News

Manx Radio listeners in Douglas and Onchan will be able to listen to the station on DAB for the first time from 2 May. At 8am, the station will begin its trial of the technology, having been granted a three-year licence by the Communications and Utilities Regulatory Authority. The trial will cost around £20,000, it's hoped the digital service will replace Manx Radio's AM transmitter.

Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) has switched off its VHF filler transmitter in Burgsinn im Sinngrund. The programmes BAYERN 1, Bayern 2, BAYERN 3, BR-KLASSIK and BR24 were broadcast via the site in the Lower Franconian district of Main-Spessart. The BR refers local listeners to the frequencies from the Kreuzberg transmitter in the Rhön region and to DAB+ as a continuing FM alternative. The Bavaria-wide DAB+ multiplex on channel 11D and the Lower Franconia Mux on channel 10A will continue to be broadcast from Burgsinn. In the course of the ongoing DAB+ expansion, BR already switched off the VHF filler transmitter Burgberg in Oberallgäu at the end of February and the VHF site Mittenwald in summer 2021.

Many respondents see the lack of broadcasting of public service broadcasting on DAB+ in Austria as a disadvantage - especially in comparison to many other European countries. Now there is a 'popular complaint' to persuade the ORF to make its three radio stations broadcast throughout Austria available on DAB+ as well. "The current Ipsos study and the complaint show once again that DAB+ is a relevant distribution channel and marketplace in this sense. This is also evident with regard to the next multiplex (MUX III), the tender for which is currently being prepared by the media authority KommAustria. This must also be accompanied by an increase in the Digitisation Fund in order to further promote media diversity in the Austrian radio landscape," says Roman Gerner, Chairman of the Digital Radio Austria Association.

Eighteen months after the launch of the first commercial state-wide DAB+ multiplex in North Rhine-Westphalia, the State Media Authority has reached a conclusion. In autumn or winter, a maximum of 96 places in DAB+ multiplexes are to be put out to tender. Many interested parties expressed a need for a total of 118 places. For thirty years, the most densely populated radio market was closed off, with access only possible for new providers within the framework of temporary DAB+ trials. Interest in the NRW radio market continues.

A new music radio will start broadcasting in the Czech Republic. The station called Rádio Energic has received a licence for digital radio broadcasting in the DAB+ system. It plans to start broadcasting in the first half of the year, according to its Facebook profile. It wants to focus on the music format CHR (contemporary hit radio, i.e. the latest hits). The studio is in Mladá Boleslav, owned by businessman Tomáš Veselý.

More and more people in Austria are familiar with DAB+. In the coverage area, 54% have heard of digital radio. This is an increase of 11% compared to 2020 and percentage increase of 7 points compared to 2022. Most of the study participants were first informed of DAB+ on the Internet, many also heard about it on the radio or car radio. Many have found information on social media, at electronics retailers or on television. An increasing number of interviewees (21%) know the DAB+ logo. A quarter (24%) of people in Austria have heard radio via DAB+. This is a slight increase compared to the study results from 2022. In the age group of 30- to 39-year-olds, even 48% have gained experience with DAB+. The number of regular DAB+ listeners has also continued to rise. 18% of the people in Austria, i.e., around 960,000, use digital radio several times a month! That means a doubling of regular listeners since 2020.

Laurent Lafon, the centrist chairman of the Senate's culture committee, detailed on Tuesday a bill on "the reform of public broadcasting and audiovisual sovereignty". Article 15 is concerned with making it compulsory for radio sets to receive digital terrestrial radio using the DAB+ standard, and with providing that all new vehicles must also be able to receive digital terrestrial radio using the same standard. The text supported by the Senate majority should be put on the Senate agenda for first reading in the week of 12 June, said Mr Lafon.

Laurent Lafon, Senator and President of the Senate's Committee on Culture, Education and Communication, has tabled a bill on the reform of public broadcasting and audiovisual sovereignty. SIRTI welcomes the integration of measures that it has long supported concerning terrestrial radio, whether analogue or digital, which is recognised as an essential factor of sovereignty. Article 15 of the bill requires the integration of the DAB+ standard alongside FM in all radios marketed within 12 months of the law's promulgation. The bill also makes it compulsory for new cars to have an FM/DAB+ radio receiver. This is an important step forward, as almost half of all radio listening is done in the car.

A new community-led local radio group has been created to apply for the small-scale DAB multiplex in North East London and South West Essex. East London and Essex Digital is a collaboration from Phoenix FM and Gateway 97.8, which have 30 years of broadcasting on FM between them. Phoenix FM Chairman, Paul Golder said: “This is a community-led application aiming to give a louder voice to small community radio stations throughout our area. At least 7 community radio stations will be carried on the new service, each reaching nearly a million new listeners."

Germany's radio station for the cool sound of the 90s has launched a second live radio programme - 90s90s DANCE RADIO - in addition to its existing national station. It can be received digitally via the 90s90s App, website, Skill as well as on all radio aggregators and via DAB+ in Saxony. "The sound has many fans, especially in Saxony - so it's all the nicer that we can also be heard here via DAB+," says Sebastian Voigt, Programme Director Digital REGIOCAST.