COMMENT: Dear automotive giants, we need to have a conversation about AM radio

COMMENT

Car companies including Volkswagen, BMW, Peugeot, and Volvo – and even mainstream brands such as Ford – are deleting AM radios from certain models, and many customers don’t realise it’s missing until they’ve driven off the showroom floor and it’s too late to turn back.

The removal of AM radio initially applied to some electric cars and electronic interference got the blame – even though hybrids have had no problem with AM for more than 20 years, and some electric cars do include AM radio.

But now car companies are discreetly removing this basic feature from some of their latest, non-electric models because AM use is on decline overseas.

Because the removal of AM radio in cars in Australia is happening gradually – and only on certain models – it is catching some customers out unaware.

Car companies say there are many alternatives to AM radio such as digital radio and smartphone apps.

However, these alternatives are useless when there is no mobile phone coverage – with vast black spots beyond the fringes of our capital cities and regional centres – and digital radio coverage doesn’t reach far enough beyond the city limits, let alone regional areas.

AM signals have superior reach to FM and other commercial bands because the wavelengths travel further. It's the reason you can often hear city AM radio stations from Melbourne, Sydney, or Brisbane hundreds of kilometres away from the normal listening area. The range reaches even further with radio repeater towers.

There may be some argument for AM radio being removed from electric cars – for now – as they are primarily used in city and suburban areas.

But the removal of AM radio on cars such as the Volkswagen Arteon wagon, the Volkswagen Caddy van, and the updated Ford Fiesta ST (due early next year) to name a few, boggles the mind.

In an attempt to save a few dollars per vehicle, car companies – which are currently richer than ever before given the high profit margins amid chronic stock shortages – could end up inadvertently costing a life by removing AM radio from their cars.

During natural disasters across Australia in recent years – floods, cyclones, and bushfires, which by their nature are often in remote areas with limited phone coverage – AM radio emergency alerts from our national broadcaster have been critical to getting evacuation messages and other critical information to stranded communities.

Car makers either say their hands are tied by radio supplier constraints, or defend the removal of AM radio by saying people in remote areas should have a portable, battery-powered AM radio on hand for emergencies (or, presumably, their daily listening pleasure).

But these are pathetic excuses when embedding a basic feature such as AM radio costs so little when manufacturing a motor vehicle.

Furthermore, what about city-slickers who venture into regional and remote areas on holidays? If they're in a car without AM radio – and out of phone range – how are they to keep track of any emergency alerts?

We are reliably informed that Australian divisions of car companies have protested the gradual removal of AM radio from future models.

But the pleas, polite requests – and slammed fists on boardroom tables – from Australia have fallen on deaf ears.

Here’s hoping common sense prevails and car makers who have started to remove AM radio will make a U-turn on their decision.

The next step is approaching Federal authorities to mandate AM radio on vehicles delivered in Australia until smartphone coverage or some other emergency alert becomes available to the masses.