Entertainment industry lobbyists are trying to torpedo a bipartisan bill intended to protect AM radio, a key component of America’s public safety infrastructure and a traditional strongpoint for conservatives free of big tech censorship.
The AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act, is a response to some automakers removing AM radio from new EV models, despite law enforcement’s repeated warnings that AM radios must be maintained in cars for public safety reasons. In response, President Trump’s 2016 campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, stated, “The carmakers don’t care. They’d rather force consumers to use their infotainment devices — which collect and sell their third-party data — than protect American lives.”
The bipartisan legislation, sponsored by Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Ed Markey (D-MA) and previously co-sponsored by then-Sen. JD Vance before he was sworn in as Vice President, has wide bipartisan backing in Congress and overwhelming support from law enforcement.
According to an April letter from the Major Cities Chiefs Association, which represents the police departments of the United States’ 70 major cities:
Two key components of the mission of MCCA are to provide a forum for police executives from large population centers to address the challenges and issues of policing and to influence national and international policy that affects police services. The National Public Warning System and Emergency Alert System, the nation’s top emergency alerting systems, are critical for both.
As many local law enforcement officials states to Congress previously, when disasters strike, the NPWS and EAS are often the only means by which first responders and the citizenry can access and share emergency updates. This is due to their continued use of the nation’s tried-and-true ‘fail-safe’ communication method — AM radio.
Need to save analog by all means. IF…when super tech (digital, AI, etc) is disrupted, we will need a mechanism to continue to operate and communicate. Analog telephone remains, AM radio (save), over the air TV signals.
Even the military just tested a C130 operating under analog configurations. Still need to move about when that one day arrives.
Silly to completely throw away knowledge that successfully worked.
Hmmm…remember cars/trucks without all the tech. That tech today makes F150’s $70-$80k, then the high cost of upkeep. Mid size cars, SUVs, $30-$60K with high cost of upkeep. No wonder many peeps going back to muscle car and real steel truck era with minimum electronics and simple DIY fixes.
Doesn’t have to be so hard.