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Is the death of FM Radio upon us?
 

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

1/7/17 12:16 AM

Is the death of FM Radio upon us?

http://news.sky.com/story/norway-warned-plan-to-switch-off-fm-radio-will-cut-off-millions-10719111

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Rickk
Joined: 01 Jun 2004
Posts: 528
Location: Montreal

1/7/17 8:01 AM

What a nice, unselfless move for Norway govt. Apparently it's for "clearer sound" and more stations, i.e. for the good of the people:

"Norway's parliament voted in favour of switching off FM radio after hearing it would lead to a greater choice of radio stations, as well as clearer sound."

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Jesus Saves
Joined: 16 Jun 2005
Posts: 1150
Location: South of Heaven

1/7/17 11:41 AM

I don't think it will happen in North America anytime soon. The big alternative to FM radio is Satellite radio. My newish car has a built in tuner for both, but not HD (signal) radio. Hardware and content wise, HD radio offerings are very limited and are often complimentary; not exclusive to the other two offerings.

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

1/7/17 11:45 AM

"I don't think it will happen in North America anytime soon."


I seem to recall that exact sentiment about road disc brakes. ;)

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Jesus Saves
Joined: 16 Jun 2005
Posts: 1150
Location: South of Heaven

1/7/17 12:00 PM

I sill don't think so. Here's why.

There is essentially no additional (marginal) cost for a radio station to broadcast both digital and analog radio in the USA. The radio station I frequently listen to does just that (WQXR) as well as simultaneously streams live over the WWW. The WWW streaming does add significant operating cost.

Additionally, they can use the same channel to do so - to broadcast both analog and digital. Norway does not and their reasoning for the move, in part, is to conserve channel space.

FM channel space was an issue in the USA not too long ago, but that was essentially solved with Satellite radio. Whatever demand for new content/radio formats shifted to satellite, freeing up channel space for FM. Much the same prior, like FM demand freed a lot of channel space on AM.

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Brian Nystrom
Joined: 26 Jan 2004
Posts: 5096
Location: Nashua, NH

1/7/17 10:41 PM

Serius XM sound quality is horrible

I have a satellite radio in the car and did their trial period, but the sound was so bad that I couldn't stand to listen to it. It's all boomy, muddy bass, weak midrange and non-existent treble. Why anyone would pay for it is beyond me. Perhaps it would be OK for listening to sports, but it sucks for music.

Are there other satellite radio services that actually sound good?

It makes no sense to get rid of analog FM, as there is no way to easily or inexpensively adapt existing radios, like you could with TV converter boxes. It would place an unfair financial burden on the public for no appreciable gain.

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dddd
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 3345
Location: NorCal

1/8/17 12:03 AM

Brian, if you listen to rap music on your defective satellite radio, it might actually make it sound better. ;-)

Then again, maybe the distortion is the result of either the sending or receiving end not providing or effecting sufficient over-sampling. If it's music they're selling, the customers usually demand high quality sound I would expect. Perhaps also these satellites are directing their best signal strength to areas with highest customer density?

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Brian Nystrom
Joined: 26 Jan 2004
Posts: 5096
Location: Nashua, NH

1/8/17 8:00 AM

AFAIK, rap is crap

Call me an old fogey if you like, but someone who can't sing reciting tortured rhyme to a lame back-beat is not music, at least not to my ears. Rap actually makes disco seem tolerable, which is a frightening thought! ;-)

As for the sound quality from Serius XM, my understanding is that they've essentially compromised the quality to get more quantity. If you complain to them, their answer is to adjust the bass and treble on your radio, which of course would ruin the sound from every other source (FM, CD, external player). It's not that they can't provide quality audio, they've intentionally chosen not to do so.

I don't think location has anything to do with it, since I'm in the greater Boston area, which would be a prime market.

Fortunately, the sat. radio came with the car, so I didn't pay anything extra for it, and the FM, CD and external player functions work well and sound good.

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