News

BFMTV is now available in an enhanced radio version on BFM Radio. The channel can be listened to live in digital quality with DAB+ technology, but also on the BFMTV application and the bfmradio.com website, with the channel live and additional audio content. Viewers can find all BFMTV programmes thanks to BFM Radio, which also offers enriched content specially dedicated to audio: traffic information, weather forecasts, the stock market as well as several podcasts.

Eduardo Montefusco: "The time of waiting, of reflections is over. Radio finally deserves to fully enter digital. Obviously the terrestrial one. We had to wait for over twenty years for the VHF band to be released, used without limits by television services and in particular by Rai, in order to have the national frequency plan for the DAB service. We look forward to the Agcom resolution."

Toscana DAB and Radio Digitale Toscana, two DAB+ network providers in Italy’s north-central Tuscany region, have activated additional facilities. The two consortiums are part of the country’s local radio and TV association Aeranti-Corallo. They currently each operate seven multiplexes in Florence, Pistoia, Prato, Arezzo and Siena provinces, and both recently activated a DAB+ transmitter in the medieval hill town of San Gimignano in Siena.

Services at launch include Sunrise Radio, Sunrise Radio Gold, Sab Rang Radio, Marefa Radio, Great Yorkshire Radio, Voice of Islam, Cosoro Radio, Panjab Radio, Fever FM Leeds, and Gorgeous Radio. Commenting on the launch, Rash Mustapha of the UK Digris operation said: “We are pleased that our first synchronised two site DAB radio installation has gone so well. Eleven services are now being encoded, multiplexed and distributed across the network, 24/7 monitoring is also in place so that Bradford Digital Media will only need to work on the mux management side of things with the techie headaches being dealt with by Digris.”

The ongoing development of small-scale DAB in the United Kingdom continues apace with the first new multiplexes now operational. Others are nearing launch, and the broadcast regulator, Ofcom, is offering additional licenses through a third round of licensing that opened on Jan. 25.

In North Friesland, the national DAB+ stations which are broadcast nationwide via channel 5C, are now offering better reception. The network operator Media Broadcast has put the transmitter in Süderlügum (Schleswig-Holstein) into operation, which Deutschlandradio announced in March 2022 (INFOSAT reported). In addition to the public Deutschlandradio stations Deutschlandfunk, Deutschlandfunk Kultur, Deutschlandfunk Nova and the digital channel "Deutschlandfunk Documents and Debates", numerous private radio stations are broadcast via the first national DAB+ platform, the "1. DAB+ Bundesmux", will benefit from improved reception. These include the private stations Absolut Relax, Energy, ERF Plus, Klassik Radio, Radio Bob!, Radio Hoereb, Schlagerparadies, Schwarzwaldradio and Sunshine Live.

While Electric Vehicles (EVs) can serve as a tool to help curb our fossil fuel dependency, they also pose a surprisingly large threat to the radio industry — more specifically AM radio. Some EV automakers are dropping AM altogether due to audio quality concerns, but that’s just one piece of the puzzle as radio continues to fight for space on the dash. “As carmakers increase electric vehicle offerings throughout their lineups, the availability of AM radio to consumers is declining,” said Pooja Nair, communications systems engineer with Xperi Corp., in a Radio World guest commentary. In 2015, Radio Info reported that AM stations were shutting down en masse from France to the Netherlands and Russia. The frequency has largely been superseded by the DAB format. According to recent figures released by WorldDAB, 95% of new cars sold in key European markets were equipped with DAB+ receivers as standard in 2021.

Gong 96.3 will soon be available with a second service in Munich and the region. The new radio station follows an innovative concept and is intended to make a special contribution to diversity. In its meeting on Wednesday, July 14, 2022, the Media Council of the Bavarian State Centre for New Media awarded Radio Gong the contract for a new radio service. Several stations had applied for the free DAB+ slot on channel 11C Munich. The station can reach 2.69 million people in the Munich metropolitan region.

London and the South East of England will constitute the fifth round of small-scale radio multiplex licensing. Round five will see 32 licences offered, which Ofcom plans to advertise in 2023. Applications are also now open for Round four, covering areas from East Fife in Scotland to the Ards Peninsula in Northern Ireland, and from Anglesey in Wales to Wolverhampton in England. Ofcom’s rollout of small-scale DAB will enable the launch of around 200 multiplexes, covering all four UK nations.

Radio use in Germany remains at a high level overall. When measuring the distribution channels, DAB+ is again one of the winners of the current study. In the widest group of listeners, DAB+ now has a share of 27.0 percent (listeners aged 14 and over, ma 2022 Audio I: 24.5 percent). In the previous year, the proportion was just over 20 percent. Deutschlandradio Director Stefan Raue: "The renewed significant growth in the use of DAB+ once again reflects the success of the network expansion. Digital radio is now the driving force in the audio market.”