News

Radio brings everyone together, and the proof is in the pudding! maRadio.be, Digitaal Radio Vlaanderen and the Vanden Borre shops are working together to get you on the digital radio. For the second year in a row, from 19 September to 1 October 2022, go to your nearest Vanden Borre shop and simply exchange your old radio for a discount voucher valid on the purchase of a new DAB+ compatible one.

Antenne Ostalgie has now been switched on in the state-wide DAB+ bouquet in Thuringia (channel 12B), which can initially only be received in the Erfurt/Weimar area. The offshoot of Antenne Thüringen plans to officially go on the air on 3 October, the day of German unification.

Bayerische Rundfunk (BR) has put the new Ebbs DAB+ transmitter (near Kufstein), located on Austrian territory, into operation and uses it to broadcast its two ensembles on channel 10A (regional Upper Bavaria/Schwaben) and channel 11D (nationwide). The new system closes coverage gaps in the Bavarian Inn valley, but the signal from the 10 kW transmitters also reaches a good 40 km into Austria. For example, good reception is reported from Jenbach in Tyrol. The new transmitter also ensures that travellers to Italy can now listen to BR on DAB+ almost continuously via the Inntal and Brenner motorways to Lake Garda. In South Tyrol, BR's programmes are broadcast by Rundfunk Anstalt Südtirol (RAS). Via the Hühnerspiel site, the signals can also be heard in the greater Innsbruck area.

SWR3 is accompanying its New Pop Festival (15 to 17 September) in Baden-Baden again this year with an event channel on DAB+. The New Pop event channel is on air in the SWR muxes in Rhineland-Palatinate and Baden-Württemberg. Event radio has a long tradition at SWR - among other things, the broadcaster regularly hosts an event radio from the Mannheim Maimarkt, which can be received via DAB+ and a local FM frequency during the event period.

At the weekend's panel, WorldDAB Vice President and Digital Radio Netherlands Project Director Jacqueline Bierhorst reviewed the positive position of DAB+ radio in some countries and mentioned the important fact that the technology has already become standard equipment in new cars in EU countries. Radio remains the most natural choice for audio consumption in cars.

Following a soft launch in July, the new Edinburgh DAB multiplex operated by Edinburgh DAB Ltd has now fully launched. It has recently completed a successful upgrade at its Braids Hill transmitter site and is currently carrying 17 radio services, with several others waiting on Ofcom for final licence confirmation. Broadcasting in DAB+ from two transmission sites at Braid Hills golf course and Corstorphine Hill it is audible to over 789,000 adults.

At IBC2022 in Amsterdam, WorldDAB hosted a key session on the opportunities of DAB+ digital radio. Jacqueline Bierhorst, Project Director - Digital Radio NL - explained how audiences are responding to DAB+, the new features of the technology and the opportunities and threats for DAB+ in the future.

The network of the second, national DAB+ multiplex is to be expanded. According to information from SatelliFax, the broadcasters have agreed to the network expansion, and there is talk of up to ten additional transmitter locations that may be connected to the network by the end of 2023. Along important motorways such as the A1, A2, A3, A6, A7 and A8, there are currently still gaps in reception in places.

The development of electronics is constantly moving forward and DAB+ radio manufacturers are not lagging behind. German company TechniSat is one of the first manufacturers to respond and has started adding BestTune functionality to these receivers. The latter places DAB+ and FM stations in one list without the listener being able to tell. The first model is the Digitradio 307 BT receiver.

From 11 September 2022, the public service leaves AM. Viale Mazzini [RAI headquarters] will close the last 12 installations that broadcast this type of signal (in AM). The kilowatt power used on these antennas was high (100kW in Pisa Coltano and 50kW in Turin Volpiano, for example). And the power plants that fed the antennas were inefficient. Closing the plants and power stations would result in savings of hundreds of thousands of euros every year. Paying the electricity bill was Rai Way, the RAI company that owned the antennas.