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The start of national DAB+ covering the Paris-Lyon-Marseille axis and its 2,000 km of road and motorway network is a significant step in the deployment of digital radio and represents a major advance in the modernisation of radio. By 2022, 50% of the French population will be covered by DAB+. Thanks to DAB+ radio is looking firmly to the future as it celebrates its 100th year.

DAB+ pop-up station 'Roparun Radio' was on the air in large parts of the Netherlands on 2 and 3 October via the network of service provider Mobiel TV Nederland (MTVNL). The programming of the temporary radio station was entirely devoted to reporting on the participating teams during the Roparun relay race.

The city of Görlitz promotes itself all over Germany via the three national DAB+ programs FEMOTION RADIO, SPORTRADIO DEUTSCHLAND and dpd DRIVER'S RADIO, which can be received via the national DAB+ platform, the so-called 2nd DAB+ Bundesmux, and thus reaching over 67 million people in Germany. Through emotional spots and other audio content, listeners can hear how liveable and multifaceted the city of Görlitz is. German city of Görlitz promotes itself nationwide via DAB+

From October, Polish Radio's DAB+ broadcasts will reach 80.1 percent of the Polish population, thanks to the activation of additional transmitters. The National Broadcasting Council aims to launch a competition for a nationwide DAB+ multiplex in the coming months, and is preparing for the final decision regarding the distribution of the remaining digital frequencies, i.e. the second and third multiplexes. Commercial broadcasters such as the RMF Group and Radio Zet are skeptical and believe that radio should be internet-based.

A DAB+ trial has launched for the month of October only in the Budapest area. Media1.hu spoke with Róbert Karakas who confirmed that the trial is independent of the state-owned Antenna Hungária, and aims to gain subjective experience of sound quality. The services are broadcast from the Széchenyi-hegy transmission tower with a power of 10 watts, which provides indoor reception in Buda, and the package containing four music broadcasts (mux) is also available outdoors in Pest and in some parts of the agglomeration.

Polish Radio scans the European radio landscape, noting the advancing rollout of DAB+ across several neighbouring countries. The President of Polish Radio, Agnieszka Kamińska clarifies the differences and complementarity between internet radio and broadcast radio, highlights the free to air and anonymous nature of broadcast radio, and indicates Polish Radio plans to launch further DAB+ services. Polish Radio currently has 41 DAB+ stations on air throughout Poland, covering 67% of the population. According to Witold Kołodziejski, the chairman of the National Broadcasting Council, the larger commercial broadcasters are afraid of losing their current position and fear increased competition.

Germany's second national DAB + platform is celebrating its first birthday: operated by Antenne Deutschland the national multiplex has been on air since 5 October, 2020. In the meantime, 15 of the up to 16 new commercial radio stations can be received nationwide, including well-known radio brands and attractive new formats. A total of 28 DAB+ radio stations are now broadcast nationwide in Germany.

Seven years after the commercial launch of DAB+ in Paris, Nice and Marseille, a major step change in the deployment of DAB+ in France takes place on 12 October 2021. 25 national radios stations (19 commercial, 6 public) will launch, covering the major motorway corridors of Paris-Lyon-Marseille. These 25 radios are in addition to the hundreds of radio stations already available regionally and locally on DAB+, and bringing DAB+ coverage to over 30% of the French population. This launch is complemented by further new regional deployments taking place in Dijon, Avignon, Toulon as well as new multiplexes going on air in the major city of Marseille.

Radioworld asked Pom Malhotra, senior director of Connected Services at Audi of America, what impact they expect on the digital radio marketplace from Google’s aspirations for Android Automotive: "Android gives listeners the ability to download their preferred internet radio apps via an online store in their vehicle. However, customers will choose their infotainment options based on the attractiveness of content, which means there will always be room for broadcast radio as long as it delivers a competitive listening experience."

RadioDNS continues to grow as a global organisation defining and promoting open standards for hybrid radio. Their technical group is developing new hybrid radio functionality, and the Automotive Workshops, organised with WorldDAB, bring broadcasters and manufacturers together to solve implementation issues for broadcast radio in vehicles.