News

In the latest issue of Radio World, NAB President/CEO Curtis LeGeyt talks about his first year on the job with our contributor Randy Stine. The NAB is active in a lot of areas, of course; but it is, foremost, a lobbying and advocacy organisation. For an example of the importance of such work, you don’t have to look further than an announcement in December by U.S. Sen. Ed Markey. Markey is a member of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. He issued a press release saying that he had written to 20 carmakers urging them to maintain broadcast AM radio as a feature in new cars, including electric vehicles.

Radioplayer, the international radio platform that’s owned and supported by radio broadcasters, has announced that its 15th partner country will be Greece. Greek broadcasters have formed a consortium to license the Radioplayer Worldwide technology platform, and will launch on World Radio Day, Monday 13th February 2023. Initially majoring on stations from the Athens area, the consortium plans to expand the Radioplayer Greece offering to all eligible Greek stations throughout 2023.

Bauer is removing Absolute Radio from Medium wave this month as it turns off all AM frequencies for the station across the country. The move makes Absolute Radio a digital-only service, broadcasting nationally on DAB and online. In addition, Bauer has also announced licenses carrying Greatest Hits Radio in Staffordshire and Cheshire, Bradford & Huddersfield and Teesside will also be turned off.

The Bavarian Forest is one of the most difficult regions to cover in terms of radio technology. Despite numerous transmitter stations, there are still gaps in digital terrestrial radio reception. The Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation (BR) is now planning a new transmitter for digital radio DAB+ in the southern Bavarian Forest. On the Oberfrauenwald mountain near Waldkirchen in the district of Freyung-Grafenau, the state-wide package (channel 11D) and the regional bouquet of Lower Bavaria (channel 7D) are to be broadcast with a power of 6.3 kW. BR is also planning new transmitter sites at Balderschwang, Obernburg am Main and Pretzfeld.

REGIOCAST will take over the slot previously operated by SPORTRADIO DEUTSCHLAND on the second DAB+ federal mux on 02.01.2023 at 12:00. The current offering will be replaced by 90s90s Radio, which is currently distributed throughout Germany via IP and, since 2018, also via DAB+ locally in Leipzig. Erwin Linnenbach, Managing Director of National German Radio: "90s90s Radio is an excellent addition to the diverse programme bouquet of Antenne Deutschland's private DAB+ platform. REGIOCAST's move clearly underlines once again how attractive nationwide radio and DAB+ are as a technical platform."

People using DAB+ digital radio receivers in Łódź and Opole can hear new radio stations on test multiplexes belonging to the company PSN Infrastruktura. In Łódź, Twoje Radio from Stargard, Nasze Radio Nostalgicznie from Sieradz, Strefa FM from Piotrków Trybunalski and Radio Rekord Kielce made their debut on the multiplex. Listeners in Opole, meanwhile, received access to Radio Rekord Kielce and Twój Radio from Stargard.

Following the European Union’s obligation in 2020 to include DAB+ receivers in new cars, Belgium decided to stop all sales of analogue radio receivers without DAB+ as from 1 January 2023. As from Jan. 1 consumers are no longer able to purchase from a shop FM or AM receivers without DAB+ for domestic use. “The obligation to incorporate DAB+ for new cars and domestic radio receivers is a nice step ahead in the digitisation of our radio landscape,” commented Benjamin Dalle, Flemish Media Minister.

An important page in the history of radio is being turned in Luxembourg: the giant transmitters of Beidweiler in Luxembourg were finally switched off on 1 January. It was the last of the big radio stations in France to still broadcast on long wave. Since the beginning of 2023, this is over. RTL no longer broadcasts its signal on long wave from its transmitter centre in Beidweiler, Luxembourg. The measure, which was taken primarily to save money, should enable the group to reduce its electricity consumption by some 6,000 megawatt hours (MWh) per year, the equivalent of 3,000 people in France. The station has launched a communication campaign to help its listeners switch to other listening methods, in particular FM, DAB+ digital terrestrial radio, TV boxes and its mobile application.

As many as 1,135 radio products were added on DAB+ in Europe and beyond by 2022, currently bringing the total to 7,238 'digital audio services'. This is the fastest growth DAB+ has ever recorded. 2021 was also already a record year with 'only' 800 new radio channels on the digital airwaves. On a national level in Flanders, last year saw the arrival of Crooze, TOPversuzRadio and Willy ClassX, but the launch on 9 January of Business AM, the very first talk radio ever for Flanders, is most eagerly awaited.

The deadline is approaching (10/01/2023) for the consultation launched on 13/12/2022 by the Ministry of Enterprise and Industry on the Guidelines on the "Selection Procedures for the Assignment of Rights of Use for Planned Networks on Local Area Networks to Network Operators - DAB+". Ultimately, the step preceding the publication of the calls for applications for the allocation of rights of use to the consortia. As a result of this, the process of settling existing DAB consortia has intensified. In the past few days, for example, the mux on Rome of the Digital Radio Group consortium has been put into operation.