News

Liverpool DAB is set to turn on the new small-scale DAB transmitter for the city on November 1st 2023. The mux owners are looking for radio stations to join the service, saying it will reach nearly one million people locally. “We’re thrilled to be launching the Liverpool DAB multiplex,” said director David Duffy. “We believe this represents another major milestone for the UK digital radio industry, and we’re looking forward to bringing an ever-expanding range of radio services to the people of Liverpool and the wider Merseyside area.”

New DAB+ radio stations are coming to the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. OÜI FM, France's only rock radio station, and ADO, the legendary hip-hop radio station, have been added to the radio landscape in Vichy (from 24 October) and Montluçon (from 26 October). This is a major first for the residents of these two towns, who will be able to discover new musical genres. This launch is part of the roll-out of DAB+, whose coverage has passed the symbolic milestone of 50% of the French population.

This year radio celebrates its centenary. According to experts and radio makers, radio has reinvented itself again and again and also has a successful future ahead of it. Thomas Jung (Programme Director SWR3 Pop-Unit): "The digital transformation of linear radios into tangible, user-centered audio brands with a variety of delivery channels is one of the most important success criteria for the relevance of our audio products in the future. In the complex cosmos of offerings with many players and still unknown challenges, radio will not disappear. The success of DAB+ in the market shows that this strategy works perfectly."

Smart speaker listening slightly declined quarter-on-quarter, now accounting for 13.8% of all listening, according to the latest Rajar audience data. That is down from 14.4% last quarter. However, smart speakers’ weekly reach grew slightly quarter-on-quarter from 23.1% to 23.3%. Total combined digital listening accounted for 70.3% of listening, mainly DAB (42.3%) but also online (24.2%). Commercial radio recorded a 28.2% share of online listening compared to 19.1% for BBC Radio.

Viaplay's Christer Modig: "Terrestrial broadcasting is a prerequisite for our survival, but listening will be marginalised over time because FM offers too limited a range. DAB can give us greater diversity and better conditions to digitise the radio medium over time and thus maintain a strong robust platform for terrestrial broadcasting. No one has said that we should switch off FM, at least not in the next 15-20 years. But without DAB, FM will be marginalised in less than 10 years."

The Brno-based Black Hornet Production company has entered the DAB+ digital broadcasting in Prague and Central Bohemia with its new digital station. The move was officially approved by the RRTV at its latest meeting this week. Black Hornet is the thirteenth programme position in the COLOR DAB+ multiplex, which can be tuned in Prague and Central Bohemia with natural overlaps to other regions on channel 7C. The radio station aims to appeal in particular to fans of harder rock genres who will not be satisfied on existing, similarly oriented programmes.

DAB+, the digital successor to FM, continues to assert itself as a strong driver of the digitisation of radio in a difficult market environment. This is the finding of the media broadcasters' "Audio Trends 2023". The number of DAB+ radios in households (car and stationary devices) grew to 28.3 million, 4.4 million more than in the previous year. The momentum has increased compared to the previous year and corresponds to a relative increase of 19 percent.

Although 1 in 2 French people live in an area where DAB+ is available, there is still a long way to go to make it widely available. Hervé Godechot, journalist and chairman of Arcom's Radio and Digital Audio working group, explains why broadcasters have high expectations of DAB+. "DAB+ is what will enable radio to adapt to today's competitive environment and maintain its popularity and success. But Arcom is not alone in its efforts to ensure the success of DAB+: the channels are just as committed," says Godechot.

A new report published by over-60s advocacy group Silver Voices has today revealed the extent of the British public’s support for the protection of broadcast TV and radio for the long-term. According to the Safeguarding Universality: The Future of Broadcast TV and Radio report’s findings, over 80% of respondents believe broadcast TV and radio should be protected well beyond 2040 – to at least 2051, with some going further and calling for them to be protected until 2079. This is far in advance of the UK Government's current commitment to protect these services until 2034.

Radio programmes can still be broadcast on FM until the end of 2026. At its meeting on 25 October 2023, the Federal Council extended the FM licences due to expire in 2024 for another two years. This will give broadcasters more flexibility to successfully migrate from analogue to digital radio. The Federal Council has made it possible for existing FM radio licences to remain valid beyond their current expiry date until the end of 2026. Radio broadcasters can also choose to discontinue analogue broadcasting before then; they have not been required to broadcast on FM since 2020.