Raising concern about the future of AM radio

ODESSA, Texas (KOSA) - For the average American most of the time you don’t think about using AM radio thanks to the evolution of Bluetooth.

But when there’s an emergency AM radio is there to make sure you are updated on the latest news.

For decades now AM radio has been on the decline thanks to FM radio and streaming apps like Sirius XM and Spotify.

This year several automakers have announced plans to remove AM radios from electric cars.

AM radio has been around as long as Kris Moore’s been on the air.

“On a whole, your AM format is either talk or all sports or all conservative news radio,” said Moore

But now thanks to apps like Spotify and Sirius XM getting your sports talk or news using AM radio is becoming a thing of the past.

“When they’re listening to music. I think the music side is what caused the change more than anything” said Moore

Whether it’s been the introduction of FM radio, satellite radio, or Bluetooth radio, for president of ICA Radio Barry Marks and the 80 million Americans that listen to AM radio, the idea of AM radio going away is nothing new.

“But AM radio just won’t go away because it’s too convenient and too universal and there’s been too many legacy stations built around AM broadcast. So AM now of course is streamed and so you could pick.” said Marks

This time the reason AM radio is threatened is because it can cause technical interference with the electronics in the car.

While that makes sense for electric-powered cars, many are protesting taking AM radio out of gas-powered cars.

So, lawmakers on capitol hill are stepping in with a bill to keep AM radio in cars.

“Because when there are power failures, guess what, cellular networks go down. Many many times the broadcast continues to operate because it’s one central location that has to operate and then it can push out the signal over hundreds of miles. It’s the only technology that does that. Nothing pushes further than AM radio” said Marks

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