I'm kind of sad the more I learn about Teslas

I thought I understood the lack of AM radio to be driven primarily by all the interference produced by the car itself, not by other intentions of abandoning it. It seems quite unlikely that you will do any better by bringing along your own AM device.

The AM band seems to have picked up a lot more interference and garbage over my lifetime, both from external sources, and from its own programming choices.

Though it doesn't help that common consumer radios have also been cheapened, being made less able to reject out-of-band interference. Back in the previous century, I picked up one of these for local emergency information during power outages or events. But I hardly ever listen to AM anymore, except for frequent traffic information on one particular station. Unfortunately, that station has also 'cheapened' its service, often telling me about avoidable backups only after I'm through them, or trapped.

https://radiojayallen.com/ge-superadios-evolution-of-a-classic/

 

A handful of chokes and some shielding can do a lot in a gas car or a hybrid, but the strength of interference from a full BEV is on another level.

 

Any AM station I wanted (all 2 of them) also transmit an FM signal. I don’t know how typical that is, perhaps I got lucky.
The shielding would add cost and lower range, for a function that is rapidly dying out in the market.

If the lack of AM stations is a deal breaker for you, so be it. For many, there are other options, but it just may be that a Tesla isn’t for you.

 

I'm fairly well versed in methods for acoustic and RF noise reduction. You aren't wrong about the possibilities.

It just seems like a heavy lift, doing all that to support one mode of irritainment when all the others can be enabled much more cheaply.

And @Zythryn made a good point, there's precious little on AM that isn't also simulcast on FM or IP streamed or podcasted later.

 

do any bevs have am?

 

While your situation is far from unique, it is also just not usual globally. One of the few places I ever go that actually has cell reception dropout on normal roads, is the US. I can go to the far Northern reaches in Canada from Whitehorse to Dawson and stream internet radio over 4G. I can go into the desert in Egypt and get signal. I can't remember if I have ever been without signal in Europe, even in the remote northern parts of Scandinavia or around Iceland's ring road. Cell reception globally, is everywhere. Except in the US. And the places that don't have cell reception are also the places with few people and generally also not Tesla buyers.

If I was designing a car today, I wouldn't include an AM or FM radio. I stopped listening to FM radio in 2004ish with satellite radio. Since about 2008 I was internet radio and sat radio. From about 2012 onwards, internet radio 100%. I stream my radio stations (usually from the UK without ads) anywhere in the world with data. It doesn't need a stable connection 100% of the time, it just buffers 10s or 30s at a time so you're slightly behind live radio which is fine. If you are going to be offline, you can always download a previous show to your device before you travel. Is having 1 day old music any different than the current day's music minus the news bits? Even on flights, where I spend most of my time, I always have internet and I can listen to my station while working at 40k feet.

I have many annoyances like this with modern product design. My do all the laptop manufacturers keep taking away my physical buttons below the trackpad? The stupid curved screens on phones and punchholes instead of a good ol bezel. Tons of them. But it is just older man yells at clouds because I realize I'm very much in the minority of people who care let alone want that design choice. I buy a limited range of products with the features I want until forced to adapt. Like my phone with it's curved screen now.

If I had to guess, a small bandwidth limited starlink terminal on the roof will be standard issue in HW12 or whatever.

 

My old Nissan Leaf, the fugly one, has AM radio.

 

Some do, many don’t.

Here is a decent article on the issue.
In a Future Filled With Electric Cars, AM Radio May Be Left Behind - The New York Times

 

Now that I have a phone plan with service in Canada, I had intended to check while on the road there last week. But forgot to peek at the coverage icon along the roads, and a plan change had us turning around after skiing a few days at Revelstoke, instead of going farther inland as originally intended.

Next time we drive from Banff to Jasper, or Jasper to Whistler, I'll have to check up closely on that.

Ooh, not looking so good in numerous places right now:



I must add that the "white spaces" in the Pacific Northwest are larger than they appear above. This one below is more realistic:

 

I'm surprised to learn that about Tesla! I, also, have a few local radio stations that I'll, occasionally, turn on to catch up on the local news or my favorite talk radio hosts.
One thing I've been waiting to hear is Tesla starting to allow drivers to connect to their StarLink network. Using this, folks could surf the web, stream videos/movies, or even make a cell phone call without the need for a cell phone signal. (I know the Teslas get over-the-air software updates and wonder if they use the StarLink network for this, if it's available in that area.) I just researched this and, yes, it's going to be available in V2.0 of StarLink which starts to launch this year.

 

Can you download the (free) Audacity app onto your phone? Depending on the market area, the AM station(s) might very well be offered on the app, or a competing app. Then just Bluetooth it into the audio system in the car.

 

I've got some really bad news about the drive-in...

 

I do get your point about AM radio - I like to listen to talk show stations on AM when walking and bike riding - here was my solution

Amazon.com: Battery Operated Transistor Radio, AM/FM Pocket Radio with Loud Speaker, Earphone Jack, Best Reception Long Antenna for Walking, Running, Camping, Jogging – Portable Radios Powered by 2 AA Batteries : Electronics

readily admit is is a nerdy solution but it works for me.

 

First world problems

 

I love the made-up brand names on Amazon lately. Seen some great ones.

But your link.... That one pretty much takes the cake.

Portables make a good solution. I use a Sony walkman (yes, they still use that silly made-up name!) it's a solid state media player with a radio built in.

 

Teslas have AM radio - up to model year 2016. It was no big deal to let go of AM radio for most. That's why a lot of cars stopped carrying it. For the minority that still enjoy it, many stations will rebroadcast digitally - & our 2017 did quite well at receiving those digitized frequencies at & below 1,690khz - no Toroid choke necessary.
.