Hände weg von UKW! Hands off FM!

FM switch-off in Norway not a good example for German commercial radio
In an interview, Klaus Schunck chairman of the German commercial radio organization VPRT warns against the Norwegian example of falling listening figures when closing FM broadcasting. He believes that commercial radio can accept a transition to DAB only when FM listening is below 10%.
The interview was made in the light of the failure to push through a transition agreement in the German government coalition setup.

Government Party Supporting Local FM Radio in Norway

Jensen, Solberg & Grande (photo: Dagbladet)

National channels now only available on DAB. But many listeners will stay on FM or go online.
An increasing number of Norwegian radio listeners now prefer local radio on FM instead of national DAB. This is while 1 million cars still lack DAB radio. The Progress Party (Frp) in Oslo has now adopted at a resolution that local radio should continue on FM, even after 2021. According to lokalradio.no sources, the resolution will probably be adopted at the forthcoming national party congress. The party is in charge of the finance ministry.

No Agreement For FM Switch-Off in Germany

Setback for the DAB lobby:
FM shutdown plan again removed from coalition agreement
Today CDU/CSU and SPD have agreed on a government coalition agreement. In the meantime, a very strongly polarizing media topic - digital radio - has been removed from the treaty: the stipulation for an FM shutdown during the coming mandate period. Instead, a non-committing wording is included in the agreement. (as follows below)

Deteriorating Emergency Radio in Norway After DAB Transition

Neigbouring Sweden continues to expand FM networks.
The security situation will leave DAB out of the picture.
The increasingly tense security situation around the Baltic Sea has definitely killed all visions of replacing the current FM networks with any different technologies like DAB+ in Sweden. This according to our reliable sources in government authorities. Reports from Norway during the 2017 national FM switch-off also confirm many of the concerns expressed in referral reports from several Swedish authorities regarding the latest digital radio 2015 proposal to replace FM with DAB+.  - Now, there are indications of an upcoming disaster for the radio emergency alert capacity in Norway unless there will be a change of course.

A German FM Switch-Off Plan Rejected by Broadcasters and Listeners

A protest storm by commercial radio organisations. 

Bavaria poll: Overwhelming majority against FM shutdown.
Bavaria is the German state in which the digital radio DAB+ is most developed. But still almost next to none want a shutdown of the analogue FM radio (VHF) in favor of DAB according emerges from a survey of the private broadcaster Antenne Bayern . "Shall we force a shutdown on VHF?", the station asked. A staggering 91.6 percent of respondents say "No, they want to decide for themselves how to receive radio." Only 8.4 percent said they could do without FM.

DAB Radio in Norway Close to the Abyss. FM Still On.

Picture: VG

Lobbyists are spreading a false picture of the digital OTA transition
During 2017 Norway switched-off its national FM network and replaced it with DAB+. Reports distributed by DAB promoters to international media depict the transition as ”successful”. However, the listeners do not agree. Last month the Oslo daily Dagbladet published a Ipsos poll indicating that 56% of the Norwegians are not satisfied with DAB, 31% satisfied and 12% do not know. 
Trying to force the listeners to scrap their FM receivers and invest in DAB+ receivers will come to a high cost for the three major broadcasters. Public radio NRK has lost a considerable part of its listeners – about a fifth during 2017.