News

Radio and the environment? They travel on the same wavelength. The new plan of Radio LifeGate, the broadcaster that has been dealing with ecological issues for twenty years, was announced a few days ago: LifeGate, B-corp since 2017, will switch to the DAB+ broadcasting standard in the main Italian regions and on the French Riviera. Proposing awareness-raising content through a zero-impact medium is not only an ethical gesture, but also an economic investment. "FM broadcasting transmitters," confirms the CEO, "have a high electricity consumption and consequently emit a lot of CO2 to produce this energy. The future-oriented DAB technology allows lower consumption and is beneficial for the energy balance and the environment as it drastically reduces carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere'.

Bavaria's leading fibre-optic provider M-net is expanding its radio station offering and doubling the number of stations fed into the cable network via the high-quality DAB+ standard. 35 radio stations can now be received in the best quality via the modern FM successor technology. In 2019, M-net was the first provider in Germany to feed 16 private and public radio stations in the digital DAB+ standard into its Munich cable network. M-net has now expanded the number of DAB+ stations that can be received via the conventional cable sockets in the home by 19 programmes, including mainly Bavarian local radio stations.

While the last two years have been difficult for radio, the last few months have also seen many achievements in the radio sector. In 2021, Arcom kicked off the start of the metropolitan DAB+ offer. And in 2022, new radio stations were launched on DAB+. And it's not over yet: "FM, DAB, podcast... At Arcom, 2023 is shaping up to be a busy and promising time", as pointed out in an exclusive interview with Hervé Godechot, chairman of the "Radio and Digital Audio" working group at the French regulatory authority for audiovisual and digital communication, which officially came into being on 1 January 2022.

From Tuesday 31 January, TDF is starting to broadcast DAB+ digital radio from its Saint-Contest (Calvados) transmission site. The population of the Caen conurbation in Calvados can now receive thirteen radio stations broadcast in DAB+ digital quality: Chante France, Clazz, Crooner Radio, France Bleu Normandie, Générations, Hello Normandie, Jazz Radio, Oüi FM, Radio Bonheur 100% Chansons françaises, Radio FG, Radio Nova, RCF Normandie and Sud Radio.

New WorldDAB member Sumatronic has brought DAB+ to Martinique and hopes to support other regions of the world where the population has few or no DAB+ receivers. In our first ‘member focus’ article of 2023, we learn how Sumatronic recently launched its "DAB4all" campaign, in our interview with CEO Peter Matter.

Finland joins its Nordic neighbours, Norway, Sweden and Denmark as a member of the Radioplayer family which now covers nearly all of western Europe. The “Radioplayer Finland” collaboration will join the existing broadcasters in Radioplayer, ensuring that the international radio sector can speak to all car manufacturers with one voice, to keep radio strong in the dashboards of the future. Radioplayer Finland will be co-ordinated by Radiosoitin Suomi Oy which is a collaboration between the public service media company Yle and RadioMedia, the umbrella group for Finnish commercial radio. Stations in Radioplayer Finland will add their official metadata (station information, logos, high-quality streams, podcasts etc.) to the international Radioplayer data feed which powers ‘hybrid’ radio interfaces in millions of cars, including Audis, VWs, Porsches, and BMWs.

38 local radio and regional television licences will be put out to tender by the end of April 2023. Whoever is awarded the licence will fulfil a regional public service mandate from 1 January 2025 and receive money from the radio and television levy in return. Licences for 15 commercial local radio stations, 10 complementary non-profit local radio stations and 13 regional television stations with a performance mandate and fee share will be put out to tender. The broadcaster licences for local radio and regional television include a binding performance mandate. In return, the broadcasters receive the right to broadcast their programmes in their coverage area via DAB+ (radio) or via cable (television).

SBS Arabic24, a dedicated DAB+ digital radio station broadcasting and streaming Australian and global news and current affairs, entertainment and music 24/7 in Arabic, has announced a new 2023 programming line-up commencing today. A new weekend morning show Best of SBS Arabic24 – Week in Review will air on Saturdays and Sundays from 6am to 8am, while the Bayt Al Mazzika music show timeslot will be expanded to 9am to 3pm on weekdays with live hosting between noon and 1pm. These programming updates complement SBS Arabic24’s flagship Good Morning Australia live breakfast show and Australia Alyaom live afternoon show. These schedule changes are timed with BBC Arabic radio ceasing its linear transmission to develop digital audio content.

Polskie Radio Koszalin, the public regional radio station for the eastern part of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, launched another sub-regional programme on 2 January. Since then, Studio Kołobrzeg can be heard in the city of the same name on the Baltic Sea from Mondays to Fridays from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. on the FM city frequency 91.0 MHz. In addition, the new regional window is also on air in Koszalin (Köslin) and Kołobrzeg (Kolberg) via DAB+ (channel 11B).

French communications regulator Autorité de Régulation de la Communication Audiovisuelle et Numérique (ARCOM) has authorized the first DAB+ multiplex in Martinique. A ten-station multiplex launched on Channel 5B from three sites on the Caribbean island and is authorised to operate as a trial service through the end of September 2023. As part of the agency’s 2022–2024 roadmap for digital radio, ARCOM called for interest in launching trial DAB+ services in the “Outre-Mer,” those portions France outside of the Europe. Several islands in the Caribbean, North Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Ocean, as well as French Guiana in South America, are regions, collectivities, or territories of France, and broadcasting in these areas is overseen by ARCOM.