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driftFM, the Swiss radio station with the slogan “where country meets rock”, can now be received on DAB+ in the south-eastern Switzerland region. From now on, this will expand the circle of listeners many times over, because the new catchment area has 120,000 inhabitants.

The government has given the go-ahead for more than 20 new radio stations to launch in Oldham. The new digital stations will be a part of the Oldham and Rochdale small-scale DAB multiplex. Kevin Bailey, content director at Credible Focus, said: "Throughout the process, we’ve worked with smaller stations across Oldham and Rochdale, to make sure that access to the digital platform is straightforward and affordable. The multiplex is expected to increase the range of radio to listeners across Oldham, including both national and local broadcasters."

On the occasion of the Fête de la Radio and the Paris Radio Show 2022, TDF is launching its trial DAB+ broadcasts from the Eiffel Tower. In March, TDF carried out a technical operation at the top of the Eiffel Tower to install a DAB+ antenna by helicopter. Designed by TDF experts, this new antenna dedicated to broadcasting digital terrestrial radio will provide optimal coverage for the 12 million inhabitants of the Ile-de-France region. TDF is also participating in accelerating the deployment of DAB+ digital radio in France by commissioning four new local or regional multiplexes in the areas of Poitiers, Orléans and, this summer, La Rochelle. Since the launch of DAB+ in 2014, TDF has deployed more than 60 broadcast transmitters and thus broadcasts around a hundred programs in DAB+ in major cities such as Paris, Marseille, Bordeaux, Lille, Nice, Toulon, Avignon and Annecy .

SSR is improving DAB+ coverage in Thurgau, St. Gallen and ValaisIn during May and June 2022, with new DAB+ antennas being installed at the following sites: Dussnang (canton of Thurgau): May 19, 2022; Vättis (canton of St. Gallen): 27 May 2022; Weisstannen (canton of St. Gallen): 31 May 2022; Gondo (canton of Valais): June 16, 2022. The four antennas make it possible to cover so-called whitespots, where DAB+ coverage was previously insufficient.

By the end of this year, Czech Radio will launch nine new locations that will spread the signal of its digital multiplex ČRo DAB+, and it expects further development in the coming years. This was announced today at the Digimedia 2022 conference by Karel Zýka, Director of the Department of Technology and Public Media Management. In his case, around 85% of the population should have sufficient DAB+ indoor coverage in 2025.

DAB+ continues to expand in all French regions. After Annecy, Annemasse, Chambéry, Grenoble and Saint-Étienne recently, this technology continues to be deployed and arrives in the Centre-Val de Loire region with Vibration and OÜI FM in Tours, OÜI FM in Orléans but also in Poitou-Charentes with Forum, OÜI FM and Swigg in Poitiers. For Jean-Éric Valli, Chairman of Groupe 1981: "I am happy to develop our offer in the Center Val de Loire and in Poitou-Charentes. DAB+ represents a real revolution in radio, with strong innovations, in particular the associated data like information on the program or the covers of the songs."

Three new DAB + multiplexes launched on 17 May, in the extended Orléans, extended Poitiers and extended Tours areas. These three launches will be followed by three others - local - in the same cities, on 27 June. In addition, between April 2021 and March 2022, more than 4 million DAB+ receivers were sold in 12 European countries according to GfK, including 444,000 in France, representing annual growth of + 48% in a sluggish market at -15%.

Radio via DAB+ not only offers listeners crystal-clear listening pleasure, but also the option of presenting information in graphic form on the radio display. This also includes the logos of the current and other receivable stations. To ensure that these logos are displayed as completely as possible in a suitable and up-to-date form, Media Broadcast has now created a service page on the Internet, especially for the manufacturers of DAB+ radios and the automotive industry. This contains the logos of the stations that are transmitted via DAB+ multiplexes from Media Broadcast and other network operators for download.

Weekly commercial radio audiences climbed to a record high of 11.8m across the five major metro markets in Australia, according to GfK Metro Survey 3. The key driver of growth is the success of the digital platforms, with listening via DAB+ up by 25%. 2.3m people now tune into DAB+ stations, up 39% year-on-year. "These are great results and as the growth of digital audio platforms continues there is more growth to come," said Ford Ennals, CEO of Commercial Radio Australia.

Newslinet's interviews with the leaders of digital radio continue with Sergio Natucci, manager of DAB Italia since its inception. "DAB receivers amounted to 9,200,000 as of December 31, 2021, of which approximately 400,000 are domestic. Taking into account car sales at the end of 2022, we will exceed 10 million," said Natucci. "Local stations, it should be noted, are now 50% of those broadcast in analogue... finally even local radio owners are realising the importance of the transition to digital," he added.