Dodge to buck trend, keep AM radio in new vehicles

[Tuesdak]

Washington State has a number of AM/FM traffic advisory (road conditions, accidents, silver/Amber alerts, etc.) localized radio broadcast points with flashing yellow lights when info is available to tune in to along the major highways. Some are AM only.

Thanks for those who pointed out they still use AM.

Clearly the AM only transmitter units will need to be updated to FM. Although this is replaced by Google Maps real time traffic, Garmin's GPS traffic, or SXM Weather and Traffic... SXM isn't available in all areas, and good luck getting a cell signal in some places in AZ.

To me AM is just a "Noise Surprise" when accidentally selected. I take the time to select quiet spots or a station on the AM presets for this reason and then ignore it. Talk Shows are not my thing as I prefer the Commercial Free Music of SXM. SXM makes a great background noise blocker wall. I have lived in areas that the few FM stations were more commercials than music: YUCK!.

I respect what "Talk Show" Howard Stern has done and managed to get two full bandwidth channels out of SXM. These are the two highest quality channels on SXM if you ever wonder what it's really capable of outside the compression data loss hell they parade as music channels. FM and AM can sound better than SXM on a good station.

Waste of channels as they still have the XM and Sirius channels duplicated. No plans to change this as they still have receivers that only get XM or Sirius channels so they have to keep 2 channels for one station. Quality suffers because of this.

Credit RAM for having a sound system in a Tradesman level that you can tell the difference. Some OEM's like Cough Cough GM Cough make you miserable for your boss being cheap and sticking you in a GM work truck. Some of their higher level sound systems also suck bigtime esp in a GM van. RAM's higher level Alpine Sound Systems appear to be setting a standard for other OEM's to reach.

For quality of music that SXM lacks I prefer a CD player. This option lacking is more concerning to me than missing a noisy poor quality AM band. Cell Phone, I pod, USB key, etc. is all Compression Data Loss Hell vs. CD quality. Unless you are using around 650 MB for 16 songs aka ripping your CD's at 1:1 data with NO compression.

I have even had a 6 disc CD player with a FM Transmitter oddly turn the high hats in a Fleetwood Mac song intro into static noise. Less trouble than cassette players, but, still trouble.

Like CB's have become not so popular and Shortwave Radio no longer has Voice Of America times change with technology. We have owned Some Oldsmobile's with the Factory CB option the newest we owned with one was 1985.

 

[brucejohnson]

Thanks for those who pointed out they still use AM.

Clearly the AM only transmitter units will need to be updated to FM. Although this is replaced by Google Maps real time traffic, Garmin's GPS traffic, or SXM Weather and Traffic... SXM isn't available in all areas, and good luck getting a cell signal in some places in AZ.

To me AM is just a "Noise Surprise" when accidentally selected. I take the time to select quiet spots or a station on the AM presets for this reason and then ignore it. Talk Shows are not my thing as I prefer the Commercial Free Music of SXM. SXM makes a great background noise blocker wall. I have lived in areas that the few FM stations were more commercials than music: YUCK!.

I respect what "Talk Show" Howard Stern has done and managed to get two full bandwidth channels out of SXM. These are the two highest quality channels on SXM if you ever wonder what it's really capable of outside the compression data loss hell they parade as music channels. FM and AM can sound better than SXM on a good station.

Waste of channels as they still have the XM and Sirius channels duplicated. No plans to change this as they still have receivers that only get XM or Sirius channels so they have to keep 2 channels for one station. Quality suffers because of this.

Credit RAM for having a sound system in a Tradesman level that you can tell the difference. Some OEM's like Cough Cough GM Cough make you miserable for your boss being cheap and sticking you in a GM work truck. Some of their higher level sound systems also suck bigtime esp in a GM van. RAM's higher level Alpine Sound Systems appear to be setting a standard for other OEM's to reach.

For quality of music that SXM lacks I prefer a CD player. This option lacking is more concerning to me than missing a noisy poor quality AM band. Cell Phone, I pod, USB key, etc. is all Compression Data Loss Hell vs. CD quality. Unless you are using around 650 MB for 16 songs aka ripping your CD's at 1:1 data with NO compression.

I have even had a 6 disc CD player with a FM Transmitter oddly turn the high hats in a Fleetwood Mac song intro into static noise. Less trouble than cassette players, but, still trouble.

Like CB's have become not so popular and Shortwave Radio no longer has Voice Of America times change with technology. We have owned Some Oldsmobile's with the Factory CB option the newest we owned with one was 1985.

