FM radio is secured until 2030. The Baltic Sea region will be DAB free.
January 2020 is the start of a new ten-year license period for the commercial radio in Finland. There will be seven national FM licenses, with a coverage of at least 75 percent of the population. In addition, eleven partially national radio networks (at least 40% in household coverage) are announced as well as a number of regional and local states. Among other things, there is room for AM and also eight stations in Helsinki.
Digital radio in France is overwhelmingly online
According to the French magazine La Lettre Pro there are 51.000 OTA radio stations globally. 97% of the 12.299 radio stations in Europe are FM or AM. 11.827 broadcast on FM, 276 on AM (long and medium wave). Digital terrestrial radio only 353 on DAB and 881 on DAB+
Sales are not impressive, not even in Norway
The WorldDAB organisation reports that almost 12 million DAB receivers were sold in 2017 in Europe and Asia Pacific, a new record for yearly sales. Almost half (5.9m) of the sales were for automotive devices, with key markets showing a significant increase in the number of cars sold with DAB fitted as standard.
The transition from FM is considered to be the problem.
Meanwhile, all good news for local FM radio.
During 2017 national public and commercial radio made a complete with-over from FM to DAB+. Now, media agencies' investments in radio advertising show that the two commercial networks Radio Norway and P4 in four months have backed from NOK 144.5 million to a turnover of 133.2 million. By April they have backed 7.8 %, says the CEO of the Media Agency, Merete Mandt Larsen to ad business magazine Kampanje. Just for April development is even worse. Radio ad investments was down by 17%.
Predicts all-IP future. Current charter period is one of transition
Speaking at the Digital TV Group Summit in London, the BBC’s chief technology and product officer, Matthew Postgate, said that the BBC’s current 11-year charter period will be “one of transition” and said that change is already underway. While the BBC will continue to cater for both people who watch and listen to traditional linear channels and those who use the web as their premium consumption method, Postgate said that the question is not when, but how we will make the transition to being an internet broadcaster.
According to the EBU no such solution is considered
At the Norwegian electronics industry's Digitalforum recently, Gunnar Garfors from the NRK claimed that the public service organisation EBU is discussing using the 5G in FM band. The EBU is discussing using FM for 5G. There is the possibility of a pilot in Norway, said Garfors. There are areas in Norway where there is nothing on FM and tests can be done, Garfors explained. However, this idea was immediately rejected by many experts. Today, on our request, EBU has confirmed that the EBU has no such plans at all.
Digital terrestrial radio is a flop
What the future of the radio can look like, shows a view of the United States. Radio usage has declined steadily over the traditional FM and medium wave distribution channels, and internet radio listening has been steadily rising. In 2017, radio Internet use for the first time overtook the use of radio over the traditional channels and is clearly ahead of the clock at 879 minutes per week. Terrestrial radio is only 780 minutes.
Desperate Public Broadcaster Attempt to Get Rid of Local FM Radio
Smart mobile system 5G will launch worldwide in 2020 and there is hard work to find enough frequency space. For Europe, very high frequencies are now assigned 3.4-3.6, 26 Ghz and 700 MHz band. During the conference Digitalforum in Oslo, a representative of the public broadcaster NRK stated that the EBU is discussing using the 5G in FM band. A test can be done in Norway and can be done in a short period of time. However, the idea was rejected by several experts.
Media Authority: Local radio is important for media diversity.
The effort to switch national radio from FM to DAB+ has not been positive for radio
listening in Norway, despite the fact that there are now 31 DAB-channels, many of which are new. On the contrary, developments indicate stagnation bceause many Norwegians discard DAB and continue listening to FM on local radio and cross-border radio. The forced DAB switch-over is not the success story as presented at conferences around Europe. Rather this is a national failure confirmed by recent listening surveys, and also by the fact that only one out two cars have a DAB radio installed.
Union adopted a resolution for expanding FM. New chairman elected.
NLF members are large and small local radio stations throughout Norway, both commercial and non-commercial (community radio). Aslak Sommerfelt Skretting (Jærradio Group) /picture at the right/ has been selected as new chair of the Norwegian Local Radio Association (NLF) after Svein Larsen (Radio Metro). - The meeting in Kristiansand also decided that local radio must be allowed to continue and expand on the FM band for the same license period as for DAB broadcasters, until 2031.
Much of vast Australian continent only served by medium wave broadcasting.
In a bid to serve Australia’s very unique radio market, Boston-based radio manufacturer Tivoli Audio has added AM (analog mediumwave) radio reception to its high-quality Tivoli Model One Digital FM/DAB+ receiver. The reason why these modifications were necessary is related to Australia’s geography and population distribution.
Analysis: DAB lobby pushing government officials
The Minister of Culture Mette Bock (Liberal Alliance) has presented a proposal to close FM by 2021 in order to promote digital radio (i.e. DAB). A closure of FM is an issue of survival for the DAB system and its stakeholders (mainly EBU and WorldDAB) who want more countries to follow Norway's example. DAB+ has a very slow growth in Denmark, with only about 15% listening on a weekly basis, while Teracom, the DAB network operator, finds it difficult to secure additional channels - besides those already on both DAB+ and FM - in its new multiplex.
