Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Chief executive of Digital Radio UK tells the Today programme that digital-only is the future of radio

Norway is the first country in the world to start switching off its analogue radio signals.

The Nordic nation will start turning off the FM signal at 11:11 local time (10:11 GMT) on Wednesday, in favour of Digital Audio Broadcasting, or DAB.

The digital signal gives better quality and coverage than analogue - and for about an eighth of the cost.

But there are some who are concerned about the switch-off's potential impact on the elderly and motorists.

According to a December poll published in the Dagbladet daily newspaper, two-thirds of Norwegians think the government is moving too quickly.

By the end of the year, national networks will only be available on DAB, while local stations have five years to make the switch.

And despite 70% of Norway's listeners already using DAB to tune into their favourite stations, critics say too many people will be forced to make expensive upgrades to their equipment.

A new car radio, for example, costs in the region of NOK4,000 ($468; £382).

Image copyright AFP Image caption Judith Haaland, 98, pictured in her home in Stavanger, remembers listening to the radio from London during the Second World War

"Norway is not prepared for this. There are millions of radios in homes, cottages and boats that won't work anymore and only around 25% of cars in Norway have digital radios or adapters,'' said Svein Larsen, of the Norwegian Local Radio Association.

Others, however, want to cling onto FM - invented in the US in 1933 - for the memories.

Marius Lillelien, head of radio at the national broadcaster NRK, said: "Of course there is a lot of nostalgia in radio. That's one of the reasons this switch is so controversial.

"But that means people love radio and nostalgia is an asset to us whether we are broadcasting in analogue or on DAB."

Ministers remain undaunted by the change, and countries like Switzerland and Britain - both considering a switch to digital networks - will no doubt be closely watching how the switch goes over the next few months.</s>Unhappiness over the airwaves Christophe Boulze/plainpicture

Norway will be the first country to start turning off FM radio. Over the course of 2017, the FM radio network will slowly be switched off, with listeners only able to listen to digital programmes instead.

The northern county of Nordland will cease to broadcast FM radio from tomorrow, with other regions following suit throughout the year.

Many countries have toyed with the idea of parting company with FM, but a combination of ageing equipment and geography mean Norway is particularly keen to replace its analogue FM system with digital audio broadcasting (DAB).

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“Norway has many mountains and valleys that the robust nature of DAB can help with,” says Stephen Lax at the University of Leeds, UK. This terrain can distort FM signals. “Additionally, its FM radio infrastructure was coming to the end of its life, so they would’ve needed to either replace it or fully commit to DAB anyway.”

Digital signals are also more efficient. “DAB can run at lower power levels so the infrastructure electricity bills are lower. Also the sound quality is better,” says Lax.

Packing in the stations

By dropping the FM system, the Norwegian government believes it will save 200 million Norwegian krone (£19 million) a year. The move will also allow it to expand the number of radio stations on offer, as DAB has greater capacity than FM. Norway currently has five national FM radio stations. With DAB, it will be able to have around 40.

Although the switch is expected to save money, it is likely to end up costing the general public in the short term. Digital Radio Norway estimates that 7.9 million radio sets will be affected, and that only 20 per cent of car radios in Norway can pick up DAB. Although DAB radios are not much more expensive than FM radios, converting a car radio can cost around 1500 krone (£140). As a result, around two-thirds of people oppose the switch and just 16 per cent support it, according to a poll by Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet.

No other nations have yet announced official dates to turn off their own FM networks, but Switzerland is expected to be next, says Lax. “In many countries, it’ll still be a long time before digital radios are popular enough for a switch not to antagonise a lot of people.”</s>A driver adjusts an FM radio inside a car in Oslo on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Norway began to phase out analog signals in favor of digital broadcasting. [NTB Scanpix via AP]

OSLO, Norway — Norway opened a chapter in telecommunications history Wednesday, becoming the first country to cease FM radio broadcasting. The switch, to digital broadcasting, is intended to save money, but critics are worried about the effect on drivers and listeners of small radio stations.

The move to "radio digitization" was decided by parliament in 2011, and a timetable was announced in 2015. At 11:11 a.m. — a time chosen because it was easy to remember, according to the national broadcaster, NRK — nationwide radio channels began stopping FM broadcasts, switching to a system known as digital audio broadcasting that proponents say offers a wider range of broadcasting options and greater sound quality.

The change is occurring county by county, starting with Nordland, in the north of Norway. Oslo, the capital, will turn off FM broadcasting in September, and the process will be completed nationwide by Dec. 13.

Norway's Culture Ministry estimated that it would save 180 million kroner a year ($25 million).

FM broadcasting originated in the United States in the 1930s and arrived in Norway in the 1950s. Other countries have considered dropping FM broadcasting, including Britain, Switzerland and Denmark, but no decision has been made; Sweden considered the switch but abandoned the idea.

