News

Belgian radio stakeholders have launched a major a publicity campaign extolling the benefits of DAB+ to coincide with the launch of 17 new radio stations now broadcast on DAB+ across the capital. These new stations are in addition to the 19 French-speaking radio stations already broadcast on DAB+ in Brussels since November 2018.

This year, Medientage München returns to the big stage at the ICM. From 18 - 20 October, visitors can expect a three-day conference programme with current and relevant topics on five stages with more than 400 speakers, a varied expo, numerous networking opportunities and entertaining entertainment formats. Bayern Digital Radio will be on site as an exhibitor and will present the test network 10D with the topics SPI (Service and Programme Information), EWF (Emergency Warning Functionality) and TPEG-EAW (Transport Protocol Experts Group-Emergency Alerts and Warnings).

On the occasion of the launch of Brussels' local radio stations on DAB+ on 26 September, the maradio.be team visited the broadcasting site of no less than 80 DAB+ radio stations (French and Flemish) to see the impressive installations deployed by the technical operator RTBF.

This year’s interoperability workshop, a technical test session organised by the WorldDAB Technical Committee (TC), will be a hybrid event held on 26 October from 11:00-16:00 CEST at IZT's offices in Erlangen, Germany. The purpose of the workshop is to provide a discussion platform for all technical aspects of operating the DAB system. Transmission side experiments and receiver prototypes can be matched, and interoperability issues can be identified and addressed. Conclusions reached will be reviewed by the TC and may lead to specification updates.

WorldDAB has announced speakers for its upcoming summit on Nov. 17 at Kings Place, King’s Cross in London and online. Diana Franganillo, director of in-vehicle UX research at Strategy Analytics, is a keynote speaker. Franganillo will deliver insights on emerging use cases, consumer priorities and experience optimisation for in-vehicle connectivity and autonomous and electric vehicles. According to WorldDAB, she will present the latest trends related to radio and audio in the car and what to expect in the future. She’ll delve into how fast the UX is changing and consider the impact of voice control and connectivity.

Former LFM presenter Philippe Morax is launching "M le média HD", a new radio and TV channel, on 31 October. It will be available on DAB+ in audio as well as via a free-to-air television broadcast on Canal+ Suisse for its morning programme. Philippe Morax, who hosted LFM's morning show from 2014 to 2021, is now the managing director of Millenium Média Groupe. On RTS's Médialogues programme, he explained that his "objective was to set up a medium that is both a radio and a television station, but with a digital angle. So we're not killing two birds with one stone, but killing three birds with one stone."

Radio Sázava will soon be available to more listeners. The station is about to start broadcasting via DAB+. The station will be distributed on the COLOR DAB+ multiplex. Currently, technical tests of Radio Sázava are being conducted on the COLOR DAB+ mux on the position called "TEST". Regular broadcasting on DAB+ will be launched as soon as the Czech media regulator RRTV (Radio and Television Broadcasting Council) grants a broadcasting licence to Dada Media s.r.o., which has already applied for a digital licence from the Council at the end of August.

Based in Contrexéville, "Magnum la radio" has been broadcasting its programmes in DAB+ in Strasbourg since 2018. Benoit Boulanger, the station's president, is quite taken with this new technology. "It is still a technology in which we believe, on which we are betting. Listening is still totally free for the listener, and the sound quality is really better. DAB+ also has the possibility of offering texts, visuals and maps on small screens, which can give radio a new look. This is revolutionising our business a little bit."

Over 1,000 exhibitors and tens of thousands of attendees make IBC one of the largest annual gatherings of media and entertainment professionals in the world. With the event back in-person at the RAI Amsterdam for the first time in three years, WorldDAB produced a Sunday-morning briefing for delegates, exploring “new opportunities and new audiences with DAB+”. Read a full report from the session, including more on how metadata is critical for radio stations to look their best in the car, and the opportunities presented by small-scale DAB.

Boom Radio, the new radio station aimed at the baby Boomer generation that has enjoyed phenomenal growth in its first 18 months on air, is launching a new million-pound campaign to attract more listeners. It will be spearheaded by a TV ad featuring the station’s lunchtime presenter David Hamilton — the oldest working daily national DJ in the UK — who turned 84 this year. Boom Radio broadcasts on the national commercial SDL digital radio multiplex, and has seen a 29% rise in over-50s tuning into its shows in the last six months, according to audience research body RAJAR.