WASHINGTON — Norway is set to become the first country to permanently click the “off” button on FM radio.
The country has announced that it will start turning off FM band stations on January 11, 2017, with the last FM signal airing by December 13, 2017.
The statement, by country’s Ministry of Culture says Norway is ready to eliminate FM radio, since the transition to digital radio is well underway.
The country says the cost of transmitting by FM is eight times greater than through the Digital Audio Broadcasting — or DAB — system.
Norway’s minister of culture Thorhild Widvey says Norway’s national radio channels will save more than $25 million dollars per year.
According to Widvey, “Whereas the FM system only had space for five national channels, DAB already offers 22, and there is capacity for almost 20 more.”
A Gallup poll found more than half of Norwegian households already have a DAB-equipped radio
Norway says the DAB system is less vulnerable to transmitter problems in extreme weather and permits reception in tunnels.
Norway launched the world’s first DAB channel in 1995.
