As music moves ever more online the traditional broadcasting of radio is saying a long slow goodbye as countries kill it off.

Switzerland are becoming the second country to stop broadcasting FM radio as the format gets diminished by increasingly online listening. FM radio licenses are set to expire there this year and they will be extended to 2024 but it doesn’t seem they’ll go beyond that.

The Swiss regulator OFCOM revealed at the end of June this year that only 17% of Switzerland were listening to FM radio exclusively. Accordingly, two-thirds of the country’s radio use is digital. RAIN reported that 65% of radio listening in Switzerland was digital in Spring 2019.

FM Radio still has it’s place in Switzerland. According to the Swiss OFCOM 56% of cars still listen to FM radio but DAB+ radios are being fitted to more cars and causing a gradual drop in usage there as well.

OFCOM are looking into areas in the country where DAB+ coverage isn’t yet sufficient. There is a chance that limited areas may maintain FM transmissions after 2024 whilst coverage is improved so that there aren’t areas cut off completely.

Switzerland are the second country to officially announce the end of FM radio. Norway began killing of FM transmissions in early 2017. Britain and Denmark have also been opined as the next places to consider shutting down the traditional radio transmission.