave AM there's nothing of value since Radio Luxembourg closed.
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I'm too cheap to buy a HF Transmitter, but I do have a shortwave radio and an SDR just to listen to the other bands, I think the thing I hear the most of are preachers. But many of them duplicated on multiple bands.
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Yeah, I remember when I got my first HF transceiver, I was excited that I would be able to listen to shortwave. All I ever managed to hear were preachers, conspiracy theorists, and Radio Havana Cuba.
The last one freaked me out, because they'd do English language broadcasts, and I can remember two announcers, one male, one female, with perfect midwest American accents. That was years ago now, but I imagine their English language broadcasts are still like that.
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All of mine are. They come in handy. No code in the car though. ;)
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Years ago, a fellow coworker of mine was a certified ham instructor, and he did an in-company class for anyone who was interested. I think ham is VERY interesting, but all the rules and regulations and sidebands... they were all too much for my short attention span. Maybe if it hadn't been a free class, I'd have been more invested.
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I used to keep a 2m/70cm transceiver in my car, with dreams of eventually installing a HF rig. I've been away from the hobby now for several years though, although I still have and maintain my license.
As for learning, it's really not that complicated, especially is someone has a basic electrical engineering background. I'm very bad in a classroom environment, so simple book learning was good enough for me to get my General-class. The ARRL manuals are pretty good, but for my money, the books by Gordon West a
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I think ham is VERY interesting, but all the rules and regulations and sidebands... they were all too much for my short attention span.
I had a prepper friend give me a chinesium GMRS/HAM handset for when "the shit hits the fan". I looked into getting a license, but even GMRS where you just pay a fee was too much trouble. If I need to communicate with someone, I've got a phone in my pocket with unlimited range. And if the shit does hit the fan, I don't think anyone will care who has a license and who doesn't.
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Re: Poll is probably beside the point (Score:2)
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The last time was in the truck driving through an unexpected snowstorm in the mountains. The highway sign said tune to a given AM station for weather updates and I thought it was a good idea.
I also tried out the windup radio at night to see if it could pickup one of the clear channel stations. That worked too.
The Cowboy Neal option may be there in jest but it's also the most accurate.
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If you never ride with Cowboy Neal then that option is logically equivalent to the never option.
But if you listen to a podcast which is also broadcast via AM radio, does that mean you should score half a point?
Pretty sure I have an AM radio somewhere around here. Supposed to be an extra option in case of emergency?
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I don't think even one American in a thousand would answer the question "How would you get emergency alerts if you suddenly needed to" with AM radio. As far as most people know, AM radio was replaced by FM radio around the same time 8-tracks were replaced with audio cassettes, and even FM radio is now pretty much entirely obsolete, with most car "radios" getting their "stations" via some kind of internet co
Electric cars (Score:2)
The problem is, the electric motor in all-electric cars generates radio interference which tends to drown out the AM radio stations. Engineering around that costs much much more than the five-cent AM receiver.
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This is claimed, but considering there are working AM radios in electric cars right now, I'm doubting it. I suspect the problem is the cost of the antenna.
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This is claimed, but considering there are working AM radios in electric cars right now, I'm doubting it. I suspect the problem is the cost of the antenna.
I suspect the problem is the cost of the lost profits from Sirius kickbacks. The excuse is the cost of EM shielding. Again ignoring that EVs can't legally interfere with vehicles sitting right beside them. So... yeah. And the antenna... that's shared with FM reception? Right. Already there. For now. But I'm sure that's next. They won't stop shedding these oh-so-expensive features until nothing's left but subscription services.
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The typical "shark fin" antenna that sits on the car's trailing roof is used for both AM and FM reception. AM reception adds little attributable cost and no direct cost.
The problem is that electrical noise travelling through the car's unibody disrupts radio reception. For FM radio it's just a higher noise floor but AM radio has no ability to correct the distortion.
Once the EM emissions leave the vehicle they fall off with the inverse square law, so 10 feet away in another car they're under the legal limits.
