A motor vehicle entertainment system includes a radio receiver and a control unit. The control unit receives a first status signal indicative of whether or not a motor vehicle door has been unlocked and initiates the application of power to the radio receiver upon the first status signal indicating that the door has been unlocked. Upon the application of power to the radio receiver, the radio receiver scans through a selected frequency spectrum to identify valid frequencies and their associated broadcast identifying information and stores a list of the valid frequencies and their associated broadcast identifying information in a memory device associated with the radio receiver. The radio receiver acquires and records information on a plurality of transmitters initially in a standby mode before it switches over to an operating mode. The radio receiver has a device for receiving an ON command from the user and switches from the standby mode to the operating mode when the ON command is received. The radio receiver may begin to operate before the ON command is input by the user, and independently of this input. If the radio receiver begins to operate in sufficient time before input of the ON command, then collection of transmitter information by the radio receiver may already be complete before the user inputs the ON command, which is typically indicative of the desire of the user to listen to an audio signal.