More than 100 members of the U.S. House of Representatives now are pressuring carmakers to keep AM radio reception in cars.
These members, from both political parties, signed a letter led by Reps. Bob Latta and Greg Pence asking the car companies to retain AM radio.
They also asked the 10 companies to “provide the details and the value of all federal loan, grant and tax incentives your company has received in the last 15 years” and whether those subsidies could help the companies offset the cost to mitigate interference. And they asked whether the car companies plan to charge customers for “subscription-like access to free AM/FM radio in any vehicles.”
The letter was sent to Ford, Volkswagen, BMW, Mazda, Volvo, Tesla, Polestar, Rivian, GM and Mercedes-Benz. These are the eight companies that told Sen. Ed Markey earlier that they were dropping AM from certain vehicles, plus two that declined to answer Markey’s question.
[Read the letter in PDF format.]
NAB President/CEO Curtis LeGeyt issued a statement thanking the signers and reiterating NAB’s position that AM plays a critical role in disseminating vital information to the public, particularly in times of emergency.