Totally agree with your synopsis.
I quit AM listening when Paul Harvey died. Our local AM station, on KGY 1240, played his program every morning for as long as I could remember. In the 60's FM was the best; No (or darned few) commercials; great fidelity; and full albums played with only the mandated station identification at ~30-minute intervals. Tody it is worse than AM used to be. Too much talk about nothing, songs cut off at beginning and or end for more incessant babble.
Now, SiriusXM play some good variety, but, like you stated, lousy quality due to signal compression. AM is now relegated to a couple local stations, if needed, and to the highway information frequencies on routes we use in travels across the country, just to make it quick and easy to access as those "stations" have a very limited range and corrective/avoidance actions need to be swift at times.
I have moved over to ripping favorite songs off the CDs in lossless, no compression mode to a memory stick. The sound system in the 20 RAM is very good compared to most vehicle out there. The only issue I have with this method is each and every album has a different volume base, so one song is quiet, turn up the volume to gather all the musical ambience...then WHAM!!! The next song played is from a different album and my hair is pushed straight back and stuck out like it was loaded with hairspray. Examples: Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac with the smooth, sensous voice of Christine McVie singing I'd Rather Go Blind, then Going straight into some Foghat. All great, but turns to GRATE in the volume difference. I have the volume controls on the steering wheel programed in my mind/fingers for immediate remedial reaction to excess, or insufficient volume. Just another technology distraction to add to the driving experience...like navigation guidance assist. (I want to stuff cotton balls in her mouth at times. Oh, that's not referring to my wife...I know better...).

 

[Tuesdak]

I will have to remember to tune in a distant AM station during the next Monsoon lighting storm. The station comes in louder during a lightning discharge and/or makes a pop sizzle sound. I just remembered doing so in that '85 Olds for amusement a few times. Not sure how much the noise cancellation in a modern radio would eliminate.

I might a sacrifice a 9V battery and power my old AM/FM kit up. In the early '90's I built this "older" Elenco kit in school that gave me a good understanding of the difference between AM and FM. They have updated it to use an IC in the audio amp section since then. (Edit: Neat! The new kit can use an IC or the older transistor amp design via a plug in board.) I hate to sound archaic, but, I used a machine, I forget what exactly, to match the transistors in the audio amp. It had a screen that you would get a graph like an O-Scope and you wanted the slope to match as close as possible.

They still make a kit with AM!

https://shop.elenco.com/consumers/am-fm-radio-kit-combo-ic-transistor.html

Amazon product ASIN B008515U1U

 

[Crunch]

I wonder if there is any leverage for potential car buyers here: "I want to buy the car/truck, but without an AM radio you'll have to knock off an additional $2K so I can upgrade to quality aftermarket components..."

In the 60's FM was the best; No (or darned few) commercials; great fidelity; and full albums played with only the mandated station identification at ~30-minute intervals. Tody it is worse than AM used to be. Too much talk about nothing, songs cut off at beginning and or end for more incessant babble.

A lot of that is because of two things: Digital music and consolidation in the radio industry. Digital radio has eliminated the need for the DJ to cue up records and tapes, play them and then do the talking thing. DJs used to work 4 hour shifts, made a lot of money doing it and occasionally had to tape a show or some other special feature. The worst part of their job was having to go to public events and pimp the radio station. Now they work 8 hour shifts, get paid squat and have to do several shows that get played on several radio stations around the country. Instead of choosing the songs they play, they are given a script that they read and record. A low-paid production person then drags icons for the songs onto a time line and edits in the DJ's recorded words where needed. ChatGPT and AI could entirely eliminate the commercial radio station DJ tomorrow and no one would really care...and maybe not even notice.

I have moved over to ripping favorite songs off the CDs in lossless, no compression mode to a memory stick. The sound system in the 20 RAM is very good compared to most vehicle out there. The only issue I have with this method is each and every album has a different volume base, so one song is quiet, turn up the volume to gather all the musical ambience...then WHAM!!! The next song played is from a different album and my hair is pushed straight back and stuck out like it was loaded with hairspray.

Same here. I have a 32GB flash drive with about 5,000 songs on it. The music spans 1,000 years and contains everything from Gregorian chants to classical to jazz, rock, country and everything else. If I put it on shuffle it will play for a full 2 weeks without repeating a song. I use GoldWave as the editor to rip the songs from CD, but no doubt have some compression as I use the default settings. I also seamlessly split and join songs, usually live songs that I don't want to segue together or studio songs that should naturally segue into each other, i.e. Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. I also was ticked at the volume/gain differences in music between CDs. GoldWave is great for that, too. I used the volume control to raise the volume of the song so that it is just below the clipping level, or there are only a few peaks that are clipped. Overall I love it. I can hear a 1,000 year old Gregorian Chant, followed by Rage Against the Machine or Insane Clown Posse. The Grateful Dead or Dr Hook and the Medicine Show can pop up any time, as can Duke Ellington, the Jacques Loussier Trio, Johnny Cash, Deep Purple or Beethoven. There are even a few surprises in the mix like comedy bits and some very weird music that I recorded off a radio station many years ago. When you least expect it the exchange from "Treasure of the Sierra Madre" will smack you upside the head:

Bogart: "If you're the police, where are your badges?"
Bandito: "Badges? We ain't got no badges. We don't need no badges. I don't have to show you any stinking badges!"

