<div dir="ltr"><p>Reports of FM’s death in Norway are premature. That’s according to the <a href="http://www.lokalradio.no/" target="_blank">Norwegian Local Radio Association</a>
(NLF – Norse Lokalradio Forbund in Norwegian) which sent a press
release saying that 200 local commercial and community radio stations
outside the country’s four largest cities will continue broadcasting in
analog. Waves were made in the international press the last few days
with <a href="http://www.radiosurvivor.com/2015/04/21/norways-digital-radio-transition-is-an-outlier/">the initial report that Norway will shut down FM radio service in 2017</a>. </p>
<p>However, according to the NLF, only 23 local radio stations in Oslo,
Bergen, Trondheim and Stavanger, along with major national broadcasters,
will make the transition from analog to digital DAB broadcast. The
group also highlights a recent report from the Government Statistical
Bureau that says only 19% of listening is on broadcast DAB, below the
50% threshold set as a prerequisite for the change. </p>
<p>Apparently, the analog switch-off still requires approval in
Parliament, where it has majority support, but opposition from the
Progress Party – part of the governing coalition – and the Green Party. Part
of the objection is based on claims by groups like the NLF saying DAB’s
adoption was spurred by lobbying from the Digitalradio Norge AS
company, not by consumer demand. That should sound familiar to HD Radio
critics in the US.</p>More: <a href="http://www.radiosurvivor.com/2015/04/22/fm-in-norway-isnt-dead-says-norwegian-local-radio-association/">http://www.radiosurvivor.com/2015/04/22/fm-in-norway-isnt-dead-says-norwegian-local-radio-association/</a><br><div><br>\\<br><br clear="all"><div><div class="gmail_signature">Community Media Association<br>-- <br><a href="http://www.commedia.org.uk/" target="_blank">http://www.commedia.org.uk/</a><br><a href="http://twitter.com/community_media" target="_blank">http://twitter.com/community_media</a><br><a href="https://www.facebook.com/CommunityMediaAssociation" target="_blank">https://www.facebook.com/CommunityMediaAssociation</a><br><br>Canstream Internet Radio & Video<br><a href="http://www.canstream.co.uk/" target="_blank">http://www.canstream.co.uk/</a><br><a href="https://twitter.com/canstream" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/canstream</a></div></div>
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