News

České Radiokomunikace (CRa) is likely to apply for a licence for DAB+ digital radio broadcasting. It will depend on the specific conditions of the upcoming tender to be announced by the Czech Telecommunications Office (CTU) next year said Miloš Mastník, director general of Czech Radio. Radiokomunikace is currently already distributing radio signals for the public Czech Radio in DAB+. This network currently covers around 95 percent of the domestic population. The commercial multiplex will accommodate up to 15 radio stations. Commercial radios are currently broadcasting on analogue FM frequencies. "We see great potential in DAB+. For one thing, since last year it has been compulsory to fit DAB tuners in all new cars, and there is a market where around 250,000 radios are sold every year. Digital broadcasting is also about twelve times less energy-intensive compared to FM," said Mastník.

iHeart is spreading the festive spirit with its original and award-winning digital Christmas station, Elf Radio, just in time for the holiday season. Elf Radio is on air now on the free iHeart app and via DAB+ in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Canberra. Listeners can tune into the North Pole’s #1 Hit Music Station to countdown the days to Christmas to listen to Christmas favourites from the likes of Michael Bublé, Mariah Carey, Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, Backstreet Boys, Sia, Jimmy Barnes, Jon Bon Jovi and more. Elf Radio was first launched in 2009, and since then, has become a fan favourite for all of those Christmas lovers. This year as a special addition, children from across the nation can record their own wish list for Santa as well as messages for family & friends, using the Talkback Mic on the free iHeart app.

KL1 Radio, the digital local radio station for King’s Lynn and West Norfolk has announced a brand extension. KL XTRA will offer a pop-up radio service to local organisations and event companies who can use its online and DAB service to own a temporary radio station for a week or a month depending on how much time they need. Programme controller Richard Dix commented “We have had a huge response to KL1 Radio following our recent DAB launch and we feel that launching KL XTRA will ad to our commitment to the local community and economy. We would love to hear from anyone planning an event in West Norfolk for 2023 and beyond and work with them to maximise their exposure with their own pop-up radio station.”

Minister Micky Adriaansens (Economic Affairs and Climate) is launching the consultation for the auction of the nine licences for national commercial radio stations. The government will auction these licences, which link analogue radio (FM) to digital radio (DAB+), in 2023. Two of these nine nationwide licences are for a commercial news station and for a station playing mainly Dutch-language music. A legal entity can acquire up to three through the auction. The licences are for 12 years (2023-2035).

SUN's youth radio is now available on DAB+ in the Nantes metropolitan area until 1 January. This media created for and by young people takes advantage of the end of year period to gather 5-11 year olds and their families around a festive programme, directly from their radio.

A nationwide warning day will take place in Germany on 8 December 2022. Starting at 11:00 a.m., the participating authorities and emergency services will activate various warning devices such as radio and television, digital city display boards or warning apps. The main objective is to inform the people in Germany about the different warning means in dangerous situations. Bavaria is working on the implementation of a new warning system using the digital terrestrial radio standard DAB+. Due to its robust infrastructure, the terrestrial broadcasting system offers a reliable technology to safely warn and immediately inform the population even in the event of a disaster.

The Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union has appointed Mr Ahmed Nadeem as its next Secretary-General. The announcement was made by the ABU Administrative Council after a meeting in New Delhi on 24 November 2022. Mr Nadeem, who is from the Maldives, is currently Director, ABU Technology & Innovation. He succeeds Dr Javad Mottaghi, who has been Secretary-General since May 2010 and completes his term at the end of March 2023. Mr Nadeem will take up the position on 1 April 2023.

Many brands have started launching DAB+ radio products with Frontier’s novel technology, BestTune™. BestTune™ revolutionises radio listening by presenting the user with a single list of radio stations irrespective of whether they are transmitted through FM or DAB+. The technology automatically combines the list of available stations, removes any duplicate listings, identifies which service (FM or DAB+) provides the better signal strength and presents this to the user. In addition, Frontier have just launched station logo support with a software upgrade to Kino4 / Siena, allowing both DAB station logo and slide show images to be supported.

Johan Ericsson, Sales Manager at Paneda says: “We are happy to see our neighbouring countries showing an increasing interest for DAB, and we are happy to support Levira in this project by providing multiplexer and audio encoders as well as education, training and support with the overall goal to make this DAB trial a success.”

Are audio systems and voice assistants in car user interfaces within the meaning of the State Media Treaty? This question is the subject of a legal opinion commissioned by the Media Authority of North Rhine-Westphalia. On 23 November, the expert opinion by Prof. Dr. Ralf Müller-Terpitz entitled "Rechtliche Einordnung von Audiosystemen und Sprachassistenten mit dem Fokus Auto" (Legal classification of audio systems and voice assistants with a focus on cars) was published and can now be downloaded from the Authority's website. The conclusion of the expert opinion is that integrated audio systems represent a user interface for linear radio reception in the car. The same applies to the manufacturers' own voice assistants which are responsible for the navigation of the audio system. Thus, car manufacturers fall under the Treaty and must in future comply with the regulations for linear radio reception in the integrated audio system. "The result of the expert opinion is essentially: What looks like a user interface and is operated like a user interface is a user interface. This is good news for radio, for journalism and for users," said Dr. Tobias Schmid, Director of the Landesanstalt für Medien NRW, commenting on the results of the expert opinion.