News

Xtra DAB Ltd has announced its plans to apply for the recently advertised small-scale multiplex for Harlow. Lending their support to the application are a number of local services including East Herts Radio and Radio Forest, plus local DAB station Radio Xtra. Xtra DAB Ltd says “Radio will soon be getting a whole lot bigger in Harlow and surrounding areas with more stations – more choice and more opportunities to broadcast, with a great community asset for Harlow and surrounding areas with space for community radio stations and other radio stations to offer a truly broad and diverse listener choice.”

Central Sussex Digital Radio Ltd has announced its intention to bid for the new DAB radio multiplex licence covering Haywards Heath & Uckfield. The licence is being advertised by Ofcom with any new services likely to be on-air from 2024. Central Sussex Digital Radio is made up of Total Sense Media, operator of More Radio and community station Ashdown Radio who broadcast on FM across East Sussex from their studios in Uckfield. V2 Radio who have been broadcasting across Sussex on DAB for the last two years are also part of the group, as is John Dash. The application is also being supported by other established community stations, including Mid Sussex Radio and Mid Downs Hospital Radio.

Three small-scale DAB multiplexes have been granted by Ofcom covering Bath & Midsomer Norton, Boston, Spalding & Skegness, and Derby. Only the Derby licence attracted more than one application, and these awards bring the total to 22. Just two more remain to be handed out in Round 4. Berwickshire & North Roxburgh, and East Fife, both with only one applicant each, are expected to be given out soon.

Spanish public broadcaster RTVE wants to offer its services "in all environments", including DAB+. This was more evident than ever at a conference that clearly aimed to get DAB+ on the Spanish political agenda. RTVE hosted the 'Trends of European audiovisual public services' conference last Thursday. It brought an analysis of how public audiovisual networks interact with traditional television and radio on the one hand and the internet, various platforms and social networks on the other. However, the focus was largely on radio, because there, unlike television, Spain completely missed the digital train.

Kenya’s ICT regulator, the communications authority (CA), has announced plans to pilot digital sound broadcasting (DSB) anytime from September 2023. DSB is a technology that uses digital signals to transmit audio content. According to the regulator, which hosted a media workshop highlighting its mandate and plans for the ICT industry, DSB will be useful in tackling the issue of limited FM broadcasting frequencies. Kenya has already developed a framework for digital sound broadcasting to pave the way for the launch. The regulator mentioned that it is getting a budget to purchase all the necessary equipment for DSB pilot tests. Digital audio broadcasting (DAB), the most widely used type of digital sound broadcasting, is being tested in Tunisia and South Africa.

45 stations – including five DAB-exclusive services – are now on air on DAB+ in Slovenia. The stations are broadcast across three tiers of DAB+ multiplexes: national R1, with 16 stations, regional R2 East and R2 West, which carry 24 services, and a local mux in Ljubljana with five stations. The national R1 multiplex now has mobile outdoor coverage of 89%, with 90% of highways and motorways covered. Most recently, planning for DAB in tunnels has been completed, with 13 tunnels of more than 500m identified for service, and a tender for implementation is expected at the end of this year. An additional new national multiplex is also expected to be tendered in Q4 2023, along with a further digital-only station licence. Further extension of coverage for the national and regional multiplexes is planned for 2024.

The third edition of the Fête de la Radio will take place on 15 and 16 June 2023, throughout France and French overseas departments and territories. For two days, radio stations and listeners will be able to celebrate this medium and discover all its facets, from broadcasting to reception, whether analogue or digital, live or recorded. This celebration will give listeners the opportunity to take part in open days, exhibitions, games, concerts and special on-air events, and to find out more about all the different ways of listening to radio. FM, DAB+, RadioPlayer, Streaming, Podcasts... on a car radio, a hi-fi system, connected speakers, a walkman, a mobile phone, at work, on the move or at home.

Just like they used to do with milk cartons, but in a digital version: the photo of Kata, the little girl who disappeared yesterday in Florence, now appears on many car radios thanks to the initiative of 24 local Tuscan radio stations in the Media DAB consortium. The initiative is intended to support the search for little Kataleya Alvarez; the radio stations have replaced the slides of the song covers on air with photos of the missing little girl, and the taxis of the Società Coop Tassisti Firenze (TAXI 4242), are tuned in to DAB+ on one of the radios, so that they can make their customers aware of the search still underway.

The Corporation's Director of Audiovisual Policies, Public Service and International expresses his determination to face the challenge of digital radio migration in Spain. Today, 4 million DAB+ receivers "on wheels" can only tune to pirate stations. The 'R' of the RTVE Corporation was present, with outstanding advances on its future, at the conference "Trends in European public audiovisual services", which was held last Thursday at the Prado del Rey Auditorium. The conference was an opportunity for the public corporation to state its position in the debate, which has been frozen for two decades, on the adoption of DAB+ as the broadcast standard that will replace the majority FM.

On 9 June at noon, the application period for a licence to broadcast digital commercial radio ended. A total of 12 applications for programme services have been received from five different applicants: Mad Men Media AB (7), Skärgårdsradion AB (1), DB Media AB (2), Prodraft AB (1) and a private individual (1). A review of the applications will now be initiated to see which ones have been received in time and whether any supplements need to be requested. The applicants will also be assessed on the basis of formal requirements to ensure that they have both the financial and technical conditions to broadcast during the entire licence period. It is also important that they are prepared to cooperate with other licence holders on technical issues.