News

Radio Łódź Extra is being broadcast again via the Polish Radio multiplex in Łódź. It will, among other things, broadcast events in their entirety that will not fit on the main air of Radio Łódź. In the new version of the charter of duties, which dates from December 2022, the broadcaster states that in the years 2023-2024 Radio Łódź Extra will return to its original objectives and will continue to be used for launching occasional programmes and full broadcasts of concerts, cultural and sporting events or broadcasts from festival studios, which will be briefly covered in the regional programme.

Radio station Feel Good 60's & 70's Hits has further extended its reach on DAB+. The radio station can now also be heard in and around The Hague via DAB+ on channel 5C and in the Delft/Westland/Vlaardingen region on channel 9B. Feel Good 60's & 70's Hits is a themed channel for seniors, established by Feel Good Radio, the local radio station for the municipalities of Pijnacker-Nootdorp and Rijswijk.

You can now also hear Kristall Radio throughout Lombardy, thanks to the DAB+ signal. Kristall Radio Milano, the local radio station of the Lombard capital, wants to be more and more the point of reference for those who live, work or visit the city. "We want to be close to all those who have anything to do with Milan and the metropolitan city," informs Fabio Novarino, artistic director of the radio station. "There are thousands of people arriving every day from the other provinces of Lombardy for work or entertainment, and that is why we want to inform and entertain them on the way there and back."

On 1 February, Katowice residents with DAB+ receivers could hear a new station: Radio 7. This is a local radio station based in Mława. It has been broadcasting in the city since September 2012. In subsequent years, transmitters were also launched in Żuromin and Ciechanów. Now the Mława station can also be heard in the capital of Upper Silesia. Radio 7 has joined six other radio stations that are broadcasting on the experimental multiplex in Katowice. These are: Radio Jasna Góra, Radio Bezpieczna Podróż, Muzo.FM, Radio Maryja, Radio Imperium and Muzyczne Radio. Radio 7 can already be heard on the DABCAST multiplexes in Gdańsk and Warsaw.

Radio and the environment? They travel on the same wavelength. The new plan of Radio LifeGate, the broadcaster that has been dealing with ecological issues for twenty years, was announced a few days ago: LifeGate, B-corp since 2017, will switch to the DAB+ broadcasting standard in the main Italian regions and on the French Riviera. Proposing awareness-raising content through a zero-impact medium is not only an ethical gesture, but also an economic investment. "FM broadcasting transmitters," confirms the CEO, "have a high electricity consumption and consequently emit a lot of CO2 to produce this energy. The future-oriented DAB technology allows lower consumption and is beneficial for the energy balance and the environment as it drastically reduces carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere'.

Bavaria's leading fibre-optic provider M-net is expanding its radio station offering and doubling the number of stations fed into the cable network via the high-quality DAB+ standard. 35 radio stations can now be received in the best quality via the modern FM successor technology. In 2019, M-net was the first provider in Germany to feed 16 private and public radio stations in the digital DAB+ standard into its Munich cable network. M-net has now expanded the number of DAB+ stations that can be received via the conventional cable sockets in the home by 19 programmes, including mainly Bavarian local radio stations.

While the last two years have been difficult for radio, the last few months have also seen many achievements in the radio sector. In 2021, Arcom kicked off the start of the metropolitan DAB+ offer. And in 2022, new radio stations were launched on DAB+. And it's not over yet: "FM, DAB, podcast... At Arcom, 2023 is shaping up to be a busy and promising time", as pointed out in an exclusive interview with Hervé Godechot, chairman of the "Radio and Digital Audio" working group at the French regulatory authority for audiovisual and digital communication, which officially came into being on 1 January 2022.

From Tuesday 31 January, TDF is starting to broadcast DAB+ digital radio from its Saint-Contest (Calvados) transmission site. The population of the Caen conurbation in Calvados can now receive thirteen radio stations broadcast in DAB+ digital quality: Chante France, Clazz, Crooner Radio, France Bleu Normandie, Générations, Hello Normandie, Jazz Radio, Oüi FM, Radio Bonheur 100% Chansons françaises, Radio FG, Radio Nova, RCF Normandie and Sud Radio.

New WorldDAB member Sumatronic has brought DAB+ to Martinique and hopes to support other regions of the world where the population has few or no DAB+ receivers. In our first ‘member focus’ article of 2023, we learn how Sumatronic recently launched its "DAB4all" campaign, in our interview with CEO Peter Matter.

Finland joins its Nordic neighbours, Norway, Sweden and Denmark as a member of the Radioplayer family which now covers nearly all of western Europe. The “Radioplayer Finland” collaboration will join the existing broadcasters in Radioplayer, ensuring that the international radio sector can speak to all car manufacturers with one voice, to keep radio strong in the dashboards of the future. Radioplayer Finland will be co-ordinated by Radiosoitin Suomi Oy which is a collaboration between the public service media company Yle and RadioMedia, the umbrella group for Finnish commercial radio. Stations in Radioplayer Finland will add their official metadata (station information, logos, high-quality streams, podcasts etc.) to the international Radioplayer data feed which powers ‘hybrid’ radio interfaces in millions of cars, including Audis, VWs, Porsches, and BMWs.