News

At the WorldDAB 2023 Summit in Munich, which highlighted the global growth of DAB+, Jaccqueline Bierhorst was elected President of WorldDAB. Her aim will be to ensure that "everyone can enjoy digital radio on the move, at home or at work, with DAB+ at the heart of the listening experience".

STAR FM MAXIMUM ROCK - Germany's successful rock radio network is now also broadcasting statewide in Saxony in top sound quality. The station has secured one of the coveted broadcasting slots on the DAB+ multiplex channel 12 A. Four million people in the Free State can now enjoy music and information from the world of rock around the clock. In keeping with the new rock sound in Saxony, all rock fans living in the state can now create their own DAB+ radio design. Whether black and in the punk rock version or in the heavy metal design. Anyone can try their hand at starfm.de. The best designs will be produced as DAB+ radios and given away.

Medium-wave services carrying Greatest Hits Radio in Scotland will be turned off by the end of the year, RadioToday can reveal. In addition, Bauer will turn off AM transmitters carrying the national brand in Newcastle and South Yorkshire, along with Downtown Radio in Northern Ireland. Messages are currently being broadcast after each top of hour news bulletin suggesting listeners need to retune to keep listening. Global is also in the process of turning off its AM services, whilst the BBC has been doing it for many years, including some of BBC Radio Scotland’s in 2020, and has plans to turn off 5 Live on AM and BBC Radio 4 on LW in the near future.

In her first public appearance as WorldDAB president on Nov. 7, Jacqueline Bierhorst struck up the (digital radio) band at the WorldDAB Summit 2023 gala dinner, the annual, informal event where WorldDAB members and delegates from the radio industry lay the ground for the upcoming discussions and networking. The following day, Bierhorst opened the Summit with her keynote speech. “It’s my priority to continue Patrick’s work,” she stated, referring to Patrick Hannon, WorldDAB’s past president. “We need to create a DAB+ awareness and keep on doing that, building on his vision, mission and strategy, fostering collaboration and excellence in all aspects.”

Cordiant Digital Infrastructure Limited, an operationally focused specialist digital infrastructure investor, is pleased to announce that its Polish portfolio company Emitel S.A. ("Emitel") has won a nationwide tender to extend digital broadcast coverage to 17 regional radio stations for state broadcaster, Polskie Radio. Under the new agreement, Emitel will extend the existing coverage of DAB+ digital signal from 67 per cent to 88 per cent of Poland's households. Polskie Radio is the largest broadcaster of DAB+ radio in Poland, operating a large number of radio stations including Radio Poland national and regional services (which also broadcast in English, German and Ukrainian).

More than one in two listeners can listen to digital radio thanks to digital terrestrial radio (or DAB+). Hervé Godechot, member of Arcom, takes stock of the deployment of DAB+ in France. (VIDEO)

Hospital service Radio Royal in the Forth Valley has joined a local DAB Digital Radio multiplex. They’re now broadcasting via Central FM’s small-scale DAB service. Chair of Radio Royal Andrew Morley said: “It’s great to get Radio Royal back on the air again, we had many listeners let us know that they missed our broadcasts after our AM service closed when we moved to the Forth Valley Royal Hospital in 2010. “Our unique blend of music and healthcare messaging will now be available to a much wider audience across the Forth Valley and I would like to thank Central FM and NHS Forth Valley for their support in making this launch possible”.

Mimit has published the list of expressions of interest received of consortium companies admitted to the procedures for the assignment of the rights of use of frequencies for the terrestrial digital radio broadcasting service. In Emilia Romagna: three expressions of interest; in Marche: two expressions of interest; in Sardinia: two expressions of interest were submitted.

The public broadcaster today launched the experimental station NPO BLEND. NPO BLEND is a public broadcaster pilot and can be listened to via DAB+ and NPO Luister for at least a year. Chanelva Rier, station manager NPO FunX and Menno de Boer, station manager NPO 3FM, are jointly responsible for NPO BLEND: "With the pilot station NPO BLEND, we offer listeners between the ages of 35 and 54 a varied mix of R&B, afro, new soul, hip-hop and many classics from the nineties and zeroes."

MDR is expanding its DAB+ transmitter network in Thuringia with the new Altenburg site. DAB+ coverage in this region will be further improved and stabilised from Monday, 13 November 2023. This will particularly benefit listeners of MDR THÜRINGEN and MDR SCHLAGERWELT. MDR's digital Schlager programme will broadcast regional news from Thuringia every half hour on weekdays in the daily programme.