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December 2023 marks a major step forward in the roll-out of digital terrestrial radio. Between October 2023 and today, 108 new transmitters have been switched on. Residents of Chartres, Compiègne, Dole and Menton will be able to receive DAB+ radio in their homes for the first time. In other cities such as Lens, Strasbourg, Montbéliard, Clermont-Ferrand and Nice, new stations are being added to the DAB+ offering. After an initial phase of national DAB+ antenna deployment in October 2021, the listening areas will be expanded and enriched. By March 2024, at the end of the second phase of deployment, 26 national radio stations will be available to more than 60% of the French population. In total, more than 550 radio stations are already broadcast on DAB+.

2023 has been a banner year for Australian commercial radio, culminating in record audience numbers, GfK Survey 8 has revealed. Commercial radio listening has soared to a record high of 12.25 million listeners aged 10+ across the five major metro markets, underpinned by a vibrant growth in DAB+ listening and the continued embrace of commercial radio by younger listeners. “Since 2021, listeners of commercial radio DAB+ only stations have grown by a massive 48%. Audiences are loving the great new content being added by the commercial networks, and DAB+ is easier to access than ever,” said Ford Ennals, CEO of Commercial Radio & Audio.

Spanish public-service broadcaster RTVE is looking to begin DAB+ broadcasts in early 2024. The move comes as the country marks 100 years of regular broadcasting in Spain. Although Spain did launch DAB services in Madrid and Barcelona in the 1990s, the technology was never widely implemented. However, in recent years, the number of DAB+ receivers in Spanish cars as grown substantially thanks to Europe-wide regulations requiring new automobiles to incorporate the technology. Speaking on a panel at Telcom 2023 in Madrid, Ángel García Castillejo, director of audiovisual policies, public and international service, for the Corporación de Radio y Televisión Española, said, “We estimate that, by spring next year, there will be three million DAB+ receivers on wheels in our country,” according to a report by Gorka Zumeta.

As of 14 December, approximately 20 national radio stations have started broadcasting on DAB+ in Alsace, in France’s northeast, enhancing the region’s digital terrestrial radio offerings. This expansion complements an already diverse range of regional and cross-border stations. Arcom, France’s digital communication regulator, is spearheading a comprehensive national rollout of digital radio. This phased deployment aims to cover most of the metropolitan population, region by region.

DAB+ radio draws a positive conclusion on the centenary of radio. Despite a challenging market environment, digital radio will continue to enjoy steady growth in 2023. More and more people are listening to digital radio, more and more stations are available via DAB+ and the increasing attractiveness is also reflected in the usage and sales figures. According to the "Audio Trends 2023" study by the media authorities, the number of DAB+ radios in households (car and stationary devices) grew to 28.3 million, which is 4.4 million more than in the previous year. This corresponds to a relative increase of 19 per cent. New digital radios are replacing decommissioned FM sets: Compared to the previous year, the number of FM radios is down by 5.5 million. In cars, buyers of new vehicles are benefiting from the digital radio obligation. With 94 per cent DAB+ in new cars and 41 per cent DAB+ in used cars, digital radio has reached a new record here.

Since 14 December 2023, around twenty national radio stations have been added to the DAB+ airwaves in Alsace. This extension to the digital terrestrial radio offering completes an already well-stocked regional and cross-border package. 26 additional radio stations are available in Alsace with the roll-out of so-called 'metropolitan' DAB+. Some of these radio stations have never before been present on the FM band in certain towns in Alsace (such as RMC, RTL2, Chérie FM, etc).

From 14 December 2023, France Inter, France Info, France Culture, France Musique, FIP and Mouv' will be available on DAB+ digital radio in 29 of the 57 main urban areas with more than 100,000 inhabitants and by 30.8 million people, i.e. 47% of the population of mainland France, including a motorway route of 5,998 km. Our six broadcasts are available in DAB+ in the urban areas of: Annecy, Bayonne, Béthune, Creil, Douais-Lens, Montbéliard, Nice, Grenoble, Orléans and Strasbourg. A new deployment phase will be completed at the end of the first quarter of 2024, enabling our six stations to serve 45.3 million people with DAB+ digital radio, i.e. 69% of the population of mainland France.

Digital radio improves coverage again. According to SatelitnáTV.sk, the operator Towercom, which operates the only DAB+ multiplex in Slovakia, today significantly increased the power of the existing Žilina - Krížava transmitter, which distributes the signal on channel 12A (223,936 MHz). The change was supposed to take place in the morning hours, from the current power of 2.5 kW to 7 kW ERP. The power increase of the transmitter Žilina - Krížava is apparently the last change this year. The next new digital radio transmitters are expected to be launched in 2024.

Interviewing the Chair of Arcom, Roch-Oliver Maistre, is also an opportunity to take stock of DAB+, the new way of listening to radio, on which Jazz Radio can be found throughout France. "We're making great strides, since by the beginning of 2024 we'll have roughly 60% of the population of mainland France covered by DAB+," said Maistre. "We're in an active development phase, and one of the key issues now is to raise awareness of DAB. There's going to be a publicity campaign to tell French people what DAB is, the quality of the sound, the comfort and the mobility, because the signal follows us. That's the challenge for the coming years."

The further expansion of the state-wide DAB+ multiplex in Thuringia means that the state-wide radio programme providers ANTENNE THÜRINGEN and LandesWelle Thüringen are now also switching their services regionally apart in the digital programme bouquet. To make this possible, the Thuringian State Media Authority (TLM) confirmed that the change in platform allocation by DIVICON MEDIA HOLDING GmbH is in compliance with media law. The reduction in transmission capacities was approved, i.e. a lower number of capacity units (CU) for the programmes "antenne OSTALGIE", "radio TOP 40", "ANTENNE THÜRINGEN", "LandesWelle Thüringen", "Radio Holiday" and "Schlager Radio" with simultaneous reallocation of the CU freed up by this to the regionalised programmes ANTENNE THÜRINGEN Mitte, ANTENNE THÜRINGEN Ost, ANTENNE THÜRINGEN West, LandesWelle Thüringen Mitte, LandesWelle Thüringen Ost and LandesWelle Thüringen West as well as the use of 12 CU for the data channel (SPI channel) of the platform provider.