Norway to switch off FM radio

[Urethra Franklin]

It looks like this is the direction that most countries are headed in, but this seems awfully quick:

www.cbc.ca/beta/news/world/norway-fm-radio-switch-off-digital-1.3923612

I think you've gotta wait until the digital receivers are significantly more affordable. A lot of people will be priced out of this technology immediately.

[xCompackx]

I can't help but question whether radio is something we need to improve as we have satellite radio already and it's pretty damn affordable nowadays. When you look at the jumps in technology (analog to digital TV, VHS to DVD, DVD to Blu-Ray, dial-up to broadband) that have offered legitimate improvements, doesn't FM kind of do what it needs to?

[SAJ Forth]

Strange to think about, given most moved to new mediums,

[G✇JI☈A]

There crazy. You need FM radio. Whose going to tell what's popular?

Let's throw it open to the phones... Best caller goes into the draw to see James Blunt play in Oslo.


Personally I would not miss FM radio if it goes,

[Hit Girl]

I'd miss FM/AM, because I still have a little Sony radio that I listen to if there's a power cut.

[ayumidah]

I still listen to the radio on the boombox my father gave me when I was a teenager so this'll bum me out whenever it hits the States.

[Rumble McSkirmish]

If this ever happens in North America this should be the last song that should be played:

[Sir Woodrow]

This is all just a wily scheme dreamed up by Morten Harket, the front man for 80s Norwegian pop band A-Ha, you see, once FM is switched off the only online digital station will be a 24/7 "Take On Me" channel

[Deleted]

Nah, not gonna happen here in the States. Although a lot of AM stations are partnering up with FM frequencies to simulcast. WBBM is news/weather/traffic and they went that route because with cellular towers, power transformers and bus depots, you lose the AM station through interference. And a lot of buildings have internal issues where your AM is lost.

Our little local station did it. You need local radio to tell you what's going on. You need weather updates, you need to know if school is closed, you need to know what's happening around the area. Satellite can't do that.

[Bo Rida]

Jan 6, 2017 2:39:05 GMT -5 Hit Girl said:

I'd miss FM/AM, because I still have a little Sony radio that I listen to if there's a power cut.

Which is why this is so stupid, FM radio is still the best way to get out emergency news. Internet radio won't cut it.

Digital radio is better but there are still a lot of people that don't have it, can't get it and at least in my experience it's complete shit in vehicles.

[Mozenrath]

Where are the DJs? Only in Kenya!
Only in Kenya there are DJS!

Forget Bore-way!

[Deleted]

There's "Norway" that happens in the US anytime soon.

[Apricots And A Pear Tree]

Norway Killed the Radio Star.

[xCompackx]

I kind of see radio stations closing before there's a widespread adoption of satellite radio for local radio in the US. In a time when a lot of cars at least have audio-in and anyone can download Pandora or Spotify on their phones, there's no point in spending the money to convert every station.

[Jeff Mangum PI]

You had the time
You had the power
You've yet to have, your finest hour

[Surfer Sandman]

FM radio won't die where I am. If anything, the larger stations will go away, leaving the frequency for community and college radio stations.

[Mayonnaise]

Jan 7, 2017 10:32:01 GMT -5 @sandman said:

You need local radio to tell you what's going on. You need weather updates, you need to know if school is closed, you need to know what's happening around the area. Satellite can't do that.

I can get local traffic and weather on XM right now, with a little more effort they could easily slide in top stories and things like closures or events.

[Father Dougal McGuire]

On a sidenote, the one thing that pissed me off about having XM in my car was that it would go out like AM does when I went over a bridge or overpass. I don't want to get to technical blah blah here, but maybe AM is good enough for Norway. After all AM does have a greater transmission distance on a high wattage signal.

[Push R Truth]

Won't happen any decade soon due to safety/notification/reliability issues, and I'm not taking anything else into account.

The government won't let all that be left to something way up in the sky that can get destroyed by a rogue chip of paint. This goes far beyond the misunderstood "Well nobody listens to it" argument.