A blog devoted to General Motors trucks this week anwered a most intriguing question: Why do the Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup trucks still use a “whip antenna”?
The answer was simple: AM and FM radio reception in rural areas demands it.
Writer Jonathan Lopez took note that the Silverado and Sierra use the same basic framework of GM’s next-generation, full-size sport utility vehicles. But, while the new SUVs don’t have that whip antenna, the two truck lines do.
GM Authority readers wrote in asking what the deal was with that big wire stick?
GM VP of Global Product Programs Tim Herrick took the question, and replies, “The whip antenna is the best way for us to feed the [AM/FM] radio with signal. There are rural customers who buy a lot of trucks.”
And, it appears these far-from-the-urban world truck drivers don’t want to pay for Sirius XM, putting free local broadcast radio at the top of their audio consumption desires. Or, they want both, as the shark fin antenna is present along with the whip antenna.
Will it always be there? Herrick tells the blog, “Probably one day it won’t. But that was something where we listened to the voice of the customer and they want the ability to get a signal.”