Some Norwegians, like Benjamin Stage Storm, a hospital doctor living in Bodo, in Nordland, said the change was no big deal for him and his family.

"We don't listen much to radio, and in the car we have a SD card reader," which lets users play prerecorded music stored on tiny digital cards, he said in a phone interview, "so we listen to music on that, almost old-time mix tapes."

He added: "We do listen to radio shows, but we get them from podcasts or off the SD cards."

Stage Storm said, however, that the government and NRK were spending a "vast amount of resources on shutting down a functional system and at the same time pushing lots of people into scrapping their otherwise well-working radios."

The change is good news for radio sellers, however.

Camilla Tully, a spokeswoman for the retail chain Clas Ohlson, said the demand for digital radios had grown steadily since parliament's vote in 2011.

"The sale of DAB radios exploded before Christmas, and the sales tripled over the last couple of months," she said in a phone interview. "Before Christmas, we were sold out of several models. These days the demand is particularly high in Nordland, both for DAB radio and DAB adapters for car stereos."

Oyvind Vasaasen, an official at NRK who is overseeing the change, said that Norway had been an "early mover" in digital radio, introducing internet radio broadcasting as far back as 1995.

Given the size of the country — with its mountains and fjords — and its small population, it is particularly expensive to offer both FM and digital audio broadcasting, he said.

"The costs of maintaining an upgraded FM system would in the long run affect the quality of programs we can offer the listeners," he said. "Digitizing the radio media is part of the modernization of Norway."

Aage Sveum, a radio collector, expressed fears that the change would put drivers at risk. "What is the purpose of having a mandatory emergency alert system if no one has radios in their cars anymore?" he asked.

Nils Sodal, a spokesman for the Norwegian Automobile Federation, echoed that concern, noting that about 2 million cars in Norway still did not have digital radios. He said the association did not oppose the switch, but was worried that many motorists would not switch to the digital radios. A new car radio costs about 2,000 kroner ($230).

Thor Magnar Thorsen, the vice president of the Association of Local Radio Stations in Norway, told the newspaper Dagbladet last year that the change might come "at the expense of smaller radio stations."

Stephen Lax, a senior lecturer in communication technology at the University of Leeds in England, said he was not certain that Norway's switch would portend a trend.

"Norway has a small and relatively affluent population that can be convinced into making the transition, in spite of the costs for the consumers," he said. "Norway's switch could prove a symbolic moment in the history of radio broadcasting, but not a significant one, in the sense that it's not going to start a snowball rolling."

He added: "Closing down the FM is not even on the horizon for the United States, where FM will be around for a long, long time."

In addition, he said, digital audio broadcasting is mostly used in Europe, whereas many Americans who use digital radio have opted for HD radio, which broadcasts a digital signal over traditional radio frequencies.

Marko Ala-Fossi, an adjunct professor at the School of Communication, Media and Theater at the University of Tampere in Finland, added a cautionary note.

"Norway is now conducting a massive experiment with the future of radio on a national scale with no guarantee of success," he said. "You can lose older listeners without any prospect of recruiting younger listeners."

Switching to digital broadcasting "might speed up a process where radio can become socially irrelevant, at a time where other medias are growing and converging," Ala-Fossi said. But, he added, the country would find it hard to retreat from its decision, as it had become "a matter of national prestige."</s>Norway began shutting down analogue radio technology Wednesday as the Scandinavian country becomes the first in the world to phase out the FM signal for national and some regional broadcasting.

The FM signal was switched off in the Arctic Nordland district in favor of digital audio broadcasting, or DAB.

READ MORE: Norway to shut down FM radio in favour of digital in bold move

The switchover was performed by radio listener Bertih Pauline Olderskog who moved a lever to drum rolls and a countdown from the audience at a public library in Bodoe, northern Norway. Olderskog said she had been listening to FM radio for more than 70 years.

Graham Dixon, head of the European Broadcasting Union’s radio unit who took part in the event that was webcasted, said the switchover shows that “media can be renewed for the contemporary world.”

The head of the public Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation NRK, Thor Gjermund Eriksen, called it a “historic moment.”

Norway’s gradual switch to digital and the shutdown process is due to be completed by Dec. 13.

According to critics, the switch to digital could leave millions of vehicles without DAB capability without radio.

Some have said the change could put motorists at risk, saying drivers could miss important announcements, including emergencies or road condition updates.

The Norwegian government has cited its landscape with deep fjords, high mountains and scattered communities for making it expensive to operate FM networks. Norway’s parliament made the decision in May 2011.

An estimated US $23.4 million will be saved, according to official figures.</s>Norway first world country to turn off analogue FM radio in digital move

Norway on Wednesday began turning off analogue FM radio, making it the first country in the world to fully transition to digital audio broadcasting (DAB), broadcasting officials said.

