AM Radio Mandate For Cars Seems Assured

If you’ve never used Radio Garden – Explore live radio by rotating the globe I think you would find it interesting. Using its search function, you can–literally–roam the globe and listen to live radio from stations in almost every nation.

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Very interesting, thanks!

Interesting. I apologize in advance for all these questions, but trying to understand this topic better. Suggest to explain this configuration a little better for the Luddites among us, me included. I presume the cell phone connection to the car’s audio system is via WIFI, no cables involved. And she has an application called “Pandora” which sends audio content via the WIFI connection to the car’s electronics, which then plays it over the speakers. Is that more or less correct? What range of functionality does Pandora have? AM & FM radio stations, local, & around the world? All of them? Or just a subset, the ones that are in cahoots with Pandora? What about podcasts? Does Pandora play them too? All or them, or just the ones in cahoots w/Pandora? Is Pandora purchased for a fee, or is it a free download? If there’s a fee, is it a one-time fee? Or a monthly fee? The car’s electronics must provide a WIFI connection for this to work? Do all new cars have this functionality? Did you have to pay for it as an option? One time fee, or monthly? Does it only work w/Android phones, so if you had an Apple phone you’d be out of luck?

It’s Bluetooth, not Wifi, but otherwise pretty close. Here’s more about Pandora:
Pandora (service) - Wikipedia
and Bluetooth:
Bluetooth - Wikipedia

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Ok, Bluetooth … I understand that part now. But if the car has Bluetooth function, it seems like it would work with either an Apple phone or an Android phone. Still confused about Apple vs Android. Or is it Pandora that requires Android?

Pandora works on either Apple or Android, determined by the kind of phone used.

In addition to Bluetooth, the car has to have Android Auto or Apple Carplay. Some have neither, some have both. If not, then Pandora may be able to play, but would be controlled from the phone and not the car’s infotainment screen.

Think of apple vs. Android as Mac vs. Windows
Its the operating system that the phones run on. I dont know if pandora runs on Apple.

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Another FREE audio source is www.Accuradio.com
They have a very wide variety of channels, each dedicated to a different genre. It plays without problems on my Android device, but I can’t say for sure whether it is available in the same way with an Apple device.

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Oh oh, I’m starting to get a headache … lol …

Then, just play the low-FI AM radio on your 50 year old truck!
That is sure to cure all ills.
:wink:

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lol … I still possess my truck’s oem AM radio, but teenage me replaced it with an am/fm/cassette stereo unit soon after I purchased the truck. Still recall the first song I listened to in truck, James Taylor’s “Walking on a Country Road”

Or, you can use one of these little adapters that converts Bluetooth from the phone to an FM signal. I think it will also accept audio out the USB cable. Then just tune your radio to the station selected- several options to suit various areas dead zones… I have one like it, it works great for using my XM subscription in other people’s cars that don’t have a modern radio setup:

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Marketplace covers the AM radio in all cars bill Should cars still have AM radios? Congress might require them. - Marketplace

My Honda and my Toyota both accept a thumb drive (cruzer, USB drive, memory stick, whatever you call it…) that fits into the USB plug and I have preloaded several with “Old Radio Shows” like Dragnet, The Lone Ranger, Burns and Allen, CBS Radio Mystery Theater, and others. And since the various Talk Radio Shows have become so divisive. I do not need to be in a radio deadzone where AM and FM have weak signal strength to use them.

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Me? I don’t care either way, I listen to AM radio about as often as we (US) send people to the Moon… lol

I don’t even listen to FM radio, but sometimes FM is needed in order to use a Bluetooth FM radio transmitter so I can play my Pandora… :wink:

Yuck…