New Labour Law Ends 90-Years Of Analogue Radio

One of the Government's last pieces of legislation in the final days before the election will bring in a legal framework to end FM, AM and Long Wave radio signals. It is called The Digital Economy Act.

This comes, despite recent statistics that show 94 per cent of radio listeners are happy with the way things are currently and that less than a third of radios sold in the UK are digital. What do you listen to?

It also means that millions of analogue radios that are working perfectly will be defunct and so what will happen to them, is there a radio mountain, like the sugar mountains? Or perhaps a radio heaven and that more digital radios means more use of electricity. Well done Labour. Another genius idea! Not.

At a time when we're all meant to be trying to conserve energy and recycle, why is the Government bringing in a change that will mean we have to get rid of equipment that works fine and replace it with expensive digital equipment?  I have two radios in my house that both came from grandparents, both a bit retro now and they look great - as well as working without any problems and just using batteries - not plugged in to the wall.

And what about elderly people who really don't have enough income support or spare money in their pension to go out and invest in new equipment, and yet who might be quite content to continue listening to their radio that has been working for years, thank you very much.

There seems to be a wave of protest across the country, including operators of local commercial radio stations. I just wondered if anyone in Exmouth knows of a campaign, as I know BAY FM are still working hard to get a license and will have their annual airing in May this year.

The BBC website currently mentions no date set yet for the big switch off but this is likely to come soon now that the House of Lords has passed the new law.

If you can think of reasons why we shouldn't lose analogue radio signals, post them here and maybe, if local parliamentary candidates are using this website (as I see the Lib Dems are already), we can make this a burning election issue rather than just resigning ourselves to burning our perfectly good radios.

Incidentally, my parents bought us a digital radio for Christmas and two of our favourite stations are looking likely to be axed by the BBC. You have to wonder, with cuts to BBC spending, why bother investing in digital? Oh yes, because there isn't going to be an alternative soon, if Labour has their way. Just another scandal. Remember, it's not only your radio at home - 30 million car radios will also be obsolete.