Medium wave commercial broadcasts may disappear from Japan!
The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) has announced that 13 commercial broadcasters in Japan will participate in a “demonstration experiment” to temporarily suspend medium wave broadcasting in some areas.
Most of the 13 companies will stop broadcasting from relay stations without stopping the parent station of medium wave broadcasting, but commercial broadcasters in Yamaguchi and Saga prefectures plan to stop medium wave broadcasting from all transmission stations.
The next renewal of broadcasting licenses will be in November this year. Due to special measures under the Radio Law, it is expected that some stations will stop medium wave broadcasting as early as February 2024.
The following 13 stations will partially or completely stop medium wave broadcasting:
IBC Iwate Broadcasting Co.
Ibaraki Broadcasting System
Niigata Broadcasting System
Hokuriku Broadcasting Co.
Fukui Broadcasting Co.
Tokai Radio Broadcasting Co., Ltd.
Yamaguchi Broadcasting Corporation (→ complete cessation of medium wave broadcasting)
Nankai Broadcasting Co.
RKB Mainichi Broadcasting Co.
Kyushu Asahi Broadcasting Co.,Ltd.
NBC Radio Saga (→ complete suspension of medium wave broadcasting)
Kumamoto Broadcasting Co.
Minaminihon Broadcasting Co., Ltd.
Akiyoshi Teraoka to WRTH FB group (2023-09-18)