Cyndi's Two Cents

AM Radio isn’t old fashioned. It’s tried and true.

Commentary.

There’s a reason the U.S. House passed the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act last week. And for those of us who live and work in rural America, that reason hits pretty close to home.

H.R. 979 passed by voice vote last Tuesday. The bipartisan bill now heads to the Senate and would require automakers to keep AM radio as standard equipment in new vehicles, without charging drivers an extra fee.

I do have a little skin in this game – I’ve spent nearly four decades in farm broadcasting. But even if I hadn’t, I would still argue that AM radio matters. Especially in rural America.

AM radio is more than music and talk. Local AM stations are part of the communication infrastructure of so many rural communities!

The radio travels with the community. It is on in the tractor or combine, in the pickup headed to the elevator or sale barn, in the farm shop, or in the barn during morning chores. You hear it in the local diner over coffee, in the feed store or hardware store, at the implement dealership, in a delivery truck, or in the kitchen while someone is getting ready for the day. That same familiar local voice can follow people from the farm to Main Street and back again, providing weather, markets, local news, farm news, school closings, road conditions, high school sports, and community announcements.

National Farm Safety & Health Week is a good time to talk about something more serious: emergency communications.

Tornadoes, floods, ice storms, and wildfires do not care whether you live on a gravel road or a city street. And when the power goes out, cell service gets spotty or the internet goes down, having another way to get information is pretty important.

AM radio doesn’t require an internet connection. Rural communities don’t always have the same broadband infrastructure as urban areas, and a major storm can knock out electricity, cell service or other communications.

A battery-powered radio may not sound very high-tech. But when the lights are out and communications are down, low-tech looks pretty smart.

Safety is more than wearing the right protective equipment or slowing down around machinery. It’s also having a plan for how you’re going to get information when something goes wrong.

I am not bashing technology. I use a smartphone. I stream things. I appreciate GPS. But I also don’t want every piece of technology in my life to depend on another subscription.

The AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act means I can get local information without having to download another app, create another account or pay for another monthly service just to hear something that used to come standard with the vehicle.

This is not about stopping progress. It’s about keeping options.

Give us the apps. Give us the streaming. Give us all the fancy bells and whistles that come with a new vehicle.

But please leave the AM radio.