Letter of the day: it is important to save the FM!

Satigny, December 23

In a few days, on the evening of December 31, official Swiss FM transmitters will stop broadcasting radio programs from French-speaking Switzerland 1 and 2, German-speaking Switzerland and Ticino. Of course, the FM transmitters are replaced by the already functional DAB+ radio, which can be received using a suitable receiver at home or in the car.

It is distressing to note that in recent years we have witnessed a systematic dismantling of radio communications. The Schwarzenburg transmitter ceased broadcasting on shortwave in 1998 after sixty years of good service. It allowed the broadcast of Swiss programs captured around the world and played an essential role during the Second World War. The Sottens transmitter was removed in 2010, although its signals could easily be received at night as far away as Portugal.

Then it was the turn of analog television to be replaced by TNT, itself abandoned a few years later. When will the current DAB+ radio be dismantled, under the pretext that you can take everything on the internet? And what to do in times of crisis or disaster for urgent messages? There will be no transmitters or receivers available to deal with an internet interruption. This is why it is important to preserve FM, a technology that has proven itself for a long time and deserves to last for a long time to come!

Karl Jauch

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