News

On Wednesday 12th November a future DAB technology event took place at MediaCityUK. Delegates from Motoring Magazines, Absolute Radio, University of Salford, BBC Radio Manchester, BBC 6 Music, Musicians, Motoring enthusiasts and press were all present.

WorldDMB held its largest ever General Assembly in Rome last week (4-5 November). The 20th Assembly attracted a record 190 delegates (up 15% on last year) from 119 organisations and 23 countries and saw several important announcements.

Mayor of London, Boris Johnson has announced that London leads the world in digital radio with over 60 digital radio stations, the most of any major city in the world. The Mayor joined forces with Ed Vaizey, Minister for Culture and the Digital Economy and key senior figures from the UK’s radio industry in London’s Leicester Square, to celebrate the diversity of London digital stations and to announce the launch of three new London stations and a new national station.

Swiss regulators are giving commercial broadcasters there the option to cease FM transmissions next year, should they be interested in doing so, as long as their DAB+ coverage area is the same as their FM coverage area.

Britain’s 30 million motorists who do not have in-car DAB digital radio are to be targeted in a new drive to raise awareness of the technology. Although SMMT figures reveal almost 6 in 10 new cars are fitted with DAB radio as standard – a figure that’s growing fast – DAB is rare on older cars.

Sultan Telecom, a subsidiary of The Sultan Center Group of companies and the leader in Telecommunications in Kuwait, announced the inauguration of the second of the two Radio Broadcast Station Projects with the Ministry of Information. The Project consisted of setting up for the Ministry an FM & Digital Radio Broadcast Station in Subbiya. The new broadcast station works on FM and DAB+ (Digital Audio Broadcast) simultaneously which is a more efficient method of utilizing existing frequencies in radio broadcasting.

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson together with an invited audience at Leicester Square are celebrating digital radio in the Capital this morning. Guests at the gathering at Global’s HQ include Ed Vaizey, Minister for Culture and the Digital Economy, national press, Digital Radio UK and Global management. Londoners can receive up to 65 stations on DAB digital radio ranging from national stations such as Classic FM, LBC, BBC Radio 6 Music, Capital XTRA, Kiss and Absolute Radio, to local stations including language stations like Polish Radio London, Voice of Russia, French Radio London, Sunrise and Panjab, as well as specialist music and speech stations including Fun Kids, BFBS, Jazz FM and Gaydio, among many others. Much of London can also receive local DAB stations from the Home Counties.

London leads the world in digital radio with over 60 digital radio stations, the most of any major city in the world, it was announced today by the Mayor of London Boris Johnson. The Mayor joined forces with Ed Vaizey, Minister for Culture and the Digital Economy, at the Global studios in London to celebrate the diversity of London digital stations and to announce the launch of 3 new London stations and a new national station. (Digital Radio UK)

Global Radio will launch a second Smooth branded station in the new year to complement Smooth Radio. The new sister station will play “Your Refreshing Music Mix” from December 27th, on the slot currently used by Smooth Radio on Digital One, at 80kbps in mono. Smooth Radio will continue to be broadcast on 38 local multiplexes, plus AM & FM, following its removal from Digital One.

A GfK report reveals that for the first time in Germany, revenue made from the sale of DAB+ portable radios exceeded that made from FM devices.