News

Leicester Digital Partnership has switched on the small-scale DAB service for Leicester ahead of an official launch. The multiplex, supported by Maxxwave, was switched on last week and will be officially launching on March 19th 2023. Leicester Digital Partnership is a collaboration between community radio stations in Leicester, with EAVA FM, Kohinoor Radio, LCR2, Radio2Funky and Takeover Radio operating the licence on a not-for-profit basis. Dr Rob Watson, Managing Director of Leicester Digital Partnership said: “As a round three licence award we are very pleased that Maxxwave has commissioned our broadcast service so quickly and with such a cost-effective approach that will make this service sustainable."

After two years of virtual events, the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union’s Digital Broadcasting Symposium is back in person from today, at The Royale Chulan in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. On the first day of the four-day event, over 150 delegates from the Asia Pacific region and beyond packed the room for the WorldDAB workshop: “Economics, Environment, Emergency – driving the case for DAB+.”

A new digital radio network for Plymouth is to launch later this year, after broadcast regulator Ofcom awarded a licence to a group led by the company behind Devon’s Radio Exe. It means that Plymouth and the surrounding area could receive up to 25 new radio stations broadcasting on DAB+ digital radio. Broadcast regulator Ofcom is rolling out such services nationally, and asked for groups interested in running the service to apply last year. PlymDab, the successful applicant, will now install two transmitters that together will reach round 250,000 listeners around Plymouth, West Devon and South East Cornwall.

Small-scale DAB licenses have been awarded to Higher Rhythm Limited in Doncaster, PlymDab in Plymouth, and Mid Yorkshire DAB Limited in Wakefield. The areas are part of Round 4 of the licensing process, which has now seen 12 out of a potential 24 awarded so far. 23 of the new small-scale multiplexes are already on air across the United Kingdom; licences are granted for seven years from start of broadcasting, with a further five-year renewal period available.

A new all-speech local radio station for Basingstoke has launched on the town’s newly-introduced small-scale DAB multiplex. BASINGSTOKE NOW shares local information and interesting people, places, and organisations on a continuous loop. Co-founder Harrison RB told RadioToday: “Most radio stations aim to drive listening hours, but we don’t expect our audience to be with us all day long. “BASINGSTOKE NOW is essentially your social media timeline but without any nonsense. It’s fast-paced and content-rich, so even if you tune in for ten minutes each time you’re guaranteed to learn something new about where you live.”

Radio Essentials has started broadcasting in Sheffield offering local residents another choice of music radio stations. Essentials has been streaming online since October 2022 but has now made the move to DAB. The station’s programme director Lee Glasby commented: “We’re so excited to be bringing the station to the people of Rotherham and Sheffield. “Our journey up to now has been amazing from setting up the station a year ago with business partner Stephen to now, broadcasting on DAB. “The station plays a mix of the 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s and selected hits from today along with specialist music shows at the weekend including Essential, Rock, Cheese, Synthwave, Dreamscapes, Soul and dance classics.”

Ofcom has awarded new small-scale multiplexes in Inverclyde, Newry, Northampton, Southampton and Wolverhampton. Ofcom followed its theme of awarding small-scale multiplexes licences to those with active or promised involvement by established community radio stations, considering evidence of demand or support from persons providing or proposing to provide community or local digital sound programme services (C-DSP and DSP services) in the advertised areas.

New dance music station Juice Radio is to extend its DAB coverage by joining the North Wales & West Cheshire DAB multiplex. The service launched in December across Blackpool and Leeds on small-scale multiplexes. Juice Radio is a new Dance & R&B format broadcasting from Preston in Lancashire playing a mix of “today’s dance music and yesterday’s biggest throwbacks”. Ste Owens, Station Manager for Juice, says: “With the small-scale multiplexes opening for new starter radio stations, an idea we had worked on for years finally has a chance to grow into a great station for the North West."

The small-scale DAB digital radio multiplex for Coventry is now on-air following its licence award in August 2022. It will officially launch on Friday 20th January 2023 and currently has Radio Plus and Vanny Radio on its line-up. Coventry DAB was awarded its licence in October 2022 as part of Ofcom’s Round 3 and started ‘testing’ just before Christmas. Simon McAusland, Chief Executive of Coventry Community Digital Radio CIC says: “I would like to thank Sam Hunt at Maxxwave, Dr Rob Watson at Decentered Media and the Broadcast Licensing Team at Ofcom for all of their help in getting this new Small Scale DAB Multiplex for Coventry licensed and commissioned with such a fast turnaround.”

Gaydio is now broadcasting in seven more cities across the UK via small-scale DAB multiplexes. The station has been added to Glasgow, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds and Sheffield in DAB+. Kriss Herbert, Network Content Manager and mid-morning presenter said: "It’s great that Gaydio is going to be bigger than ever before, broadcasting across seven new cities for the first time, meaning that more queer people across the UK can now tune in for the best in LGBTQ+ entertainment, news and of course music."