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By Timothy Revell

Norway will be the first country to start turning off FM radio. Over the course of 2017, the FM radio network will slowly be switched off, with listeners only able to listen to digital programmes instead.

The northern county of Nordland will cease to broadcast FM radio from tomorrow, with other regions following suit throughout the year.

Many countries have toyed with the idea of parting company with FM, but a combination of ageing equipment and geography mean Norway is particularly keen to replace its analog FM system with digital audio broadcasting (DAB).

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2117569-norway-is-first-country-to-turn-off-fm-radio-and-go-digital-only/

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/11/norway-begins-switching-off-analog-radio

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Comments

DonnyThompson Sun, 02/05/2017 - 04:10

Time marches on, and with it, so does technology.

I'm sure it will save money... can't help but be a little sad though.

Then again, "radio" as we know it, and as we grew up with, has been circling the drain for quite sometime now.

I miss the jocks, the personalities, who could pretty much play whatever they wanted.
I got turned on to a lot of very cool music that way.

Now, it's all pre-programmed by some bean counter who works at the corporate HQ for Clear Channel, or I-Heart... and the jocks are forced to play what they are emailed every morning by those boring middle-aged white guys who sit in a boardroom somewhere, and determine what they think people like.

Even "classic rock" radio plays the same old chestnuts over and over - as if Money was the only song Pink Floyd ever recorded, or Rock and Roll was Zep's only big song.

And If I have to endure yet another play of Honky Tonk Women, I'm gonna stick my tongue in a Cuisinart. It would be less painful.

:p

pEEN M. Sun, 02/05/2017 - 11:18

audiokid, post: 447187, member: 1 wrote: @pEEN M. My new friend from Norway, (my mothers homeland as well) ... :) This is very interesting. How do you feel about this? I listened to a radio show and was astonish how much money you will save just on the electrical costs! It was something like 165 million $.

Haha, this is so strange to me, that the rest of the world actually cares about this. I don't know how I feel personally. I'm weird with listening to music, so it mostly never involves a radio. However, I always did want to boot up a pirate radio station, so maybe this is a good time? Lol.

My step-dad asked me if he could perhaps dial in the Swedish FM on his old radio.. So I'm guessing this will suck for the older generations the most.

DonnyThompson Sun, 02/05/2017 - 14:08

Brien Holcombe, post: 447206, member: 48996 wrote: My truck doesn't get digital....so it seems that turning off fm in America, static as it may be, isn't going to happen overnight. ..not here anyway.

Well, I always have my trusty old Delco 8 -Track deck to lean on for entertainment, in case FM really does go away (simply insert matchbook under cartridge so you don't hear 2 "programs" at once... and ya gotta love how a song ends on one "side" and then picks up on the other... it's that satisfying loud "click" as it switches "tracks" that really makes it all worth it). Also, no rewind on 8 track decks... FF only.

I think somewhere, I still have Pink Floyd's Animals on 8 track, along with Springsteen's Greetings From Asbury Park... so I'm good for now. You just haven't heard true fidelity until you've listened to an 8-Track tape in your car. ;)

audiokid Sun, 02/05/2017 - 14:33

I grabbed an 8 track cassette player a few years back because I had a strange number of clients all of a sudden asking me to put those songs on CD for them.
I bought it for $5 !

From what I've read, some say most of the FM transmission will be gone in the next 5 years. If Norway is saving 165 million $ a year on power, can you imagine what the over-all world power costs are to transmit FM.

I love FM, it's really all I listen to. But that too is compressed now. The selection of FM where I live is narrowing and AM is pretty much gone.

And here I was just thinking about sourcing out an old tube radio where I could sit by my wood stove and do some bandwidth surfing. Shortwave has always been of interest to me. Maybe one day I'll take that hobby up.