The leftist push to phase out gasoline-powered vehicles could pose an unintended side effect for the conservative movement that found Fox News host and Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey (D) surprisingly sharing common ground.
During President Ronald Reagan’s administration, the rise of cable allowed a rational retreat from the constraints of the Fairness Doctrine and thus ushered in the dawn of conservative talk radio with Rush Limbaugh at the forefront. Now, with hundreds of AM and FM stations broadcasting programs like “The Sean Hannity Show,” content once readily available to travelers during their daily commute could become harder to come by through a controlled phase-out.
Speaking with Fox News Digital, Hannity voiced his concern over auto manufacturers like Tesla, Ford, Volvo and Volkswagen no longer including AM radios in their electric vehicles.
“It’s incomprehensible to me,” he said. “It’s not complicated to put in a radio system that allows you to have AM FM, Sirius XM, or the ability to plug in your own music from your phone.”
“And I think people want more options, not less options. And this would be a direct hit politically on conservative talk radio in particular, which is what most people go to AM radio to listen to,” Hannity went on. “So is there a political component to it? Certainly feels like it.”
Despite the radio and television host’s complaint, the auto companies have alleged that AM radio frequencies and EVs don’t mesh because of interference with the electromagnetic frequencies of the motor. Whether or not there is truth to the claim, Markey too has been a vocal proponent for continuing to incorporate AM devices in all vehicles mainly because of the emergency broadcast system.
“Despite innovations such as the smartphone and social media, AM/FM broadcast radio remains the most dependable, cost-free, and accessible communication mechanism for public during times of emergency,” Markey said in a statement in December. “As a result, any phase-out of broadcast AM radio could pose a significant communication problem during emergencies…”
I am so glad that the clean energy revolution has arrived and we are moving full speed ahead towards all-electric vehicles, but we must ensure that automakers don't sacrifice the benefits of free broadcast AM radio that’s critical for communication in times of emergency. pic.twitter.com/8BYnzt3YxA
— Ed Markey (@SenMarkey) December 2, 2022
Arguing from the other side of the same position, Hannity reminded Fox News Digital that AM broadcasts, while free to listeners with radios, actually cost broadcasters considerable money.
“People paid a lot of money for those signals, and they pay that money to, you know, the federal government [that] gives out these licenses. What’s the point if they’re going to take away a significant percentage of the population’s ability to even get the station they would listen to the most while they’re driving?” he asked.
By the radio host’s assessment, Congress’s ability to regulate the airwaves left them with the “responsibility” to “protect that which they oversee, and they shouldn’t have a political agenda associated with it or behind it.”
“This is all part of what I call the Biden New Green Deal, climate alarmist religious cult,” Hannity went on to contend as President Joe Biden’s administration has continually taken opportunities to regulate away certain decisions that should be left up to the American people in the name of environmental activism.
“They want to take away our gas stove, they want to take away our refrigerator, they want to take away a whole host of other things. And now they’re going to force electric vehicles that cost dramatically more on the American people. Then they have to pay for charging stations. Americans want gas-powered cars — polls show it and it costs less. And in these very tough inflationary times where over 60% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck,” the host said, “they simply cannot afford this new climate alarmists religious cult tax, because that’s what it is.”
“We have all liberal outlets, almost every major newspaper is liberal, three networks that are liberal. Of the three major cable networks, two are hardcore left-wing,” he reminded.
“So for half the country that is conservative, they want the opportunity to hear points of view and the news and information that they’re not going to get from the mainstream media, and that’s now being robbed from them and taken away from them,” Hannity concluded.
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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