When Norway completed the shutdown of its national FM radio signals the tech sites and blogs were all breathless in reporting the news. But, despite the strong currents of digital triumphalism, the way of Norway is not a sign of things to come for analog radio.
As Norway paved the way for the wholesale move to digital radio, other European states have been watching from the sidelines. The UK, in particular, has a well developed DAB digital radio infrastructure, with plenty of stations and decent penetration of receivers–now around 36%. So eyes and ears have been on that much larger nation, where some politicians and regulators have floated the idea of a digital radio transition.
However, just recently the BBC weighed in on the issue, voting soundly in favor of keeping analog FM radio alive “for the foreseeable future.” As the 900 pound gorilla in British broadcasting, it’s unlikely that government regulators would strongly oppose the Beeb’s desire to keep transmitting in glorious analog.
Speaking at a radio conference in Vienna, BBC director of radio Bob Shannon said, “Great progress has been made,” in digital broadcasting, “but switchover now would be premature.” He emphasized that audiences want a choice of broadcast systems, and one of those choices is good old FM.
Though widely reported in the British press, nary a peep of Shannon’s pro-FM comments appeared Stateside. Sure, the internet is global, making these UK stories just a search away. But how many average American readers are trolling the papers across the pond? It’s sort of telling that the U.S. tech press took almost zero note, especially after getting so hot and bothered when an advanced industrialized–but also tiny–country forcibly shut down most of its analog radio signals.
Given that the UK was the next big hope for digital radio to succeed analog, don’t expect that many other countries will be sunsetting FM any time soon. Least of which will be the U.S., where by comparison we barely have digital radio broadcasting.
While HD Radio is digital, it coexists and hangs off of analog FM signals. Moreover, home or portable HD Radio receivers are rare, whereas in the UK you can walk into just about any retailer and buy a digital radio receiver right off the shelf. Such ubiquity is just a pipe dream in the U.S., where the only reason the average listener knows about HD Radio is because of the ads that get run perpetually on commercial radio. Yet if you ask that average listener if they know how, or why, they would listen to HD Radio, you’d likely just get a shrug in response.
More than 90% of the American population still listens to AM/FM radio every month. And while plenty of other options, from satellite radio to podcasting, compete and provide alternatives to radio, the old analog broadcast medium persists. That’s because it works, works well, and reliably.
If there’s any reason to turn off radio, that has more to do with the abysmal programming brought on by the nation’s largest commercial station owners, who are more interested in treating stations like real estate on a Monopoly board than being broadcasters. Turns out, that was a bad bet, but that has nothing to do with radio, and everything to do with reductionist profiteering that saw a cheap buck in consolidation and disinvestment.
Broadcasting in digital doesn’t make crappy programming any better.
So don’t worry. You’ll probably break your FM radio before it becomes obsolete.
