U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, isn’t letting go of his demand that automakers be required to keep installing AM radios in their vehicles — a move he’s claimed as necessary because the pinkos in America’s boardrooms are conspiring to silence conservative talk radio.
Early this year, Cruz and U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Massachusetts, refiled legislation requiring companies to include access to over-the-air AM stations in every car they crank off the assembly line. Congress late last year declined to tack the legislation onto year-end spending bills even though it won support from a majority of lawmakers in both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate.
Cruz, a likely 2026 Republican presidential contender, has pushed for the legislation as early as 2023, claiming in his podcast The Verdict with Ted Cruz that Detroit wanted to nix AM radios because it feared right-wing talk radio.
“I think there’s a reason big car companies were open to taking down AM radio, which is AM radio is where a lot of talk radio is found, and talk radio is overwhelmingly conservative,” Cruz said at the time. “And let’s be clear: big business doesn’t like things that are overwhelmingly conservative.”
While car companies including Mazda, BMW and far-right billionaire Elon Musk’s Tesla have removed analog AM radio from some vehicles in recent years, they have offered up a less-sinister motivation. Namely, AM radio receivers can interfere with a vehicle’s batteries and consumers are less interested in the band now that they have an array of digital services at their fingertips, industry officials told Reuters.
Interestingly, Cruz has since downplayed his conspiracy-mongering about the nation’s capitalists wanting to shut down right-wing talk radio. In a statement supporting his refiled bill, he and Markey mentioned AM being an important conduit for talk radio, but he first emphasized its importance in delivering public-safety info.
“During weather disasters or power outages, AM radio is consistently the most reliable form of communication and is critical to keep millions of Texans safe,” Cruz said. “AM radio has long been a haven for people to express differing viewpoints, allowing free speech and our robust democratic process to flourish for decades.”
Whatever Cruz’s motivations, recent federal filings show San Antonio-based broadcast group iHeartMedia throwing its support behind the proposal. The company owns 860 radio stations in 160 U.S. markets, according to its webpage — and it also distributes Cruz’s thrice-weekly podcast.
A recent lobbying expenditure filing shows iHeartMedia retained high-powered GOP lobbyist Daniel Mattoon to push lawmakers to support Cruz’s bill and to provide the company with “intel related to House FCC oversight hearings, specifically regarding AM Radio in vehicles.”
Beyond that, iHeartMedia donated $2,500 to the Ted Cruz Victory Fund PAC on Dec. 18, Federal Election Commission Records show.
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