News

On Thursday, September 1, the network operator On Air Support put the Mudau transmitter into operation for the private DAB+ multiplex in Baden-Württemberg. This fills the gap between Heidelberg, Heilbronn and Langenburg in channel 11B with an output of 10 kW and opens up the area in the north of Baden-Württemberg up to the Hessian state border.

Radio Parada from Łódź has joined the offer of the experimental multiplex of PSN Infrastruktura in Opole. The experimental multiplex in Opole is broadcast on channel 10C with a power of 1kW. It consists of: Radio Doxa, Radio Jasna Góra, Radio Profeto (stations with a Catholic profile), as well as Radio Safe Travel, Music Radio from Jelenia Góra and Radio Imperium in Gliwice.

In the night from Wednesday to Thursday, the new classification of the DAB+ allotments was implemented throughout the country. Until recently, all non-national commercial FM licences and regional public radio stations were linked to a supra-regional DAB+ network, consisting of five allotments (multiplexes/networks) that together cover the whole country. De Randstad, for example, was one large allotment on channel 8A. However, the new network consists of seven allotments, which collectively have national coverage and better meet the needs of the regional public and commercial radio stations.

News on the digital airwaves in Campania. Radio Kemonia and Radio Mivida - broadcasters of publisher Claudio Rocca, created in synergy with their respective station managers Salvatore Esposito and Ugo Lombardi - have extended their DAB+ coverage. After Naples and Caserta, the two stations can now also be received in the provinces of Avellino, Benevento and Salerno. Radio Kemonia and Radio Mivida are part of the CreaDAB mux.

An interview with Managing Director Harald Gehrung: "For our company I can at least say that we will start with DAB+ when there is "relevant" use. And that's only the case now, but it wasn't like that 20 years ago. Due to the EU directive, DAB+ has now become the standard in Germany. In an international comparison, Germany is certainly far ahead in terms of absolute usage figures, even if the majority of users still don't give a damn how they receive their favorite channel. As the operator of RADIO BOLLERWAGEN, we would of course also be happy about a DAB+ mux on Mallorca, where the FM supply seems to have stopped in the 80s."

As part of the development of solutions for alternative programme feeds to DAB+ transmitters in the event of a disaster, RFmondial successfully carried out a field test in Hanover under real conditions. This was announced by the service provider for digital broadcasting based in Hanover on September 1st In the event of a failure of programme feeds (modulation lines) to digital radio transmitters (DAB+), a stable broadcasting supply for the population must be guaranteed. To do this, the company has developed a system that uses the air interface for program delivery, so-called rebroadcasting.

DAB+, today's digital radio standard, offers more than clear sound and the transmission of music and voice. DAB+ is also capable of broadcasting alarm and warning messages. DAB+ could save lives and protect the population in crisis situations as soon as this warning service is implemented. The members of the association Digitalradio Deutschland have now voted with a large majority in favor of adding this additional service to the internationally standardised DAB+ system. Against the current background of natural disasters, such as in the Ahr Valley and parts of Upper Bavaria in 2021 and the tense international situation (e.g. war in Ukraine), the members of Digitalradio Deutschland eV are committed to the international standardisation of warning messages. Together with the broadcasters, media institutions and network operators, the manufacturers in the association are working intensively on the development of a public warning system via DAB+ radio.

We're excited to announce that we are launching Virgin Radio 80s PLUS, a new radio station playing the biggest artists from the 1980s PLUS the best music from the late 1970s and early 1990s, which will broadcast from September 1st. You can listen to Virgin Radio 80s PLUS from Thursday September 1 on DAB+ in London and Central Scotland, online and on smart speakers across the UK, as well as via the Virgin Radio UK app. Virgin Radio 80s PLUS replaces Virgin Radio Pride, which will return in 2023.

The Republic of Uzbekistan was one of the first among the Central Asian countries to start broadcasting DAB+ standard radio in test mode in Tashkent. The radio broadcasting equipment has been brought from abroad, and 16 state and non-state radio channels have started to be broadcast in the DAB+ standard on a trial basis by the specialists of the "RTTM" DUK through the Cho‘pon-ota radio and television station in Samarkand.

At SwissRadioDay, Jessica Allemann Brancher, Digital Migration working group presented a very interesting study on the use of digital radio in Switzerland. First observation: Switzerland listens to digital radio with three minutes of radio out of four which are now consumed in digital mode. Among the other results of this study, we note that 41 minutes of radio out of 100 are now listened to in DAB+, a third in IP and a quarter in FM.