At 11.11 am (1011 GMT), the analogue FM broadcasting system in the northern county of Nordland was shut down, as public broadcaster NRK and other commercial broadcasters switched over to the DAB standard.

“It was a historic moment,” NRK broadcasting Chief Thor Gjermnund Eriksen said, noting that Norway was the first country in the world to make such a transition on a nationwide basis.

The move will ultimately see both state and commercial broadcasters leave FM radio for DAB, which is said to be more robust and use less power to operate, while offering more channels and better audio quality than Norway’s ageing FM broadcast equipment.

Norway’s topography with many small communities spread across mountains and valleys, difficult to reach with FM radio, has also been cited for the switch.

Eriksen observed that “for the first time everyone in Norway will have an equal offering from NRK,” regardless if they live in the capital Oslo or the municipality of Rost that is part of the Lofoten archipelago off northern Norway.

Parliament approved the transition in 2011, and the government said the transition was to be completed by December 13 in the country of about 4.2 million.

Listeners will need a DAB radio set, smartphone or computer to listen to DAB broadcasts, and many motorists will need to convert their car radios.

The post Norway first world country to turn off analogue FM radio in digital move appeared first on Vanguard News.

This post was syndicated from Vanguard News. Click here to read the full text on the original website.

Also, Like us on facebook</s>Norway has become the first country in the world to begin shutting down its FM radio service.

The Scandinavian country will leave only digital radio channels operating, on ‘DAB’ radios.

The switchover in the Arctic Nordland district was performed by wireless listener Bertih Pauline Olderskog who moved a lever to drum rolls and a countdown from the audience at a public library in Bodoe, northern Norway.

Miss Olderskog said she had been listening to FM radio for more than 70 years.

The head of the public Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation NRK, Thor Gjermund Eriksen, called it a ‘historic moment’.

The switchover process is due to be completed by December 13.

The Norwegian government has cited its landscape with deep fjords, high mountains and scattered communities for making it expensive to operate FM networks.

However, it has led some criticism because millions of cars, in particular, are fitted only with FM radios which will become obsolete.</s>Norway is set to become the first nation to start switching off its FM radio network next week, in a risky and unpopular leap to digital technology that will be closely watched by other countries considering whether to follow suit.

Critics say the government is rushing the move and many people may miss warnings on emergencies that have until now been broadcast via the radio. Of particular concern are the 2 million cars on Norway’s roads that are not equipped with Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) receivers, they say.

Sixty-six percent of Norwegians oppose switching off FM, with just 17 percent in favour and the rest undecided, according to an opinion poll published by the daily Dagbladet last month.

Nevertheless, parliament gave the final go-ahead for the move last month, swayed by the fact that digital networks can carry more radio channels.

Switzerland plans a similar shift from 2020, and Britain and Denmark are among those also considering such a switch. A smooth transition to DAB, which is already beamed across Norway, could encourage these countries to move ahead.

The shutdown of the FM (Frequency Modulation) network, introduced in the 1950s, will begin in the northern city of Bodoe on Jan. 11.

By the end of the year, all national FM broadcasts will be closed in favour of DAB, which backers say carries less hiss and clearer sound throughout the large nation of 5 million people cut by fjords and mountains.

“We’re the first country to switch off FM but there are several countries going in the same direction,” said Ole Joergen Torvmark, head of Digital Radio Norway, which is owned by national broadcasters NRK and P4 to help the transition.

Torvmark said cars were the “biggest challenge” – a good digital adapter for an FM car radio costs 1,500 Norwegian crowns ($174.70), he said.

One member of the ruling coalition was scathing, however, voicing concerns similar to those expressed by thousands of elderly and drivers in surveys and elsewhere.

“We are simply not ready for this yet,” Ib Thomsen, an MP from the Progress Party, a partner in the Conservative-led government, told Reuters.

“There are 2 million cars on Norwegian roads that don’t have DAB receivers, and millions of radios in Norwegian homes will stop working when the FM net is switched off. So there is definitely a safety concern,” he said.

For the same cost, digital radio in Norway allows eight times more radio stations than FM. The current system of parallel FM and digital networks, each of which cost about 250 million crowns ($29 million), saps investments in programmes.

Among other nations, Britain plans to review the need for a switchover once digital listening reaches 50 percent. That could be reached by the end of 2017 on current trends, Digital Radio UK spokeswoman Yvette Dore said.</s>In this handout photo provided by Disney Parks, A general view of the Disney Magic cruise arriving in Geiranger, Norway on June 10, 2015 in Geiranger, Norway.(Photo : Disneyland Parks via Getty Images/Matt Stroshane)

Mountains are reflected in a still section of water on the morning of Midsummer on June 21, 2008 in Longyearbyen, Norway.(Photo : Getty Images/Chris Jackson)

Residents of the northern county of Nordland in Norway will say goodbye to their beloved FM radio programming starting tomorrow. An all-digital radio format will replace aging FM radio broadcasts and reports say that digital would have better sound quality and will cost less as well.

