News

DAB+ listeners in Hamburg and the neighbouring regions can look forward to up to 16 new radio stations from April 14. The number of stations that can be received digitally in the best quality via DAB+ in the Hanseatic city has increased to around 65. For the first time nationwide, a slot is reserved for temporary event radio in the new DAB+ multiplex.

interview with Dr Thorsten Schmiege, President of the Bavarian State Centre for New Media (BLM). Bavaria is one of the strongest advocates and sponsors of DAB+. For a year now, all FM radio stations in Bavaria can also be received via DAB+. Private providers are currently offering more than 80 local, State-wide and nationwide DAB+ stations. Together with the digital radio programs of Bayerischer Rundfunk, there are a total of more than 100 DAB+ programs. According to Dr. Thorsten Schmiege, President of the Bavarian State Centre for New Media (BLM), FM has been losing relevance for years, while the range of DAB+ is growing continuously.

It was July 1897 when Guglielmo Marconi patented the radio in London. It will take a few decades to transmit the human voice from one device to another, but since then the radio medium has never stopped evolving. Up to the present day, when the challenges come above all from the digital world. The greatest innovation of recent years in this sector is certainly the DAB+ (Digital Audio Broadcasting) system, an evolution of a first digital technology born twenty years ago...

Deutschlandradio is driving the digitisation of radio broadcasting forward: in the future, the Deutschlandfunk and Deutschlandfunk Kultur programs will be mostly broadcast digitally at a total of six locations in Hesse, Baden-Württemberg and Saxony-Anhalt. In view of the regionally very good DAB+ coverage, the parallel analog FM broadcasting via a few smaller FM stations with a short range will be ended on June 30, 2022.

Videos are now available to view online from last month's Digitalradio Deutschland association event "DAB+ im Dialog"/"DAB+ in dialogue". The event featured an impressive list of stakeholders who came together to discuss the future of DAB+ in Germany, from government, regulators, and broadcasters. Speakers included: Heike Raab, State Secretary for Europe, Media and Digital Affairs, Rhineland-Palatinate; Stefan Raue, director of Deutschlandradio, chairman of Digitalradio Deutschland eV, and Jacqueline Bierhorst, Vice President WorldDAB.

Dutch telecom regulator Agentschap Telecom has opened the application procedure for the conditional auction of 26 regional commercial FM licenses and associated licences for digital radio (DAB+). All 26 FM licenses are linked to a digital radio broadcasting licence. The term of the permits is until September 1, 2025.

On the initiative of the ICT Ministry, DAB+ digital radio channels have been provided to the residents of Tashkent city from December 27 2021 at the Tashkent TV tower by the "RRTM" DUK. 16 radio channels from one transmitter ("Uzbekistan", "Yoshlar", "Mahalla", "Uzbekistan 24", "Oriat Dono", "Oriat FM", "Vadiy Sadosi", "Capital (Uzb)") "Poytakht (Russian)", "Grand", "Voice of Youth", "Maxima", "Avtoradio Hamroh", "Navroz", "Nostalgiya", "Uzbegim taronasi") are broadcast in test mode at the frequency of 199.360 MHz (8C). Testing is currently underway.

AirZen Radio is now available in DAB+ on the Côte d'Azur! Thanks to its new transmitter located in the Principality of Monaco, AirZen Radio is broadcast from Menton to Saint-Tropez, via Nice, Antibes, Grasse, Cannes, Fréjus, Les Arcs... Since April 1, a large part of the inhabitants of the Alpes Maritimes and the Var have been able to listen to AirZen Radio in DAB+ with superior sound quality. This new broadcasting area allows the radio to add 1 million potential listeners to its initial area.

Tiger Woods contests the world’s most prestigious golf tournament, The Masters, with all the action live and exclusive across Nine’s suite of talk radio platforms. Masters Radio broadcasts on DAB+ in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth, and a special pop-up stream is available across the apps and websites of 2GB, 3AW, 4BC and 6PR. Greg Byrnes, Head of Content for Nine Radio, said: “In a first for our talk stations, we’re thrilled to bring the world’s best golf event to our listeners with a total audio solution, across DAB+, streaming on our apps and websites, and regular updates on our Talk Radio stations.

Hot Tomato has this week launched three digital radio stations on the Gold Coast via DAB+, as well as through the iHeart radio app. Locals can now listen to 1029 Hot Tomato on DAB+, waking up with Galey, Emily Jade & Christo for Breakfast and driving home with Moyra and Big Trev on weekday afternoons. Hot Tomato Gold is a new format that launched today and will play the Gold Coast’s Greatest Hits from the 60’s to 90’s. While Hip Hop and R&B lovers can get their fix on CADA, which is a new national youth network from ARN.