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Plug is being pulled on FM radio in parts of Europe (www.radioworld.com)
submitted 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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I wonder what is the rationale. Will be shitty if all FM radios become bricks because of some stupid push to obsolete them.

Or is there a smarter plan, like using the bandwidth for something more worthy than FM radio?

UPDATE

Some more FM advantages:

Fast channel changing.

Better reception. There is a station in my city that transmits both DAB and FM. Their DAB signal has chronic cut-outs but their FM station is good enough. And in general, weak FM signals are still useful while weak DAB signals are unusable. So a DAB-only policy marginalises people who live remote from the cities.

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[-] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago

Dab reception is still shit indoors. I'm not going to drill an antenna through my house just to get better reception. So if FM falls, I won't be listening to the radio anymore.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago

In your own home, couldn't you just use internet radio instead?

I mostly listen to BBC radio, and I default to listening over BBC Sounds rather than DAB when I've got a WiFi connection. I mostly only use DAB when I'm in the car or out in the garden.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago

Yes. But i have a stereo with DAB capabilities. It's not ideal connecting via bluetooth to listen to internet radio.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

In your own home, couldn’t you just use internet radio instead?

Internet radio is certainly not a replacement for broadcast radio.

  • Internet at home is not gratis!
  • Internet has many points of failure; radio does not
  • Internet comes with surveillance
  • Residential Internet has less availability than radio; also, some people are offline by choice.
  • Streaming would suck dry quotas of anyone who gets Internet over prepaid mobile service.
  • Residential Internet subscriptions in many (most?) regions cannot be paid for in cash, thus unbanked people are excluded
  • Cloud streaming has a high carbon footprint (though I’m not sure how it compares to FM transmission’s footprint)
  • Internet service has many middle-men and lacks national sovereignty. Most countries cannot escape using US actors in this industry.
this post was submitted on 10 Jun 2025
20 points (100.0% liked)

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