News

A new national radio brand is launching in Wales as Nation Gold changes to Dragon Radio. The station is available on DAB multiplexes across South Wales, Mid & West Wales and North Wales and will feature programmes recently introduced by the group for Thames Radio in London.

Radio Prague is celebrating the 80th anniversary of its first shortwave broadcast and hs spoken to Graham Dixon, Head of radio at the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) about the future of the radio industry. "DAB, by being digital, is a gateway into many new applications, many new visions of how radio can actually meet people’s needs.”

This year will be the third year in a row that TELESTAR-DIGITAL takes part in the IFA at Berlin, which is one of the world’s biggest and influential CE trade shows. TELESTAR’s booth will be located in the entrance area of hall 2.2, where the ARD, one of the leading German TV and radio Broadcasters and IFA visitor magnet is pitched up. Besides a lot of interesting new products for digital TV reception, which is the companies’ core portfolio, TELESTAR will also present several new products from different product fields, e.g. Bluetooth Audio or digital and hybrid radio. Here, the IMPERIAL DABMAN i200 CD can clearly be regarded as one of the companies’ IFA highlights: The IMPERIAL DABMAN i200 CD combines the features of a DAB+ and FM radio with the huge possibilities of internet radio and home networking. Being capable of receiving digital and analogue radio signals via DAB+ and FM as well as internet radio stations, the DABMAN i200 CD may also play back audio and MP3 CDs (CD drive onboard) as well as audio files from devices (smart phones, computers) inside a home network thanks to its UPnP-ability. Bluetooth support also allows to easily stream music from mobile devices. A wide range of features such as plug & play installation, time display, multilingual menu and alarm clock mode top off the list of useful functions, making the IMPERIAL DABMAN i200 CD one of the best hybrid radios in its class.

Roberts Radio will be showcasing its innovative R100 device at IFA2016. The R100 is a multi room device that not only facilitates DAB+ but also streaming services like Spotify. It can also be used to access your own music from your smartphone, tablet or computer.

On Monday, 29.08.2016, radio programmes on ARD and Deutschlandradio were devoted to exploring the benefits of DAB+. The listeners were actively involved in the day of special programming and were able to win DAB+ devices and DAB+ enabled smartphones. It is estimated that more than 35 million listeners tuned into the special programmes.

Niocast, a small-scale DAB operator in Manchester celebrated its first birthday in August. John Evington, Head of Content for Niocast Digital looks ahead to the future of digital radio in the UK.

Rheinland-Pfalz will soon launch an initiative outlining that new radio equipment must be digitally capable. Digital radio offers more variety and is also cost-effective, says Malu Dreyer, the Rhineland-Palatinate Prime Minister. DAB + is also very important, according to Dreyer, because it secures the future of radio as an independent medium in the digital world.

The Radiocommunications Agency have granted permission for five local radio stations in the region of Emmeloord to broadcast on DAB+. New services will begin on 1 October.

On 1 August, Germany celebrated the 5th anniversary of its transition to DAB+. 98% of motorways will soon be covered by DAB+. Between 1 July 2015 and 30 June 2016, nearly 900,000 receivers were sold, this corresponds to a growth of 32.9% a year over year.

The digital radio listening in Switzerland continues to grow, with 53 percent of all radio listening taking place via digital radio.