John Catsimatidis has never been shy about defending AM radio, and this time, the 77 WABC owner has helped shepherd real legislation across the finish line. The AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act passed the House of Representatives with bipartisan support, and Catsimatidis spent more than three years pushing lawmakers, the White House, and the American public to get behind it.
For Catsimatidis, the fight was never just about protecting his own station. It was about protecting a piece of the country’s defense infrastructure.
“I am more concerned about our country than I am about WABC,” said Catsimatidis. “I think the number one consideration is that our country is under attack in so many directions. AM radio has always been there for the American people. (During Superstorm Sandy in 2012), I was there when 14 or 15 states were out (of power) in the Northeast, and the only place we could go to get AM radio was down to our cars and turn on the radio. (During 9/11), my kids were down in Chinatown, and I didn’t know where they were — there were no cell phones in those days.”
Catsimatidis pointed to a scenario that could sound like science fiction but keeps him up at night. Satellites, he warned, are more fragile than most Americans realize, and losing them could cripple modern communication in an instant.
“There is this outer space situation where all these satellites, which give us GPS, could all go kaput in one day,” shared Catsimatidis. “We’d have zero communications. Your electric car, you could take it and shove it, because it’s not going to be able to go anywhere. I want you to understand national security, because I was in national security about a hundred years ago that I can’t talk about.”
That’s the core of Catsimatidis’ argument, and it’s one he’s repeated in front of Congressional members, the press, and anyone who will listen. AM’s range, he says, simply can’t be replicated by other technologies, and that reach is exactly why the band matters during emergencies.
“AM radio and FM — I’ll tell you about FM — FM only goes for a five-to-ten-mile radius, 10miles, 20 miles, whatever, but AM radio travels,” the 77 WABC owner shared. “And 94% of the American people are able to get AM radio. And if the electric vehicle companies say to you, ‘Oh, we’re not going to provide it in our cars,’ well, if there’s a national emergency, you could take those cars and shove them.”
A Personal Campaign, Funded and Fought by Catsimatidis
Catsimatidis didn’t just talk about the bill on his own airwaves. He met directly with President Trump and members of Congress, and he put his own money behind newspaper ads urging lawmakers to act.
“I talked about this to all the people in Congress, and that’s why Congress voted for it,” Catsimatidis said. “Because all the people, the civilians — and you saw my newspaper ads — all the people told that congressman, ‘You better vote for this.’ And I believe the U.S. Senate is going to vote for it soon, and then the president is going to sign it.”
Not everyone in Washington grasped the urgency right away, Catsimatidis admitted. Even with the president’s backing, the path wasn’t smooth. A fight over a sunset clause threatened to weaken the bill’s long-term protections, and Catsimatidis pushed against it.
“The President and I insisted there would be no sunset clause,” Catsimatidis said. “I think the powers that be in the United States Congress came back to the president and said, to get this much bipartisan support, they needed an eight-year sunset. And I’ll tell you, I went along with what the president agreed to. I don’t believe in the sunset influence, very personally, because someday our enemies will try to sunset AM radio.”
Looking Ahead, Catsimatidis and Lopez Say the Work Isn’t Done
Passage in the House marks a major milestone, but both Catsimatidis and Red Apple Media President Chad Lopez believe the bill’s momentum should push the industry to raise its own standards.
“Work harder. Work harder,” Catsimatidis said. “We work very hard here at WABC — we work holidays, we work weekends, et cetera. If you want to get your message out, work harder.”
Lopez picked up on that same theme, framing the moment as validation for AM’s staying power rather than a reason to relax.
“The future for radio it’s not just about WABC,” said Lopez. “It’s about radio as a whole, and keeping all the AM radios. In particular, AMs are America’s defense system — one of America’s defense systems. You can’t take it down, and it should not go away. It proves there’s value in AM radio, and it’s a highly sought-after medium still. Radio is not dead. So the good news is, since radio’s not dead, we have a defense system that can help protect Americans and their lives and their families.”
Lopez also connected Catsimatidis’ approach to radio with how he runs his other ventures, framing it as a service the public simply can’t do without.
“He looks at AM radio, especially WABC, and AM radio as a whole, the way he runs his other businesses,” Lopez said of the billionaire owner. “He doesn’t shut them down on snow days or any holidays, because people always need food and need to be able to feed their families. That’s the way he looks at WABC. It’s a utility. It’s news, information — it’s informative and entertaining as well, and that’s why he keeps it going every day.”
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