Ex-Federal Councillor Leuthard against imminent FM switch-off

That's because only half of the vehicles in Switzerland are equipped with DAB or Internet radio, she said. "That makes it difficult to switch off FM radio prematurely," Leuthard said in an interview with Radio 1 broadcast Thursday. Leuthard, as the then head of the Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (Uvek), had been partly responsible for the hiring decision in 2017.

At the time, she thought that FM was a discontinued model, said Leuthard, who sat on the Federal Council from 2006 to 2018. She had expected that newer technologies such as DAB+ or Internet would also establish themselves more quickly in cars in Switzerland.

If the FM frequencies were switched off too quickly, half of the cars in Switzerland would lose radio reception because they still have an FM radio installed, Leuthard continued. In addition, millions of functioning radios in Switzerland would become useless. "This would destroy national wealth because no one would need these devices anymore. And nobody wants that."

Private radio agreement

In Europe, the FM switch-off is threatened by a patchwork. In the UK, it is planned for 2032. In Germany and other countries, there is no fixed switch-off date yet. "It's not worth Switzerland going it alone," Leuthard said. "Cars must be able to drive from northern Germany to southern Italy with radio reception."

In the course of the transition from analog to digital wireless terrestrial radio broadcasting, the private radio operators have agreed to end the use of FM frequencies by January 2023 at the latest. SRG plans to switch off its FM transmitters in August 2022. In recent years, the Federal Council created the legal basis for the switchover, and it is providing financial support to radio broadcasters for DAB+ broadcasting during the transition phase.

The Federal Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC) took note of Leuthard's statements, it said on Thursday in response to a request from the Keystone-SDA news agency. The decision to switch off VHF is a decision of the industry, which also determines the timing. Whether the broadcasters would now return the FM radio licenses on the agreed date or use them until the end of 2024 is currently being discussed in the industry.

Fewer and fewer FM listeners

According to the market research institute GfK Switzerland, a survey conducted in spring 2020 showed that digital radio usage has increased by 22 percentage points since fall 2015. Radio listeners thus received 71 out of 100 radio minutes per day via digital. At the same time, FM usage fell by 22 percentage points to 29 percent. Accordingly, only 13 percent of the Swiss population still listened exclusively to analog FM radio in June 2020.

Among the prominent opponents of an imminent FM switch-off is radio pioneer Roger Schawinski. Over 47,000 people have so far signed the 75-year-old entrepreneur's online petition "Save FM". In parliament, initiatives against a switch-off have been submitted. (SDA)