 

[brucejohnson]

I wonder if there is any leverage for potential car buyers here: "I want to buy the car/truck, but without an AM radio you'll have to knock off an additional $2K so I can upgrade to quality aftermarket components..."



A lot of that is because of two things: Digital music and consolidation in the radio industry. Digital radio has eliminated the need for the DJ to cue up records and tapes, play them and then do the talking thing. DJs used to work 4 hour shifts, made a lot of money doing it and occasionally had to tape a show or some other special feature. The worst part of their job was having to go to public events and pimp the radio station. Now they work 8 hour shifts, get paid squat and have to do several shows that get played on several radio stations around the country. Instead of choosing the songs they play, they are given a script that they read and record. A low-paid production person then drags icons for the songs onto a time line and edits in the DJ's recorded words where needed. ChatGPT and AI could entirely eliminate the commercial radio station DJ tomorrow and no one would really care...and maybe not even notice.



Same here. I have a 32GB flash drive with about 5,000 songs on it. The music spans 1,000 years and contains everything from Gregorian chants to classical to jazz, rock, country and everything else. If I put it on shuffle it will play for a full 2 weeks without repeating a song. I use GoldWave as the editor to rip the songs from CD, but no doubt have some compression as I use the default settings. I also seamlessly split and join songs, usually live songs that I don't want to segue together or studio songs that should naturally segue into each other, i.e. Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. I also was ticked at the volume/gain differences in music between CDs. GoldWave is great for that, too. I used the volume control to raise the volume of the song so that it is just below the clipping level, or there are only a few peaks that are clipped. Overall I love it. I can hear a 1,000 year old Gregorian Chant, followed by Rage Against the Machine or Insane Clown Posse. The Grateful Dead or Dr Hook and the Medicine Show can pop up any time, as can Duke Ellington, the Jacques Loussier Trio, Johnny Cash, Deep Purple or Beethoven. There are even a few surprises in the mix like comedy bits and some very weird music that I recorded off a radio station many years ago. When you least expect it the exchange from "Treasure of the Sierra Madre" will smack you upside the head:

Bogart: "If you're the police, where are your badges?"
Bandito: "Badges? We ain't got no badges. We don't need no badges. I don't have to show you any stinking badges!"

HEY! My kind of music stuff. A variety, all over the spectrum.
Thanks for the info. I'll have to look into the GoldWave. Sounds like it may have some features I would be interest in...as long as it can be somehow set for lossless, no compression. My ears seem so have survived many years of the sweet sounds of freedom, J-57 jet engines, huge recips, props, rotors, etc.. My hearing coming out of the Air Force was better than when I went in. Maybe a difference between small and big block MoPars and Fords vs. liver rattling military aircraft. Oh wait, the cars rattled the liver, too. Oh well, at least one part of me survived. I am picky in how music is presented and played. So much talent in engineering, presentation and production, subtle sound variations all over the place making the songs/music what they are.
Once I get used to a song I can often pick out the changes in a remastered copy on a lot of albums. Some of the remasters I don't care for compared to the original.

 

[mwilson]

As Bruce mentioned…..What about being able to tune in to one of these??

I did today as the lights were flashing on the Maine Turnpike alert signs..

 

[sag2]

One problem is many of the vehicles today (Jeep with 8.4) have little to no choices when it comes to aftermarket radios. No one makes a radio that fits the dash, or if they do, it is just a rebranded OEM radio.

 

[Jim W]

The young kids today designing and making marketing decisions just don't think beyond their own experiences. I saw this phenomenon in the early 2000's before I retired from CAT.

 

[.44 mag]

Yeah I'm all in on the AM radio.

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Let's see some more pictures of that Utility Wagon.... It looks like a nice one!

I listen to AM most of the time I'm on the road. Traffic and talk shows always keep me going better than the hip-hop and canned laughter on the FM around here....
Not to mention I've got three vehicles I drive with AM only, and another two that don't even have a radio.

 

[Timd32]

Let's see some more pictures of that Utility Wagon.... It looks like a nice one!

I listen to AM most of the time I'm on the road. Traffic and talk shows always keep me going better than the hip-hop and canned laughter on the FM around here....
Not to mention I've got three vehicles I drive with AM only, and another two that don't even have a radio.

Here is it's radio, needs to be redone...... but goal is to have it functional for sure.

It's a '63 with the 230 OHC Tornado, got it last year out of Colorado. It's really complete.
So far rebuilt the Trans, brakes, leaf springs, made some seat covers.

Working on the Rear Dana 44 right now.

It's something fun to tinker on. Plan to keep the patina look on here. But that could change down the road.

Thanks for asking.