Norway to become first country to turn off FM radio

[cpzilliacus]

No static at all.

WTOP Radio: Norway to become first country to turn off FM radio

Norway is set to become the first country to permanently click the "off"  button on FM radio.

The country has announced that it will start turning off FM band stations on January 11, 2017, with the last FM signal airing by December 13, 2017.

The statement, by country's Ministry of Culture says Norway is ready to eliminate FM radio, since the transition to digital radio is well underway.

[cjk374]

First Norway. Next...THE WORLD!!!!        

[Dr Frankenstein]

No static at all.

Indeed; instead, choppy sound and/or interruptions when the signal is bad (like we currently get on cellphones).

[Mr. Matté]

So hypothetically, I bring my 1996 Camry over to Norway in 2018 and I turn my radio on to 102.9. Will I get nothing or will I still get stations to listen to?

[cpzilliacus]

No static at all.

Indeed; instead, choppy sound and/or interruptions when the signal is bad (like we currently get on cellphones).

Note that was actually taking advantage of my age and memory of a song from my younger days.

No static at all is a reference to a 1970's track by Steely Dan track called FM.  You can listen to the track itself on YouTube here.

[cpzilliacus]

So hypothetically, I bring my 1996 Camry over to Norway in 2018 and I turn my radio on to 102.9. Will I get nothing or will I still get stations to listen to?

Unless you are near the border with Sweden (long, but generally runs along ridgetops, so FM signals from Sweden probably do not penetrate that far into Norway) or Finland (shorter but in a very sparsely populated area), you will get nothing on an analog FM radio.

[Henry]

Talk about moving backwards...in technology, that is. Here in America, lots of people are fretting over losing AM radio, while in another country, they do the same thing to the other band. I think that's how it goes in the Bizarro World.

[mgk920]

I like the range of AM - my normal listening during the day involves AMs from both Milwaukee and Chicago.   And you can't get that with FM nor digital.



Heck, the FMs in Chicago broadcast with so little power that they've all pretty much faded away before one even reaches either Kankakee or the Wisconsin state line.

Mike

[cpzilliacus]

I like the range of AM - my normal listening during the day involves AMs from both Milwaukee and Chicago.   And you can't get that with FM nor digital.



Heck, the FMs in Chicago broadcast with so little power that they've all pretty much faded away before one even reaches either Kankakee or the Wisconsin state line.

Which is why satellite radio is so much better than terrestrial radio for long road trips. 

Unless I am in a specific area with an all-news or news talk format and traffic reports (examples include WTOP in the D.C. area, WBAL in Baltimore, WCBS in New York City, KNX in Los Angeles, WSB in Atlanta, KMOX in St. Louis and WBZ in Boston), I stick with satellite radio.

[english si]

Coastal southern Norway might get UK/Danish FM radio. Certainly it would be able to get BBC Radio 4 longwave where the mountains don't get in the way and probably it would get medium wave AM channels broadcasting from NE Scotland.

AM's range and low tech (AM radios are really simple electronics) means it will survive, at least in some form. Sure it sucks for music, but for conveying of information, it's great. Despite expensive tech for getting weather forecasts, ships in the seas around the UK will listen to the Shipping Forecast on Radio 4 to make sure the expensive equipment is working properly. Radio 4 LW not working is apparently one of a handful of signs the commanders of the submarines that carry the UK's nuclear deterrent use to work out whether civilisation still exists in the UK.

FM's survival, on the other hand, is seemingly dependent solely on digital/online radio not being taken up. Cars, even new ones, don't tend to have DAB radios in them, which is a key reason why (say) the UK isn't transitioning to reclaim the FM band.

And what will the Norwegians do with the bandwidth they free up?

[GCrites]

So hypothetically, I bring my 1996 Camry over to Norway in 2018 and I turn my radio on to 102.9. Will I get nothing or will I still get stations to listen to?

You do that now and it's going to be fuzzy anyway. Europe uses even numbered frequency decimals so you'd be stuck trying to pull in 102.8 or 103.0 with your North American-spec radio.

[NJRoadfan]

Incorrect, the US only broadcasts on "odd" frequencies with 200khz spacing due to FCC regulations. Europe permits 100khz spacing. There are a handful of areas that use 50khz spacing as well, but it is uncommon.

http://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/fm-frequencies-end-odd-decimal

[bugo]

Satellite radio is awful. They play the same annoying songs over and over. The "good" stations play good stuff but also play garbage. I wouldn't take satellite radio if it were free. I'd rather just listen to MP3s on my phone or iPod.

[froggie]

Satellite radio is awful. They play the same annoying songs over and over.

I have not had this issue with the stations I typically listen to.


Does anyone know how Norway is operating/transmitting their digital radio?  Is it similar to the handful of "digital FM" stations that we have here in the US?  Which frequency band are they transmitting in?

[02 Park Ave]

They will be using the DAB+ system by then.

[DTComposer]

Satellite radio is awful. They play the same annoying songs over and over. The "good" stations play good stuff but also play garbage. I wouldn't take satellite radio if it were free. I'd rather just listen to MP3s on my phone or iPod.

