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“It has to be one of the most exciting station launches in Australia.” That was the verdict from Disrupt Radio Founder and CEO Benjamin Roberts after its first week on air. The digital start-up burst out of the blocks, with Libbi Gorr presenting Enterprise Breakfast alongside guest host Sir Bob Geldof, and the legendary George Donikian reading half-hourly news updates. Radio Today caught up with Roberts, who says launch week was nothing short of incredible: “The response has been overwhelmingly positive and the national publicity, largely driven by Sir Bob co-hosting Breakfast with Libbi, was unprecedented.”

How can local radio and local television position themselves wisely in challenging times to stay relevant? This question is the focus of this year's Local Radio Days. Dr Thorsten Schmiege, President of the Bavarian Regulatory Authority for Commercial Broadcasting (BLM), has just opened it in Nuremberg: "Thinking ahead instead of carrying on like this must be the motto for the future. In concrete terms, this means that without a clear strategy, local radio will have a hard time in the future. And this future is primarily digital. How can local radio make its proven strengths even more visible? How can it position itself even more digitally in the digital world? The State Broadcasting Authority is doing everything it can: we want to set the necessary course with long-term strategies for audio and moving images together with the local providers."

MDR is expanding its DAB+ transmitter network in Saxony with the new Zwickau location. DAB+ coverage in these regions will be further improved and stabilised with immediate effect. "We are already very well positioned with digital radio reception in Central Germany. The task now is to close individual gaps in coverage and to optimise reception of all MDR radio programmes via DAB+ as a whole," says Niels Schulze, Head of Programme Distribution at MDR. The commissioning of the transmitter by MDR at the new transmitter mast erected by Deutsche Funkturm GmbH will enable better DAB+ coverage in the Zwickau region for approximately 140,000 inhabitants.

While DAB+ was in the spotlight at the Fête de la Radio, the technology is continuing to be rolled out in the regions, and will pass the symbolic milestone of covering 50% of the French population by the summer. Following on from Besançon, listeners in Metz will now be able to tune in to DAB+ radio and discover Ado "the legendary hip-hop and R&B radio station" and OÜI FM "the only French rock radio station".

Since 29 June, Phare FM has been broadcasting on DAB+ in the Moselle region. This opportunity to broadcast from the Moselle prefecture to the gateway to Luxembourg represents a potential additional 548,000 people who will now be able to listen to Phare FM. Previously comprising affiliated local stations on FM and/or DAB+ in Basel-Mulhouse, Grenoble, Nord-Alsace (formerly Haguenau), Haute-Normandie, Lyon-Dauphiné, Montauban and Mons (Belgium), Phare FM has seen historic growth in its national coverage area since 2016.

The "Upper Bavaria South" regional network gains a new location with Inntal Ebbs, and therefore an expansion of the DAB+ transmission area. The transmitter is already the twelfth location in channel 7A and improves digital radio reception, especially in the southern part of the Rosenheim district. The transmitter operates with a power of 3.9 kW ERP. The network operator of the regional network is Bayern Digital Radio GmbH. The Inntal Ebbs transmitter closes the last coverage gap on motorways in the Oberland and south-eastern Upper Bavaria regions.

As of today, coloRadio, DRESDEN EINS, egoFM, MEGARADIOmix, PELI ONE Urban Music Radio, Radio Dresden 2 and Radio Holiday are seven more stations receivable via DAB+ in the Dresden area. The start of the DAB+ Lokalmux for Dresden was carried out by the platform operator DIVICON MEDIA promptly at 10 am. Via the powerful antennas on the Dresden television tower, the programmes now potentially reach around 800,000 people in and around the Saxon state capital. The commissioning of the mux is part of the successful implementation of a DAB+ initiative throughout Saxony driven by the broadcasters, the Saxon State Authority for Private Broadcasting and New Media (SLM) and DIVICON MEDIA.

DAB+ is very popular in Bavaria in 2023: almost half (48%) of the population has at least one DAB+ receiver in their home or car (+4 pp). And: around 31% of the population in Bavaria, or around 3.5 million people, listen to the radio via DAB+ on an average day (+4 pp). DAB+ is thus extending its lead as a digital playout channel - ahead of web radio with a daily reach of 17%, which has been virtually stagnant for three years (2022: 16.5%, 2021: 16.8%). These are some preliminary results from the Radio Analysis Bavaria Radio 2023, which will be presented tomorrow at the Local Radio Days.

Media Broadcast continues to expand the transmitter network of the first national digital radio programme package. Today, a new transmitter in Zwickau in Saxony will go into operation, and in the second half of 2023, four additional new transmitter sites will be added in three other federal states. "Programmes broadcast nationwide are undoubtedly among the drivers of digital radio via DAB+. We are therefore pleased to further increase the quality of the network with the construction of additional sites in the 1st national multiplex and to offer listeners in the respective reception areas improved listening pleasure and more programme diversity," says Francie Petrick, Managing Director of Media Broadcast.

The Government Legislation Centre has published a proposed regulation of the National Radio and Television Council providing, among other things, for changes in relation to the regulation currently in force consisting of a four times lower fee for granting or amending a licence for the distribution of a radio programme in the DAB+ standard. "The proposed reductions in the DAB+ licence fee are intended to provide an incentive for new or existing broadcasters to start broadcasting in this standard," it said.