But it still works almost the same way. You hold it near a thing to get energy is mostly required because it works with very little power, let's say some milliwatts. Whereas old AM stations where sending in the range of megawatts.
That broadcast power is required to provide range. Radio waves obey the inverse-square law: for every doubling of the distance from source you get four times less power. This is also why wireless power transmission at a distance isn't really viable.