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I do a lot of driving during the course of a work week. I am also addicted to old radio programs. Hanging from the rear view mirror, plugged into the "Power Port" (can't say cig.... Lig...r any more) and with the antenna stuck to the roof through the door, is my XM receiver. It has a low power FM transmitter set to a local vacant channel, 87.9, and I enjoy several hours of drama or 40's, 50's and 60's music. The receiver being light weight and portable, I can move it to any car I drive. I was going to take the Packard to my son's yesterday, so I started to pull the receiver off the mirror. It occurred to me, suddenly, I don't have 87.9 on the Packard radio. Nor do I have it on the 53 Henny, the, 57 Cadillac, or the 65 Jag. Those are the cars most appropriate for Suspense or Yours Truly Johnny Dollar. The obvious solution is a small, low power AM transmitter with an audio input that would play through the original AM car radio. I suspect something might be available that could be adapted, but the FCC might want to be involved. Low power AM transmitters are not hard to build; I think kits are still available. I could pull the radio and tap in an auxiliary input but that's work and I'm lazy. The transmitter would have to meet FCC specs and run on DC power between 5 and 14 volts. It could take any audio source. If any of my rolling stock rises to the rank of daily driver, I will have to build one. Tom

I have seen them available as both kits and as a finished-made product, the latter being a little "home shop" looking in the way of packaging, probably works fine and is better built than some Chinese-made thing. I bought an FM Xmitter for my Ipod, just a little thing that snaps onto the end of the Ipod--but Packards have AM radios, so not very useful for that application. One of the good guys that rebuilds the OE radios installs 1/8" input jacks as an option, goes right into the amplifier stage, so an Ipod or XM receiver would be an easy plug-in. You would have to do something like this here, AM radio is nothing but highly partisan political talk, sports talk, talk talk, talk in languages I don't understand, salvation and other things that aren't music.

The RediRadrediscoveradio.com/ is a small hidden device that will accommodate most situations with something modern needing to play thru the original radio. It has received some decent reviews by other posters.

I am old enough to have learned "use what you already own", and when I discovered that my Packard's Delco AM radio wasn't working, I briefly considered having it repaired/refurbished. I had recently done the same restoration with the 67 Corvette's Delco AM/FM, spending several hundred for some fine work. However, doing that just to receive AM in the Packard seemed foolish.

What I did do was to purchase a Jambox Bluetooth speaker and pair it to my iPhone. Now I can play either Pandora or Slacker's 40 and 50s channels or use my own purchased iTunes music. The streaming services are almost commercial free on the old folks channels so the annoyance factor is minimal. Now I can listen to Johnny Mathis, Dinah Shore, Pat Boone and Patti Page and show them what it is like to ride in a fine Packard. Wayne Newton's Dankeshoen sounds no better in the BMW, but George Shearing does in an old Rover. This way, moving the iPhone and Jambox from one old car to another is no problem.

Someday my Packard to-do-list will be shorter and the original Delco AM radio and speaker will be refurbished. But until then, I can cruise in style with my old music keeping me company. Too bad no one still broadcasts old radio commercials to complete the nostalgia. I would like to be reminded that I can get "S&H Green Stamps at A&P and my neighborhood Mobilgas service station."

Sirius XM features original commercials on their Radio Classics channel.

(o{}o)