News

Blackpool’s small-scale DAB radio multiplex has launched just three months after being awarded a licence by Ofcom. Fun Coast Digital CIC, led by former Radio Wave and Wish FM news head Alistair Clarke, along with DAB radio experts Viamux, started officially on 1st September with five services. Central Radio, Sandgrounder Radio, Happy Radio, 45 Radio and Timeless Radio can now be heard along the Lancashire coast from a single transmitter at the top of the local Blackpool Tower landmark. Other services, including Hit Music Radio, Coastal Radio DAB, Fylde Coast Radio, Ultimate Beats Radio and WBPL (Wow Blackpool) will join in the near future.

One of Germany's most popular presenters, Barbara Schöneberger, is launching her own radio station in Hamburg via DAB+. The station "barba radio" will be broadcast from 09.09.2022 in Hamburg and the surrounding area on channel 12C. Barbara Schöneberger has already been on air with barba radio since 24 October 2018, with the radio company REGIOCAST as a partner.

While regional deployments are continuing in France and Switzerland is preparing to abandon FM for good in favour of digital radio, even though digital radio now accounts for more than half of all car radio listening there, several European countries are stepping up their initiatives... In Germany, a study shows that the DAB+ audience is younger on average than the radio audience. This is good news for the rejuvenation of the radio audience. In Sweden, the country has just transposed the European directive on DAB+ (obligation to integrate DAB+ into car receivers). Sweden was one of the last countries not to have transposed the directive in the EU.

PSN Infrastruktura obtained permission from the Office of Electronic Communications to broadcast the local DAB+ radio multiplex in Łódź. The permit is valid until August 1, 2023. The multiplex will include stations from Radio Jasna Góra, Radio Profeto, Radio Parada and Radio Bezpieczna Droga - says Dorota Ostrowska, sales manager for broadcasting services at PSN Infrastruktura. As he adds, it is possible to expand the composition of the multiplex - it depends on arrangements with interested broadcasters.

On Thursday, September 1, the network operator On Air Support put the Mudau transmitter into operation for the private DAB+ multiplex in Baden-Württemberg. This fills the gap between Heidelberg, Heilbronn and Langenburg in channel 11B with an output of 10 kW and opens up the area in the north of Baden-Württemberg up to the Hessian state border.

Radio Parada from Łódź has joined the offer of the experimental multiplex of PSN Infrastruktura in Opole. The experimental multiplex in Opole is broadcast on channel 10C with a power of 1kW. It consists of: Radio Doxa, Radio Jasna Góra, Radio Profeto (stations with a Catholic profile), as well as Radio Safe Travel, Music Radio from Jelenia Góra and Radio Imperium in Gliwice.

In the night from Wednesday to Thursday, the new classification of the DAB+ allotments was implemented throughout the country. Until recently, all non-national commercial FM licences and regional public radio stations were linked to a supra-regional DAB+ network, consisting of five allotments (multiplexes/networks) that together cover the whole country. De Randstad, for example, was one large allotment on channel 8A. However, the new network consists of seven allotments, which collectively have national coverage and better meet the needs of the regional public and commercial radio stations.

News on the digital airwaves in Campania. Radio Kemonia and Radio Mivida - broadcasters of publisher Claudio Rocca, created in synergy with their respective station managers Salvatore Esposito and Ugo Lombardi - have extended their DAB+ coverage. After Naples and Caserta, the two stations can now also be received in the provinces of Avellino, Benevento and Salerno. Radio Kemonia and Radio Mivida are part of the CreaDAB mux.

An interview with Managing Director Harald Gehrung: "For our company I can at least say that we will start with DAB+ when there is "relevant" use. And that's only the case now, but it wasn't like that 20 years ago. Due to the EU directive, DAB+ has now become the standard in Germany. In an international comparison, Germany is certainly far ahead in terms of absolute usage figures, even if the majority of users still don't give a damn how they receive their favorite channel. As the operator of RADIO BOLLERWAGEN, we would of course also be happy about a DAB+ mux on Mallorca, where the FM supply seems to have stopped in the 80s."

As part of the development of solutions for alternative programme feeds to DAB+ transmitters in the event of a disaster, RFmondial successfully carried out a field test in Hanover under real conditions. This was announced by the service provider for digital broadcasting based in Hanover on September 1st In the event of a failure of programme feeds (modulation lines) to digital radio transmitters (DAB+), a stable broadcasting supply for the population must be guaranteed. To do this, the company has developed a system that uses the air interface for program delivery, so-called rebroadcasting.