News

WorldDAB Vice President Jacqueline Bierhorst will speak at Radiodays Asia, taking place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 5-6 September 2023. Bierhorst has been a pioneer in commercial radio since 1987, specialised in distribution, marketing and content. Since 2015 she is project director Digital Radio NL, a collaboration between public and commercial broadcasters and the Ministry of Economic Affairs coordinating involvement of all stakeholders and joint marketing of Digital Radio in The Netherlands.

radioWOCHE understands changes are coming to the state-wide DAB+ platform in North Rhine-Westphalia. At the end of the month, ZOUND1 MAX will be replaced by Audiotainment Südwest's bigFM, from 01.09.2023. RADIO/TELE FFH GmbH & Co Betriebs-KG would like to broadcast the programme harmony.fm via the platform, replacing ZOUND1 MIX. The other broadcasters were informed about the changes in the allocation of the platform of audio.digital NRW GmbH.

Martinique La 1ère has received regulatory approval to join the DAB+ trial in Martinique. Arcom says: "As part of the authorisation granted to Imédias Group to experiment with DAB+ broadcasting of radio services from three sites in Martinique from 1 January to 30 September 2023, Arcom has decided not to oppose the modification of the service plan by adding the Martinique La 1ère radio service."

In another short interview with WorldDAB members exhibiting at IBC2023, Lars-Peder Lundgren, Marketing Director, Paneda Group says they'll be demonstrating the Paneda Warning System over DAB.

The latest results of the Radioprojekt listenership survey for the first half of 2023 showed that listening on DAB+ receivers and DAB+ car radios has increased, with 17% of people using this technology. At the same time last year, 14% were using DAB+, and by 2021, 11% of listeners claimed to be using DAB+. DAB+ now has a comparable position to listening to radio on mobile phones (also 17%) or on computers (16%). Of those who can listen to DAB+, 40% listen daily and 28% listen several times a week. On average, DAB+ listeners listen to radio for ten minutes longer than owners of conventional receivers.

In the first of our series of short interviews with WorldDAB members exhibiting at IBC2023, Hermann Zensen, Head of Sales and Marketing at DIGIDIA says they'll be showing the FlexiDAB multi multiplexer and multi-encoder.

Since 4 August 2023, France Bleu Normandie Seine-Maritime et Eure has had its distribution channels extended with the commissioning of two new DAB+ transmitters. The station can now be received on DAB+ digital radio by just over one million people. On 1 August, France Bleu Isère's DAB+ coverage was also extended to the Rhône and Ain regions with the commissioning of two new DAB+ transmitters.

The Radio and Television Corporation has launched the third generation of radio broadcasting, Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB+), to provide media services that keep pace with modern technological development. The Radio and Television Corporation is expanding the use of digital broadcasting to increase the number of broadcasts by using only one transmitter instead of 16, which opens the way for broadcasting new licensed services, and it is also preparing to increase digital broadcasting areas by around 44 digital frequencies after launching three frequencies in Riyadh, Dammam and Jeddah.

The digitisation of radio reception is progressing steadily. According to the current CE industry compass by ZVEI and Deutsche TV-Plattform in cooperation with GfK, for the first time in the history of radio in Germany, more than half of the radio devices sold are digital and receive DAB+ (1st HY 2023: 52 percent or 0.5 million units). This represents an increase of nine percentage points since 2019. Since 2010, a total of around 16 million DAB+ radio devices (all radio categories) have been sold.

The Saudi Broadcasting Authority announced on 7 August the launch of the third generation of radio broadcasting, digital audio broadcasting, and the inauguration of the Radio and Television Corp. Training Academy. Mohammed bin Fahd Al-Harthy, CEO of the Radio and Television Corp., said that the technical team was “keen to develop the digital radio broadcasting service so that the Kingdom would be among the first countries to activate the DAB+ technology.” Digital broadcasts offer several advantages over traditional AM and FM radio, providing more broadcasts on the same frequency, requiring fewer operating costs and offering a 35 percent increase in coverage area. The Radio and Television Corp. said it is expanding the use of digital broadcast areas by about 44 digital frequencies after launching three frequencies in Riyadh, Dammam, and Jeddah.