Fox News host Sean Hannity explained on his top-rated show Friday night how he believes the Biden administration is working with automakers to squeeze out conservative voices.
Some of the leading car manufacturers, such as Ford, Volkswagen, BMW, Mazda, Volvo, and Tesla, have decided to exclude AM radio in their newest electric vehicle models. This move comes as a response to reports of electromagnetic frequency interference between their motors and AM radio frequencies, causing a buzzing sound and a weak signal, Hannity reported.
The host said he isn’t buying that excuse, telling Fox News Digital, “It’s incomprehensible to me.”
“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 own phone,” Hannity told his network in an interview. “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.
“So is there a political component to it? Certainly feels like it,” he added.
Hannity, whose show “The Sean Hannity Show” airs on over 700 AM and FM radio stations nationwide, came to the defense of AM radio stations. He argued that it’s unfair for them to be excluded as an option in vehicles.
“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?” Hannity wondered.
Hannity believes that Congress has a “responsibility” to safeguard the radio stations as they are granted licenses by the federal government. He opined that any political agenda should not be associated with or influence their decision-making process.
The absence of AM radio in new EVs has caused concern not only among conservatives like Hannity but also among Democrats.
Sen. Ed Markey from Massachusetts, a member of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, has been vocal about the issue. He has raised concerns about the removal of AM radio, particularly for broadcasting emergency alerts during natural disasters and other emergencies, Fox News Digital reported.
But Hannity predicted that Markey’s concerns would go unheeded because the regime is dead-set on pushing its green agenda, including the transition to expensive and less reliable EVs that Hannity insists Americans “don’t want.”
“This is all part of what I call the Biden New Green Deal, climate alarmist religious cult,” Hannity said. “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, they simply cannot afford this new climate alarmists religious cult tax, because that’s what it is,” the host added.
The Fox News anchor emphasized that Democrats have been targeting conservative radio since the Fairness Doctrine was eliminated by the FCC during the Obama era. The doctrine mandated broadcasters to discuss controversial issues that are significant to the public while presenting varying perspectives.
“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,” Hannity said.
“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,” he added.
Disclaimer: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author’s opinion.