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Australian commercial radio audiences continue to reach new heights, according to GfK Survey 3 2024, with 12.41 million listeners. Commercial Radio & Audio (CRA) welcomed the latest results, revealing year-on-year (YOY) growth in morning show listenership, now reaching a record number of 7.19 million. In-car listening saw considerable growth, with more than 10 million listeners. This additional 258,000 listeners mark a nearly 3% increase compared to the same period last year. “The rise in morning listenership, partnered with increased engagement during commutes, shows how seamlessly radio integrates into our lives,” said Jo Dick, CRA chief commercial officer. Morning listening time sits at an average of 2 hours 43 minutes for commercial DAB+ only stations.

Easy to receive via an aerial, digital noise-free and with additional information on the radio display: DAB+ digital radio offers added value and is now becoming even more diverse in Austria. The Austrian Communications Authority (KommAustria) is issuing licences to 28 radio stations to go ‘on air’ digitally on DAB+ on 21 June 2024. The new offering represents a diverse mix of completely new as well as established FM programmes, which will expand their reach digitally terrestrially. This brings the total DAB+ offering in Austria to 58 radio stations. "The new nationwide programme bouquet with 14 DAB+ radio stations will be technically available to 79% of the Austrian population via antenna from 21 June," explains Michael Ogris, Chairman of KommAustria. "Together with the first national DAB+ radio service with 84% population coverage launched in 2019, 30 radio programmes will then be broadcast digitally terrestrially at national level," says Ogris.

Capital, the UK’s No 1 hit music station, has launched a pop-up radio station, dedicated to Taylor Swift. Capital (Taylor’s Version) is being launched to celebrate the highly anticipated UK leg of Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour. It’s the first time in the UK that a national DAB radio station has been dedicated to a single artist. Capital are giving Swifties, one of the largest fan bases, the chance to listen to their favourite artist all-day, every-day with the ‘UK’s No 1 Swift Music Station’, Capital (Taylor’s Version). The station will be bringing listeners all the latest on Taylor Swift as she tours across the UK and hearing from fans attending pre and post shows. Capital (Taylor’s Version) is available across the UK on DAB digital radio, and on Global Player, the official Capital app, on your smart speaker (“play Capital Taylor’s Version”), iOS or Android device.

The expansion of the private DAB+ digital radio service will continue in 2024. From 3 June, a further transmitter site will be put into operation in Pettstädt, significantly increasing reception in the Burgenland district. The Chairman of the Assembly of the MSA, Markus Kurze, welcomes the further expansion of DAB+ coverage and emphasises: "The aim of the media authority is to make private radio programmes digitally receivable throughout the country and thus make an important contribution to the equality of living conditions in urban and rural areas. The construction of a DAB+ transmitter site in Pettstädt in the Burgenland district is the next step in this direction, which the assembly of the Saxony-Anhalt Media Authority has unanimously supported with infrastructure funds from its budget."

Digital radio in Austria is celebrating its 5th birthday this year and can also look back on a success story. On 21 June 2024, the largest expansion of private radio stations since the start of private broadcasting in 1998 will take place. From 21 June, 14 more stations will be available on DAB+ throughout Austria. This will bring the national network to 30 stations. The expansion of the DAB+ network in the regions is particularly pleasing. These will cover the broadcasting areas of Vorarlberg, Tyrol, Salzburg and Upper Austria, Carinthia and Styria, Southern Burgenland as well as Lower Austria and Northern Burgenland. The regional transmitter networks will also be expanded by 14 programmes. With the new stations, the digital radio offering that can be received via DAB+ will grow to a total of 58 programmes.

With ‘bigFM Hessen’, there will be another Hessian radio programme in future. The basis for this was approved by the Assembly of the Medienanstalt Hessen at its meeting on 27 May 2024. Accordingly, Audiotainment Südwest GmbH & Co. KG will receive a licence for the radio programme for a period of five years. The licence includes the allocation of digital transmission capacities (DAB+) for the DAB multiplex Hessen Nord (channel 6A). Prof. Dr Murad Erdemir, Director of Medienanstalt Hessen, welcomes the new station: ‘With “bigFM Hessen”, a well-known format is now also coming to us in Hesse, which will soon provide listeners with an even more diverse radio offering. I am particularly pleased that young talents will also be given space in the programme. At the same time, this licence makes it clear once again that Hesse is an exciting broadcasting region for established broadcasters from all over Germany.’

The transmitter network of the 2nd national digital radio platform continues to grow and will receive eight new transmitter sites in six federal states on 1 June 2024. From July 2024, a further site will be added in Bavaria. With this expansion, Antenne Deutschland, operator of the 2nd national DAB+ platform, together with the platform's private programme providers, is expanding its network to 91 locations throughout Germany. The commissioning of the nine transmitter sites means that around 59 million people in Germany can receive the programmes at home. This corresponds to over 70 per cent of the population. The area coverage for mobile reception increases to 82 per cent and covers more than 73 million people on the move. Along the motorways, mobile reception is then at over 92% with over 11,000 kilometres.

On the Flemish-Brabant trial mux (block 10B), EazyFM has turned up as the eleventh radio station. EazyFM uses the remaining 64 kbp/s that was still free on the mux. Nothing changed to the bitrates of the other 10 stations on the Flemish Brabant mux. So they all remain at 80 kbp/s. Flemish Brabant is the only one of the five test muxes to use protection level EEP A-2. This level does guarantee a slightly better coverage compared to other muxes (which use the general standard EEP A-3), but it comes at the expense of the available bandwidth for the participating radio stations. It is the first time that the Flemish-Brabant mux, with 1 kW transmitters in Laken, Leuven and Testelt, is completely full.

In this capacity, Alain Liberty will steer the pooling strategy within the Lagardère Radio division, taking care to preserve the identity of the brands - Europe 1, Europe 2 and RFM - while pursuing audience development objectives. Stéphane Bosc has also been appointed Managing Director of RFM, reporting directly to Alain Liberty. These appointments will take effect from 1 June 2024. "Alain Liberty's appointment to Les Musicales is part of our strategy to consolidate the Radio Division. Thanks to his expertise, he will be able to continue the work of relaunching Europe 2 by defining a new on-air strategy for the next radio season 2024/2025," said Constance Benqué, President of Lagardère Radio

Spotify’s announced discontinuation of its Car Thing interface, a dedicated device for streaming Spotify in-car, has been met by owners with disappointment, bafflement, requests, and anger. In the company’s official public announcement, Spotify seemed to acknowledge the specialness of the device, even as it presaged its discontinuation: “Car Thing is our first hardware product that allows users to control Spotify through car speakers when connected to a phone by using both voice recognition and preset buttons. The device launched in April 2021, and from the start seemed to us a splendid idea.” But soon enough — 15 months later to be exact — signs emerged that Car Thing would not be a long-term offering; in July 2022 Spotify shut down production of Car Thing, while maintaining service to existing devices. The current announcement which is causing so much upset specifies that Car Thing service — the connection to Spotify — will stop at the end of this year.