Although it’s been months since Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton battered Florida, the scars remain. Power lines still lie in tangled piles in some neighborhoods. Flood-damaged homes stand gutted, waiting on insurance payouts and other backlogs. And yet, although eight months have come and went, some automakers still can’t find it in them to put Floridians’ public safety before their own profits.
Despite pleas and warnings from Florida’s public safety community and elected officials on the local, state and federal levels, a growing number of automakers have begun removing AM radios from new model vehicles. AM radio is not just a popular entertainment platform. More importantly, it serves as the backbone of our nation’s public warning systems. Because AM signals reach great distances and rarely go dark during disasters (unlike other forms of communications that often become inaccessible in emergencies), it is public safety officials’ fail-safe method to warn the public of impending danger and keep the population safe and informed.
This was absolutely the case for many Floridians during Helene and Milton, which left more than 6 million people without power and many without cellphone and internet service. AM radio was the only way many Floridians got life-saving updates — where to evacuate, where to find food and water, which roads were closed and how to reach emergency shelters.
Helene and Milton weren’t the first times Floridians relied upon AM radio as a critical public safety tool. In 2022, one Florida-based emergency management official said that, during Hurricane Irma, he and many of his Florida neighbors got their storm updates exclusively from their radios. With their cellphone and internet connections out, it was local AM radio channels that directed them where to go to obtain fresh food and water and overnight areas of safety.
Yet, many automakers are ignoring the public safety experts as they continue to produce vehicles without AM radios.
AM radio signals do not capture personal data nor feed user data to Silicon Valley, nor do they help companies sell you ads. Cars’ digital infotainment systems do all those things. Harvesting and selling personal data has become a cash cow for automakers, and more and more manufacturers are seeking to cash in by removing AM radios — even though it means butting heads with law enforcement.
Florida’s congressional leaders are not sitting back letting the automakers throw public safety by the wayside. Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) recently introduced the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act. His bill requires all automobiles bought and sold in the U.S. to include access to AM radio signals.
Bilirakis stated that he introduced this bill out of the recognition that “each hurricane season, Floridians rely upon the ability to gain access to information needed to make timely and potentially lifesaving decisions.” His legislation has since amassed broad bipartisan support among Florida politicos, including Sens. Rick Scott and Ashley Moody and Congress as a whole.
Florida’s first responders on the ground have also made it clear that it was a true lifeline that saved lives. That is why many of them sent their own letters to congressional leadership pushing the same bill. The Major Cities Chiefs Association, representing the police departments in all of Florida’s largest cities, has also joined the call, urging Congress to act before another Helene- or Milton-level disaster strikes.
These same car companies want Washington to bankroll their EVs and manufacturing plants, but when public safety leaders ask them to keep a highly important piece of our public safety infrastructure in the dashboard to save lives during disasters, they shrug. It’s disgraceful, and Congress should put a stop to it. Florida’s elected officials are leading the way in protecting public safety, and here’s hoping they can get the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act to President Trump’s desk. With Helene and Milton still fresh in everyone’s minds, now has never been a better time.
Joe Myers is the former director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management.
