Weird radio reception in 2020 CX5
 

I'm new here, this is my first post. We love our new CX5; it's a "partner" to our 2017 Subaru Outback. All is well, but I'm a little disappointed in the radio reception. There are TWO stations in San Antonio on 101.9. One plays "smooth jazz," which is our favorite station. The other plays "adult hits," which is 80s and 90s pop rock, etc. Our Subaru gets the smooth jazz station, but the CX5 only gets the "adult hits" station. It's kinda frustrating to drive our brand new CX5 and not be able to listen to our favorite station! FWIW, I've tried turning "HD radio" on and off, and it doesn't change anything. Can anybody help?

Thanks, and I'm happy to join the CX5 community!

Osmigo

Interesting, I did not notice any radio reception issue. One way to try out is to take another CX-5 for a test drive and see if it has the same reception issue.

Are the two stations in opposite directions with you in the middle? I always thought they weren’t supposed to overlap like that.

One option, if you have unlimited data on your phone, is to get the station on an internet radio app and connect with Bluetooth or AndroidAuto / Apple CarPlay.

Both stations are located in the same building, and broadcast from the top of the Tower of the Americas, a 600 ft. tower in the center of town. If I'm anywhere in San Antonio proper, I get one station on the Outback, and the other station on the CX-5. I've emailed the broadcaster about it, but no reply yet. I'll call them if I don't hear back from them soon.

I suspect you have a radio which can handle HDR signals, which can put multiple programs on a single frequency. Check the "Audio Set" section of your owners manual for complete instructions on how to use this feature..

-Karl

Are these HD radio stations? If so, are you saying that the Outback will pick up both 1 and 2, but the CX5 will only pick up 1? If so, have you checked to make sure HD is activated on the CX5? On my 2014, we have numerous HD stations set on presets and they work fine most of the time, except when hills intervene, but that also applies to my Jeep Grand Cherokee and the Pioneer unit in my MX5.

OK, I figured it out. They have 3 stations on that frequency. When you're in "Tune" mode and select that frequency, you see the numbers 1, 2 and 3 in very tiny letters near the bottom of the screen. You turn the big knob to the one you want. My smooth jazz station was on #2. Problem solved.

Great. My CX5 is a 2014 and the controls are totally different, but that HD stuff can cause confusion.

Sounds to me like it is the same station with 3 HD sub-channels. Congratulations on finding the solution.

He is to be congratulated just for having a jazz station available. That's about all I listen to locally, but I miss it when I drive the CX5 out of town since I don't have Sirius enabled. I generally use the Grand Cherokee for travel and when I leave Cincinnati, I switch to Real Jazz.