AARP Pushes Congress to Keep AM Radio in Cars

For many older Americans, access remains essential

Emily Paulin and Mythili Sampathkumar,

Updated June 17, 2025

AARP

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En español

Published February 07, 2025

/ Updated June 17, 2025

a woman controls the radio volume in a car

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Many older Americans rely on AM radio for their news, emergency information and community engagement. Increasingly, though, automakers are dropping AM radio as a standard feature in some vehicles, especially new electric models.

To maintain this essential service, AARP has endorsed a U.S. House bill that would make AM radio standard for new cars. The legislation would require the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to issue a rule requiring automakers to maintain AM radio as a feature of new vehicles — not as an add-on with an additional charge.

The AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act passed the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee in February. Now several members of the House have voiced their support.

Older Americans want access to AM radio. An April 2025 AARP survey of Americans 50 and older showed that 79 percent of them support the continued availability of AM radio in cars.

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While only about a third of those surveyed said they actively listen to AM radio, they overwhelmingly support its inclusion in cars. AM radio is particularly important during emergencies, when cellphone coverage may be unreliable or information needs to be broadcast quickly and over a large area. When other networks are down, AM radio can still broadcast weather updates and important information in areas where a natural disaster might occur.

Older adults make up a large proportion of the population in rural areas, where wireless and broadband connections are often limited or nonexistent, AARP noted in a Jan. 29 letter to lawmakers. “AM radio connects millions of older rural residents to their communities through targeted programming, including the latest local news and weather,” Bill Sweeney, AARP senior vice president for government affairs, wrote.

U.S. Senators Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas), cosponsors of the bill, wrote in a joint statement from January: “From emergency response to sports, entertainment, and news, AM radio is a lifeline that must be protected.”

AM radio plays a unique role

The new AARP survey also highlighted the importance of AM radio when it comes to diverse programming for underrepresented communities. Eighty-nine percent of Hispanic adults 50 and older said they strongly support AM radio’s availability in cars.

Despite a boom of new media platforms in recent years, radio (both AM and FM) still reaches 91 percent of American adults monthly, according to a 2023 audio report by media analyst Nielsen. For adults 50 and older, that number is 92 percent. Of those listeners, 1 in 3 use AM stations each month, Nielsen reports. And almost three-quarters of those users — 74 percent — listen to those stations in the car.

Under the proposed legislation, most automakers would have a transition period of two to three years after the law is enacted to meet the requirement (some smaller automakers would have longer). During that transition period, companies selling vehicles without AM radio would be required to disclose that information with clear labeling.

The proposed legislation also requires the Government Accountability Office to investigate AM radio’s prominence in public safety messaging during emergencies and whether alternative communication systems could replicate that reach.

Seven former Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) administrators called AM radio “a linchpin” of the infrastructure behind the federal National Public Warning System in a 2023 letter supporting an earlier version of the bill. “Should [electric vehicle] makers continue removing AM radios from their vehicles, this vital public safety system will no longer function as intended,” they wrote to lawmakers.

Sweeney noted AM radio’s essential role during disaster events and within rural communities. AARP’s letter urges Congress “to quickly pass this vital safety measure into law.”

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Emily Paulin is an editor at aarp.org who covers nursing homes, health care, and federal and state policy. Her work has also appeared in Broadsheet, an Australian lifestyle publication.

Mythili Sampathkumar is a writer for AARP covering federal and state policy. She has worked for the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY and The Independent and her reporting has been published in several outlets including The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, NBC News, Fortune, Forbes and Vox.