News

Digital radio will play a significant role in a Bavarian campaign to celebrate the Christmas season. A newly launched Digital Radio Germany marketing campaign in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg will feature on digital radio and will be supported by print and online advertising. Michael Reichert, Head of ARD Project Office Digital Radio, SWR said. "We want to draw attention to Digital Radio. Buoyed by latest GfK figures, digital radio is the largest driver of growth in the segment portable radios ". Press release (German) attached.

The Südwestrundfunk (the regional public service broadcaster of Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate) continues expanding its DAB+ coverage: Over the next weeks, until the end of the year, new transmitter sites will be commissioned successively in the SWR network

The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) is likely to adopt digital audio broadcasting (DAB) technology for digital radio in Thailand. DAB technology is used for radio broadcasting in Australia and several European countries. DAB+ is the latest version, and a study by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) said DAB+ was a realistic option for Thailand.

In car entertainment specialists Celsus have completed a successful first MECHANEX Show at Sandown Park – in the same week that the car digital radio tick mark was launched by Digital Radio UK (DRUK).

The requirements for a digital radio switchover in Norway have now been met, and Norway is now set for FM broadcasting to end in 2017... The number of nationwide radio stations on air has increased from 5 to 22, there are auto service centres offering to fit DAB radios in over half of Norway’s municipalities ... and the latest Gallup survey shows that 51% of listening to the radio is via DAB

Listeners in parts of North Wales will be able to receive five extra stations on DAB digital radio from December, when a new local multiplex serving the area is due to go live.

Gérard Larcher took a favourable stance towards DAB+ when he was a guest on the monthly radio political show, "L'Invité des Indés Radios – Metronews – LCI", saying that digital radio "can reach places that are difficult to cover using other technologies... Fear of competition is the real reason why some radios are not adopting DAB+, while competition has always been healthy for radio".

Two additional stations are launching on local DAB digital radio multiplexes serving Cambridge, Kent, Norwich, Nottinghamshire and Sussex from January 2015. Listeners in these areas will be able to listen to Bauer Media's Heat and Kisstory stations broadcast alongside local radio stations in their respective areas.

Local DAB is set to launch in North Yorkshire on the 17th December 2014 with three local radio stations on the launch line-up. Broadcasting initially from transmitters at Bilsdale, Acklam Wold and Hildebrand Barracks, the multiplex will carry BBC Radio York and two new DAB offshoot stations from UKRD's local stations Minster FM and Stray FM.

President of the CSA, Patrice Gélinet, addressed the reasons used by the larger radio stations for not going digital: "…four radio stations are already paying dual transmission costs, FM and long wave, at a price significantly higher than via DAB+, and for a poor quality of signal. Radio France spends €6m for its long wave transmissions, which would cost three times less via DAB+”.