In a rare moment of bipartisan convergence, Congress moves toward mandating AM radio antennas in all new American vehicles — a quiet but consequential act of preservation. The legislation acknowledges that some infrastructure, however humble, carries more than signal: it carries the civic fabric of local life, the emergency lifeline when digital systems fail, and the kind of balanced community conversation that more powerful media have largely abandoned. At its core, this is a story about what a society chooses to protect when it finally notices something slipping away.