News

The Municipal Radio, which paved the way for free radio - television in Greece, today after 37 years, is again in the forefront with the Municipal Company of Information and Communication of the Municipality of Thessaloniki, bringing DAB+ digital broadcast radio to our country. From 3 September 2024, the DAB+ trial pilot broadcast began to optimise the quality of the broadcast radio programmes, reduce the energy footprint by using green broadcasting systems and aiming at the development of DEPTHE as a provider of digital radio program broadcasting for all municipal radio in the territory. Digital radio broadcasting is carried out independently from the DEPTHE TELECOM facilities on the 5C/ 178.352 MHz DEPTHE TELECOM channel with the cooperation and under the auspices of the Association of Municipal Radio and Television Broadcasters, Greece.

DAB+ (Digital Audio Broadcasting Plus) is a digital standard for radio broadcasting, with advantages such as higher sound quality and a greater variety of stations than traditional FM. Disadvantages are discussed, including upgrade costs and the need for compatibility with older devices. The role of the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy in the introduction of DAB+ in Italy is examined, with particular attention to the frequency planning and allocation of network usage rights. In summary, the article provides an overview of the transition to digital broadcasting and the change in the Italian radio landscape.

Adam Williscroft is about to leave the SCA building at World Square. He is stepping down from his role as music content director – audio on demand & digital radio. Williscroft became content director of 2Day, before moving to digital audio – taking SCA’s footprint from three stations to 13 different brands, and implementing localised revenue across each DAB market nationally. After the launch of LiSTNR, Williscroft oversaw the expansion of music formats and music podcasting. A key part of the DAB+/LiSTNR offer is Triple M digital radio. Anchored by Triple M Classic Rock, the Triple M DAB+ family now spawns six separate stations which combined is the #1 DAB+ brand.

If you were asked to guess what last year’s most zeitgeisty radio station was, you probably wouldn’t have put your money on Fix Radio, a station dedicated entirely to tradespeople, where leading segments include the likes of The Heating and Plumbing Show. But, as it happens, Fix Radio was last year’s fastest growing national radio station. With over 460,000 weekly listeners, the station grew an astonishing 480 per cent last year after acquiring its national licence in May 2022. Radiocentre CEO Matt Payton added that developments in tech and the growth of DAB in recent years have given commercial radio a boost, with stations empowered to “offer even more choice – building audiences around the interests, genres and passions of listeners”. And indeed, there have been many other success stories for more targeted offerings: Boom Radio (for baby boomers), Lyca Radio (for British Asians) and a whole array of nostalgia-driven decade stations (Absolute 80s, Capital Dance, KISSstory etc).

Easy FM is Almere's local radio station. The radio station was one of the first in the Netherlands to broadcast as a local radio station via the DAB+ digital radio network in the Almere region with an experimental licence. Now that local DAB+ has outgrown the experimental stage, Easy FM will continue on the Almere allotment with a new broadcasting licence valid until mid-2030. Besides Easy FM, Sunrise FM, Soulradio and Dance Radio Amsterdam have also been granted broadcasting licences for allotment 26 (Almere) by regulator Rijksinspectie Digitale Infrastructuur (RDI). The broadcasts in the Almere/Flevoland region can be received via DAB+ channel 10C.

Peterborough Community Radio is to launch on DAB from next Monday, 9th September. The station has been broadcasting to the city on FM since 2017. PCRFM Breakfast Show presenter, Kev Lawrence says: “It’s a huge boost for the station. Now we’re on DAB around the city, and I really hope a lot more people can find us. Especially as cars put digital listening at the forefront.”

30 per cent of Dutch households now own a radio equipped with DAB+. This is according to figures from the CBS Central Bureau of Statistics. Whereas last year 28 per cent of Dutch households owned a radio equipped with digital airwave reception, by 2024 this percentage has grown to 30 per cent. This involves a radio equipped with DAB+ in the home and/or car. DAB+ awareness also seems to be on the rise. In 2022, 53 per cent of Dutch people knew the term DAB+, while this percentage has risen to 56 per cent this year. All figures can be found on the CBS website.

As part of a global initiative with the DAB+ industry, Frontier has been working on defining and developing a new feature that will provide widespread benefits for digital radio listeners and their communities. Automatic Safety Alert (ASA) builds on top of the DAB+ standard and enables safety alerts to be automatically broadcast to listeners via audio, text and images, allowing for key information to be reliably and rapidly delivered to large numbers of people. ASA will be supported on Frontier's Kino 4 Pro chip and Siena Pro module with a new SDK version later this year. The chip and module, which powers over 25 million DAB radios, have passed the latest Digital Tick technology test plan and will be the first to pass the ASA certification in Q4 2024. First products are expected to go into mass production in early 2025.

At IFA, the British chip manufacturer Frontier Smart Technologies is presenting a prototype of the new generation of DAB+ digital radios equipped with the ‘Automatic Safety Alert ASA’ standard to trade visitors for the first time. The ASA warning system protects the population in emergencies and crises and reliably transmits safety messages digitally on the radio without an internet connection. Listeners benefit from a system that keeps them informed even when mobile phone or internet connections are interrupted. ASA works automatically in the background, can be customised regionally for the place of residence and offers high availability thanks to the DAB+ radio transmission network.

In another of our short interviews with WorldDAB members exhibiting at IBC2024, Hermann Zensen, Sales Manager Europe, Nautel / DIGIDIA says they will be showing their DIGIDIA FlexiDAB multiplexer with EDI and RF output. Nautel manufactures complete DAB head end systems under the DIGIDIA brand.