Even NPR is on FM (Score:3)
I tuned into NPR on the AM band well into the 2010's. When HD radio became a thing, the local station started simulcasting on a local FM radio stations band. Finally in 2023 the bought a dormant FM station, and now they are fully broadcasting on the FM spectrum
At this point I'm not sure what is even broadcasting on the AM spectrum anymore, I never tune into it on the radio.
Re: Even NPR is on FM (Score:2)
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AM radio is just about *only* right-wing talk shows these days. If you listen to AM, that's almost certainly why.
Re: Even NPR is on FM (Score:2)
The point isnt that you listen to AM radio even a little. The point is itâ(TM)s a communications tool that could still work to deliver useful info from far away when a local disaster knocks out the FM stations near you.
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At this point I'm not sure what is even broadcasting on the AM spectrum anymore, I never tune into it on the radio.
My city (pop: 200,000+) has an AM news station. No FM simulcast. It's not right/left wing. It's just news, weather, and talk about local events. There is discussion of national/provincial issues but the format is pretty open, and I've never seen it particularly skewed either way. I mean... when we had a bunch of truckers lay siege to our capital during COVID, a few people called in to defend those "glorious freedom-fighters", and they were given their say, despite the at-the-time public sentiment being
Baseball (Score:1)
A handful of games while driving a year make it priceless to me.
Never intentionally (Score:1)
AM? (Score:2)
Why would you listen to AM, when you could listen to FM or DAB?
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Because it propagates further. Next question.
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But that just means fewer stations and less local ones, and don't think I have ever been outside of FM range.. I don't drive a boat.
Re: AM? (Score:2)
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Why would you listen to AM, when you could listen to FM or DAB?
The local FM stations are not very good. DAB offers more choice and there are some decent stations, but I quickly got tired of having to recharge the radio after listening for a few hours and I'd rather have FM hiss and AM distortions then the constant drop outs when DAB reception is weak.
Re: AM? (Score:3)
Think local disaster and your nearby FM stations are off.
Re: AM? (Score:2)
Might also affect the local AM if there is a local disaster.
What could be good is a nationwide free-to-air satellite radio network. Might have to piggy back off the Sirius XM network, since there's a Sirius system and an XM system... SXM can get those using Sirius radios to move to a newer radio... And then run a free to air service on the Sirius part of the system. SXM gets recompensed by carrying the stations for a cost.
Though with the US not having adopted DAB and HD Radio being a bit of a flop in my op
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spy on your home. (Score:2)
just to be safe... (Score:2)
we should all carry a homing pidgeon, too.
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personally I prefer smoke signals, but the one I last did in California didn't go so well.
Re: just to be safe... (Score:2)
1010 WINS News radio (Score:1)
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I still listen to WINS on AM when I'm in my kitchen, on a busted-up old cheap radio whose tuner I don't want to mess with.
A more entertaining question... (Score:2)
What do you listen to when going somewhere:
Personally, I listen to local music or broadcast music (FM Radio) if I forget my phone.
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When riding the bike, nothing. My own thoughts :)
I try to listen to the music on my iPhone but Apple hates that I own CDs so half of my tunes are blocked and the other half are deep dive songs. Nothing like Boston and Little River Band being blocked by Apple.
I have an Android as well so I'm uploading my tunes there but the F150 doesn't support USB-C connections.
[John]
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"Apple hates that I own CDs so half of my tunes are blocked"
You'll have to explain that one. I haven't noticed Apple being able to block any of my CDs. Or is that an Apple Music thing, or an iPhone thing? I don't have an iPhone, and the iPod works fine.
AM? (Score:2)
My car stereo doesn't even do AM
Real time Sports Commentary (Score:1)
Unused in France (Score:3)
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As I am in France, the AM band (called Medium Wave in Europe) is unused. Spain and England use it, though, so I tune in from time to time to hear English and Spanish...
AM does not refer to band, it refers to modulation (Amplitude modulation, as opposed to Frequency modulation).
In Europe, AM is used with SW, MW and LW bands. FM is used mainly on VHF (Very High Frequence, or as in some countries, Very Short Wave (Ultrakurzwellen in Germany, ULA in Finland)).
Re: Unused in France (Score:2)
AM in the long and medium wavelengths is practically dead in western Europe.
