As auto makers seem ready to boot the AM frequency from future car dashboards, lawmakers and the radio industry have been working to keep it there.
Proposed legislation, originally called the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act, has been interwoven into the Motor Vehicle Modernization Act of 2026, or H.R. 7389. The revamped legislation made it out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee today by a 48-1 vote, after years of struggling to become a law as a singular plan.
The automobile industry says electric cars have engines that interfere with AM radio signals, causing sound distortion to the listener. The industry thinks some electric car owners may, in turn, think their autos are defective. Besides, AM signals could easily be heard through streaming apps like TuneIN, iHeart, and Audacy, the auto industry reasoned.
But the radio industry, particularly AM radio owners, says frequency is needed to keep listeners informed, and that some AMs act as “carrier” stations for emergency alert notifications. Ditching AM would make such information harder to access.
The AM frequency is home mostly to news, talk, sports, religious, and spoken word content. In the past, top forty and R&B music were heard on AM stations in large cities like Atlanta, where WPLO, WAOK, and WGST once played music, rather than news, talk, and religious teaching. In the last few years, however, music is rarely heard on the frequency, and even sports, talk, and gospel have left the AM dial for FM. Some radio groups have even shut down their AM frequencies.
But the industry still believes there’s a need for AM to remain on auto radios.
“As lawmakers consider policies affecting America’s transportation infrastructure, ensuring continued access to AM radio in vehicles remains essential for public safety,” said National Association of Broadcasters CEO Curtis LeGeyt, in a statement.
There have been several attempts by lawmakers to formally pass a bill to keep the AM dial in automobiles, but it has yet to make it to the president’s desk. Both the House and the Senate have competing bipartisan plans, but the bill has not yet received a final floor vote.
Photo credit: By Yeti.bigfoot – Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8661171
