News

The latest round of RAJAR results - for the survey period ending 25 June 2023 - sees News Broadcasting’s portfolio of radio stations, including national brands talkSPORT, Virgin Radio UK, TalkRadio and Times Radio, as well as U105 in Northern Ireland, deliver highest-ever listening hours - up 16% year-on-year to 44.1m, while weekly reach was up 9.1% year-on-year at 6.4m listeners. News UK EVP, President of Broadcasting, Scott Taunton, said: “News Broadcasting remains the UK’s most digital broadcasting group, with 84% of listening hours from digital and 35% from streaming, positioning us brilliantly for continued digital audience and revenue growth.”

Boom Radio — the national DAB station targeted at baby boomers — has increased its audience again with 641,000 adults now listening each week, according to the latest official research. The music radio station for baby boomers launched during lockdown by presenters broadcasting from their bedrooms and garden sheds has seen spectacular growth in its audience in the last 12 months. Over the same period, the amount of hours spent by listeners with the station each week has more than doubled from 3.2m 12 months ago to 6.6m today*. Each listener is also now tuning in for over 10 hours per week, making Boom listeners the most loyal of all commercial radio listeners.

Some 16 FM stations in Accra and Kumasi, and Ghana’s leading broadcasting technology operator, K-NET are piloting the recently announced Digital Audio Broadcast (DAB) system under the auspices of the National Communications Authority (NCA). The NCA announced the commencement of trials for DAB in Accra and Kumasi, following which it held a stakeholder engagement with the selected parties involved. The stakeholders included the selected 16 FM stations as well as KNET, the technical partners for the project.

UK Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, the Rt Honourable Lucy Frazer MP has visited Cheshire’s MIX 56 ahead of its launch on DAB later this month. Lucy was joined by Warrington South MP Andy Carter. Cheshire’s MIX 56 is launching later this month on the new Warrington, Widnes and Runcorn small-scale digital multiplex and has also signed up for East Cheshire and Stockport. Andy Carter, Warrington South MP said: “The government have played a big part in extending DAB to small communities, it’s the future of radio so more listeners have access to digital radio services. We wish Cheshire’s MIX 56 the best of luck with the switch on later this month.”

The Czech Telecommunications Office has announced a tender for DAB+ networks. The document with the full title “Announcement of the tender procedure for the purpose of granting rights to use radio frequencies for the provision of electronic communications networks for the provision of terrestrial digital radio broadcasting and mobile multimedia applications in the frequency band 174-230 MHz” can be found here. Applicants may submit applications for the allocations until Aug. 31, 2023. The tender requires a cash guarantee by the same deadline. The auction itself is scheduled to take place in October.

Radio Nacional, the first national digital radio in Croatia, will mark the first year of broadcasting on DAB+ and through the website of the weekly magazine Nacional on August 2. "Today, it is necessary that you can listen to your favorite shows in peace, whenever and wherever you like, and that is what Radio Nacional provides. DAB radio is absolutely the technology of the future, it is 'eco friendly' and it is the thing that inevitably awaits us. We are already here, we are available to everyone with newer cars and to those who have already bought a DAB radio. And in the near future, everyone will have to buy such a device, because everything will easily switch to DAB, which is the European tendency", Tomislav Hleb pointed out.

Following earlier statements by Jerzy Handzlik, the station's creator and owner, Radio Nuta, Radio Disco and Radio Mega are continuing to expand and have just made their programming available in a new location. "On the night of July 31-August 1, residents of Lodz were able to hear our radios for the first time via DAB+ radio receivers in their apartments and cars. We are pleased that another city is within our reach and its residents have access to our stations based mainly on music. Music in digital DAB+ quality," says Jerzy Handzlik. Following the expansion of coverage, Radio Nuta, Radio Disco and Radio Mega are broadcasting in 12 locations throughout Poland (Warsaw, Lodz, Katowice, Krakow, Wroclaw, Poznan, Szczecin, Gliwice, Czestochowa, Bielsko-Biala, Andrychow, Nowy Sacz).

Following recent launches in Bayonne, Besançon, Metz and Nancy, DAB+ digital terrestrial radio continues to roll out, with broadcasts starting up in Brest, Clermont-Ferrand and Pau. The DAB+ offer will also be doubled in Angers, Rennes and Limoges by the end of the summer. A total of 17 local and extended multiplexes are scheduled to go on air this summer. With these start-ups, more than half the population of mainland France will be able to receive at least 13 radio stations on DAB+. Deployment, particularly of metropolitan multiplexes, will continue from October with more than 300 new transmitters, enabling digital terrestrial radio to serve more than 60% of the mainland population by March 2024, according to Arcom.

On 1 August 2023, the new Private Radio Act comes into force, which in future will make it possible to broadcast six DAB+ programmes per coverage area instead of the previous two. The associated tender for the licences of the regulatory authority KommAustria has already started and will run until 2 October 2023. Media Minister Susanne Raab said: "With the new Private Radio Act, which is now coming into force, we are creating the framework conditions for radio providers to be able to offer more digital radio in Austria. This also brings advantages for listeners, who can receive more modern audio signals."

The Czech Telecommunications Office has announced a tender for DAB+ networks. "The frequency band for FM broadcasting is almost full, this new platform will allow new programming players to enter the market. After several years of intensive work, the frequency band for DAB has been coordinated during 2022 and can be used. In addition to the already successfully running digital broadcasting of Czech Radio, we will also enable the development of commercial DAB networks," said Marek Ebert, Chairman of the CTU. The invitation to tender is for two national and 27 regional broadcasting networks.