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I can recount from memory nearly every minute in the last like 10 years I have spent listening to broadcast AM/FM radio outside of a car. Nearly all of them we

I can recount from memory nearly every minute in the last like 10 years I have spent listening to broadcast AM/FM radio outside of a car. Nearly all of them were spent testing new stereos. On one occasion I was circuit bending a Casio keyboard and randomly stuck an inductor coil somewhere and it accidentally made the keyboard an AM radio, Hi Fi Gilligan style [1]. I may have been using the tunable capacitor from a radio to mess with the clock speed as well. 1. https://m.imdb.com/title/tt1230840/ https://m.imdb.com/title/tt1230840/

benoau 2y ago
There have however been many major disasters where congestion or service impaired or shut down cellular internet access, so I think we do still need that lifeline... although I'd rather the radios be in cell phones since they're more likely to be with you and powered on in a disaster!
- pessimizer 2y ago
  > I'd rather the radios be in cell phones since they're more likely to be with you and powered on in a disaster! It would have to be a very short disaster, because your cell battery is going to die before the day is out. I've only changed the batteries in my AM/FM shower radio once since I bought it a decade ago.
  - benoau 2y ago
    That's true but we also have a lot of simple solutions for charging cell phones: powerbanks, solar and hand winders, transfer power from a laptop, small generators, and on top of that is charging from vehicles. Electric cars might not even start in extreme weather events and gasoline usually faces immediate shortages.
BoxOfRain 2y ago
I think there's some cases where the medium is part of the experience, Radio Caroline in the UK are a former offshore pirate who used AM by necessity in their heyday (they'd anchor the ship just outside of British territorial waters to circumvent the BBC monopoly). The revival station worked hard to convince Ofcom to let them operate on AM given their historic connection to the medium, but they were granted a licence and are probably one of the few AM stations in the UK not in terminal decline. I'll miss Five Live on 693 kHz, I grew up coming back from Watford games with it on in the car crackling as we went under power lines. Test Match Special on 198 kHz longwave is already gone in preparation for Droitwich's closure.
- zifpanachr23 2y ago
  The AM radio community is definitely small and kind of niche, but I always had more fun listening to Coast to Coast on a late night road trip than I ever did listening to FM.

benoau 2y ago

There have however been many major disasters where congestion or service impaired or shut down cellular internet access, so I think we do still need that lifeline... although I'd rather the radios be in cell phones since they're more likely to be with you and powered on in a disaster!

pessimizer 2y ago
> I'd rather the radios be in cell phones since they're more likely to be with you and powered on in a disaster! It would have to be a very short disaster, because your cell battery is going to die before the day is out. I've only changed the batteries in my AM/FM shower radio once since I bought it a decade ago.
- benoau 2y ago
  That's true but we also have a lot of simple solutions for charging cell phones: powerbanks, solar and hand winders, transfer power from a laptop, small generators, and on top of that is charging from vehicles. Electric cars might not even start in extreme weather events and gasoline usually faces immediate shortages.

BoxOfRain 2y ago

I think there's some cases where the medium is part of the experience, Radio Caroline in the UK are a former offshore pirate who used AM by necessity in their heyday (they'd anchor the ship just outside of British territorial waters to circumvent the BBC monopoly). The revival station worked hard to convince Ofcom to let them operate on AM given their historic connection to the medium, but they were granted a licence and are probably one of the few AM stations in the UK not in terminal decline. I'll miss Five Live on 693 kHz, I grew up coming back from Watford games with it on in the car crackling as we went under power lines. Test Match Special on 198 kHz longwave is already gone in preparation for Droitwich's closure.

zifpanachr23 2y ago
The AM radio community is definitely small and kind of niche, but I always had more fun listening to Coast to Coast on a late night road trip than I ever did listening to FM.