I remember back in the 1960s and 1970s,the AM radios in cars were super-sensitive, and tuned in all sorts of “out of local area” stations.
Whattya bet the “new” ones are somehow range-limited.
Tight squelches, or deliberately reduced sensitivity to cover the God-awful interference all the damnfool computers and high-power, high-current switching to regulate the energy fed to the motors causes.
It wasn't the radio, it was the transmitter. AM radio has decent range during the day and magnificent rage at night. That's because of atmospheric conditions and the frequency range. Some stations will power their transmitters down at night to avoid interfering with other transmitters in the U.S. or our neighbors to the north or south. Look up shortwave radio. You can hear things from all around the world in the right conditions.