News

If you fancy a new digital radio, there's a baffling selection to choose from. To make it easier to pick the right model, we've gone through our digital radio reviews and picked out the best DAB radios to buy in 2015.

If you've never used a digital radio before, the leap across from analogue is profound. The biggest draw is crisper sound quality over both the AM and FM bands, thanks to enhanced compression techniques – handy, as broadcasts can be as low as 32Kbps (predominantly foreign language or talkback and sports stations) all the way up to 128Kbps.

AGCOM, the Italian Media regulator, has published preliminary plans for the deployment of DAB+ national and regional networks throughout the country. The initial plans cover the Italian provinces of Turin, Cuneo, Aosta Valley, and Umbria. In those 4 areas, stations will all be heard on the same channels: for public broadcaster RAI, it will be 12B; for Euro DAB, it will be 12A; for Club DAB, it will be 12C.

Global Radio has launched its latest new digital radio station on national DAB, replacing Smooth Xmas. The original Smooth Radio service continues to be available on local DAB in many parts of the country, alongside transmissions on FM and AM. Global Radio meanwhile plans to launch an offshoot of Heart on national DAB in the new year.

DAB is an overnight success story 20 years in the making, says Digital Radio UK as the 20 millionth digital radio set is sold. And whilst it took 10 years to sell the first 10 million, it took half the time to sell the next 10 million. In the peak sales period leading up to Christmas Day, retailers are reporting good sales of digital radios, and digital radio sets also feature prominently in major seasonal gift guides.

WorldDMB has today signed the Smart Radio Memorandum of Understanding. By signing this MoU, WorldDMB joins with European broadcasters (public and private) in order to encourage the uptake of digital radio in multiple devices - in particular, in smartphones and tablets.

MeinungsBarometer has published the first Digital Radio DAB+ Auto Report for Germany. This comprehensive industry survey comes three years after the country's DAB+ launch and includes data on relevant cars available on the German market, broken down by manufacturer to include report on the level of equipment with DAB+ receivers on customer interest, sales success and forecasts. To complete the survey, decision makers for all relevant German car brands were interviewed. Chapter summaries only are now available to WorldDMB members.

TWO new digital radio transmitters have been activated in Caernarfon. Ed Vaizey, Minister for Culture and the Digital Economy, said: “The future of radio is digital and this is part of a major expansion of DAB digital radio coverage across the UK.” The switch-on means listeners will be able to receive digital versions of BBC Radio Cymru, BBC Radio Wales, Capital and Smooth, and two additional stations, Nation Radio and Nation Hits, will be available for the first time in the area only on DAB digital radio.

Radio listeners across the Selby area have a new way to listen to their local stations this morning as North Yorkshire's DAB transmitter goes live. BBC Radio York and 104.7 Minster FM are both now able to broadcast to digital radio owners for the first time.

In a review of the year, Germany has experienced a robust growth of digital radio thanks to new transmitter sites, additional radio channels and a growing variety of digital radio services. This growth is reflected in the increase in listening of DAB+ with 5 million receivers in households.