News

The new CEO of Commercial Radio Australia, Ford Ennals, discusses his new role leading one of the most dynamic and advanced markets in the world. "In Australia, digital listening is growing strongly both from DAB and online radio streaming," Ennals says. "DAB broadcasting has achieved critical mass and provides a key enhancement of the radio listener proposition across the Metro markets. DAB is also now available in five regional markets, with Australia’s sixth largest city, the Gold Coast, rolling out in April."

Bayerischer Rundfunk is planning to further expand the Bavarian DAB+ transmitter network in the second half of 2022 with up to six new locations. It will grow from the current 77 to 83 locations by the end of the year. The ten BR radio and regional stations as well as private services are broadcast via the DAB+ transmitter network.

Xperi's DTS and ARD have announced the integration of the ARD broadcasters into DTS AutoStage. Said Alexander Sasse at ARD, “We are looking forward to integrating with partners to help our broadcasters meet the needs of our listeners in the rapidly evolving connected vehicle landscape". Said Joe D’Angelo at Xperi, “We know that providing the digital dashboard’s best content and maintaining editorial control is critical to broadcasters, and our system has been designed to facilitate just this. Keeping radio front, centre and aggressively competitive in the dash is key to our platform.”

The Norwegian Media Authority allocates NOK 8.2 million (EUR 0.83m) in support to local radio, of which NOK 4.4 million (EUR 0.44m) will be used to cover the expenses that local radio stations have to broadcast on DAB. "Local radios have tight finances. This support contributes to local radio being able to offer its programme content on DAB," says Hanne Nistad Sekkelsten, director of the legal and regulatory department at the Norwegian Media Authority.

Listeners across the UK from Warrington to Wrexham will soon be able to tune into a wider choice of ultra-local digital radio stations, with Ofcom awarding 17 small-scale DAB radio multiplex licences in north-west England and north-east Wales. Ofcom's roll-out of small-scale DAB will enable the launch of around 200 multiplexes, covering all four UK nations. Today’s awards bring the total number of multiplex licences awarded to 42. Ofcom has also published the 32 applications it has received for the third round of licence advertisements, covering a further 20 areas across England, Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland.

The Petkus transmitter is now on-air covering the Brandenburg region of northern Germany. Distribution via DAB+ is around a third more economical than via FM due to the significantly lower power consumption per radio station. Listeners benefit from the high sound quality, a large selection of stations and numerous additional services. Deutschlandradio director Stefan Raue: “Due to the frequency bottleneck in the transmitter network, we only achieve coverage of around 70% via FM with Deutschlandfunk, and with Deutschlandfunk Kultur it is only 52%. The DAB+ expansion stands for the aim of making our information and cultural offerings freely accessible to many people in rural areas as well.”

Deutschlandradio is continuing to drive the digitisation of radio broadcasting forward. The Uelzen transmitter is now operational. With the first nationwide multiplex, DAB+ listeners in the district of Uelzen can look forward to 13 new radio stations in digital quality. In addition to Deutschlandfunk, Deutschlandfunk Kultur, Deutschlandfunk Nova and the digital channel Deutschlandfunk Documents and Debates, the station package includes a further nine private radio providers.

Talpa Network is introducing four new DAB+ channels: 538 Classics, Radio 10 80's Hits, Sky Radio Nice & Easy and Vintage Veronica. Paul Römer, Managing Director Radio & TV: “With these four new DAB+ channels, we are increasing the audio offering on the digital airwaves and we can serve our listeners even better. Each additional digital-only theme channel has its own target group and is recognisable by its own music style. In this way, the listener can tune in to a specific music genre and it is also possible for advertisers to reach these target groups even better.”

In February, the KRRiT tendered a nationwide DAB+ multiplex. Jan Jagielski was the only applicant to submit two applications for new programs. Now he wants to get started on DAB+, first in a local multiplex in Kielce and soon with the new programs FAMA DANCE and Radio TOP across the country. RADIOSZENE spoke to the experienced media entrepreneur about DAB+ in Poland.

Czech Radio wants to improve the quality of digital broadcast reception of its stations on DAB+ this year. The network already covers over 95% of the population of the Czech Republic, with the next phase of development focused on ensuring quality reception inside buildings, including the production of new coverage maps. The work is expected to be completed in the middle of this year.