I POSED THAT QUESTION TO MY electric car-owner friend the other day…
Of the fewer-than-300 remaining drive-in movie theaters in operation in the entire country, we live within an hour’s drive of three of these still-operating antique monuments of media history: each planning to announce opening dates for this spring. If you wanna drive a bit further north, maybe take a ferry or two, you can go to Oak Harbor for year-round outdoor movies, go-karts and an on-site tavern built in 2020. Pandemic-era social distancing was something of a boon for drive-in theaters, re-introducing the dwindling near-century-old entertainment experience to new generations. The first-ever patented drive-in theater, originally referred to as a ‘park-in,’ opened in 1933 in New Jersey. When the patent was overturned in the mid-1940s, drive-ins proliferated across the country.
In 1949, the original 50-ton screen was hoisted into place at the Rodeo Drive-in outside of Bremerton. Then, the Kitsap Lake Drive-In, The Big Bear Drive-In near Agate Pass and The Wheel-In Motor Movie outside of Port Townsend opened over the next five years. And, in the early 60’s, two buddies who worked together at the Bremerton shipyard opened Shelton’s Skyline Drive-In as an afterwork kind of gig.
During that 1950s-60s heydey, there were some 5,000 drive-ins in operation across the country. The experience became an American culture icon, showing B movies at discount prices as an affordable and revolutionary option for families to enjoy movies from the comfort of their cars. But the wave crested, and by the late 70s, early 80s, some local drive-ins had gone even further into ‘B movies,’ showing porn and smut films. Clean ups and resurgences came through the late 80s, 90s and 2000s with new owners taking over the next generation of operations, often as a labor of love to keep this nostalgic pieces of culture alive while working other full-time jobs. Often relying on community and concessions, to stay financially viable. While the industry as a whole has continued to decline, the stories of the people keeping these relics alive are endearing to an ardent fan of retro media.
So here I am, checking out the websites to see when the local drive-ins are going to open this spring when I come across an announcement from one saying it had a ‘limited number of FM radios’ to rent out so to make sure your battery is charged properly or plan accordingly. Which got me thinking: Do new electric cars even have FM radios?
MY ELECTRIC CAR-OWNER FRIEND and I had gone on a road trip a few months back, which was his first time taking this new-to-him car out in the wild. They spent the night at a campground in the back of it. He was pumped. I met them for breakfast the next morning, The wait at the trendy diner was close to an hour. But my didn’t care. He spent the entire time selling me on this car. The savings on gas money. Plus what you can save on gas money, you can put toward the car loan. Not to mention, maintenance savings. The ease of finding charging stations along the way. The superchargers. Just like getting gas he says. Plus the handling. The power. He takes me on a quick test drive around the block while his gal holds the spot in line at the diner. He asks me if I want to drive (or rather sit in the driver’s seat while the car drives itself) but I can’t even figure out how to work the door handle, so I tell him I’ll pass. As soon as we get out of the parking lot, he switches the car to self-driving mode and tells it to take the next side street. I look over. His arms are crossed and his feet are definitely not on the pedals. I’m starting to tense up in the passenger seat. He tells me to relax, the car is better than a human driver, “better driver than you are,” he puts it bluntly.
I think about that for a second.
We’ve made our way to an empty country road behind the neighborhood and he says he’s gonna switch it into ‘sport mode.’ Which sounds ridiculous to me because that’s what the kids used to call a certain way they would wear their crocs. I laugh and start to poke fun at that when the car punches its acceleration and the zero-to-60 inertia smashes my back to the leather seat. I strain my neck to look over. His hands are definitely not on the wheel and feet absolutely not nearly close enough to the pedals. We’re hitting close to 80 on this country road. And now I’m freaking out. But the car is handling itself impeccably… And we didn’t die.
THE FM RADIO ON THE OTHER HAND, with all this new electric car technology, may be on its way out. In October 2025, Tesla announced it planned to do away with FM radio in some of its 2026 models. The company had already discontinued AM radio due to issues of electrical interference. A few other major American car manufacturers then floated the same idea for its newer models (before later reversing that decision) prompting backlash from broadcasters, emergency management systems, rural and agricultural organizations, pro-terrestrial-radio groups and pro-free-information advocates. Meanwhile, bi-partisan-supported federal legislation called the ‘AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act,’ which aims to support the AM side of the dial for those same reasons has been stalled in congress for more than a year. // JAMES MUNK
