A mechanic spotted shoddy workmanship on a repair that should be fairly easy—removing and replacing an antenna to fix static issues with a car radio. It also made everyone wonder: Who even still listens to the radio?
The video documenting the sloppy initial attempt and the fix came from creator Menjicar (@menjicar), featured in a prior Daily Dot story, who does a great deal of car repair content on his TikTok feed. This recent offering received more than 504,000 views.
“You guys need to start being more careful who you take your car to,” he starts the video. He then talks about a woman who brought a radio in with terrible static issues—which can be utterly maddening for anyone who listens to the radio in the car.
The mechanic then revealed the issue: “I guess she had gone to a different shop where they tried to glue this antenna, and I guess maybe ended up breaking it or something.”
Digging in further, he does determine that the mechanic not only attempted to glue the antenna in place, but it appeared to have water damage leaving it corroded and unable to function.
He then walked through a relatively quick repair, starting with the reveal that the antenna is supposed to have a cover that better helps it snap into place.
“Radio had terrible signal,” the caption noted. “Turns out the antenna was faulty due to a previous shop.”
By contrast, he assessed at the end of the video, “Radio sounds a whole lot better,” doing a demo to close it out.
Is a car radio still relevant?
In this age of streaming and Apple CarPlay, you might wonder if having a functioning car radio even matters.
That was the subject of discussion at the recent WorldDAB Summit 2024, where one speaker talked about the importance of keeping the radio prominent on the center console screen present in many new cars.
“It’s really important to keep radio prominent, to have an easy findability [for the listener],” said Gregor Pötzsch, radio product owner of the Volkswagen Group’s CARIAD and chair of the WorldDAB Automotive Working Group, according to Radio World.
The article also noted that conversely, per Pötzsch, “radio stations need to provide multimedia content that looks compelling on a car’s dashboard video screen.”
Although, dashboard screens are increasingly dangerous, as a Daily Dot investigation discovered. And that concern around new technology may be a good thing.
A Statista chart from August shows that 70% of U.S. drivers 18 and over use a radio in the car, compared to 55% using online audio, 32% listening to podcasts, and one in four still using the tried-and-true CD. As the chart title noted, “Radio still rules the road.”
‘They make it worse’
Commenters brought their opinions to the forum.
“Who uses the radio nowadays?” queried one, echoing others who clearly haven’t been up on their recent Statista charts.
“All they had to do was replace it lmao,” observed another. “They make it worse, glad she found you.”
One wondered, “How much did you charge?”
The creator responded, “$600.”
That led someone else to chime in, “This lady is just getting scammed left and right.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Nissan via email and to the creator via TikTok and Instagram direct message.
@menjicar Radio had terrible signal, turns out the antenna was faulty due to a previous shop. #automotivetechnician #mobiletechnician #nissan #goodmechanics #carscam #viral ♬ original sound – Menjicar
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