Norway to shut down FM radio in favour of digital in bold move

[IdleMonitor]

Norway is set to become the first nation to start switching off its FM radio network next week, in a risky and unpopular leap to digital technology that will be closely watched by other countries considering whether to follow suit.

The shutdown of the FM (Frequency Modulation) network, introduced in the 1950s, will begin in the northern city of Bodoe on Jan. 11.

By the end of the year, all national FM broadcasts will be closed in favor of Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB), which backers say carries less hiss and clearer sound throughout the large nation of 5 million people cut by fjords and mountains.

Norway to shut down FM radio in favour of digital in bold move - National | Globalnews.ca

 

[jwt873]

I see they're leaving the regular FM band (88 to 108 Mhz) and moving to VHF (various frequencies between 174 to 240 Mhz). A little more reading about DAB shows that there are some channels available around 1.4 Ghz (in the L Band).

I don't know if this will go over in North America. The spectrum is pretty full between 174 to 240 Mhz.

 

[FredKing]

digital radios

Which means everybody will have to buy new radios for the house, car etc. very costly.

 

[SCPD]

Another punchline move for mother M To push LTE, 7/800 on users and lobbying to get the vhf vacated if it was to be planned for the usa unless they used the ghz.

 

[ResQguy]

Both the 2009 DTV transition and the 2013 VHF narrowbanding happened and the world hasn't ended yet. It's 2017 folks, time to move on.

 

[Boombox]

Unless they changed their plans, FM will still be alive and well in Bodø as well as other cities in Norway, because not all of the commercial FM stations will fit onto the DAB system. There are only so many DAB channels available nationwide.

The national NRK radio networks (their version of the BBC or CBC) will be DAB and online only. The NRK already has online streaming for all of its own channels (so far it's been non-geofenced).

Over 50% of Norwegian homes have DAB or digital radio access. DAB radio sales were a big deal there a few years ago apparently.

Ironically, in the far north the NRK still has a longwave channel open, to serve mariners and fishermen.

 

[IdleMonitor]

Digital has not killed the radio frequency in Canada — yet

As Norway moves to eliminate FM, 14 radio stations experimenting with HD Radio here



Norway may be switching off its FM radio network in favour of digital but don't expect the same type of tune-out to happen in Canada any time soon.


Digital has not killed the radio frequency in Canada

 

[MTS2000des]

Which means everybody will have to buy new radios for the house, car etc. very costly.

That's just it: consumers aren't buying new radios, at least here in the states. If FM goes away, most of the population won't care.

Radio in general is moving online and mobile listening is being done over cellular networks more and more.

The last "technology refresh" OTA radio got in North America was the adoption of a proprietary, feeble, expensive and utterly useless implementation of digital known as HD radio from your friends at iBiquity,

How many people are running out to buy them? very few, so few, consumer electronics stores and mass retailers like Wal-Mart don't even carry them.

 

[gtaman]

Which means everybody will have to buy new radios for the house, car etc. very costly.

Not really. A lot of radios sold in Europe have DAB+ tuners in them. Honestly I love DAB+, Hi-Fi audio plus artist and track info at 256Kbps waaaayyy better than satellite radio. Plus no manual tuning, It's all done automatically.

 

[WPXS472]

If it is anything like the Digital TV transition here, some people will be delighted and some will lose their FM radio. I can no longer receive off air TV because of the digital transition. My TV is capable, I just don't receive any stations anymore. I even went to the expense and bother of putting up a nice, fringe area rated antenna. The FCC was so sure that digital had better range, they had all the stations here, at least, reduce power considerably. I know some folks who live close to the stations who were very happy with the change. Those good folk in Norway will adapt. If they can stand the winters up there, DAB won't be a big deal.

 

[CrabbyMilton]

I know things are different in the rest of the world but if FM radio as we have known it forever would go away, I would lose no sleep over it. The music I love has not been heard on the FM band for about 20 years. Whatever they are broadcasting on there now is of little to no interest to me and since it changes often, it's almost academic. I rely on my own CD's and downloads for my music fix plus YOUTUBE is wonderful for any type of music you want to hear.
I only listen to AM news talk and only switch to the FM band when I want to plug my small transmitter into my scanner in the car or the local AM station hands off the MLB baseball game to it's sister FM outlet.

