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The Government of Norway announces
[April 16], the Ministry of Culture announced a national FM-switch off, to complete the transition to digital radio. Norway is making [a] historical move into a new radio era, being the first country in the world to decide upon an analogue switch-off for all major radio channels. With DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting) and digital radio, listeners will be provided with more radio channels and greater diversity in content.
[...]The DAB-coverage in Norway now exceeds FM-coverage. DAB provides Norway with 22 national channels, as opposed to five channels transmitting nationwide on FM.
[...]Switch-off starts in Nordland county 11th January 2017 and ends with the northernmost counties Troms and Finnmark [13th December] 2017.
Official announcement in Norwegian. Also covered at Ars Technica.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by RobotMonster on Tuesday April 21 2015, @03:55PM
Are they shutting down all the analog AM stuff too?
I can't imagine DAB has the same range as AM.
I like listening to AM -- it's like going back in time -- you get a much better sense of the radio waves travelling through the world than you do with digital packets or even frequency modulation.
That's about as close as I get to radio astronomy ;-)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 21 2015, @03:58PM
AM is only good for those that love talk radio. 90% of talk radio is extreme partisan BS from one side or the other.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 21 2015, @04:15PM
AM radio is good if you want to hear what other nations have to say.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 21 2015, @09:53PM
That's what he said, that it is full of BS.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 21 2015, @07:55PM
extreme partisan BS from one side
Only in places where they don't have a Fairness Doctrine. [google.com]
...or have one and refuse to enforce it.
-- gewg_
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Tuesday April 21 2015, @11:48PM
Only in the US where all the AM stations are now owned by 2 or 3 holding companies. So all you get now days are loud right wing nut cases and/or bad rock and roll.
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts"- --Daniel Patrick Moynihan--
(Score: 4, Insightful) by M. Baranczak on Tuesday April 21 2015, @04:39PM
Check out shortwave radio. You'll hear all the people who were too crazy to get shows on AM radio.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Tuesday April 21 2015, @06:01PM
I thought shortwave is AM, too?
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 3, Touché) by M. Baranczak on Tuesday April 21 2015, @06:38PM
Yes, you are correct. Shortwave radio uses amplitude modulation as well. My original comment was, therefore, highly ambiguous, and there's absolutely no way that anybody could have figured out my intended meaning.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Tuesday April 21 2015, @07:08PM
Which is? Maybe there's a specifically American second meaning of AM? I honestly don't know.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2) by cwix on Tuesday April 21 2015, @09:08PM
In the United States AM is the band of radio that is licensed to stations and uses 540 - 1610 khz. This is also known as Medium wave.
(Score: 2) by richtopia on Tuesday April 21 2015, @05:15PM
I think that AM for most countries will be kept forever as an emergency broadcast system.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 21 2015, @08:00PM
This will remain a viable meme as long as it's possible to make a radio out of a length of wire, a safety pin, and a used razor blade. [google.com]
-- gewg_
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 21 2015, @08:33PM
meme?
(Score: 2) by joshuajon on Wednesday April 22 2015, @02:47PM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 22 2015, @04:49PM
Ergo, AM radio is Pabst Blue Ribbon with a beard wearing Google Glass?
(Score: 2) by subs on Tuesday April 21 2015, @06:15PM
That's not going away any time soon, if for no other reason than ham radio and air traffic, but in case you were wondering, there's a digital standard [wikipedia.org] for low- and mid-frequency over the traditional AM band. On a 20 kHz channel should give around 30-70 kbit/s, which with a good modern codec like HE-AAC in mono should be near-transparent at around 30-40 kbit/s. Agree with you on the nostalgia factor, though.
(Score: 2) by morgauxo on Tuesday April 21 2015, @07:29PM
I'm pretty sure that broadcast band AM radio is what is meant. Otherwise.. yah, FM isn't going away any time soon either due to ham radio traffic.
(Score: 2) by subs on Tuesday April 21 2015, @09:37PM
Yeah, we're mixing terms here a bit with modulation & frequency band. I think he meant analog AM on mid- to long-wave. That shit's here to stay, because it's dead simple, reliable and works with pretty much anything under the sun. Beyond line-of-sight is also quite a neat feature, especially out on sea (it's used extensively over the Atlantic and elsewhere by commercial airplanes to do position reports and such crap).