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Today, at the international Radiodays Europe conference in Prague, Czech Radio signed a mutual cooperation agreement with the Ukrainian public broadcaster UA:PBC. "I am glad that with the conclusion of the agreement we will continue to cooperate with the public broadcaster of Ukraine, which we have strongly supported since the beginning of the war in Ukraine. Among other things, for over a year now we have been providing continuous broadcasting of Ukrainian Radio through the mujRozhlas audio portal and classic DAB+ and DVB-T2 networks," said the CEO of Czech Radio, René Zavoral.

The "work of art" - a radio covered in plaster and cement - got a very strange reception when it appeared outside the Tate Modern in London. People stopped to take photos of the ‘new exhibition’ outside the famous London art gallery – a Makita DAB radio - which was placed inside a glass display box on a plinth. More than 40 tradespeople from across the UK, including builders, painters, scaffolders and carpenters, took part in Fix Radio's competition to find Britain's dirtiest radio.

From 27 March, listeners in Saxony can receive nine new radio stations via DAB+ in the best quality at home and on the move. With the launch of the state-wide DAB+ platform, Media Broadcast is providing an attractive range of stations, increasing the number of receivable local, regional, state-wide and national programmes from private and public broadcasters in individual regions of Saxony to over 70 digital radio stations.

The key to success is making audio come alive, agree the speakers from the panel on the future of radio in cars hosted by Radioplayer. ​​The discussion started with Laurence Harrison, Director of Automotive Partnerships with Radioplayer presenting their car radio app, which he calls “the future for radio in-car”. The company is connecting radio broadcasters and it provides them contact with partners and, most importantly, car manufacturers.

“Is radio ready for the future?” This was the biggest question in the session with Joe D’Angelo, Senior Vice President of Global Radio and Digital Audio, and Desmond S. Fuller, Senior Director of Hybrid Products, from Xperi company. Joe introduced their technology device in cars DTS AutoStage, which launched in 2020 for Mercedes. Nowadays, the car brands with DTS AutoStage are constantly growing. Not just car brands which use this technology are expanding, countries wanting this technology is also rising. Currently, there are over 125 million registered cars with AutoStage technology and with about 900 million users all over the world.

Car technology and especially user-experience software in cars is thriving. With all the smart new innovations, “the radio should not only be easy to find, but also impossible to miss”, says Gwendolin Niehues from ARD. “The car is a browser,” was the opening statement of the first speaker Roger C. Lanctot, the director of Automotive Connected Mobility in the Global Automobile Practice at TechInsights. According to him, everything you do in the car is an indication of your intent, which makes new cars unique advertising environments.

Countries adapting the DAB+ technology can benefit from its many benefits, however, they also face significant challenges. Ole Jørgen Torvmark from Norway: It was the first country to close off FM and as Torvmark states, “radio there is actually still alive.” The biggest change was the growth of stations in the country. With the FM technology and difficult topographical situation there were only five stations. After the switch to DAB+ this number has grown to 33. “We all believed in digital future and importance of broadcasting for years to come,” he said, but he also stressed the importance of the listener’s initiative. “In the end, people did the biggest job, upgrading their radios and cars to be able to listen to the new radio,” he finished.

Extensive tests are reported from Schleswig-Holstein on DAB+. The private ensemble Kiel (channel 5A) can now also be heard at the Hennstedt location near Itzehoe, while the Lübeck ensemble (channel 9D) went on the air from the Mölln and Bungsberg locations. Meanwhile, the private station Radio Flensburg had announced that they were ready for the start of regular operation, which should take place at the beginning of April.

Radioplayer, the international radio technology platform backed by thousands of broadcasters across 19 countries, and Renault announce the signature of a long-term partnership to power the in-car broadcast radios of the brand. This new deal will see cars from Renault displaying official station information (eg logos, descriptions, now-playing data) from the Worldwide Radioplayer API (WRAPI) to power a state-of-the-art hybrid radio experience.

“Radio is the mothership of the audio industry,” said Stefan Moller, the President of the Association of European Broadcasters, to a round of applause at the official opening of RadioDays Europe. Getting straight to the point, Edita Kudlacova, the ABU’s Head of Radio named some of the most important battle grounds for radio in the evolving media environment: Radio should be easy to find on any device; We will need to be very transparent with how we use date; Data must be everywhere, on air, online and on podcasts; Commercial and non commercial radio companies have to work together to make sure that radio is a first thought for everyone.