AM Radio Can Save Lives—We Cannot Afford to Lose It

As an emergency management professional, I am deeply concerned about the possibility of Americans losing easy access to AM radio in their vehicles.

This is not simply a debate about entertainment, technology, or whether people prefer streaming services. It is a public-safety issue.

During hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, floods, earthquakes, power outages, and other emergencies, people need dependable ways to receive warnings and instructions. Cellular towers may become damaged or overloaded. Internet service may fail. Electricity may be unavailable. Mobile phones eventually lose their charge.

A battery-powered radio or vehicle radio can continue providing information when many newer technologies cannot.

AM Radio Reaches Millions of Americans

AM radio is sometimes described as outdated, but the numbers tell a different story.

Research using Nielsen audience information found that more than 82 million Americans listened to AM radio during an average month. More than half of the AM audience listened to news and talk stations—the types of stations people often turn to for breaking news, severe-weather coverage, evacuation information, road closures, shelter locations, and updates from public officials.

Radio also remains one of the most widely used forms of media in the country. Its reach is especially important in rural areas, agricultural communities, tribal communities, and locations where broadband and cellular coverage may be limited or unreliable.

For some residents, AM radio may be one of the few dependable sources of local information during a disaster.

Why AM Signals Are Important

AM stations can cover large geographic areas, particularly after sunset, when some AM signals travel much farther.

This broad reach is valuable during regional disasters. A single station may be able to communicate with people across several counties or even multiple states. That can be especially important during hurricanes, widespread power outages, major winter storms, and disasters affecting rural communities.

Local broadcasters can provide information that a national weather application may not include, such as:

• Which roads are closed
• Where shelters are opening
• Which communities are evacuating
• Where food, water, fuel, or medical assistance is available
• Whether schools and government offices are closed
• When residents may safely return home
• Which areas remain without power
• Where disaster assistance is being provided

Warnings before a disaster are essential, but information after the disaster can be just as important.

When the Internet and Cellular Networks Fail

Modern emergency alerts delivered through mobile phones are valuable, but no warning method should stand alone.

Wireless Emergency Alerts can provide immediate, geographically targeted messages. Weather applications can show changing conditions. Social media can help agencies share information quickly. However, all these systems depend on technology that may become damaged, congested, unavailable, or inaccessible during a major disaster.

A strong public-warning system must use multiple communication methods.

That means using cellular alerts, television, social media, sirens, NOAA Weather Radio, AM and FM broadcasting, amateur radio, emergency notification systems, and direct community outreach.

Removing one of those layers makes the entire warning system less resilient.

AM Radio and NOAA Weather Radio Are Not the Same

It is important to understand that AM radio and NOAA Weather Radio provide different but complementary services.

NOAA Weather Radio broadcasts official National Weather Service warnings, watches, forecasts, and other hazard information 24 hours a day. A weather radio with an alert feature can automatically activate when certain warnings are issued.

AM stations may carry Emergency Alert System messages, but they also provide continuing local reporting, interviews with officials, evacuation updates, damage reports, transportation information, and recovery instructions.

Households should ideally have access to both:

• A battery-powered or hand-crank AM/FM radio
• A NOAA Weather Radio with an alert feature

Preparedness works best when people have more than one way to receive information.

Why AM Radio Is Disappearing From Some Vehicles

Some automobile manufacturers have removed AM receivers from newer vehicles, especially certain electric models. Manufacturers have cited electromagnetic interference from electric motors and other vehicle components as one reason AM reception can be difficult.

However, technical difficulty should not automatically mean accepting the loss of an important public-safety resource.

Vehicle manufacturers routinely solve complex engineering problems. Emergency communication should be treated as an essential safety consideration, not as an optional entertainment feature.

A vehicle may become one of the most important sources of shelter, transportation, electrical power, and information during an emergency. People evacuating a hurricane, wildfire, flood, or chemical incident may depend on their vehicle radio for changing instructions.

Removing AM access from vehicles could leave drivers with fewer options precisely when they need information most.

What Congress Is Considering

The bipartisan AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act has been introduced in Congress to require that AM broadcast stations remain accessible in new passenger vehicles without an additional charge.

The proposal has support from lawmakers in both political parties and from organizations representing emergency managers, broadcasters, farmers, older adults, tribal media, and public-safety interests.

However, proposed legislation is not the same as enacted law. Until Congress completes its work and the measure becomes law, continued access to AM radio in every new vehicle is not guaranteed.

This is where the public has a role.

Let Your Voice Be Heard

Citizens should contact their United States representatives and senators and ask them to support legislation preserving AM radio access in new vehicles.

This should not be treated as a partisan issue. Hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, floods, earthquakes, and power outages do not care how someone votes.

Emergency warnings must be available to everyone.

When contacting elected officials, residents can explain that they support:

• Keeping AM radio available in new passenger vehicles
• Preserving free access without subscriptions or data charges
• Maintaining multiple emergency-warning methods
• Protecting communication access in rural and underserved communities
• Investing in resilient local broadcasting
• Ensuring that emergency information remains available when cellular and internet systems fail

Consumers can also ask vehicle dealers whether a vehicle includes AM radio before purchasing it. Manufacturers pay attention when customers identify safety and communication features as purchasing priorities.

Every Household Should Own an Emergency Radio

Regardless of what happens with the legislation, households should not depend entirely on phones and internet-connected devices.

A dependable emergency radio should receive AM, FM, and NOAA Weather Radio broadcasts. Battery-powered, solar-powered, and hand-crank models provide options when electricity is unavailable.

Keep the radio with emergency supplies and make sure everyone in the household knows how to use it. Store appropriate batteries and check them periodically. Identify local AM stations and NOAA Weather Radio frequencies before an emergency occurs.

A radio is most useful when people already know which stations provide reliable local emergency information.

This Is About More Than Radio

The debate over AM radio is ultimately about whether Americans will continue to have access to dependable, free, and widely available emergency information.

No single technology reaches everyone. No communication system is guaranteed to work during every disaster.

Emergency management depends on redundancy. When one system fails, another must be available.

AM radio is one of those layers. It has warned generations of Americans about approaching storms, shared urgent instructions during emergencies, and helped communities understand what was happening after disaster struck.

We should modernize our emergency communication systems, but modernization should not mean removing systems that still work.

Losing AM radio access would not represent progress if it leaves people less informed, less prepared, and less safe.

Citizens should make their voices heard before an essential public-safety resource quietly disappears from the vehicles and communities that may need it most.

Michael Cady, MSDM, NEMAA, is an emergency management professional with more than 30 years of experience working with first responders, five years of federal disaster recovery experience assisting disaster survivors, and has operated LMD Disaster Survival Kits since 2007. Michael holds associate and bachelor’s degrees in Homeland Security Emergency Management and a master’s degree in Climate Security and Disaster Management from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He currently supports emergency management, health, and safety measures for more than 500 staff in a behavioral health organization. Preparedness questions matter, and LMD Disaster Survival Kits welcomes the opportunity to help individuals, families, workplaces, and communities become better prepared