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The car industry’s importance to the continued economic health of radio was at the heart of the WorldDAB Automotive 2022 conference, held in London and online last week. The relationship between these two giants was discussed during the trans-Atlantic session “Working With the Car Industry: Broadcaster Lessons Learned.” It was presented by April Carty-Sipp, the vice president of industry affairs at the National Association of Broadcasters in the United States, and Ben Poor, project manager for digital radio at the European Broadcasting Union.

What will car radios be like in the years to come? What role will they play in multimedia in-car entertainment/information systems, and what will this future look like? This topic was the last one tackled during the WorldDAB Automotive 2022 conference, which was held in person and online in London on June 22, 2022.

As part of its expansion, AMI la radio now broadcasts in the urban areas of Poitiers and La Rochelle, bringing to four the number of transmitters broadcasting the new service. For the AMI la radio team, “DAB+ is an essential project for the radio medium that we strongly support. We are impatiently awaiting other DAB+ frequencies so that listeners can discover AMI La Radio”. AMI is also broadcast on DAB+ in the Paris region and on the Côte d'Azur. It offers generalist programming for all ages. It is balanced, human, warm and rhythmic, it is the radio of dialogue, information, enrichment, relaxation at the service of everyone.

On vacation, at home, at the office, in Belgium or abroad, Belgian listeners will be able to follow "la Grande Boucle" in its entirety and even more on Viva Sport, "the even more sporty channel of VivaCité". All the information for today's stage will be accessible on a radio available in DAB+ and on Radioplayer.

Tomorrow, or rather today in Poitiers, you now have DAB+. But how could this new technology change your life? We will explain everything. What's new? Specialists say that DAB+ is to radio what DTT is to television. "It's a digital revolution that offers better listening quality," says Wilfrid Tocqueville of the company Grand Ouest Mux. Digital terrestrial radio, commonly called DAB+, for the areas of Orléans, Blois, Montargis, Tours, Descartes, Châtellerault, Poitiers and Niort. In the car, DAB+ allows you to maintain quality listening continuity. “We can do Paris-Marseille without changing stations,” say the specialists.

At WorldDAB Automotive 2022 in London, leaders across the broadcast and automotive sectors called for continued collaboration between the two industries. Over 350 delegates attended the June 22 event in-person and online. Speakers emphasized the importance of working together to ensure that radio retains its place at the center of the connected dashboard and to continue offering drivers the best possible audio experience.

Since 3 June, all new cars sold in Sweden with a car radio must be able to receive terrestrial digital radio, in practice DAB+. The rule has been written into the Vehicle Regulation as part of the implementation of the new European Code for Electronic Communications. The rule does not apply to vehicles that have been placed on the market before December 2020. Sweden is one of the last countries in the EU to implement the rule on DAB+ receivers in cars. The EU decided in November 2018 that the rule would be introduced by the member states on 20 December 2020. The government presented a consultation on the issue in September 2019, but the preparation for the Ministry of Infrastructure was not completed until this year.

Are you applying for a content licence for DAB radio? You can now submit the application on My page at the Norwegian Media Authority. To broadcast radio on DAB, a content licence is required. This applies to both nationwide radio and local radio. Before you can apply for a licence, you must enter into an agreement with the operator of the transmitter system you want to send to. Now this can be done easily via My page at the Norwegian Media Authority.

This week, four new cities are seeing the arrival of DAB+: digital terrestrial radio, in their areas. The inhabitants of Orléans , Tours and Poitiers, then those of La Rochelle, will be able to take advantage of the many benefits of this technology. Since May 18, 13 radios have been available in DAB+ in Tours and Poitiers and 11 radios in Orléans. On June 27, 2022, 13 additional radio stations started in these three cities. On June 28, 2022, 13 radios started in DAB+ in La Rochelle and on July 5, 2022, 13 additional radios will arrive in DAB+ in Charente-Maritime.

Digital terrestrial radio in DAB+ continues its deployment and arrives in the Centre-Val de Loire region with Vibration and Oüi FM in Tours , Oüi FM in Orléans but also in Poitou-Charentes with Forum, Oüi FM and Swigg in Poitiers, and since yesterday, Vibration and Forum in Orléans, Montargis and Blois. For Jean-Eric Valli, Chairman of the 1981 Group: “I am happy to develop our offer in the Center Val de Loire and in Poitou-Charentes. DAB+ represents a real revolution in radio, with strong innovations, in particular associated data such as station information or song covers. Today, with this new region, a large part of the French population can access DAB+ radio, this is starting to matter, especially since all new radio sets, including car radios, already incorporate this technology”.