260 members of Congress are supporting the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act to keep the AM dial in all vehicle dashboards -- and WWL's Newell Normand urged listeners to make sure their representatives join the fight to keep the vital tool of public safety and engagement safe.
"I just think back to Hurricane Ida, of what was going on in Saint Charles Parish in real time. We had people calling in to the radio as they were climbing into their attic ... People had lost power. They were listening to their battery operated radios in their homes with a with a pickax going up in the attic. And, you know, in many occasions we were able to direct individuals to help and assist. These are the things that we so sometimes easily forget about the impact of radio each, each and every day. Most of the current information relative to both AM radio and FM radio is that still over 70% of adults get their news every day from radio. Most people a lot of people, I should say, think it's a dying medium. It's anything but that."
Support for the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act is bipartisan in the House, with 137 Republicans and 123 Democrats in support of it. The Senate version has already passed out of committee and is on the desk of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). If the bill passes both the House and Senate, it will require access to AM radio stations in all motor vehicles, and any car maker that doesn't comply would be fined.
Still, automakers including Tesla, BMW, Mazda, Volvo, Rivian, Volkswagen and others are moving forward with plans to remove AM access. Ford had announced a plan to eliminate the AM band, but under pressure agreed to restore it.
The argument that some automakers make is the AM signal experiences interference in electric vehicles because of their voltage levels and that creates radio static.
But that's not a good enough reason to abandon a vitally important tool for local news and information, Newell said.
"The fact of the matter is the most convenient time to listen to what you were the most interested in is -- when if you're smart, you're not texting while driving. You're listening to radio and you're catching the snippets of information that are so critical to what you're doing day in and day out. We're bringing current relevant news, breaking news, traffic reports, weather reports, and the list goes on and on and on."
Newell urged listeners to call their elected representatives and ask them to force all automakers to restore AM radio.
"For us, it's critically important," Normand said. "If you think back to the days in the aftermath of Katrina and the fact that the only connection that you had while traveling from point A to point B or in or evacuating or otherwise was a strong AM signal of local radio that can hit 12 to 15 states during and during the day and maybe as many as 30 states at night, depending on the atmospheric conditions that are present. And I've heard from so many people with each and every event -- hurricane event, bad weather -- that we've had that their only connection to the city was WWL radio because of the strength of their signal."
He explained that FM radio does not have the same strength as AM because it's a different technology and "the way the towers function are vastly different. They don't have the signal footprint that AM radio has.
The National Association of Broadcasters also released a statement on the importance of the bill.
"We’re encouraged by the continued rising support for the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act," Senior VP Alex Siciliano said. "This strong, bipartisan backing underscores the vital role AM radio plays in public safety, providing trusted news and information and serving diverse communities across the country. We remain hopeful that Congress will move quickly in passing this bill into law and thank the bill’s champions on Capitol Hill.”