It's not breaking any news to say that traditional AM and FM radio have declined in stature over the last generation due to advances in digital and mobile technologies that often give listeners content on-demand and without having to listen to commercials.
Yet terrestrial radio still remains the dominant form of listening in the United States. Data from Pew Research and Center and Nielsen Audio shows that 91 percent of Americans 12 and up listened to AM and FM radio in 2013, and accounted for 81 percent of all listening hours.
It would therefore seem incomprehensible for an entire country to switch off its nationwide analog radio dial. But that's exactly what the 5 million person nation of Norway recently announced it would do starting in 2017.
The country will be switching to the digital audio broadcasting (DAB) standard, which will both save money and increase offerings from the country's mere five nationwide stations on the current FM dial. The trend is likely to continue into Western Europe, where many stations in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany and France have already switched to the technology.
Should American radio listeners be expecting a similar phase-out of analog technology — as was the case during 2009's federally-mandated switch to digital television? Probably not.
For one, with approximately 243 million listeners of terrestrial radio across more than 15,000 stations spread around 3.8 million square miles, the cost to switch would be prohibitive, especially for low-power or small-market stations or media companies with limited budgets. Turning off FM would also require congressional action, as the analog TV shut-off did.
But many American broadcasters are already switching to digital feeds broadcasted over the FM airwaves.
"It is happening in the United States, it's in the top 50 markets, virtually all the top 10 stations have switched to digital," National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Executive Vice President Dennis Wharton told The Christian Science Monitor. Wharton also said that 21 percent of all FM stations in the U.S. transmit digitally.
Forbes music writer Bobby Owsinski points out that the five national FM stations in Norway are publicly owned, unlike nearly all U.S. stations. Therefore, there would have to be significant industry momentum and business reasons to change the mandated standards, which for now don't have enough backers.
There's also some possible cost for the consumer in the Norway transition, as existing analog radios will largely fail to work, including those in cars. In the U.S., with a much more car-centric culture than Europe, the auto industry switching to DAB radios would need to happen as well.
As Damon Beres writes in The Huffington Post, a curious issue is that groups like the NAB are trying to get FM access available in more places, including smartphones. Phones like the iPhone 6 and Samsung Galaxy S5 are equipped with FM transmitters, but are disabled by the service providers.
"Wireless carriers block the activation of that device because they'd prefer you listen to streamed programming. It helps them if you bump up against your data plan for the month," Wharton told Beres.
Digital standards will likely continue to grow in popularity among stations in the U.S. However, due to geographic and commercial reasons, you won't have to be replacing any of your old traditional radios any time soon.
