#100% right

[beardedmrbean]

A Texas-led bill that would mandate AM radio capability in car manufacturing was blocked from passing in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, requested a unanimous consent decision on his AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act. The legislation was blocked by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, who said the mandate on private companies would be an overstep of congressional power.

For months, Cruz has pushed for vehicle manufacturers to retain AM radio in new car models to protect emergency communication channels and diverse content. He partnered with Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., in May to introduce the legislation, which had broad bipartisan support in the Senate.

A corresponding bill was introduced in the House and has 191 cosponsors, including two Democrats and 12 Republicans from Texas.

AM radio is “enormously important to millions of Texans,” Cruz told The Texas Tribune in October. He noted the platform is essential for diverse talk radio — especially for conservative voices.

“I think silencing those voices is enormously harmful to both free speech but also to a robust democratic process,” Cruz said.

On the Senate floor Tuesday, Cruz pointed to conservative commentators Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, Sean Hannity or Glenn Beck, who all found audiences on AM radio.

“AM radio is a haven for people to speak, even if their views are disfavored by the political ruling class,” Cruz said on the Senate floor. “Rush Limbaugh would not exist without AM radio. The views of my friend, [Rand Paul] the Senator from Kentucky, would be heard by many fewer people without AM radio.”

AM radio in rural Texas and other southern states is also a platform for religious, local news and sports programming. Local stations will also run chain or network programming with more well-known commentators, according to Al Cross, director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues.

Some rural communities are dependent on getting local interest information from a single radio station or single newspaper, Cross said.

“If you allow the manufacturers to not put AM on cars, then you're killing off an essential part of the media landscape of the United States,” Cross said.

Supporters of the bill also point to AM radio’s importance as a means to protect emergency communication channels. A fall 2022 Nielsen survey showed AM radio reaches over 80 million Americans monthly.

“During times of disaster, AM radio is consistently the most resilient form of communication,” Cruz said.

AM radio is used as an alert system by federal, state and local agencies to communicate in times of disaster when other forms of communication fail, like during a power outage.

Cruz said he was confident that the legislation would pass overwhelmingly if brought to the floor for a vote, but since it was blocked on Tuesday it now awaits scheduling by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

The congressional pressure already provoked change in the industry. Days after the bills were introduced in May, the CEO of Ford announced that the company would keep AM radio in 2024 models.

Car companies started cutting AM radio capacity to simplify manufacturing and because of assumptions that American consumers don’t find AM radio necessary, according to Oscar Rodriguez, the president of the Texas Association of Broadcasters. Companies also can make revenue from car owners�� subscription-only radio services.

“It became very clear very quickly to the automakers that this is a highly valued service that's extraordinarily important,” Rodriguez said. “It's not just an entertainment service. It is an emergency communications service.”

AM station signals cover 90% of the American population, according to the National Association of Broadcasters, and are able to continue operations during power outages.

But a number of national trade associations have defended manufacturers’ right to exclude AM capacity, arguing that FM radio, internet access and text emergency alerts can replace the loss of AM radio.

“This is giving preference to a technology that is facing fierce competition,” said India Herdman, manager of policy affairs for the Consumer Technology Association.

A FEMA strategic plan pointed out that Americans are “moving away” from radio and broadcast television as primary sources of news and information, one reason for emergency managers to prioritize alerts to smartphones and other methods.

Herdman said that a mandate for AM radio contradicts previous congressional action authorizing federal funding for updated emergency communications.

“What are we spending those appropriated dollars for if we're just going to go back to using century-old technology?” Herdman said.

But in a state like Texas, with a significant rural population, proponents of AM broadcasting argue the access is key.

Cooper Little, executive director of the Independent Cattlemen’s Association, said Texans in the agricultural sector rely on AM radio for reports on livestock and markets, as well as severe weather alerts.

“Things happen at a moment's notice,” Little said. “In areas where there's not necessarily cell service, that's how you spread the word.”

[gilsart]

assumption: you always fall for the pretty boy doomed by the narrative

- @iron--and--blood

if there is one pretty mf in any media who is absolutely doomed by the narrative you know that's my shit

[torturedcoveydepartment]

You on stage 😭

This is actually 100% accurate, how did you find this? how do you know my location? who are you ACTUALLY SPARK? 🤯��� No but jokes aside I will talk myself into believing I’m as cool as her.

[lotusnebula]

@xerith-42

you guys gotta stop shipping 30-year-old men and calling it old man yaoi. 30 is really not old. thats just man yaoi

[cyberpunkboytoy]

So there's the idea of "kitchen table poly," AKA "everyone in the polycule needs to be able to sit at a kitchen table together and get along like friends."

One of my roommates just came up with a counter idea, which is "poker table poly." Everyone in the polycule must be enemies. No one is allowed to get too chummy or they're kicked out. They all also likely owe eachother money.

[wishfulsketching]

This is what the dynamic was like

[girpgorp]

decided my fetal kwamis deserved a little lore

[solifloris]

SCREAMING HAJDJAJFNHSJF 😭😭😭😭 EMIIIIIIIII ily 😭🤍

i hope i am not only a mutual to you but also someone you can point at a fictional character and go "oh shit that guy on tumblr is super fucking mentally unwell about that one" about

[artkaninchenbau]

A h-heartfelt reunion..?

Bonus

[nothingbizzare]

You have a good heart

[bixels]

There's no such thing as overpreparing for love.

Happy (late) Rarijack Valentine's.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

The peach tree beams so red, How brilliant are its flowers!

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[15teal]

[keferon]

THE NEW CHAPTER OF MISTAKES ON MISTAKES UNTIL IS OUT AND YOU ALL KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS~~~~~~

Spoilers for ch 74 below >:)

Head in hands. And then they all happened to be self sacrificial idiots.

Infinitely delighted by the fact that Optimus automatically decided to catch whoever was falling and only look who that was afterwards. 100/10. Peak Optimus writing.

[egophiliac]

I loved your drawing(and I love your style in general) with Leia in your recent post! If/when you have time can we see more of her in your style? I get so happy whenever I actually see people mention/talk about her and she’s not just forgotten because we didn’t get to see much of her. 😭

thank you! 💙💙💙 Leia/Leah/Lea/whatever is fascinating to me. she is the ultimate unknown. what was she like? how involved (or even aware of any details of the invasion) was she? Silver's basically a physical carbon copy of his biodad, so what did he get from her? like, I understand why the two of them kind of have to stay as these super vague and mysterious figures -- the whole point of them is that their story ended 400+ years ago and they're not really relevant anymore (and. well. the more that gets explained about them, the less that can just kinda be handwaved as "oh the politics were Very Messy") (we can sit here and theorize all day but let us acknowledge that, ultimately, canon gave us almost nothing about them post-Meleanor and we'd just be making things up). I do still wonder about her though! RIP Lea, we never knew you and we probably never will.

actually you know what, as long as we're here, I think I WILL go ahead and just make some stuff up about what Silver might've inherited from her instead.

[puppppppppy]

who is your favorite AA character? 👁️👁️

ziska… I hope capcom brings her back someday