Tag Archives: FM

In the US, radio audience continues an upward trend

(Source: CNN Money via Andrea Borgnino)

It turns out that radio still gets results.

Amid all the changes in television and digital media, a report from Nielsen released Tuesday found that radio’s nationwide audience reached an all-time high during the second quarter of 2015.

According to Nielsen, about 245 million Americans ages 12 and up used radio during the that span.

It was a continuation of an upward trend for radio, which has seen its national audience swell to record highs in each of the last two years. In the first quarter of this year, radio eclipsed television as the country’s top reaching medium.

Continue reading on CNN.com…

In the UK, digital radio is not always well-received

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Many thanks to my buddy, Dan, who shares this article from the Daily Mail:

“It was supposed to be the technology that would transform the way we listen to the radio.

But audiences condemned DAB – or Digital Audio Broadcasting – as a disaster yesterday because of the poor quality of the signal.

They complained that it cuts out in the middle of broadcasts, while others claim the technology is already out of date.

One even joked on Twitter that while we can now receive close-up photos of Pluto taken billions of miles away, he ‘still can’t get a good signal on DAB’.

DAB had been heralded as less prone to interference than AM or FM, but household appliances including microwave ovens, laptops, mobile phones and TVs have all been found to affect reception. Power lines and the weather can knock out digital signals, while signal strength can be reduced in built-up areas, in basements and inside buildings with thick stone or reinforced concrete walls.”

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3168864/Coming-loud-clear-gripes-digital-radio-Audiences-condemn-DAB-poor-quality-signal-cuts-middle-programmes.html

Community stations provide lifeline of info in post-quake Nepal

Norway FM Radio stations: “We’re not dead yet.”

Unlocking the trapped FM receiver in your smart phone

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While Norway prepares to shut down FM, one group–the National Association of Broadcasters–is trying to unlock FM receivers in smart phones; receivers built into smart phones, but not allowed to be activated.

Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Benn, for sharing this report from NPR’s All Tech Considered:

UPDATE: KQED posts this tutorial on activating your FM receiver chip by contacting your mobile phone provider.

Norway: first country to shut down FM analog radio

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The City Hall (Radhus) in Oslo, Norway. (Source: Public Domain)

(Source: Radio.no)

NORWAY TO SWITCH OFF FM IN 2017

Within two years from now, the shutdown of national FM-networks begins in Norway. The switchover will begin in the North and will be implemented region by region.

Thursday, the Ministry of Culture announced a national FM-switch off, to complete the transition to digital radio. Norway is making an 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 and digital radio, listeners will be provided with more radio channels and greater diversity in content.

[Continue reading on Radio.no…]