News

The network for the two nationwide French DAB+ multiplexes in Lorraine was expanded by additional sites at the end of February. A new transmitter mast is now in operation in Sarreguemines (Saargemünd), located directly on the border with Saarland. Transmission takes place there on channel 11D and 6B. For the 1st multiplex only (channel 11D), an additional site went on air in Forbach, which is also close to the border. DAB+ transmitting antennas were also switched on in Sarrebourg and Saverne as well as in Verdun, Rarécourt, Marange and Sainte-Menehould. A site in Haguenau in Alsace (channel 6B) was put into operation for the 2nd multiplex.

To coincide with the celebration of World Radio Day and the centenary year of radio in Spain, Radio Nacional de España has started digital radio broadcasts in DAB+ together with Cellnex Telecom on 13 February 2024, with the firm intention of deploying this digital radio standard in the country, which is set to replace FM in the long term. (Registration required for video)

Angel Radio +1 has launched on DAB in Portsmouth offering a time-shifted version of the community radio service. The station, which recently celebrated 25 years since it first started broadcasting, believes it’s the first time-shifted terrestrial radio service in the UK. Tony Smith, founder of Angel Radio said: “Since its first RSL in 1999, Angel Radio has been leading the way on so many fronts, creating radio by and specifically for older people. In 2015 we launched one of the UK’s first, and most innovative, Small Scale DAB multiplexes. Today we are taking that innovation one step beyond, with Angel Radio +1. Our timeshifted broadcast allows listeners to catch their favourite show if they missed it, or even just listen again to their favourite song again an hour later.”

ON AIR support has announced: "On 1 March 2024, we were able to close two important coverage gaps with DAB+ channel 11B in Baden-Württemberg by commissioning the Bad Mergentheim and Baiersbronn transmitters. The Main-Tauber district is now fully covered and DAB+ reception should also have improved in the northern Hohenlohe district. In the southern Murg Valley, the Baiersbronn transmitter has significantly improved DAB+ channel 11B reception or even made it possible for the first time in some areas."

The digital radio station Rádio Energic, which was launched last September and will soon celebrate half a year of its existence, is considering expanding its coverage and switching to full DAB+ broadcasting, its managing director and programme director Tomáš Veselý told the Digital Radio portal. Energic is currently available via the Teleko DAB multiplex. "It can be said that we are the first private large-scale mainstream digital station on the Czech radio market, which, apart from the online environment, broadcasts purely in DAB+," Veselý said. If the new digital radio station is to stay on the market and ensure its growth, it will have to expand its coverage, especially from important locations. "This means that in the future we want to cover the entire territory of the Czech Republic," confirmed the managing director and programme chief of Energic.

Louis Timpany was 22 and working on a building site when he had a brainwave – a radio station by, and for, tradespeople. Now with a huge listenership, Fix Radio is taking on the big beasts of the airwaves. Fix Radio now reaches a growing audience of more than 400,000 people a week, with an average weekly listening time of more than 26 hours, according to audio-broadcast ratings company Nielsen. New web-based broadcasting technology has lowered the barrier to entry decades after DAB smashed open the limited bandwidth that FM and AM had offered. Niche stations with regional or national audiences have bloomed, and include Radio Maria (a Catholic station), Polish Radio London, Gaydio and Boom Radio, which targets the 60-plus demographic.

The Plzeň-based company RTI cz, which is the only one besides Czech Radio Communications to have won a nationwide multiplex in the frequency auction, will share sites for DAB+ signal distribution. The second national network for digital radio - a competitor to the Czech Radio multiplex - will largely depend on sharing transmission sites with other radio multiplex operators. RTI cz, which auctioned the Czech Telecommunications Office's C network covering the whole Czech Republic, does not expect to build new transmitters for it. It operates masts in western and southern Bohemia but does not plan to build any more. Václav Ježek, managing director and owner of RTI cz, told the media.

Delta Média, publisher of the Delta FM and Delta+ radio stations, is continuing its terrestrial development by adding a new transmission site to its DAB+ network. DAB+ is FM radio made even better! With HD quality, you can receive more programmes free of charge and enjoy better territorial coverage. Delta Média was a pioneer in DAB+, offering its programmes in HD in Dunkirk, Calais and Lille from 2018. This was followed by Boulogne in 2021 and St Omer in 2023. Now, towns in the Berck, Montreuil and Le Touquet area can receive our two stations on radios and car radios equipped with the DAB+ standard.

The nationwide commercial radio DAB+ multiplex is to replicate the public network CRo DAB+, whose broadcasts are managed by Radiokomunikace, the main operator in the country. The largest Czech cities, such as Prague, Ostrava and Plzeň, are targets for coverage by České Radiokomunikace in the first phase of the construction of their national digital radio network auctioned by the telecommunications authority. It is the nationwide network B, which they acquired together with three other regional networks, that they want to start building the infrastructure for commercial digital broadcasting. As Marcel Procházka, director of the regulation and legal department of Czech Radio, told Médiáři, the company plans to launch the first transmitters in the third quarter of this year.

The wireless solution providers UPLINK Network GmbH, Düsseldorf (UPLINK Group) and DIVICON MEDIA HOLDING GmbH, Leipzig, have announced their merger. The merger of the two companies, which are leaders in German broadcasting operations for FM and DAB+, is intended to create a broad basis for the foreseeable medium and long-term challenges facing the radio industry. Together, over 1,200 FM transmitters, 9 DAB+ multiplexes with a total of 70 DAB+ transmitters and various other radio solutions such as Private 5G, LoRaWan and a dedicated data centre at the German internet hub in Frankfurt will be operated at more than 700 locations.