Big Tech and automakers are quietly working to rip AM radio out of American cars — and replace it with data-collecting audio systems built by Google, Amazon, and Apple. That’s the warning sounded by former Michigan Congressman Thaddeus McCotter in a new op-ed, and it’s one President Trump has already put squarely in his crosshairs. Trump told radio host Hugh Hewitt that the push to eliminate AM radio is “a very big deal” and that his administration “will be doing something on that.” The reason Trump cares is straightforward: the Big Tech replacement systems are designed to vacuum up drivers’ personal data and sell it to third parties — something AM radio, broadcast freely over the public airwaves, simply cannot do. Killing AM radio isn’t just about audio preferences. It’s about who controls what you hear, and what they collect about you while you’re listening.
The vehicle for stopping this power grab already exists on Capitol Hill. The AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act of 2025 has been introduced in both the House and Senate and has garnered overwhelming bipartisan co-sponsorship — over 315 House members and 61 senators are on board, making it one of the most broadly supported pieces of legislation in Washington today. It has sailed through every committee of jurisdiction with virtually no opposition. And yet, despite a president ready to sign it and the votes to pass it, the bill continues to sit idle. McCotter argues this reflects the outsized influence of corporate lobbying over what should be an easy, obvious win for American consumers and public safety alike.
The stakes go far beyond data privacy and consumer choice. AM radio is the backbone of America’s Emergency Alert System, reaching 272 million listeners every week. Seven former FEMA administrators from both parties have urged Congress to safeguard AM radio for exactly this reason — when the power goes out, when cell towers fail, and when the internet goes dark, AM radio keeps broadcasting. America’s adversaries are already working to hack and disrupt digital communications infrastructure. Stripping AM radio out of every new vehicle would be, as McCotter bluntly puts it, a self-inflicted wound of the highest order — one that happens to benefit Google, Amazon, and Apple at the direct expense of American security and privacy.
McCotter is equally pointed about who this bill unites. The AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act is supported by the American Farm Bureau Federation and the National Urban League. It bridges rural and urban listeners, conservatives and liberals, and serves the voices least likely to have powerful lobbying money behind them. This is exactly the kind of rare, practical, genuinely bipartisan legislation that proves Washington can still work for ordinary Americans — if Congress can muster the will to push it across the finish line before corporate interests kill it quietly. Trump has made clear he wants to sign it. The only question is whether Congress will send it to him.
Source: DailyCaller
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