The am reception on the stereo fitted to my 2008 Vrs is useless, to the point of not being able to hear anything while driving. The FM is spot on. Now i know some will say AM is dead but i do like Talk sport and now and again 5 live for the sport. Any ideas would be great.

Yes, I prefer 5live to R4 (better political debates and phone ins aside from the sport) and am constantly annoyed that it isn't available on FM as the AM reception is pants. In the house I use DAB or the internet for 5Live so I guess the real answer is to get something like the Pure DAB Highway for the car that seems to get decent reviews and is a decent price...

The am reception on the stereo fitted to my 2008 Vrs is useless, to the point of not being able to hear anything while driving. The FM is spot on. Now i know some will say AM is dead but i do like Talk sport and now and again 5 live for the sport. Any ideas would be great.

Change the antenna - when they fail the inbuilt amplifier usually fails & although FM is usually acceptable the AM is useless.

If radio is standard Stream mP3 - hold in the menu button for about 10 secs - a diagnostic screen will appear & I think ANT On should appear top left if amp is ok ...but it can still be bad even with this showing "OK"

Faulure of the aerial base is a common problem on the Octavia, caused by water getting in and killing the electrics located there. FM tends to still work ok, whereas AM stops all together or is inaudible due to a weak signal. Get the dealer to replace the base under warranty (if your car is still covered).