Congress Doesn't Agree on Much. Except That Your Car Needs AM Radio.

As Americans debate Iran and artificial intelligence, lawmakers have found common ground on what is apparently a more pressing issue: requiring AM radios in cars. 

On Tuesday, the House passed the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act, which would require the Transportation Department to issue a rule “requiring AM radio capabilities to be standard in all new passenger vehicles.” The rule would go into effect for large manufacturers no more than two years after the rule is issued. 

As Jacob Stern has noted in The Atlantic, the push to mandate AM radios in cars has united lawmakers across the political spectrum since 2023, bringing together figures as different as Sens. Ted Cruz (R–Texas) and Bernie Sanders (I–Vt.). An earlier version of a bill requiring AM radio in cars failed to pass through the Senate, but now lawmakers in both chambers are taking up the issue once again. 

The legislation pits automakers against the broadcasting industry.

Car companies don’t like the bill. It would force manufacturers that have already ditched AM radio in their electric vehicles (EVs) to make substantive changes to their manufacturing processes and designs. (Tesla has removed both FM and AM radio from entry-level cars altogether.) According to The Wall Street Journal, “Many carmakers have said that currents from EV motors can interfere with AM broadcast signals and have removed radio receivers from newer models as a result.” Plus, “an industry-funded study by the group Center for Automotive Research estimated it would cost automakers $3.8 billion to mitigate interference between EVs and AM radio,” even as automakers already navigate higher fuel prices, tariffs, and competition from Chinese car manufacturers. 

But the broadcasters appear to be currying more favor in Washington. Barrett Media reports that the WABC radio personality, grocery store mogul, and Marty Supreme actor John Catsimatidis has spent “more than three years” lobbying for this bill, including meeting directly with President Donald Trump and members of Congress.

Catsimatidis claims the bill is critical for public safety. “There is this outer space situation where all these satellites, which give us GPS, could all go kaput in one day,” Catsimatidis told Barrett Media. “We’d have zero communications. Your electric car, you could take it and shove it, because it’s not going to be able to go anywhere.”

The National Association of Broadcasters also supports the legislation, calling its passage in the House “a significant step forward for the millions of Americans who rely on AM radio for lifesaving emergency information, trusted news and a vital connection to their communities.” And Ted Cruz had his own nostalgic argument for such a law: During the debates over an earlier version of the bill, he pointed out that “Rush Limbaugh would not exist without AM radio.”

There are many reasons to love AM broadcasting, which has delivered baseball games, talk shows, and traffic reports to Americans from sea to shining sea. But nostalgia and broadcasters’ profits are not reasons to impose yet more requirements on car manufacturers. And if you’re worried about the GPS-kaput scenario, you can always keep your own emergency battery-operated radio in the glove compartment, no mandate required.

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