No AM Radio on 3 (Like the X)

[BioSehnsucht]

AM may have poor audio quality, but it's better than FM for distance generally and is common for talk/news shows, and for various weather/traffic alert purposes.

I only ever use it if I want to know why traffic is bad ("traffic and weather on the 8's!" every 10 minutes), since Google just tells me it's bad but doesn't tell me why or even usually which lanes are closed. Chances are that AM station is available via some streaming service so I could just stream it off my phone via BT, but that is way too much complexity to mess with while driving, versus just hitting the AM button on the radio (as it's the only AM station I ever use, it's always on the right one).

 

[Runt8]

I did, however, read a hilarious rant not too long ago about how EVs are part of some radical left wing conspiracy to silence conservatives because they're starting to omit AM radio. There are some funny people on the internet...

It’s a feature!

 

[cpa]

Challenge may not only be blacked out live sports (TuneIn plays some re-heated shows during the games), but as noted on Model3Owners, when driving on roads that advertise an AM station for road conditions and other info, how would you get to those stations without a good old AM radio?
(I know this is not new, but the number of Model 3 drivers will soon eclipse the X drivers, and this might come up a lot)

Too true; too true.

Three weeks ago I needed to get to Eureka from the Valley. All things equal, my choices are to navigate through the Bay Area to 101 around Petaluma or Santa Rosa; Take highway 16 from Woodland to Highway 20 to 101, detouring south to Ukiah to the Supercharger; Highway 36 west from Red Bluff to Alton and US101, or highway 299 west from Redding through Trinity County to Arcata.

My CalTrans app indicated that highway 36 had a full time closure near Bridgeville from 0800-1700 with a one-hour window at noon when it was open to one-way controlled traffic. In addition, highway 299 was closed near Junction City because of a wildfire. That left me with driving north to Mt. Shasta City and then taking highway 96 to highway 299 at Willow Creek--doable in an 85. I had planned to rise at 5:00 AM in Redding to leave by six.

Fortunately for me the message board south of Redding mentioned the highway 299 conditions on AM1610. I tuned in, and the recording said that the highway had been opened to one-way controlled traffic--expect delays up to 30 minutes--a lot shorter than the looping arc from Redding to north of Yreka to Willow Creek.

CalTrans also employs these radio alerts during winter months for snow advisories and such.

If Tesla wants to forsake AM radio, then Tesla needs up-to-the-minute traffic information fed into the navigation system.

 

[tinm]

Sometimes AM is crap but sometimes there's good stuff on and SOMETIMES we don't all live in Palo Alto or some big city and sometimes we're driving through barren moonscapes with NO cellular meaning no streaming and that's one time among many that AM is real handy. Likewise, national parks, tunnels, bridges, dangerous cliffhanger roads, and other state/county/municipal AM broadcasts intended for traffic reports (e.g. road signs saying "if lights blinking tune to AM 1530 for information") but noooooooo Tesla has to dump AM because that would be one less streaming user for Elon's upcoming low-earth orbit satellite array music service. The lack of AM is a real demerit for Tesla, right up there with the absurd lack of song / artist / playlist / album / genre browsing/search integration w/ iPods, iPhones, and other media devices like every other car on the PLANET has had for years. Come ON Tesla. What's next? End of USB support?!

 

[Pinot.Noir]

When was the last time I used AM radio... hmm... I think it was pre-war, not sure which one though. Maybe WW2?

I used it about 2 weeks ago, when I wanted to get details on a bad accident during my commute. The map didn't show we the freeway was closed.....the AM station let me know that so I could take an alternate route. Old tech comes in handy sometimes....none of the FM stations in the SF Bay Area give frequent traffic updates like the AM stations (every 10 mins).

 

[tpatana]

I used it about 2 weeks ago, when I wanted to get details on a bad accident during my commute. The map didn't show we the freeway was closed.....the AM station let me know that so I could take an alternate route. Old tech comes in handy sometimes....none of the FM stations in the SF Bay Area give frequent traffic updates like the AM stations (every 10 mins).

99% of the time when I'm driving, I have waze running on my phone screen. 95% of the time it's for traffic & accidents, not for navigation purposes. Only occasionally I actually use it to find places. Waze knows quite fast when there's accidents or blocked roads, and makes needed adjustments.

 

[strykeroz]

In this wide brown land AM reaches far further than either FM or the interwebs via cellular. And the local stations while mostly run by our national broadcaster do include some local colour. It will be something I'll miss for any long distance travel.

