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.
