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MediaDab consortium (mediadab.eu), made up of local digital and native radio stations, activated a new DAB+ broadcasting system for the city of Florence and a good part of the province on 30 November. Gianluigi Petruccio, MediaDab's press officer, said: "the launch of our digital radio network for local broadcasters, including in Florence, is great news for the city's listeners and for its tourists who visit it from all over the world for its extraordinary masterpieces of Renaissance art and architecture. This is a great time for Tuscany residents to purchase a new digital radio to use at home or in the car. Soon our consortium will activate other major cities such as Bari and Lecce."

Two new DAB digital radio multiplexes operated by Bauer Digital Radio Ltd have gone live from nine sites across north Lancashire and Cumbria. The new networks collectively carry 28 digital radio services including local FM stations BBC Radio Cumbria, CFM, Heart North Lancashire & Cumbria and Smooth Radio Lake District broadcasting in DAB or DAB+ for the first time alongside a host of new and additional services.

The Chairman of Poland's National Broadcasting Council (Krrit), Witold Kołodziejski, has this week presented information on the radio digitisation process. He announced that Krrit is preparing a competition for a national DAB+ multiplex and confirmed that he will publish an announcement by the end of this year on the matter. Next spring Polish Radio will increase its coverage from 67% to 80% of the population.

According to new research published by GfK Italia, commissioned by DAB Italia, there are now over 8 million owners of a DAB+ digital radio receiver in Italy - domestic and in-car - and that number is anticipated to exceed 9 million within the next 12 months. 82% of those who own a digital receiver usually listen to DAB+ programmes, and among those, as many as 40% are predominantly or exclusively DAB+. 52% listen to DAB+ radio every day, several times a day, mostly in the morning between 5am and 1pm. Only 18% continue to prefer listening to analogue FM, mainly because their favourite local radio station is not yet broadcast digitally.

The possibility of transmitting an emergency message in the event of sudden events or disasters via a network of transmitters operating on DAB+ platform is nothing new and has been successfully tested several times. EWF - Emergency Warning Functionality - does not need to be connected to the internet and is activated in a matter of seconds. The technology uses the DAB+ digital terrestrial broadcasting standard for its transmission. (Image: Profimedia)

The UK's Radio Academy has awarded a Fellowship to radio engineer Quentin Howard. The Fellowship is the highest accolade The Academy gives to distinguished colleagues with a lifetime of service to radio and audio.As Chief Executive of the original national DAB multiplex, Digital One, he masterminded the technical aspects of the winning bid, and went on to work with leading chip set manufacturers to drive down the cost of DAB radios and make them accessible to all.

Radio Arabella Bayern will be broadcast throughout Bavaria via DAB+ from December 15. The technical range will be over 12 million inhabitants.

The first DAB+ pilot projects for local radio stations in Flanders are taking shape. Applications for each province were due by December 1, although the Flemish Regulator for Media has announced that it will not be difficult if the deadline is exceeded by a few days. In West and East Flanders respectively 15 and 16 local radios participate, while in Limburg they currently have eleven participating stations. In Antwerp the light will go green with 13 stations. Details for Flemish Brabant will be published soon.

Prague radio network COLOR DAB+ has been expanded by another station - East Bohemian Radio Orlicko. The station operator wants to test what possibilities the DAB+ technology brings and what it couldpossibly offer to the listeners in the future. "We bring our listeners what they don't have anywhere else. We map and bring information mainly from the field of culture." said station founder Věroslav Musil.

ICASA councillor Dimakatso Qocha said: "Digital sound broadcasting is the future of radio, with immense benefits to listeners, as digital radio promises universal service and access." ICASA published Digital Sound Broadcasting Regulation in March 2021. With a large number of radio services on air, South Africa has experienced radio frequency spectrum scarcity in FM, particularly in the metropolitan areas. South Africa has not yet made a call on whether FM will be switched off completely.