Ford reverses decision and will keep AM radio on vehicles 🎙️

[tock13]

The fact that the hardware is there and ford just disabled the software because of some stupid reason to keep it from customers speaks volumes of the “always screw the customer first before thinking it through” mentality at Ford.

this whole bronco fiasco is my first dealing with Ford. I’ve bought many new Toyotas and Mazdas over the years and ford easily eclipses them all when it comes to having their heads up their a$$es.

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[KC5MO]

AM is about 90% of what I listen to.

 

[Sgroll]

This just in to the newsroom....Ford realizes even EV buyers are sports fans...Restores the magic of AM radio.

 

[HCGxKaLiBeR]

I'm in my 30s and none of my friends use AM.
They either use apps on their phone through the infotainment or FM radio stations.
I mistakenly switched to AM a few times, its all static. I just assumed it isn't something still being used.

I'm not on either side. Just pointing out the obvious that it is less used.
Me personally don't even know emergency broadcast are used on AM until I read the news. I just get them on my cell lol. If people don't know AM is still a thing then they would have missed it regardless.

 

[FarlsBarkley]

So they’ll add AM radio back but no make HD radio standard? Cool..

 

[irishkpo]

Doesn't surprise me that the electronics for the AM Radio are still there and they just don't give you access to them. For those who don't know almost all Android cell phones and older iPhones (up to version 6 if I recall) have an FM tuner in them. They don't make that available to you either.

Can't really call it a cost savings measure since the couple of lines of code they need to write to make available on the touch screen are laughable.

 

[AZ_Liberty]

Me personally don't even know emergency broadcast are used on AM until I read the news. I just get them on my cell lol.

Lol back, I turned off emergency alerts on my phone years ago, and reset them off every time I get a new phone.

They abuse the system by spamming it every time the wind blows. Sorry, but dust in Phoenix is not a bloody emergency, it's weather.

 

[Tex]

Doesn't surprise me that the electronics for the AM Radio are still there and they just don't give you access to them. For those who don't know almost all Android cell phones and older iPhones (up to version 6 if I recall) have an FM tuner in them. They don't make that available to you either.

Can't really call it a cost savings measure since the couple of lines of code they need to write to make available on the touch screen are laughable.

Part of the problem with utilizing the FM receiver in cell phones is that they use the headphone wire as an antenna. You can use it without headphones, but there's no real antenna to speak of and won't pick up a signal. Which is fine, except that a lot of phones that don't make it accessible aren't wired for headphone jacks, so the receiver is mostly useless without it. Now, if you're really handy with microsoldering and have a digital microscope to use, it is possible to solder in your own antenna, find a way to route it through the case, and then you could figure out how to access it via software to get FM radio on your phone.

But it does illustrate the point that radio receivers are so cheap and easily packaged that they're basically standard equipment on every mass produced smartphone. The same goes for AM/FM boards in vehicles, the AM is so easily packaged with FM that it's easier and cheaper to manufacture by including them on everything than to make two separate receivers with and without AM. Making an FM receiver without AM is one of those things where the everyone would have to be in agreement that they don't want it before it's ever physically excluded from the receiver, since its exclusion would likely only save a few cents at best. It's so easy to simply disable the AM side via software that it just doesn't make sense to re-engineer a board if some customers still want it. It should be up to the end consumer to decide though.

 

[irishkpo]

Spot on Tex. More information that I was willing to try and explain.

Thus why they stopped even putting them in after the iPhone 6. iPhone 7 was the first one without a headphone jack. Why Androids still have them in the age of Bluetooth I don't know.

 

[Tex]

Spot on Tex. More information that I was willing to try and explain.

Thus why they stopped even putting them in after the iPhone 6. iPhone 7 was the first one without a headphone jack. Why Androids still have them in the age of Bluetooth I don't know.

I can still see the usefulness, primarily interfacing with older tech...most people get new phones regularly but not so much vehicles and everything else. When you invest in a $400 pair of wired earbuds you're reluctant to throw them out if they still work great. Some of the passive earpro buds I have are wired, and I prefer them because they're so much smaller than wireless and fit under my helmet much better. I have a BT set but they're considerably larger and my head physically doesn't fit in my helmet with them in, and they go nuts when I try because they have the touch controls on them which would be useless under a helmet anyway. BT adapters for wired headphones work...but it's also kind of janky at the same time since you lose the benefits of both. I eventually got fed up with all of it and spent a grand for a noise cancelling BT headset just to rip it all apart and integrate it in my helmet. My current phone has a jack, but the previous one didn't, so now that I've switched everything over I don't have much use for this one. It doesn't detract from the phone at all by being there, it's still waterproof and rugged and everything else, so I really don't understand why they got rid of them on so many phones in the first place other than to sell more of their BT accessories.

 

[VIRUS]

I'm in my 30s and none of my friends use AM.
They either use apps on their phone through the infotainment or FM radio stations.
I mistakenly switched to AM a few times, its all static. I just assumed it isn't something still being used.

I'm not on either side. Just pointing out the obvious that it is less used.
Me personally don't even know emergency broadcast are used on AM until I read the news. I just get them on my cell lol. If people don't know AM is still a thing then they would have missed it regardless.

Try streaming pro or college sports from an app on your phone.

Let us know how it works

 

[VIRUS]

I love how so many people think that because something isn't useful to them, nobody else needs it.
I don't drink wine. Should everyone be forced to choose beer or whiskey?
Actually that's a good one

 

[DefNotBuddyLee]

I love how so many people think that because something isn't useful to them, nobody else needs it.
I don't drink wine. Should everyone be forced to choose beer or whiskey?
Actually that's a good one

The answer is obviously "whiskey". What else am I supposed to use the ice made from my Star Wars Death Star silicone molds for?

 

[Tex]

What else am I supposed to use the ice made from my Star Wars Death Star silicone molds for?

Hide them in snowballs and start a snowball fight with neighborhood kids

 

[malt_liqueur]

Everclear nostalgia must have gotten to them.

I want you to know this has been stuck in my head on and off since you posted it a week ago. I hope you feel terrible

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