Next to go dark: Analog radio

Now that the switch to digital TV has come and gone, the world is turning its eyes to another broadcast medium making the great leap from analog to digital. Obviously, that medium is FM radio, the last real analog holdout in an increasingly digital world.

Although Great Britain won't be completely converted to digital television until 2012, it's already leading the charge in getting analog radio shut down, with a goal (set by the country's communications minister) of moving FM radio services to digital by 2015.

Right now it's just a proposal, but one that's likely to gain traction. The proposal would give stations and consumers two years' advance warning and wouldn't kick in until half of radio listening had already made the switch organically. That's projected to happen by 2013. (Right now digital radio accounts for about 20 percent of listening.)

The next challenge is building out the digital broadcasting network: FM radio is ubiquitous in the UK, but digital radio is not. Until broadcasting capability is constructed that can reach 90 percent of the nation, the government has mandated that the switchover process cannot legally begin.

But the true hurdle, as the Telegraph story linked above notes, is getting automobiles switched over to the new format. Unlike digital television, you can't just plug a new converter box into an outlet and be done with the job. A huge amount of radio listening -- 35 percent on average -- is done in the car, and the only way to upgrade to digital is to install a new radio... or get a new car with one. The former option isn't all that cost-prohibitive, but for many drivers, the prospect isn't so compelling that they will want to go through the hassle of installing a new radio just to listen to a drive-time radio talk show, especially when CDs and iPods are within arm's reach.

As for America, the issue isn't so urgent. Here, no date has been set for converting to digital radio and one may never be. In 2007, the FCC declined to set a mandatory switchover timeline, and so far has said it won't set a compulsory conversion date like it did for television.