News

MDR has been broadcasting its DAB + programs since this month via the BR location Kreuzberg in the Rhön region of Germany. The use of the half antenna directed to Thuringia at the Kreuzberg site is carried out in cooperation with the Bayerischer Rundfunk because there is no comparably suitable transmitter infrastructure in the relevant Thuringian region.

At the WorldDAB General Assembly 2018, the WorldDAB Award for Outstanding Service was presented to Ole Jørgen Torvmark. The award is in recognition of Ole Jørgen's work as CEO of Digital Radio Norway, where he led Norway to become the first country in the world to switch off FM.

Ofcom is to advertise a new local radio digital multiplex licence for the Channel Isles in the first quarter of 2019. The regulator says it will also extend the licences of Island FM Ltd in Guernsey licence, and Channel Radio Ltd for in Jersey for one year whilst it carries out the task.

A new independent report has urged Ofcom and Government to rethink their approach to community and small-scale radio in the UK. The report by radio consultant David Lloyd seeks to examine the scale of the impact of community radio on the most vulnerable commercial stations in the UK for the first time, and offers recommendations to Ofcom on how the two sectors might more successfully co-exist.

Media watchdog Ofcom has given green light to Bauer to make changes to FM and AM in the Birmingham region. As a result, Absolute Radio will soon disappear in this region of 105.2 FM to be only digitally received.

The Flemish public broadcaster VRT has boosted the broadcast quality of its radio stations on DAB+ from 80 kbps to 96 kbps.

MDR has expanded its DAB+ transmitter network for Thuringia to include the location Kreuzberg in the Free State of Bavaria. The connection to the Bavarian Kreuzberg in early November is possible due to a blinding agreement between the Free State of Bavaria and the Free State of Thuringia.

DAB+ is gaining momentum around the world: As WorldDAB's most recent infographic shows, more than 71 million DAB/DAB+ devices have been sold in Europe and Asia Pacific by the end of the second quarter of 2018. In the second quarter of 2017, there were still 58 million were recorded both home and car radios.

Broadcasting regulator, Ofcom, has announced a new digital radio ‘multiplex’ for the Channel Islands. It will let stations like Channel 103 and BBC Radio Jersey broadcast on DAB for the first time.

The NRK's Bjørn Aarseth will discuss the lessons of Norway's digital switchover at Radio Tech Con in London on Monday 26 November.