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The Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC) switched off outdated analogue FM transmitters at 11:59pm on New Year’s Eve.
Connections to around 850 ultra-shortwave transmitters throughout Switzerland have come to an end.
Anyone wishing to continue listening to the radio stations SRF1, SRF2 Kultur und SRF3 in the new year, for example, will have to switch to the digital radio technology DAB+ or Internet radio. All other SBC programmes were previously only available via the Internet or DAB+.
SBC, SWI swissinfo.ch’s parent company, now only needs around 260 antennas for DAB+ broadcasting.
Around two dozen private radio stations in Switzerland will continue to broadcast via FM and will not discontinue the service until the end of 2026 at the latest. [Continue reading…]
Time to upgrade that receiver if you’re one of the few Swiss that still don’t have one able to receive DAB+ signals
Swiss radio listeners will soon have to toss out their old sets, as the country plans to end analog FM broadcasting on December 31, 2024, in favor of a total conversion to digital.
The move has been a long time coming in Switzerland, which has largely already transitioned to Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB+, an evolution of standard DAB that was designed to address early issues). More than 99 percent of the country have access to a DAB+-compatible receiver and fewer than 10 percent of radio signals in the country still being broadcasted in analog FM, according to the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation. [Continue reading…]
There will be no substantive changes to the legislation
A bill in the House of Representatives that would mandate AM capability in new vehicles is about to be revised, according to a person familiar with the developments.
New information indicates that one of the original co-sponsors of the bill, Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), plans to introduce an amendment to the bill (H.R. 8449). Changes would only include minor technical updates.
The planned amendment to the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act comes on the heels of last week’s last-minute cancellation of a planned vote by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which could have advanced the legislation to the full House for a vote. [Continue reading…]
Opponents play up the possibility that carmakers would have to choose
If Congress requires AM radio in new cars, vehicle manufacturers might have to drop safety features instead.
That’s the message from opponents of the proposed law in Congress. A guest commentary published by Automotive News restates the key points that opponents have been making since the legislation was introduced; but their blunt emphasis on a possible tradeoff with important safety features seems notable.
“To accommodate analog AM radio as a primary design requirement, certain carmakers may need to scrap advanced safety features, with engineers having to prioritize outdated technology over current or future safety innovations,” they wrote. [Continue reading…]
Did you know that 100 years ago there were electromechanical radio transmitters?
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, David Iurescia (LW4DAF), who shares the following note from SwissInfo.ch:
Since you’re no doubt wondering what Christmas sounds like in Switzerland’s four national languages, we’ve dusted off an old radio interview, produced in 1975 by the Swiss Short-wave Service, later Swiss Radio International and ultimately SWI swissinfo.ch:
Thanks for sharing this bit of radio nostalgia, David!
Radio Waves: Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio
Because I keep my ear to the waves, as well as receive many tips from others who do the same, I find myself privy to radio-related stories that might interest SWLing Post readers. To that end: Welcome to the SWLing Post’sRadio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio. Enjoy!
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors Mike Terry, Dan Robinson, Ulis Fleming, and William Lee for the following tips:
GENEVA — Switzerland is embarking on the next phase of its digital radio switchover strategy. In May René Wehrlin, media specialist at Switzerland’s Federal Office of Communications (Ofcom) announced the country’s next steps toward the country’s total transition to DAB+.
Ofcom officially confirmed in 2019 that the nation would say “adios” to all FM radio programs by the end of 2024 at the latest. At the time, the “Digital Migration” (DigiMig) working group, set up by the Swiss private and public radio sectors and Ofcom in 2013, stated that 68% of radio listening was digital, 37% of which was via DAB+ and 15% exclusively via FM.[…]
Guyana’s President David Granger late Friday said his administration rejected a request by the United States (US) to use the medium wave radio frequencies of this South American nation to broadcast Voice of America programmes to Venezuela.
Mr. Granger said Guyana turned down the request because of security, health and political risks that Guyana could expose itself to with Venezuela which is claiming the Essequibo Region that makes up about two-thirds of this former British colony.
“Given the length of an unpoliced western border, the influx of refugees, the unsettled territorial question and the public health risks, it would not be in our national interest to do anything to contribute to destabilising relations at this time,” the President said.
