News

Milan-based antenna technology manufacturer Aldena has marked its 45th year in business with the acquisition of Delta Meccanica, a manufacturer of RF coaxial passive components. Aldena says this milestone anniversary and acquisition highlight the company’s commitment to future growth and expansion. The acquisition of Delta Meccanica follows years of collaboration and represents a step in Aldena’s growth strategy. Delta Meccanica has a reputation in filters and combiners engineering solutions. By integrating Delta Meccanica into its operations, Aldena diversifies its portfolio and enhances its capability to offer comprehensive solutions.

Sky News Australia extends the reach of Sky News Radio, bringing the live audio stream of its Sky News television channel to listeners of DAB digital radio in metropolitan markets Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Tim Love, Sky News Australia Head of Digital, said: “This year we’ve continued to grow our multiplatform offering and our launch into digital radio is another fantastic avenue that enables our network to extend the reach of our news, opinion and documentary programming to more Australians.” Sky News Australia is Australia’s premier multiplatform news network and leading provider of 24-hour television news and opinion content reaching more than 11 million Australians each month. It is the number one most engaging digital news brand in the country.

Advances in digital technology are shifting the behaviour of audiences in listening to radio broadcasts. Responding to the dynamics of disruption due to technology, Minister of Communication and Information Budi Arie Setiadi encouraged Public Broadcasting Institution (LPP) Radio Republik Indonesia (RRI) to implement digitalisation. "Disruption to the broadcasting industry presents a challenge for radio people to maintain their existence. This gives urgency to the radio broadcasting industry to adapt to technological developments," he said in a Public Discussion on "Challenges and Opportunities of Radio Broadcasting Digitalisation" organised by LPP RRI in Central Jakarta, on 1 August. He notes a key step was optimising the development of the digital radio ecosystem through the utilisation of LPP RRI's infrastructure. This includes the adoption of the DAB+ technology standard.

The share of digital radio listeners is slowly approaching twenty percent. Eighteen percent of listeners used the DAB+ platform in the first half of this year. This was shown by the results of Radioprojekt, an official measurement of the popularity of Czech radio stations, presented on 7 August. The development of new radio multiplexes with commercial radio, the expansion of coverage and especially activities related to the development of DAB+ will be key to strengthening this digital platform on the Czech market. Currently, 18 per cent of listeners who said that their reception is provided by a conventional receiver or car radio use digital terrestrial radio. (Up from 17% last year, and 11% in 2021.)

Anna Maria Genzano, head of corporate relations for the RTL 102.5 group, speaks to Newslinet about hot topics for the radio sector, such as: radio prominence, questionable automotive choices, the interference of over-the-top platforms on radio content, the limits of profiling that instead of favouring the user fences him off, the role of aggregators, the increased offer of DAB, the survey of digital natives' listeners, and the struggle of regulators and legislators to keep up with an increasingly dynamic market. "On compulsory DAB+ in cars, some may be violating the rule, and I won't hide the fact that over the past year and a half we have received several reports from very annoyed drivers. These complaints are a clear demonstration of how DAB+ radio (and radio in general) in cars is requested by users and is irreplaceable," she says.

TELEKO DAB has announced: "from 7 August 2024, you will tune our digital radio multiplex on the new definitive channel 10D. A powerful transmitter with a radiated power of 2 kW has been put into operation from Lysá hora in the Beskydy Mountains. This will significantly improve the signal in the northeastern Czech Republic. We ask all listeners within range of the Beskydy transmitter to retune their desktop DAB+ radio receivers via AUTOTUNE or FACTORY RESET. For most car radios the retune will occur automatically."

KISS further invests in its digital distribution with the launch of a brand-new national station, KISSTORY R&B, and is also set to boost the reach of KISS Fresh and KISS Dance in London by adding it to DAB+ in the capital. KISS brand extension, KISSTORY is one of the biggest digital stations in the UK with 2.4 million listeners every week and a number of hugely pop events from Ibiza to the UK, including last month’s sellout KISSTORY on Blackheath in London. New spin-off KISSTORY R&B will allow listeners a deeper dive into the defining R&B cuts of the Old Skool & Anthems genre playing songs from Usher, Destiny’s Child, Craig David and Mary J Blige and more. KISSTORY R&B will be available later this year nationally on DAB+, with news on the presenting line-up to follow.

On 6-7 August, Teleko digital has planned a lockout of the digital radio transmitter at Lysá hora, which will be switched from the temporary channel 7B to the final channel 10D and its power will be increased to 2 kW. After Liberec, Teleko digital from Příbram will cover the Ostrava region with its DAB+ digital radio network from the final channel. Unlike in Liberec, Teleko will launch the full power of the transmitter on Lysá hora, which will enable significantly better coverage of the Moravian-Silesian region. The company won the 10D channel in last year's Czech Telecommunications Office frequency auction for the whole of Moravia, Vysočina and Pardubice regions.

In Europe, the use of DAB+ continues to increase as many countries push ahead with the roll-out of new digital radio programmes. In regions where DAB+ is already established, the variety of programmes has increased noticeably in recent months. For listeners, this means more choice and clearer digital reception. There are currently DAB and/or DAB+ radio broadcasts in 29 European countries. DAB+ has already been tested in other countries and the start of regular operation is being planned. DAB+ programmes are organised in so-called multiplexes (mux). These programme platforms bundle up to 16 offerings on one frequency, which saves energy and resources compared to FM broadcasting.

For some years, a growing number of radio stakeholders have asked broadcasters to unite their voices as the only way to effectively deal with tech giants and car manufacturers. Over the last 12 months, the wakeup calls to shift towards an industry-like position have been increasingly heard. Messaging from the WorldDAB Automotive 2024 conference sounded more like a last call. On June 13, opening her first WorldDAB Automotive meeting as WorldDAB president, Jacqueline Bierhorst welcomed more than 300 delegates in-person and online, urging a broader and stronger collaboration to ensure broadcast radio’s prominence in cars. In her address, she described radio as “relentless.” She highlighted how, thanks to regulation initiatives, the availability of in-car digital receivers is ensured in the European Union while more and more countries feature widespread digital radio coverage and a comprehensive range of stations.