The crackle of a medium-wave dial used to be the soundtrack of European nights. You’d sit there, thumbing a plastic wheel, catching snippets of the BBC World Service, then some frantic Italian football commentary, followed by the haunting, distant tones of a station from deep within Eastern Europe. It felt like magic. But if you try that today? Honestly, you’re mostly going to hear silence. Or worse, the buzzing drone of every LED bulb and phone charger in your house.
People keep saying radio is dead, but that’s not quite right. FM is still hanging on by its fingernails, and DAB+ is the new king. However, for AM stations in Europe, the situation is—to put it bluntly—pretty grim. We are watching the final sunset of a technology that literally defined the 20th century.
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The Great European Switch-Off
Just a few weeks ago, on December 31, 2025, France officially turned off its very last medium-wave transmitter. The station was Bretagne 5. It was the end of an era for a country that once dominated the airwaves. France isn't alone. Germany, the Netherlands, and most of Scandinavia have already pulled the plug. They've basically decided that keeping those massive, power-hungry towers humming isn't worth the invoice from the electric company.
Spain just dropped a bombshell too. Radio Nacional de España (RNE) announced it was shuttering its massive AM network before the end of 2025. Why? Because only about 69,000 people were still tuning in. When you realize that running those transmitters costs millions in electricity and maintenance, the math just doesn't work anymore. It’s business, plain and simple.
Why the Future of AM Stations in Europe is So Bleak
You might wonder why we can't just leave them on. "It’s just radio, right?" Wrong. AM (Amplitude Modulation) is an absolute energy hog. To cover a whole country, you need hundreds of kilowatts of power pumping into a giant metal mast. In a world obsessed with carbon footprints and "Green Deals," these stations look like dinosaurs.
Then there’s the interference. Modern life is loud—electrically speaking. Your electric car, your solar panel inverter, and even your neighbor’s cheap USB-C cable all spit out electromagnetic "noise." This noise trashes AM signals. You’ve probably noticed it. You drive under a power line or near a hospital and the station just vanishes into a screech.
- Electric Vehicles (EVs): Many carmakers are literally removing AM tuners from dashboards because the electric motors create so much interference it makes the radio unlistenable.
- Energy Prices: Even with the weird "negative price" hours we saw in Europe's power grid in 2025, the overall cost of maintaining aging tube-based transmitters is sky-high.
- Audience Shift: Let's be real. If you’re under 40, have you ever voluntarily touched an AM dial? Most people haven't.
The "Keep Longwave" Rebels
It’s not all quiet yet, though. There’s this fierce group of enthusiasts in the UK fighting to save BBC Radio 4 on Longwave. The Droitwich transmitter is legendary. It’s 91 years old! The BBC wanted to kill it off by 2027, but there’s a massive pushback. Why? Because Longwave (a cousin of AM) has incredible range. One transmitter can cover almost the entire British Isles and chunks of Northern Europe.
For sailors in the middle of the North Sea, that signal is a lifeline. It’s where the Shipping Forecast lives. If you take that away, you’re relying entirely on satellites and internet—which are way easier to "break" during a conflict or a massive power outage. There’s a certain security in a 500kW signal that can't be hacked by a script kiddie in a basement.
Is Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) the Savior?
Some tech nerds (and I say that with love) think DRM is the answer. Basically, it’s a way to broadcast a digital signal using the old AM frequencies. It sounds as clear as a CD, but it uses the same long-range "bounce" that AM is famous for.
Honestly? It’s probably too late for Europe. India is going all-in on DRM, and it makes sense there because they have huge rural areas to cover. But in Europe, DAB+ has already won the "digital radio war." Most cars sold in the EU since 2021 are required by law to have digital tuners. The infrastructure is already built. Switching to DRM now would be like trying to sell LaserDiscs in the age of Netflix.
What’s Left for the Radio Enthusiast?
If you're a "DXer"—someone who likes hunting for distant signals—the future of AM stations in Europe looks like a hobby for ghost hunters. You can still catch some signals from Romania or Spain (for now), but the band is getting emptier every month.
Interestingly, some small community stations are trying to take over the abandoned frequencies. Since the big players are leaving, the spectrum is technically "free," but the cost of the hardware and the electricity is still a massive hurdle for a small local station.
Moving Forward: What You Can Do
If you actually care about the heritage of radio or you're worried about emergency communications, here’s the reality:
- Get a DAB+ / Internet Radio: If you want content, this is where it is. The "quality" of AM was never the draw; the programs were. Most of those old AM stations now have 24/7 crystal-clear streams online.
- Check Your Car: If you're buying a used car, check if it has a DAB+ tuner. If it's an older model with only AM/FM, you might want to look into an adapter before the analog signals vanish entirely.
- Support Local Transmission: Some groups are still lobbying to keep "emergency" AM/LW transmitters active as a backup for national security. If that resonates with you, look up the "Campaign to Keep Longwave."
The "static" is winning, but the music hasn't stopped—it's just moved to a different neighborhood. We're trading the romantic, crackly long-distance calls for the sterile perfection of a digital stream. It's more efficient, sure. But standing in a field in the dark, trying to catch a signal from a thousand miles away? That’s a feeling we might never get back.