Ford dropping AM radio from SYNC

[Saul T Knutz]

Radio stations get all their info over the internet, so what good would AM be? Go down to Radio Shack and make a radio that you can transmit from. Oh crap RS is gone too.

Luckily CB radios still exist...

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[93nighthawk]

Are we sure this isn't region specific? Europe has mostly shut down their AM transmitters but a lot of that industry is protected in the US because it does give "disadvantaged" populations a voice. I find it hard to believe Ford would just drop it.

And what industry trends? My friend owns a top of the line 2022 Ram 1500 that looks like a damn airplane cockpit sitting in it and it has AM radio. I know that because that is how we listened to a football game one campout.

This IS for north America. Ford is requiring training on the removal of AM radio and how to use your phone to stream it.

 

[MLowe05]

My old Saab 9-3 hatchback had a weather band radio. I found it strangely soothing.

Weatherband was a staple in Mercedes-Benz vehicles, too, for so long. I used to always use it on when driving on stormy days here in GA. The last Benz I owned was a 2016 E-class, and they had dropped it by then. It would display weather warnings on the nav screen, but that was not the same.

I hope my Mav has AM - that's what the drive-in uses we go to.

 

[r100gs91]

My '69 Buick ONLY had AM radio.

Same as my 1972 Maverick had.

 

[Sembazuru]

Well, I'm not a techie, but I think your phone pings to a tower as you travel, so if it has a tower to ping, than the range is unlimited.

Ah... you refuted your own comment without realizing it here: "if it has a tower to ping". Cell tower coverage isn't ubiquitous. See, because they are put up by companies who do everything they do to make a profit. In sparsely populated areas (or even areas with RF challenging geography, more on this later) the cell phone companies don't think that they would recoup the cost of both installing but also maintaining a cell tower from customers in the area. Thus there are plenty of areas without towers to ping.

Regarding the RF challenging geography. Where I work is just outside of Wilmington, DE. Not a rural area by any stretch of the imagination (in fact only a mile or two from Biden's home). My business is near to a fairly large corporate park, with a fairly busy state road passing through the area that leads into Wilmington. Cell service sucks at and around my job. My wife calls the area "that road with the dead zone" where she expects to drop calls when driving through. My fellow employees (and my employer) have asked the various cell phone companies to set up towers to cover this dead area. They have all refused giving the excuse that they wouldn't get enough new customers to justify the expense. I haven't asked the other businesses, but I expect they also were fed the same line from the cellular companies.

 

[Sembazuru]

...or having high beam button on the floor as a foot button.

I remember on my '73 Super I didn't technically have high beams. It had a dimmer switch and indicator (ok, it was modern enough for the switch to be on the steering column, pull the left wand to toggle). It did take a while to get used to normal (dimmed) headlights being with the indicator turned on, and high-beams (non-dimmed) to not have an indicator.

 

[crgator]

I can understand why some people would want AM. I don't miss it at all. Years ago, driving home for a long weekend, or on leave, when I was in the Air Force I spent a lot of late-night hours having only AM radio to listen to. Yes, you could pick up one of those radio stations from somewhere, but usually, it was for 10 miles or so, and then you were out of range and time to try to find another station. And didn't even have autoscan then. Mounted an 8-track really quickly so I had music to listen to. Now, it's either Pandora radio, or my MP3 player plugged into the USB port. I rarely even listen to FM anymore and don't remember the last time I listened to AM, probably in the 70s.

 

[commadorebob]

This IS for north America. Ford is requiring training on the removal of AM radio and how to use your phone to stream it.

For all those dead areas where I have no cell signal?

 

[Maverick2022XL]

This IS for north America. Ford is requiring training on the removal of AM radio and how to use your phone to stream it.

Well it is straightfoward how to do it, the phones and tablets in many cases have a built in am / fm radio tuner and this I am unsure of either have a seperate or make use of the cell antenna. Using the usb connector and the am / fm tuner app you have installed is going to use the car speakers instead of the phone. You can also bluetooth connect it and on the head unit pair it as a media device and play it that way. The only thing is if you don't pay for cell service I don't know if the phone will allow you to run the am / fm tuner app. A tablet won't have that problem.

 

[rlhdweman]

Now that is Bullshit! I know about half of us still listen to AM (especially when the Bluetooth disconnects our phone) AM is a very informative choice for Radio. You have Right Wing, Left Wing, Sports, Traffic and weather instantaneously. No cord or Bluetooth needed and it comes on as soon as the vehicle starts.

Don't they also use AM as the Emergency Radio Frequency if the shit hits the fan?

I quit listening to AM radio in the 80's, it was all sports & angry talk radio. Several years ago I bought an old car from the late 80's that had AM Stereo & wanted to see if there was anything worth listening to & I found 5 oldies stations in my area & 1/2 the time I am tuned into them, it doesn't sound all that good, the Maverick AM band picks up for a long distance I have found & the crackling brings back childhood memories of transistor radio, that I still have!

 

[Bbot]

You thought not having a CD player was bad, It looks like Ford will be dropping AM radio on some models.

And for the 2024 MY ….Steering wheels and brake petals will be discontinued…we will use AI technologies.

 

[HiYoAu]

Well AM was ideal for me when I had an analog tuning capability. It allowed me to tune into the Marinier’s game when I was coming home from fishing east of the Cascades, 150 miles from Seattle. You could listen thru the static to hear Dave Neuhaus call the game. A slight adjustment to the tuning knob every now and then and I could follow the game all the way from Royal City into the Seattle suburbs.

In the digital age its now 1’s and zeros. Either you have the station or not. Perfect or not. Imperfection is tolerated less and less.

I’d miss AM capability more than I’d miss the digital temperature value displayed on the temperature adjustment knob.

 

[Stevezilla]

How about they leave a blank space in the dash and we'll buy whatever sound/infotainment system we want and install it ourselves?

 

[wblynch]

I would rather have AM radio than a stupid 14” computer screen screwing up my interior. Drive the car and get off the damn internet. No wonder they need lane assist. Too many distracted drivers.

 

[icegradner]

And when you think about it, do we really need windshields? People need to get more fresh air and that would be a big help.

That's nothing, after that tires will be dropped. All you need is rims after all!

Optional add-ons for MY24

1. Doors $5k
2. Windows $2k
3. Key Fobs $400
4. Rear View mirror $100
5. Tires $1k
6. Tailgate $1k
7. LED Headlights $1k
8. Steering wheel $300
9. Accelerator and Brake peddles $250
10. The Bed $5k

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