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French regional broadcaster - Pyrénées FM - this week celebrated its arrival on DAB+ in the Pyrénées-Orientales at a reception organised in the Palais des Congrès in Perpignan. In his speech, the founding president Jean Clergue expressed his interest in the development of DAB radio and affirmed his desire to promote this new technology. Pyrénées FM, already on air on DAB+ in the cities of Toulouse and Perpignan, will soon launch two additional transmitters in Pau and Bayonne.

Dutch Formula One commentator Olav Mol has chosen another track to report on the 2023 Formula 1 season with "Grand Prix Radio". Media entrepreneur and station co-founder Alexander Stevens highlights listening via DAB+ is free to air for the listener saying: “This makes our accessibility even greater and that is great for the listener and for us.”

The current trial small-scale DAB licence holder in Brighton and Hove has teamed up with local radio services to apply for the full-time licence. OpenDAB Brighton & Hove CIC, created by Daniel Nathan & Rashid Mustapha, has been running since 2015, broadcasting 26 local radio services to Brighton & Hove.

Vogtland Radio can now also be heard on digital radio via DAB+. The regional programme from Plauen can be heard on the Chemnitz multiplex. The transmitters for DAB+ are located in Chemnitz, Geyer and Schöneck. For Managing Director Claus-Tilo Thoß, the DAB+ connection is the crowning achievement in the station's 25-year history: "With the now diverse transmission paths and reception options, we also want to ensure that Vogtland Radio's popular radio programme reaches listeners in the broadcast area in its entirety. And this is how we are facing the challenges of digitalisation."

“If you're in radio, you know that the number one listening location for radio has always been the car, and hopefully it will always be, but no question that in recent years, the car has changed,” said Fred Jacobs, President of Jacobs Media, who moderated a session on listening data at NAB. The way consumers listen to audio in the car has changed with the advent of streaming, podcasts, and satellite radio. "We promised that we would deliver back to the industry analytics and metrics on how people are listening to the radio. And we would do that at no cost to the industry,” Joe D'Angelo Senior VP, Broadcast Radio & Digital Audio, Xperi.

The DAB+ offer is growing continuously - especially in the north and east of Germany where several new stations became available at the start of the month. There was an expansion of DAB+ services also in Bavaria, and more new services are imminent in North Rhine-Westphalia where the State Media Authority is preparing a tender for a state-wide, regionalised DAB+ multiplex. There are now 300 DAB+ programmes that can be received in different regions across Germany, more than 100 of them exclusively via DAB+.

A new report from the North American Broadcasters Association (NABA) on hybrid radio, metadata and service providers is to be unveiled during the Broadcast Engineering and IT Conference (BEITC) session. “This document can be an excellent tool for radio broadcasters to learn more about using metadata to support hybrid radio and to provide a high-quality experience for their listeners in their automobiles,” says Julie McCambley, NABA Radio Committee chair.

Revolutionary changes in the Saxon radio airwaves have brought greater competition in the field of digital programmes intended for children and families. "Radio Teddy has been conquering one important place after another in the German radio landscape step by step for years. Now listeners can receive us in 13 federal states via FM or DAB+," added Katrin Helmschrottová, executive director of the thematic program.

On Wednesday, the press group, headed by Marc Feuillée, announced the launch on Monday 17 April of its two new channels Le Figaro TV Île-de-France and Le Figaro Radio, which will complement its online offering Le Figaro Live created in 2017. Le Figaro Radio is broadcast on DAB+ in Paris, Marseille and Nice, then rolled out to other cities. Le Figaro Radio "wishes to offer a place for analysis and insight, in order to better understand today's debates," said Laurence de Charette, deputy editorial director in charge of audiovisual and social networks.

Spain is getting its first nationwide network on DAB+, after all. Operator Hola DAB and Spanish telecoms player Ibertel Telecom, which operates some 600 masts, are working together to, in a first phase, roll out DAB+ in 18 Spanish urban regions before the summer. The government in Madrid has still not recognised DAB+ as an official standard, even though Spain, followed the EECC directive, to mandate DAB+ in new cars. It means that currently a quarter of Spain's car fleet is already equipped with DAB+. So even if the country leaves it hanging administratively, there are radio stations and an audience ready to take advantage of existing opportunities.