Everyone's going to have their preference, but I'd have to respectfully disagree with you on this. I have twelve presets on my satellite radio, seven of which are music, playing specific genres/sub-genres that I enjoy, so the chance of me not liking a song is low. Rotation on those stations range from average (comparable to a terrestrial station in the same genre) to very low (after a year I have yet to hear a song more than a handful of times). If I do happen to not like a song, there's six other presets to choose, plus 60+ other music channels to dabble with. I've almost never listened to FM since I've gotten satellite. Add in the talk stations, and the fact that I can do my drives across California without having to constantly re-scan for stations, and it's well worth the subscription. Again, just my opinion.

My iPod has about 4,000 songs on it, and I find myself skipping through lots of songs - even though I personally selected them, I find that I often have listener fatigue.

[NJRoadfan]

Does anyone know how Norway is operating/transmitting their digital radio?  Is it similar to the handful of "digital FM" stations that we have here in the US?  Which frequency band are they transmitting in?

Norway uses the DAB/DAB+ standard aka Eureka-147. It usually broadcasts on 1452—1492Mhz (reserved for government use in the USA). Canada tried to implement it, but dumped it in favor of IBOC.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Audio_Broadcasting

IBOC itself exists solely to solve the problem of shutting up the NAB. They fought the prospect of new spectrum being opened up for digital-only broadcasts.

[Laura]

Satellite radio is awful. They play the same annoying songs over and over. The "good" stations play good stuff but also play garbage. I wouldn't take satellite radio if it were free. I'd rather just listen to MP3s on my phone or iPod.

Everyone's going to have their preference, but I'd have to respectfully disagree with you on this. I have twelve presets on my satellite radio, seven of which are music, playing specific genres/sub-genres that I enjoy, so the chance of me not liking a song is low. Rotation on those stations range from average (comparable to a terrestrial station in the same genre) to very low (after a year I have yet to hear a song more than a handful of times). If I do happen to not like a song, there's six other presets to choose, plus 60+ other music channels to dabble with. I've almost never listened to FM since I've gotten satellite. Add in the talk stations, and the fact that I can do my drives across California without having to constantly re-scan for stations, and it's well worth the subscription. Again, just my opinion.

My iPod has about 4,000 songs on it, and I find myself skipping through lots of songs - even though I personally selected them, I find that I often have listener fatigue.

I got free satellite radio on my rental car last summer when I drove to SD and back. It was awful. Their station playlist selections were WORSE than FM stations, which is a shame since they have the ability to be more creative on XM since they aren't reliant on advertising. Seriously, the 80s on 8 station played the same top 40 countdown over and over for DAYS. That's fine if you only listen to it for a few minutes a day, but not for a longer trip.




iPhone

[GCrites]

Incorrect, the US only broadcasts on "odd" frequencies with 200khz spacing due to FCC regulations. Europe permits 100khz spacing. There are a handful of areas that use 50khz spacing as well, but it is uncommon.

http://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/fm-frequencies-end-odd-decimal

I did not know that. Suppose I always hit the 97.2s and 100.0s without paying attention.

[US 41]

I like the range of AM - my normal listening during the day involves AMs from both Milwaukee and Chicago.   And you can't get that with FM nor digital.



Heck, the FMs in Chicago broadcast with so little power that they've all pretty much faded away before one even reaches either Kankakee or the Wisconsin state line.

Mike

Yeah and out west when you're literally in the middle of no where AM is way better than FM, especially since you might be 150 miles from the next town of any size.

[The Nature Boy]

I personally like satellite radio. It may play the same things, but if you have presets, you can easily switch between your favorite stations to cut down on the repetition. Also, if you travel a lot then it helps to not have to search the dial every hour or so because you move out of range of whatever station you're listening to.

And the range of AM is amazing, especially the high power station. If you're in a rural area, you can get stations from pretty far away at night. When I was driving in West Virginia one night, I was even able to pick up WBZ NewsRadio out of Boston.

[bugo]

Most cell phones have FM receivers built in. They can easily be activated using an app (you might have to root it first.)

[cpzilliacus]

I got free satellite radio on my rental car last summer when I drove to SD and back. It was awful. Their station playlist selections were WORSE than FM stations, which is a shame since they have the ability to be more creative on XM since they aren't reliant on advertising. Seriously, the 80s on 8 station played the same top 40 countdown over and over for DAYS. That's fine if you only listen to it for a few minutes a day, but not for a longer trip.

I otherwise like 80's on 8 on Sirius, but I do not like those countdowns running over and over and over again.

[Brandon]

I got free satellite radio on my rental car last summer when I drove to SD and back. It was awful. Their station playlist selections were WORSE than FM stations, which is a shame since they have the ability to be more creative on XM since they aren't reliant on advertising. Seriously, the 80s on 8 station played the same top 40 countdown over and over for DAYS. That's fine if you only listen to it for a few minutes a day, but not for a longer trip.

I otherwise like 80's on 8 on Sirius, but I do not like those countdowns running over and over and over again.

They only run them on Friday night (8 pm CT), and a few times on Saturday and then on Sunday as repeats.  They do not run them Monday through Thursday.  I appreciate the repeat as I cannot listen to the entire Friday night broadcast in one shot.

[cpzilliacus]

They only run them on Friday night (8 pm CT), and a few times on Saturday and then on Sunday as repeats.  They do not run them Monday through Thursday.  I appreciate the repeat as I cannot listen to the entire Friday night broadcast in one shot.

It seems like they (re)run the countdown shows over and over starting on Friday nights.