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In reply to the discussion: Save Our Signal! Politicians close in on votes needed to keep AM radio in every car [View all]mwooldri
(10,320 posts)I don't think AM ever was, because of the wavelengths involved (many meters - eg 1440 khz equates to 208 meters, and the lower the frequency the longer the wavelength) and AM antennas in small household radios are nothing more than a giant coil of wire round around a ferrite rod. That takes up a lot of space. FM is about 3 meters. Wired headphones serve as the perfect antenna for FM on a cellphone. With cellphone manufacturers looking to optimize for size and with the elimination of the 3.5 mm audio Jack, the FM antenna has effectively gone away - making a FM system on a cellphone more difficult to do. With no major clamouring by consumers for FM radio in cellphones, manufacturers just eliminated the chip and other circuits to no major outcry.