A US Embassy spokeswoman said the American government was no longer interested in the project. ” The U.S Agency for Global Media is not actively considering this anymore. It is important that the people of Venezuela have access to uncensored news from credible Venezuelan and international journalistic news sources. Guyana has shown leadership in the past, in defense of representative government by joining other Lima Group members from the Americas to strive for a democratic resolution to the crisis in Venezuela,” she said.[…]
The Chinese navy has warned off a US military plane that briefly flew close to the southern coast of China, north of the Taiwan Strait, according to a Beijing-based think tank.
In a 34-second scratchy radio recording released by the South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative (SCSPI), a think tank based in Beijing, a man – purported to be a Chinese naval official – can be heard saying in English: “This is China Naval Air Force on guard, you are approaching Chinese air domain, change your course immediately or you will be intercepted.”
He then repeated the warning in Mandarin Chinese.
The institute said on its Twitter account that the recording was captured on Thursday morning by a radio amateur. It remains unclear which aircraft was involved, or if there was any face-off in the air.[…]
Charity Intelligence is recommending donors support Farm Radio International for the coronavirus pandemic. Farm Radio has a network of over 1,000 radio programs reaching more than 250 million people in 41 countries across Africa.
Communication is critical in the early stages of a disease outbreak to give people information. Rumours swirl that Africans cannot get coronavirus. Tanzania’s president, Magufuli, said churches should stay open because the coronavirus is “satanic” and “cannot survive in the body of Christ.” As all have witnessed, fake news has harmful consequences with the quick coronavirus.
Farm Radio International is a Canadian, medium-sized charity with donations of $3.9m in 2018. Typically, a charity of this size would not be front of mind in a global response. Yet Farm Radio has the existing platform and local operations to play an effective role reaching millions quickly in a coronavirus response. Early communication is an urgent need. […]
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dennis Dura, who shares the following article from SwissInfo.ch. Make sure you visit SwissInfo.ch to listen to their embedded recordings:
What did SWI swissinfo.ch sound like for the first seven decades of its existence? The short answer: a radio station.
From the mid-1930s to 2004, Switzerland’s international service was Swiss Radio International (SRI). The first few decades of SRI’s existence were the heyday of shortwave – it was often the only way of getting news directly from other countries.
A brief history of SRI, the predecessor of swissinfo.ch, helps explain why you hear what you do in the video above.
What began as the Swiss Short Wave Service in 1935, would grow from broadcasting programmes in German, French, Italian and English to include other European languages and Arabic, and eventually change its name to Swiss Radio International.
The international service was considered a voice of neutrality during times of war, first during World War II, followed by the decades of the Cold War and up to and including the first war in the Gulf in the early 1990s.
This decade would mark the beginning of the end for Switzerland’s shortwave broadcasts. Shortwave transmitters gave way to relaying programmes via satellite, and this, in turn, would give way to the internet when the service went online in 1999 as SRI’s website.
In 2004, the plug was pulled for good on SRI as part of budget cuts, but not swissinfo.ch. Now producing exclusively online, the international service extended its linguistic reach by adding Russian, Japanese and Chinese, and publishing more video and audio reports.
Journalists working in swissinfo.ch’s current ten languages collaborate closely to set the editorial agenda, providing the necessary context in their stories so they are understood wherever they are read, seen, or heard in the world.
Switzerland Is Doing Away With Over-the-Air TV. Could the U.S. Do the Same?
Rabbit ears and other TV antennas could be useless in Switzerland before too long.
The Swiss government has given the country’s public broadcaster approval to turn off its digital terrestrial TV (known as over-the-air to most people) by the end of 2019. It will be the first nation in Europe to do so.
Most Swiss have high speed broadband internet connections and cable networks in their homes, so the move is unlikely to affect many citizens. Only 1.9% of the population, about 64,000 people, reportedly take advantage of the service that’s being discontinued.
Other European nations are expected to follow Switzerland’s lead in the next 10 to 15 years. And while many Americans believe the right to free, over-the-air broadcasts are protected, that’s not quite as cut and dry as it might seem.
Yes, the federal government licenses the airwaves to television stations (among other entities). […]But the government doesn’t license networks, only individual stations, as outlined by the FCC.
“We license only individual broadcast stations,”: the agency says in a 2008 report explaining its authority.
[…]Put another way: Networks are not required to broadcast their shows over the air.[…]
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, David Iurescia, who shares the following news item via SwissInfo.ch:
