If you're from the USA this is basically Canada's NOAA radio service. It's being taken down in a couple of weeks on March the 16th (2026). Weatheradio - Canada.ca I thought I'd post this here because there seem to be quite a few of our hybrid and EV driving friends here on the forum from Canada and I was wondering what your opinion is about this? Personally, I'm sad to see the service go away. What is more, this could put some people's lives and property in jeopardy. First, I'm pretty sure that there are places that the current Weatheradio service reaches that doesn't receive any cell service. And second, there are benefits from having redundant services because if one fails then you have the other. This is why I refuse to buy an iPhone or a Samsung phone, because they don't offer FM radio. My current phone has an FM tuner and I always carry around earphones that work as an antenna. I also have emergency radios in our emergency kits and go bags. I do this because it already has happened to me on more than one occasion that all internet, cellular and "landline" services go out in the entire valley and the only way to know what's going and what to do in order to stay safe is to tune into the local radio stations, including a NOAA radio broadcast station. But I also feel the handwriting is on the wall. People just don't care about over-the-air broadcasting anymore. Everyone is switching to the internet for all their news and entertainment. It's only a matter of time before OTA TV, AM and FM radio and services like Weatheradio and NOAA radio are things of the past. Hopefully the cellular services we use, which is starting to include satellite connectivity, end up being robust enough to keep us safe. I just don't think we're there yet. Therefore, I feel the decision to decommission Weatheradio this soon is a bad idea.
I'm content to let Canada, Canada. We have more tornadoes down here, and so I do not see NOAA Weather Radio going away anytime soon. S.A.M.E. literally, saved my life two years ago when a small spin-up tornado roared by while I was taking shelter beneath an overpass, having just been warned. It was nighttime and I would have never seen that puppy approaching with Mk-1 eyeballs. My CFO has a similar war story involving a church in middle Alabama. Cell phones seem to always run out of battery power when you need them the most. Cell phones have more dead spots. ...are left on Mute when you want to sleep and do not have an override. ...are in the other room. Yeah. Cellphones can do the same thing but our "intellectual betters" often forget that tornadoes are often as not accompanied by thunderstorms. Thunderstorms frequently have lots of lightning - the number one killer of cell towers. They knock down lots of trees - which causes fiber disruptions because an amazing amount of fiber drops are.....aptly named. Professionals preach P.A.C.E. when it comes to communications. Primary. Alternate. Contingent. Emergency.
Why invest in coverage for a system that nearly nobody can receive? It doesn't cost much different to improve and maintain coverage for the radios (cell phones) that virtually everyone has on them all the time. Direct cellphone-to-satellite is a reality now, and it seems to be expanding fast.
They keep broadcasting those because there's still a few nickels of advertising revenue left to squeeze out. How many ads do you get on a weather alert service?
