OSLO � Recently,we�ve reportedthat audience reactions to the FM shutdown in Nordland county in Norway have been problematic (at best).
At the just completed Radiodays Europe conference in Amsterdam, Kenneth Andresen from Norway�s P4, and Marius Lillelien from the public broadcaster NRK, said that they expected a drop in listenership. �It is impossible to turn off a transmitter and not lose listeners,� said Andresen, from a recent article byradionytt.no. Radio listening in Nordland has gone from 74% prior to the FM shutdowns to 64% after.�
Figures also show that 86% of listening to the radio in Nordland now is digital � not 100%, because some are listening to local radio, which is still on FM, and some listeners can still getFM from Sweden.�
Lillelien also mentioned forecasts suggesting that the digital listening will go steadily upward in Nordland and will �be around 100% in September� according to same article.�Asiaradiotodaypublished some of these projections:� �…the stats so far, shortly after the analog radio switch off, support the proposition that the population is likely to transition to the new digital platform eventually.� �
These are the statistics for Nordland county, with current figures shown first and previous figures (before switch off) shown in parentheses:
- Number of DAB radios total: 224,000 (previously 165,000)
- Number of DAB in car: 53,000 (previously 39,000)
- Total radio listening: 64% (previously 74%)
- Reach of total radio listening, DAB: 81% (previously 57%)
- Reach of total radio listening, internet radio: 28% (previously 28%)
- Reach of total radio listening digital television: 22% (previously 20%)
- Reach of total radio listening, accumulated digital: 86% (previously 75%)
- Reach of total radio listening, only via FM: 14% (previously 25%) *
Radioinfotook the opportunity during Radio Days Europe to ask Ole Jorgen Torvmark, the CEO of Digital Radio Norway for some more information about the FM to DAB+ transition. You can watch the entire interviewhere. �
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