Report: Sweden To Scrap FM Radio

Sweden should make a full transition to digital radio by 2022, according to a plan presented on Monday to the government and to the minister for culture and democracy, Alice Bah Kuhnke.

According to adn.com, Both commercial radio companies and Swedish Radio -- the public service broadcaster to which Radio Sweden belongs -- want to see a larger digital radio network roll-out. That is seen as a first step to a switchover from analog FM to Digital Audio Broadcasting, or DAB+, a switchover that could happen as soon as seven years from now.

In short, it would involve more channels on which to air radio -- both for public service and for commercial radio. However, it also means that all FM receivers would become obsolete and millions of analog radios in homes and work places would have to be swapped for digital ones. Car radios would need to be converted.

But will Sweden’s new government, led by the Social Democrats and the Greens, want to make the investments that the industry is pushing for?

Nina Wormbs, the digital radio coordinator appointed by the government to draw up the new digitization plan, told Radio Sweden: “The government does not need to make too many investments, but it does need to make decisions and I am hopeful they will. I was given the assignment based on some prerequisites that we have now fulfilled.”

The plan that Wormbs presented to the minister for culture and democracy involves three main steps: a mutual launch, the extension of licenses for commercial radio on FM, and the shutdown of FM transmissions.

The main benefits to shutting down FM and opening up digital radio are that it would reduce costs in the long-term and it would lead to a broader and more diverse radio landscape, Wormbs said.
Swedish Radio has been carrying out test broadcasts on DAB for the past two decades, while waiting for a political decision on whether to scrap FM.