Nordland, located in the middle of fjords, mountains and forests, is the first to official sign off FM and the rest of the country is expected to follow suit. Norway will be the first country to completely stop FM broadcasts and embrace digital radio broadcasts; Switzerland is expected to follow.

Independent reported on Norway's all-digital switch and said that the Norwegian government plans to start digital-only radio throughout the year. Norway's capital, Oslo is expected to save around 200 million Norwegian krone a year once the switch is made. It has become more difficult to transmit FM radios over the region with mountain ranges, fjords and forests blocking the air waves.

The New Scientist mentioned that the country's geography in particular, has made analog radio transmission very difficult. Digital radio would be able to reach more people, would have better sound quality and would be able to run at lower power. Norway's FM radio infrastructure is also ageing and committing to a full-digital broadcast would happen anyway.

While the government is expected to save a lot of money from the switch, ordinary people are not quite impressed. Only 70% of the country has digital receivers while most cars on the road do not have digital radio yet. People rely on FM not just for entertainment but also for weather reports, traffic updates and news; cutting off FM radio could be dangerous for some homes and motorists. Converting from an analog radio to digital radio could also cost more. An adapter to convert FM radio to digital radio costs around 1,500 Norwegian krone.

But despite all these set backs, the government is optimistic about the change. Around 40 digital radio channels are also expected to replace 5 FM radio stations. After Norway, Switzerland will cease FM transmission by 2020. U.K. will also phase out FM once the number of people using digital radio has reached 50%.</s>Norway: Country becomes first to turn off FM radio

The government said the transition was to be completed by Dec. 13, 2016 in the country of about 4.2 million.

Norway on Wednesday began turning off analogue FM radio, making it the first country in the world to fully transition to Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB).

Thor Eriksen, NRK Broadcasting Chief, in Stockholm, said it was an historic moment, at 11.11 a.m. (1011 GMT), when the analogue FM broadcasting system in the northern county of Nordland was shut down and other commercial broadcasters switched over to the DAB standard.

“Norway was the first country in the world to make such a transition on a nationwide basis,’’ he said.

He said that the move would ultimately see both state and commercial broadcasters leave FM radio for DAB.

Eriksen noted that DAB was said to be more robust and use less power to operate, while offering more channels and better audio quality than Norway’s ageing FM broadcast equipment.

“Norway’s topography with many small communities spread across mountains and valleys, difficult to reach with FM radio, has also been cited for the switch,’’ he said.

Eriksen observed that “for the first time everyone in Norway will have an equal offering from NRK, regardless if they live in the capital Oslo or the municipality of Rost that is part of the Lofoten archipelago off northern Norway.’’

“Listeners will need a DAB radio set, Smartphone or computer to listen to DAB broadcasts, and many motorists will need to convert their car radios."

The parliament approved the transition in 2011.

The government said the transition was to be completed by Dec. 13, 2016 in the country of about 4.2 million.

This post was syndicated from pulse.ng - Nigeria's entertainment & lifestyle platform online. Click here to read the full text on the original website.

Also, Like us on facebook</s>Norway on Wednesday began turning off analogue FM radio, making it the first country in the world to fully transition to Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB).

Thor Eriksen, NRK Broadcasting Chief, in Stockholm, said it was an historic moment, at 11.11 a.m. (1011 GMT), when the analogue FM broadcasting system in the northern county of Nordland was shut down and other commercial broadcasters switched over to the DAB standard.

“Norway was the first country in the world to make such a transition on a nationwide basis,” he said.

He said that the move would ultimately see both state and commercial broadcasters leave FM radio for DAB.

Mr. Eriksen noted that DAB was said to be more robust and use less power to operate, while offering more channels and better audio quality than Norway’s ageing FM broadcast equipment.

“Norway’s topography with many small communities spread across mountains and valleys, difficult to reach with FM radio, has also been cited for the switch,” he said.

Mr. Eriksen observed that “for the first time everyone in Norway will have an equal offering from NRK, regardless if they live in the capital Oslo or the municipality of Rost that is part of the Lofoten archipelago off northern Norway.”

“Listeners will need a DAB radio set, Smartphone or computer to listen to DAB broadcasts, and many motorists will need to convert their car radios.

The parliament approved the transition in 2011.

The government said the transition was to be completed by December 13, 2016 in the country of about 4.2 million.
Norway becomes the first country to start a complete switch-off of national FM radio stations. The change, from the analogue FM system to digital audio broadcasting, is expected to be completed by the end of the year. Some, such as the Norwegian Local Radio Association, are concerned about the impact on motorists and the elderly.