Norway is officially switching-off national FM radio this 2017

The northern European nation of Norway further cements its reputation as one of the most progressive nations in the world by becoming the first country to enact a national FM-radio switch off in an effort to speed the shift from analog to digital. Like the transition from analog television to digital, this unprecedented move will mark the end of an era once fully commenced on January 11, 2017.

Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) is expected to significantly bolster and diversify the amount of radio content available, raising the number of station well beyond the 22 it currently hosts. Furthermore, Radio.no informs us that 56% of Norwegian radio listeners already use digital radio and 55% percent of households already own at least one DAB radio.

“This is an important day for everyone who loves radio. The minister`s decision allows us to concentrate our resources even more upon what is most important, namely to create high quality and diverse radio-content to our listeners,” states Thor Gjermund Eriksen, head of the Norweigan broadcasting Corporation.  

Digitization is an important step in futureproofing radio, allowing the industry to quickly adapt to the listener’s changing media consumption habits without having to alter the hardware anytime a radio communication protocol is updated — it’ll all be software-defined. By extension, development and maintenance costs will decrease, which in turn creates favorable conditions for common platform architecture for equipment and leaves income reserves for the creation of even more radio content.

Norway may be the first country in the world to officially set a final date for the FM-switch off, but several other countries across Europe and Southeast Asia are also preparing to follow suit.

In preparation for what’ll undoubtedly become an international trend, users of the do-it-yourself persuasion can actually set up their very own software-defined radio using a USB TV turner and open-source software for the cost of $40 and a few hours of effort. You’ll find the necessary instructions in our easy-to-follow guide .

Source: Gizmodo via Radio.no