This is _great_ news. I actually wrote my Congressman (Rep. Robert F. Onder Jr.) about this.

awithrow 9 hours ago | parent | next [-]

What makes it so great? I can't remember listening to AM radio in decades. Surely it would make more sense to install an aftermarket AM if you listen to it rather than force everyone else to buy one too?

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fortran77 8 hours ago | parent [-]

Emergency communication.

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DerekL 7 hours ago | parent [-]

Why not also add a requirement to receive NOAA Weather Radio, too?

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fortran77 4 hours ago | parent [-]

Because there isn't an infrastructure, as there is with AM radio, to have a radiation hardered transmitter and backup power in every geographic area.

	▲	pseudohadamard 37 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Gee, if only we had some sort of other high-availability comms system we could use. Maybe divide the country up into geographic cells and put a transmitter in each one that sends out alerts to portable devices that people carry on them. You could even make the comms two-way so you could call for help if required. I wonder why no-one's ever thought of that? Incidentally, I have never in my entire life received any kind of alert over AM radio. I have however received several on my phone, generally over incoming severe weather.

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10 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

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