[Boatanchors] Norway ending FM, Switzerland not far behind

[Howard L Ritter Jr]

Interesting story this morning: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/01/07/norway-will-become-the-first-country-in-the-world-to-switch-off-fm-radio/?utm_term=.60caedb2e75c&wpisrc=nl_headlines&wpmm=1 <https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/01/07/norway-will-become-the-first-country-in-the-world-to-switch-off-fm-radio/?utm_term=.60caedb2e75c&wpisrc=nl_headlines&wpmm=1>


I’d never heard anything about this. Seems Draconian, but perhaps Norway’s broadcast system is owned by the government? And the quoted relative cost of FM v. digital AM? Where does a cost reduction of nearly 90% come from? Fewer transmitters? How long would it take to amortize the capital expenditure of installing all that new equipment, audio processing to transmitters to antennas? How do they fold in the cost to the population of a new receiver to replace every one now in use? My eyebrows are still up.

If I hadn’t seen this in the Washington Post I’d be checking with Snopes or The Onion...

I’m guessing that even Norwegian bureaucratic estimates and promises will turn out to be not nearly as rosy as painted.

—howard n7exn