 

[kc0kp]

I know things are different in the rest of the world but if FM radio as we have known it forever would go away, I would lose no sleep over it. The music I love has not been heard on the FM band for about 20 years. Whatever they are broadcasting on there now is of little to no interest to me and since it changes often, it's almost academic. I rely on my own CD's and downloads for my music fix plus YOUTUBE is wonderful for any type of music you want to hear.
I only listen to AM news talk and only switch to the FM band when I want to plug my small transmitter into my scanner in the car or the local AM station hands off the MLB baseball game to it's sister FM outlet.

That's just it: consumers aren't buying new radios, at least here in the states. If FM goes away, most of the population won't care.

Radio in general is moving online and mobile listening is being done over cellular networks more and more.

The last "technology refresh" OTA radio got in North America was the adoption of a proprietary, feeble, expensive and utterly useless implementation of digital known as HD radio from your friends at iBiquity,

How many people are running out to buy them? very few, so few, consumer electronics stores and mass retailers like Wal-Mart don't even carry them.

At least in my market, there is a melding of these two topics. We have a very good oldie station that is on AM playing 60s and 70s music. It sounds like what AM sounded like in the 60s. But the same station is available on a local FM station's HD2 channel and it sounds great. Yes letting Ibuiquity have the monopoly was a huge mistake and has lead to massive unacceptance. But I have a Kenwood HD receiver in the car, a Zune for portability and a Insignia receiver in the office all on HD. I am happy to say they all sound better than XM around town.
Craig

 

[CrabbyMilton]

That's great that your preferred music is still available.
But what I'm saying and I know you are intelligent enough to understand that if not enough other people listen, it won't exist. Many long standing stations with the same formats forever have gone away and please don't think that I wish that since obviously there's a market for it.
You also know that there are alternatives to being a slave to AM/FM radio.
My barber has been a classical music fan forever. He always has it on in his shop. Back in the 90's though, the longtime classical FM station changed formats and frequencies a few times until the format disappeared altogether. Rather than despair about it, he just plugs the speakers into his IPOD or SMARTPHONE and he has more tracks than the station did.
Good perspective on you part though.

 

[reedeb]

Actually her in DFW region we have a classical station I hav it set on my clack radio and on my Baofeng Ham HT

 

[CrabbyMilton]

Is it a commercial or one of those public radio types?

 

[mfn002]

That's just it: consumers aren't buying new radios, at least here in the states. If FM goes away, most of the population won't care.

Radio in general is moving online and mobile listening is being done over cellular networks more and more.

The last "technology refresh" OTA radio got in North America was the adoption of a proprietary, feeble, expensive and utterly useless implementation of digital known as HD radio from your friends at iBiquity,

How many people are running out to buy them? very few, so few, consumer electronics stores and mass retailers like Wal-Mart don't even carry them.

I don't know where you got your data from, but broadcast radio seems to be holding its own pretty well. This is true for HD radio, too. Almost all of the big name FM broadcast stations in Houston broadcast in HD. There are several local stations around here that do as well.

 

[btritch]

Satellite Radio is Digital, It's basically the same concept, Just on different frequencies instead of GHZ.

 

[reedeb]

Is it a commercial or one of those public radio types?

A commercial radio station

 

[CrabbyMilton]

That's good to know. I know a lot of people get mad at me because I don't believe the govt. should be in the radio and TV business. Like I said in one of my previous rants, if there is a market for a certain type of music or TV program, the free market will determine that. None of this "please send us money or your favorite programs and music will go away." Then they get money from Uncle Sam on top of that. The heck with it since they think people don't know about the alternatives like the internet.

 

[reedeb]

The money from US is just a token about 25% of what they need yearly they donations from corporations and foundations is another 50% so the folks giving them monies is the rest of what they need to keep going.

US doesn't pay for it all