Keep waving

John "Cheeky Boy" Whittingdale has announced what seems like a fairly benign review of the future of radio by the DCMS.  Digital radio listening now counts for 58.5% of ears. 95% of new cars have DAB digital radio installed as standard and 44.5% of all listening in cars is now digital (up from virtually nil in 2010).  Unstated - vast swathes of us use the INTERWEB as their audio source, on smart speakers and mobile phones.  Power-hungry medium wave transmitters are being turned off; how far behind is FM ? 

The daddy of them all - the long-wave transmitter at Droitwich - is still going, despite warnings as long ago as 2011 that replacement valves were no longer being manufactured. It has another purpose which has kept it alive - it broadcasts Teleswitch, which drives electricity meters switching in and out of Economy 7 tariffs. That contract has been extended to March 2021, in the hope that everyone will have a Smart meter by then.

Survivalists and sci-fi fans would argue that the Government might like to think about keeping LW alive a little longer, and doling out wind-up radios, if it wants to keep communications with a post-Armageddon population alive.