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Sometimes you just get some bad domain name news!

I don’t usually drop any .com domain names unless there is a good reason to do it. Whether that is a legal reason, a registration mistake (registering a typo), some domains with specific lifespan (e.g. elections2010.net, not my domain) or maybe a domain name registered for a new trend that never caught on.

This time I am dropping a domain name because of some bad domain name news (but for my domain!) that involves a country killing one of the most successful and used inventions: the FM radio!

My domain name is of course NorwayFM.com and is already expired and will drop soon. I have had it for years (while there was still FM radio in Norway!) but it is time to let go.

Norway announced back in 2015 that it will switch off analogue service in January 2017 and is the first country in the world to do so.

The UK had planned to switch off its own FM service by 2018 but the plans were later shelved following objections from commercial radio stations. Now the switch will happen sometime after 2020.

In the US, around 85% of American adults still listen to AM/FM stations.

Norways’s decision was driven by rise in popularity of digital and internet radio. It says it will save £17 million a year by the switch to a purely digital service.
Today is the day that Norway says goodbye to FM radio. Other countries are expected to follow as numbers of FM listeners drop.
Sold.Domains

About Konstantinos Zournas

I studied Computer Engineering and Computer Science in London, UK and I am now living in Athens, Greece. I went online in 1995, started coding in 1996 and began buying domain names and creating websites in 2000. I started the OnlineDomain.com blog in 2012.

8 comments

  1. My grandma had a Blaupunkt such as this one 😀 But back in the day as you know, there was hardly anything on Greek FM radio, just static and the occasional radio pirate 😀 Everyone was on AM.

  2. It just goes to show that domains don’t always pass the test of time and have a limited window of opportunities. This is one of the reasons I also try to avoid trends since they come and go so fast. You really have to be on the ball and hustle so you don’t get stuck.

  3. Wow. That is no good. In US people still listen to ballgames, weather reports while in car say on a camping trip.
    I,m sure lives will be lost because someone wants to save some money. Older generation does not like this.
    BOOOO

  4. Kostas,
    IMHO that trend of switching off FM radio won’t go that far, as you also mentioned there have already been vibrant objections from many commercial radio stations, and that will continue both in Europe and in the US, without mentioning Asia and Africa.
    I think digital radio and FM will continue to coexist. 🙂

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