News

A new radio station will be launched in North Rhine-Westphalia via DAB+ on 1 September with the national media brand bigFM. "We are delighted that bigFM with Germany's biggest beats will finally be heard on the radio throughout North Rhine-Westphalia," says bigFM Programme Director Patrick Morgan. "The whole team around the morning show presenters Kristina Fixemer and Rolf Vogel have been waiting for this for a long time."

On 22 August, Ghana became the first nation in west Africa to launch DAB+ digital radio. The trial service makes Ghana the fourth nation on the African continent to deploy DAB+. The National Communications Authority is overseeing the trial, which includes 11 stations in the capital, Accra, and seven in Kumasi, the second-largest city in the country. The trial is expected to run through for six months, at which time NCA will determine the next phase of the deployment. By adopting DAB+, Ghana hopes to increase the number of stations able to operate in the country, as well as for stations to extend their reach beyond their current coverage area.

Australians are listening to 23 minutes more commercial radio year on year, underpinned by a love of breakfast radio, 2.8 million people aged 10-24 listening, and commercial radio’s ability to be with people wherever they are, the latest GfK Radio Survey 5 has revealed. Commercial DAB+ listening is up 5.3% to 2.7 million people from the same period last year. Breakfast DAB+ listening was up 14.2%. “Commercial radio listening remains strong across the board, with over 12.1 million people tuning in. Underlying this strength is the continued powerhouse of breakfast radio,” Ford Ennals, CEO of CRA said.

In the latest of our interviews with WorldDAB members exhibiting at IBC2023, Alexander Zink, Chief Business Development Manager, Digital Radio & Broadcast Applications at Fraunhofer-Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS in Germany, says they'll be showcasing their DAB ContentServer and SDR-based solutions with a focus on professional markets such as monitoring equipment and the automotive industry.

OLDSKOOL 90’s stations lead DAB+ stations nationally in the latest survey from GfK. With 378,000 listeners, OLDSKOOL 90’s lead RnB Fridays with 333,000, from the 90s group of KIIS,97.3,Mix and 96FM, who are just in front of Coles Radio. In Adelaide smoothfm Adelaide leads, with Mix 90’s, Coles Radio and OLDSKOOL 90’s just behind.

Smooth Radio is turning up the broadcast quality of its signal across Malta and Gozo for a richer, higher definition audio experience. Smooth is now updated to Super 4K stereo with the launch of the station's new DAB+ multiplex. The new multiplex - the airwaves needed to broadcast digital radio stations - will allow around six new themed Smooth stations to broadcast to listeners in the Maltese Isands. Sergio D'Amico, managing director of Digi B Networks, which operates digital radio broadcasting in Malta, said: 'Smooth is currently the only radio group to launch its own DAB multiplex, with services in 4k high resolution audio.'

SCA has announced a special partnership with Mushroom Group in support of its ‘Mushroom 50’ campaign, celebrating 50 Years of Making Noise and the upcoming theatrical release of the feature documentary Ego: The Michael Gudinski Story. LiSTNR has launched a limited-edition digital station, MUSHROOM 50, dedicated to the best of Mushroom Music, re-living the journey of Mushroom through the power of music. The station will also be available on Melbourne DAB+. Paying tribute to the late, great Mushroom founder, Michael ‘MG’ Gudinski, and the artists that paved the record company’s legacy of great music and nurturing talent, the station will feature full album plays, top 10 hits, live performances, acoustic versions, classic covers, new music and exclusive artist moments.

After discussions with operators, the Czech Telecommunications Authority has given in to pressure and the price for frequency allocations for the upcoming commercial radio multiplexes will be lower than originally expected. Converted per capita, the operator will pay CZK 10,000 per 100,000 inhabitants. The regulator announced this in its August Monthly Monitoring Report. The regulator announced the tender on 1 August, with the auction itself scheduled for October.

Public radio stations can be received even better via DAB+ from 1 September. Fifteen DAB+ transmission locations will be added, improving reception on the Wadden Islands, the South Holland islands and the neighbouring Zeeland islands, among others. Broadcast Partners will become the supplier of NPO's DAB+ network on 1 September. From that date, the station park for NPO will be expanded to a total of 61 transmitter locations. "As a public broadcaster, we want to be there for everyone," says Jurre Bosman, director of Audio NPO. "DAB+ has the big advantage that we can distribute more stations, such as NPO Radio 5, NPO FunX, NPO Soul & Jazz and NPO Sterren NL."

On 12 August, radio reception via DAB+ was recorded for the first time at long distances - in this case over 800 km - during a meteor shower. This is only the first time that it has been shown that such meteors can also reflect the (higher) radio frequencies in which DAB+ takes place.