News

In car entertainment specialists Celsus have completed a successful first MECHANEX Show at Sandown Park – in the same week that the car digital radio tick mark was launched by Digital Radio UK (DRUK).

The requirements for a digital radio switchover in Norway have now been met, and Norway is now set for FM broadcasting to end in 2017... The number of nationwide radio stations on air has increased from 5 to 22, there are auto service centres offering to fit DAB radios in over half of Norway’s municipalities ... and the latest Gallup survey shows that 51% of listening to the radio is via DAB

Listeners in parts of North Wales will be able to receive five extra stations on DAB digital radio from December, when a new local multiplex serving the area is due to go live.

Gérard Larcher took a favourable stance towards DAB+ when he was a guest on the monthly radio political show, "L'Invité des Indés Radios – Metronews – LCI", saying that digital radio "can reach places that are difficult to cover using other technologies... Fear of competition is the real reason why some radios are not adopting DAB+, while competition has always been healthy for radio".

Two additional stations are launching on local DAB digital radio multiplexes serving Cambridge, Kent, Norwich, Nottinghamshire and Sussex from January 2015. Listeners in these areas will be able to listen to Bauer Media's Heat and Kisstory stations broadcast alongside local radio stations in their respective areas.

Local DAB is set to launch in North Yorkshire on the 17th December 2014 with three local radio stations on the launch line-up. Broadcasting initially from transmitters at Bilsdale, Acklam Wold and Hildebrand Barracks, the multiplex will carry BBC Radio York and two new DAB offshoot stations from UKRD's local stations Minster FM and Stray FM.

President of the CSA, Patrice Gélinet, addressed the reasons used by the larger radio stations for not going digital: "…four radio stations are already paying dual transmission costs, FM and long wave, at a price significantly higher than via DAB+, and for a poor quality of signal. Radio France spends €6m for its long wave transmissions, which would cost three times less via DAB+”.

What Hi-Fi? has announced its 2014 list of the best DAB radios to buy this Christmas – and all of the selected models are based on Frontier Silicon technology. The devices, from manufacturers Arcam, Geneva, Philips, Pure, Roberts, Revo and Ruark, include portable, handheld and desktop digital radios, hi-fi tuners and in-car DAB radios. Prices range from under £50 up to £600.

Terrestrial digital radio is an issue that will not go away. It was agreed upon by Parliament, that digital radio would contribute significantly to freedom of expression by permitting a greater number of frequencies.

Three million people are now listening to DAB digital radio in the five metropolitan capitals each week, according to GfK survey 7 figures released by Commercial Radio Australia. DAB+ figures show listening and sales of digital radios continue to outperform expectations. There are now over 23% of people in the five state capitals where DAB+ is available, listening on a DAB+ digital radio device.