Longwave is particularly dead. Only 6 broadcasters left worldwide. BBC Radio 4 Longwave is only on the air because the electric companies still use the radio teleswitch system to tell semi smart meters what electric tariff to use. When the electric companies can turn off this service, then Radio 4 LW will go silent. There used to be separate programming on R4 LW vs FM but not anymore, the separate programs have gone to other sta
Sometimes on the road (Score:2)
I suppose I'm in the 'never' category (Score:2)
I donâ(TM)t think therefore I AM (Score:2)
AM band (Score:2)
We probably would be better off using it as a really slow data channel for emergencies.
I'm not sure if (Score:2)
I only use the radio for listening to non-music, non-commercial radio. I've no interest in music, or adverts, so why would I listen to anything in those categories?
Plus, I have audiobooks and text-to-speech for several thousand books I downloaded a decade or more ago. So, my reason for listening to adverts is ... what?
aM rAd10 (Score:1)
Better question (Score:2)
How do you get emergency information (Extreme weather, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, wildfires, nuclear war )
AM radio
X (formerly known as twitter)
I watch the skies
I am psychic
No AM radio here (Score:2)
How would I? (Score:1)
The only radio I own is in my car. Itâ(TM)s controlled by an incomprehensible touch screen UI. So I couldnâ(TM)t listen to AM radio even if I wanted to.
FM coverage is spotty (Score:2)
Around here, the mountains make FM coverage spotty. AM never fails.
AM receivers are cheap and reliable. I think they should continue to me mandated in cars as a last-ditch mass communications method. If there were some licenses available around here I'd grab one and build a station. Alas....
Rarely (Score:1)
Never in my entire life? (Score:2)
I'm almost 40 years old and have never listened to AM radio once in my entire life. Only sort-of exception was when my dad showed me as a kid how it could be used as to detect lightning activity nearby.
As far as I can tell, it's only used for sports, nutjob talk radio, and religious broadcasts.
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I'm almost 40 years old and have never listened to AM radio once in my entire life. Only sort-of exception was when my dad showed me as a kid how it could be used as to detect lightning activity nearby.
As far as I can tell, it's only used for sports, nutjob
I learned about radio interference with AM - revving the engine in our old car would generate a similar sound (going higher pitch with higher revs in the engine) on an AM frequency listened on the car radio.
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"As far as I can tell, it's only used for sports, nutjob talk radio, and religious broadcasts."
And Mexican music by the crews in the orchards.
Missing option (Score:2)
A few times a year
Coast to Coast AM is pretty interesting. Try it (Score:1)
The fact is AM radio keeps people company when there is literally nothing else. FM radio simply is not going to reach rural farms or people not within range of a cell tower. Not to mention the countless over the road drivers.
Personally I have spent countless nights doing rental repair listening to the radio. At night I'd flip it to AM radio just to listen to the talk that helped me keep going.
I get that some stations are not going to be everyone's cup of tea. It doesn't have to be. The fact remains there ar
Ive never ever touched AM. (Score:2)
Everyday when Rush Limbaugh was alive (Score:2)
Now never.
Depends on what you call AM... (Score:1)
Returning to the root issue... (Score:1)
Ignoring the poll question, but addressing the topic that prompted the question...
Car manufacturers dropped AM because it was clearly interfered with by the vehicle electronics and they didn't want customers complaining about it.
Do note that though FM is more resistant to it, FM reception *is* degraded by the noise (just not as much) but it's not as *obvious* to the listener; they just chalk it up to weak reception. Same thing happened w/ the DTV transition; w/ analog, it was clear when a neighbor was inter
Never... except when... (Score:1)
Long time ago (Score:2)
When I used to deliver newspapers overnight - 20 years ago - I listened to AM. I worked for the office and would deliver different routes from week to week, some of which would take me outside the range of the local FM station. Thus it was simpler to listen to AM ... besides, none of the FM stations had live broadcasters at that time of the day, and listening to a live voice just helps keep you awake. Even if it is the "interstate trucking road show".
Nothing to listen to (Score:2)
There are no radio stations on AM radio where i live.