Swedish Radio's responsibilities in crises

Swedish Radio's  (”Sveriges Radio”) mission is to make radio in the service of the public. Swedish Radio is governed by a broadcasting licence issued by the government.

Emergency information

P4 is Sweden's emergency channel.There are 25 local P4 channels which must always be able to broadcast and provide the public with important information. This also if society is affected by a crisis or serious disruption.

The Government requires Swedish Radio to have a high level of resilience in the event of power cuts, telecommunications failures or other severe stress. The transmitter system is technically designed to cope with such efforts. Swedish Radio must be able to operate even if Sweden is in a state of high alert..

A stable source of information

Power cuts and telecommunication disturbances could mean that you cannot access important information. During such disruptions, regular radio broadcasts are a reliable source of information.To be able to listen to the radio at all times, you may want to make sure you have a battery-operated radio. In this case, make sure you always have plenty of batteries. There are also radios powered by solar cells or a crank.

Digital radio and FM radio

In 2015, the government decided not to proceed with the proposal to phase out analogue FM radio and switch entirely to digital broadcasting, known as DAB or DAB+ broadcasting.

One important reason is that digital channels are not as secure as analogue FM radio in crises and wars. In addition, it would require a major technical effort to make all existing FM receivers capable of receiving digital broadcasts.

Currently, there are no plans to phase out analogue FM broadcasts and many radio channels are available in both analogue and digital formats.

When you buy a new radio receiver, check that it can receive both analogue and digital channels. This also applies to the radio in new vehicles

The information was provided by Swedish Radio, MSB, and Teracom.