Radio silence as Norway goes digital
Print Edition
DEAD air will greet some radio listeners in Norway today when the mountainous nation of 5 million people becomes the world’s first to phase out analog signals in favor of digital audio broadcasting, or DAB.
The move has provoked concern for the elderly and motorists, while others will be nostalgic for the crackling sound of old radio.
Judith Haaland, 98, remembers broadcasts from London during World War II and Norway’s king stiffening the resolve of his countrymen under German occupation. Now blind, the radio is her link to the outside world.
“I remember April 9, 1940, planes flying overhead and Quisling coming on the radio saying he had taken control of the government with the help of the Germans,” said Haaland, recalling the rule of Norwegian Nazi collaborator Vidkun Quisling. “After that we listened to broadcasts from London.”
In a move likely to be watched closely, Norway will begin shutting off the FM signal today. By the end of the year, national networks will only be on DAB.
Switzerland and Britain are both considering a switch to digital networks.
Norway claims the move will free up cash for broadcasters to invest in programing, while providing a clearer and more reliable network that can better cut through the country’s sparsely populated rocky terrain.
There are already 26 nationwide DAB channels, including versions of the five stations that will soon be removed from the airwaves, and 70 percent of Norwegian households regularly tune in digitally. In an e-mail, Culture Minister Linda Hofstad Helleland said she was “quite comfortable” that the nation of “early adapters” was ready to embrace the digital future.
But critics say Norwegians are being forced to upgrade their technology and warn that emergency messages could be missed, especially in cars, as up to 20 million analog receivers are rendered obsolete.
“Norway is not prepared for this. There are millions of radios in homes, cottages and boats that won’t work anymore and only around 25 percent of cars in Norway have digital radios or adapters,” said Svein Larsen of the Norwegian Local Radio Association.
“This radio goes with me everywhere,” said Haaland, gripping her small analog device. “I listen to it in bed at night and it is with me when I wake up.”
For almost 100 years, analog radio has provided the soundtrack to her life.
She laughs as she recalls listening in 1981 when Norway beat England 2-1 in a football match, and Bjoerge Lillelien delivered one of Norway’s most famous radio broadcasts: “Lord Nelson, Lord Beaverbrook, Sir Winston Churchill, Sir Anthony Eden, Clement Attlee, Henry Cooper, Lady Diana. Maggie Thatcher can you hear me? Your boys took a hell of a beating,” he shouted down the airwaves, his voice cracking in a mixture of Norwegian and English.
Marius Lillelien was next to his commentator father during that World Cup qualifying match. Today he is head of radio at the national broadcaster, NRK.
“Of course there is a lot of nostalgia in radio. That’s one of the reasons this switch is so controversial. But that means people love radio and nostalgia is an asset to us whether we are broadcasting in analog or on DAB.”
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
