U.DAB launches largest small-scale DAB multiplex in the U.K.
GENEVA — European medium-wave transmitters are going silent. On April 1, the BBC shut down the nine transmitters that had previously brought BBC Radio 4 in AM to the whole country. Since January 2018, the British public broadcaster has started to switch off the AM transmitters for its local stations. Looking ahead, it plans to abandon the band totally by 2027 at the latest.
This trend goes beyond the BBC. In the last years, British commercial broadcasters have also switched off AM transmitters. In the case of Bauer Media, not a single AM transmitter remains operational.
The United Kingdom is the last fortress of AM transmission in Europe. Over the last 15 years, many other countries disconnected their last AM transmitters — Austria (in 2008), Switzerland (2010), Ireland (2012), Germany (2015), Belarus (2016), Albania (2017) and Belgium (2018), to name a few. More than 20 European countries have ceased AM transmission. Across the continent, less than 100 AM services remain active.
Notwithstanding, AM still resists against all odds in markets such as Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Romania and Spain, among others. However, many big broadcasters still relying on this technology have often reduced their transmission power without receiving complaints from the audience. This is a strong signal about how the future may look like.
Even if people want to listen to AM, it has become increasingly difficult for them to do so as fewer new radio devices include a dedicated tuner. This is also happening in cars, mostly electric ones.
A pile of reasons
While AM was the dominant way for Europeans to listen to radio until the 1980s, audiences have progressively migrated to other networks. Take the Spanish case — in terms of daily reach, AM was overtaken by FM in 1985, online radio in 2013 and radio through TV sets in 2021. Currently, half a million people listen to it daily, often on a nonexclusive basis. This equals to only 1.2% of the population older than 13 years. Unsurprisingly, the average age of AM audiences skews older than in other networks.
Another reason for this decline is that, except for the United Kingdom, AM has been a simulcast channel of an FM service in most countries. Consequently, AM has been neither distinctive nor attractive for audiences, as FM and digital platforms provide a more diverse offer. Additionally, sound quality is lower in the AM band.
Under these conditions, AM listeners continue to use the network because of either their long-established habit or the lack of alternatives, notably in sparsely populated areas where few FM or digital radio signals, if any, are available.
Even if people want to listen to AM, it has become increasingly difficult for them to do so as fewer new radio devices include a dedicated tuner. This is also happening in cars, mostly electric ones. Automakers blame the interference created by other car components, which could only be solved by adding filters at a too high a cost.
As if all this was not enough, as AM services typically use high-power towers, broadcasters’ energy bills are significantly more expensive for this network than FM and DAB/DAB+. As reach figures decline, the cost per AM listener skyrockets to unsustainable levels.
The cherry on the cake of this perfect storm is the growing concern about the carbon footprint of AM transmitters.
Is this just a European phenomenon?
AM still plays a crucial role in areas where its broad coverage gives it a competitive advantage. This explains why it is still essential in places like Australia, Argentina — where the biggest radio stars still have their shows on AM stations — and the United States, where there were 4,427 AM services licensed as of March 31. The country counts more than 82 million AM listeners each month.
But even in these cases, signals that point to the inevitable decline in AM are appearing. In Argentina, the popularity of AM stations does not hide declining ratings. In Australia, regional stations have switched to FM in the last few years, and in some cases, AM transmission has stopped completely. Consequently, AM radio weekly reach has declined from 30% in 2019 to 23% in 2023.
In 2015, the United States’ Federal Communications Commission decided that radio broadcasting deserved an AM Revitalization Plan. Its main goal was to make changing the location of medium-wave sites easier and allow FM repeaters to retransmit medium-wave signals. Hence, the priority was to keep medium-wave licensees on the market rather than make medium-wave more attractive as a distribution network. Contrary to Europe, AM and FM offer different services in the U.S. This has maintained the distinctiveness of the service. The current battle is in the Senate, where an act requiring all new motor vehicles to include an AM tuner has been introduced.
While AM is still important in many parts of the world, Europeans do not seem alone in turning their backs on this band after using it for nearly a century.
The author is a co-founder and research director at South 180.
More transmission stories
Guest Commentary: Two standards for the price of one?
