During the hearing on the Sunshine Protection Act and related permanent-DST proposals, the National Religious Broadcasters (NRB), the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), and several state broadcaster associations submitted formal letters of opposition.
They explained that moving sunset one hour later year-round would extend daylight into evening hours when the ionosphere normally allows AM signals to travel hundreds of miles via skywave propagation.
The result: massively increased nighttime interference, reduced reliable coverage areas, and degraded service for millions of listeners—particularly in rural and underserved communities.
- Over 4,500 licensed AM stations—many of them small, rural, minority-owned, or religiously oriented—could lose significant portions of their nighttime audiences.
- Emergency-alert capabilities via the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) and the Emergency Alert System (EAS) would be compromised in areas where AM remains the only reliable broadcast medium during power outages or cellular failures.
- Listeners who depend on AM for local news, weather, agricultural reports, religious programming, and Spanish-language content would face static-filled or completely inaudible signals after dark.
The hearing exposed deep regulatory friction: while some lawmakers and witnesses pushed permanent DST for supposed economic and energy benefits, broadcasters insisted no meaningful FCC technical studies have ever examined the AM interference risk at scale.
Committee members from both parties expressed surprise at the severity of the warnings and called for immediate FCC analysis before any vote on permanent DST legislation.
No votes were taken, and no timeline for further action was set, but the testimony has effectively stalled momentum for year-round Daylight Saving Time until the interference concerns are studied and addressed.