News

In this piece Gunnar Garfors, IDAG President explores the importance of OMRI (Open Mobile Radio Interface) for the digital radio industry. OMRI is essentially an API or a technical interface that standardises the communication between a phone chipset and apps. 

The seventh annual Digital Radio Report from Ofcom has been released, and it shows that digital radio is inching closer to the 50 percent majority needed to initiate a FM switch-off. According to the report, 45.5 percent of total listening in Q3 2016 came from digital radio, a 3.6 percentage point increase from 2015. In six areas throughout the United Kingdom the digital share exceeded 50 percent, with the highest coming from Sussex at 53.4 percent.

The Radionovelli Radio 4G has been designed and built in Italy. It offers DAB+ and can use an internet connection to enable listeners the chance to enjoy content on the web. The radio also has a colour touch screen for easy use.

Designer British radio brand VQ has launched a Christmas campaign with Commercial Radio Australia aimed at putting the glamour into radio. VQ’s first major push features their Retro Mini DAB+ digital radio with built-in Bluetooth speaker sits at around $129.

The forward momentum of digital radio has apparently swept up Radio France. Radio France is in the process of expanding its DAB+ reach. It is expected to soon extend its distribution in France to Lyon, Lille and Strasbourg as the Ministry of Culture and Communication has asked to reserve a place for international radio in calls for applications for digital terrestrial radio on these three cities.

The Polish public broadcaster Polskie Radio is making changes to the frequencies of 14 out of 25 digital radio stations. The changeover will happen from 1 to 21 December 2016 and will be carried out at the request of the broadcaster. Polskie Radio will spread to 10 stations on its multiplexes, depending on the region.

The German national public broadcasters Deutschlandfunk and Deutschlandradio Kultur will disappear from longwave at the end of 2016. The money saved will be invested in digital terrestrial radio (DAB+).

The SE comes with, with Bluetooth, DAB digital radio and the driver assist pack, which includes lane departure warning and forward collision warning.

The European Radio Show will feature Britain as guest of honour when it takes place in Paris next year. The three-day event is on from 29th to 31st January 2017 and celebrates the medium of radio with around 5,000 guests turning up each time.

Richard Morris, says that filtering the audio before the signal is encoded can be beneficial, since it can make it easier for the encoder to do a good job. “For UK DAB back in 2000, we noted that the output of the most commonly-used encoder only went up to about 13 KHz when set to 128 kbits joint stereo, so it made sense to filter off anything above this.”