 

[JPP]

I used it about 2 weeks ago, when I wanted to get details on a bad accident during my commute. The map didn't show we the freeway was closed.....the AM station let me know that so I could take an alternate route. Old tech comes in handy sometimes....none of the FM stations in the SF Bay Area give frequent traffic updates like the AM stations (every 10 mins).

FYI I listen to KCBS (SF Bay Area). Traffic every 10 minutes 24/7. It is both AM (740) and FM (106.9), but I listen to it on TuneIn. Better reception, but a 1 minute lag (terrestrial radio beats out streaming).

 

[ScottyNeutron]

This happened to me yesterday on my drive home. This is why AM is important to have and not to rely on TuneIn for AM content. Tesla needs to reconsider this "no AM" option. It's not rocket science.

 

[Swift]

This happened to me yesterday on my drive home. This is why AM is important to have and not to rely on TuneIn for AM content. Tesla needs to reconsider this "no AM" option. It's not rocket science.

Exactly. God forbid some large scales disaster strikes. AM radio is built into emergency radios for good reason. As stated above, it has far greater range than the other bands.

 

[jhs_7645]

So the real loss seems to be AM radio, for live sports. I love me a good baseball game in the car. No go in the 3...

My first thought was KNBR streams... (go Giants!) -- but I'm thinking that it is blacked out locally for you when the games are going on.

So yeah... that sucks.. does KNBR have an FM partner?

 

[cpa]

I am old enough to remember the "clear channel" stations on AM radio permitted by the FCC for emergency alerts. If I recall correctly these stations were throughout the nation, and most broadcast (or could broadcast) at 50,000 watts. Of course, this was during the days of the Cold War, and we did not know from one day to the next if there was going to be some sort of disaster. (We also had monthly air raid drills in school.)

With the recent hurricane evacuation issues in the southeast and the wildfires in the west, I think having AM radio in our cars is good. And AM signals travel much further (especially at night) than FM.

 

[rxlawdude]

I've been lobbying Tesla to reconsider the omission of AM from the M3 for a couple of months. On the Tesla corporate forums, I continue to be skewered by a few future owners who consider AM a dinosaur and not worthy of such a fine piece of technology.
To them, I say "BS!"

The more current Tesla owners who have M3 reservations contact Tesla to express their feelings of this omissions, the better the chances that Tesla may just relent.

My big concern is that unlike the X (which was the first Tesla to NOT have AM), the M3 is intended for more mainstream buyers who will feel put off by the omission of AM. The negative publicity won't be good for Tesla, and certainly not for TSLA.

 

[cpa]

Another reason for AM radio to be included in the Model 3 is that at least here in the Valley and many other parts of California, most of the Hispanic radio stations are on the AM dial. Tesla is purposefully excluding a sizable segment of the population from purchasing their vehicles if these people listen to Spanish language radio stations.

Sometimes I think that Tesla does not get out into the world enough to see what things are like beyond the San Francisco Bay Area.

 

[electracity]

The Spanish stations are streamed just like the rest. I listen to some AM talk, so I would prefer to have an actual radio. But if I built EVs I would not include it.

The Apple playbook is to get rid of as much legacy tech as possible and let some people grumble.

 

[e-FTW]

My first thought was KNBR streams... (go Giants!) -- but I'm thinking that it is blacked out locally for you when the games are going on.

So yeah... that sucks.. does KNBR have an FM partner?

You know me so well! Yeah, no FM partner that I know of.

 

[JoeCoolMan24]

My first thought was KNBR streams... (go Giants!) -- but I'm thinking that it is blacked out locally for you when the games are going on.

So yeah... that sucks.. does KNBR have an FM partner?

This is my biggest gripe. I listen to White Sox, Blackhawks, Notre Dame games on the AM radio in my car ALLLLL the time. Sure, I can get my fix of sports talk radio through their TuneIn page, but local games are BLACKED OUT on radio.

This is even more of a bummer than losing a CD player, because at least I can digitize my library if I haven't already.

 

[Jeff4155]

As someone that lives in a country where we tend to wait a few years before the newest technology arrives, will AM still be missed? I mean who actually still use AM radio stations, I certainly don't.

 

[Darmie]

I'm sure I'll be dating myself, but I do remember the am to FM converter when cars only had AM. I wonder if they will make an FM to AM converter. for the 3.

Found on ebay:

 

[Sportstick]

I'm sure I'll be dating myself, but I do remember the am to FM converter when cars only had AM. I wonder if they will make an FM to AM converter. for the 3.

Found on ebay:

View attachment 253710

WOW! That is exactly the unit I bought to hang below the AM radio in my 1969 Chevrolet Impala Custom Coupe when it was "handed down" to me in 1971 for college! Having FM in the car back then was pretty cool, even if there was a vinyl roof on top!