News

Small-scale DAB is to get a boost as Ofcom prepares to licence a number of smaller multiplexes. The regulator will launch a consultation next week inviting stations to be part of the test, which will give existing stations a chance to go on DAB for a nine month period. Peter Davies, Director of Content Policy at Ofcom, speaking at the Tech Con event in Salford today, said: “There are around 150 small scale radio and 200 or more community radio stations and for them the existing multiplex structure just doesn't work. “We want to give those stations a chance to go digital, and we’d like to see community and commercial stations working together,”

Sunrise Radio has announced that it will begin broadcasting on DAB digital radio from Wednesday 15th October. In its on-air promo, the station is urging listeners to re-tune their DAB radio sets to find Sunrise Radio on five multiplexes including Greater London and outskirts such as Dover, Kent and Bedfordshire.

The professional organisations involved in the roll-out of DAB radio stations in Paris, Marseille and Nice have formed an “Alliance for Digital Radio” (“l’Alliance pour la RNT”) to coordinate activities related to the promotion of a rapid launch of digital radio at the national level, and aimed at the regulator (CSA), government departments, industry partners, retailers and editors. They plan also to inform the public about the advantages offered by digital radio.

The U.K's national, commercial DAB network, known as Digital One, plans to commission four new transmitter sites before the end of this year, and an additional five next year.

The latest Q3 Digital Radio survey carried out by TNS Gallup and commissioned by Digital Radio Norway show positive gains, as research has found the number of DAB receivers in households has increased by nearly 250,000. There are now more than 1.9 million DAB receivers in Norway and the number of DAB receivers in car is now up 14% from 8% prior year putting the total number at 390,000. The total proportion of Norwegian households with at least one DAB receiver has increased from 36% to 50%. “We have reached a major milestone when 50% of the country’s households report having one or more DAB radios.” says Ole Jørgen Torvmark, General Manager, Digital Radio Norway.

The Media Council of the Bavarian Regulatory Authority for Commercial Broadcasting (BLM) has approved the broadcasting of PN Radio One on DAB in Augsburg. The PN Medien GmbH expires on 30/04/2015. The distribution of radio Ilmwelle via DAB in areas Augsburg and Ingolstadt until 30/04/2015 was also confirmed.

A South-London based group called Trash Can Radio is expected to launch on DAB in the London area soon. The station has a launch countdown on its website saying it is launching on Sunday 12th October. Ofcom has just awarded the station a Digital Sound Programme Service licence to feature programmes consisting of a broad range of music from the past 60 years with varied speech content. Programmes will typically carry 90% music and 10% speech.

Sky Radio Christmas, playing non stop Christmas themed music went live on DAB+ today to help get listeners in the mood for the happiest season of the year.

Polish Radio is increasing its digital radio coverage, adding Lodz and Opole, reports Rpkom.pl. Digital radio coverage has thus reached 9.7 million inhabitants (25.4%).

Italian network operator Club DAB Italia has rolled out the countrys nationwide DAB service with help from 2wcoms FlexNsert and FlexXtract . In a technical first for Italy, the 2wcom technology was deployed to allow the DAB network to be fed with an ETI stream and distributed over a large geographical area.