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CRA chief executive officer Ford Ennals announced today a renewed strategic direction for the peak radio industry body, with a greater emphasis on the booming digital audio market along with supporting its members to grow commercial radio advertising revenue. “We are experiencing strong growth in digital audio so it’s timely for CRA to have a stronger focus on identifying new commercial revenue opportunities across the broader audio markets for our members,” Mr Ennals said. Radio continued to be the most popular form of audio – 80% of Australians listened to radio via AM, FM, DAB+, live streaming or catch-up podcasts over the last week.

After a long period of silence, Midland FM, the local broadcaster of the municipality of Oudewater, can be heard on the air again, not via FM but on DAB+. The local broadcaster from the Utrecht municipality has not been heard on FM for a long time. The FM transmitter and associated antenna failed and there were not immediately sufficient financial resources to buy new equipment. Recently, however, the local broadcaster can be heard on the digital airwaves (DAB+). The local broadcaster uses a broadcasting licence for the local DAB+ multiplex for the Gouda/Woerden region.

In Genoa, the new LiguriaDab (channel 10A) and MediaDab (channel 10B) signals were activated. The latter still has no emissions but only a Test, while LiguriaDab is already regularly operational. On the mux, you can listen to Radio Babboleo Suono, Mythology '70 -'80, Radio Beckwith Evangelica, Radio Canelli, Radio Vallebelbo, Radio Mater, Radio Bruno, Radio Zainet, Radio Aldebaran, Tele Radio Pace.

The first local DAB transmitter was activated yesterday in Bari (channel 7B), which will be followed shortly (probably by tomorrow) for the service in the provinces of Taranto, Brindisi, Lecce. The first of the Apulian local radio consortia to go into business is that of Spacedab, which currently hosts 15 stations as content providers. The Apulian mux currently carries: Radio Norba, Radio Norba Music, Radio Bari, Radio Rama, Radio Tour, LifeGate Radio, Radio Byoblu, Radio Leon, Radio Logos, Hybrid, Radio Studio Più, Radio Cusano Campus, Radio System, Radio Sportiva and the Test channel.

In just a few short weeks, the IBC Show will return to the RAI in Amsterdam after its long pandemic hiatus. The conference, which takes place Sept. 9-12, will focus on the current and future trends that have emerged since the 2019 show — many of which were accelerated by pandemic. As planning for IBC continues to ramp up, Radio World is asking exhibitors and other participants about their plans and expectations. Will Jackson, Communications Manager: "WorldDAB is facilitating a two-hour workshop, highlighting new opportunities and new audiences on DAB+ on Sunday, Sep. 11, 10 a.m. to noon, in Room E102. The session is free for all exhibition visitor pass holders. The WorldDAB Project Office team will also be in attendance throughout IBC, meeting with our members who are exhibiting and offering services and solutions to assist with DAB deployment."

Listeners found their way to the digital Radiožurnál and the station has been increasing its listenership for a long time. The fact that the only sports radio on the Czech airwaves is distributed via the DAB+ platform, which is also growing in our market, also plays a significant role in this. Currently, the station receives 14% of listeners through this technology.

Ownership of DAB broadcast equipment manufacturer and WorldDAB member Inovonics Inc has passed from founder Jim Wood to current President/CEO, Ben Barber. Barber said “I am humbled and blessed for the opportunity to continue the company Jim started 50 years ago. We have a good name and it is my goal to continue to carry on his legacy”.

In another of our series of short interviews with WorldDAB members exhibiting at IBC2022, Wolfgang Peters, Managing Director at AVT Audio Video Technologies, says they'll be showing their DAB headend systems for small scale applications as well as large DAB networks.

In the first of a series of short interviews with WorldDAB members exhibiting at IBC2022, Ben Poor from the European Broadcasting Union shares how at IBC2022 he'll be helping to demonstrate how the EBU is working with its members on how to make content multilingual using AI – including radio content.

Sergio Natucci, DAB Italia: Radio as always comes last, but never too late. Now the implementation phase opens: we will not accept delaying attempts of any kind and they can come from nowhere. MISE [Ministry of Economic Development] still has time to improve our heritage of VHF frequencies for DAB. After the concession, everyone must, with seriousness and professionalism, build their networks in full compliance with the rules contained in the Plan. The DAB Plan must escape bureaucratic traps: if we realise that the road map is jammed, we will turn to the government in its entirety and to Parliament.