News

DPG Media, Business Nieuws Radio, Financial News Radio, Mediahuis and Talpa Radio have won licences to broadcast nationwide commercial radio stations from 1 September 2023 to 2035. Minister Micky Adriaansens (Economic Affairs and Climate) announced the results of the Dutch national radio auction. Through the auction, which had started on 4 July, the central government made nine nationwide packages available, each consisting of one FM licence and one DAB licence. The auction that ended today raised a total of €152.8 million.

FM broadcasting of radio programmes is to be discontinued at the end of 2024. But in some infrastructures, such as the Lötschberg and the new Gubrist tunnels, FM can already not be received, as the BernerZeitung reported on Thursday. Drivers can only get information there via DAB/DAB+. And the expansion of the digital broadcasting system on Swiss roads continues. Users of the Lötschberg car transport tunnel must have a DAB-capable car radio as early as 2022: During the renovation of the tunnel, the tunnel operators, in consultation with Bakom, replaced the old FM system with DAB. Since the special DAB information mode only works in the tunnel, the car transporters are also equipped with a public address system.

Sales of smart speakers have "fallen off a cliff" as customers cut back and trade down on electrical items, according to the major UK technology retailer Currys. "People aren't as interested in Amazon Alexa as they used to be," managing director Alex Baldock told the BBC's Today programme. This is surprising as many industry analysts have predicted a boom in smart speakers. However, the firm said that after a surge in sales during the first stages of the Covid pandemic, people were not upgrading. Smart speakers were "selling like hot cakes" a few years ago, but now sales have come back down, according to Joseph Teasdale, head of tech at Enders Analysis. He said people do not tend to replace them once they have one, and "maybe you buy a second device for the kitchen, but not much more than that". But more importantly, "smart speakers just aren't that smart", Mr Teasdale added.

Following recent DAB+ launches in Bayonne and Metz, Nancy listeners will now also be able to listen to digital terrestrial radio and discover not only Ado "the mythical Hip-Hop and R'nB radio station" but also Oui FM "the only French rock radio station".

Radioplayer has signed a new partnership agreement with Volkswagen Group’s software company CARIAD to continue collaborating on the creation of best-in-class radio experiences in connected car dashboards. The new agreement extends the partnership Radioplayer has had with Audi since 2017. Radioplayer and CARIAD will provide customers of Volkswagen Group brands with high quality radio experience by seamlessly switching between DAB+, FM, and internet streaming.

Before the main summer season, two new radio stations started broadcasting in the Croatian digital radio multiplex (DAB+). According to our observations, the new stations are the commercial radio stations Extra and Happy, which mainly feature local artists in their broadcasts. Both are distributed in the AAC-LC codec and with a bitrate of 96 kbit/s . An additional Slideshow service is also available, thanks to which listeners can see the stations' logos on their radio screens.

Classic FM is turning up the broadcast quality of its signal across the UK for a richer, higher definition audio experience. From January 2024, Classic FM will be upgrading from DAB to DAB+ across the UK. DAB+ provides superior sound quality, giving the best possible experience for those listening on DAB. This change will only affect those with a DAB radio that does not have DAB+, which is a small minority of legacy DAB radio devices.

The Wendelstein site in the eastern foothills of the Alps goes on the air for the 2nd national DAB+ ensemble on channel 12D. On 13 July, the transmitter in Oberammergau in the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen will follow, announced the platform operator Antenne Deutschland. In the course of the second half of the year, the Raichberg transmitter site in Baden-Württemberg will be switched on. By the end of the year, the network of the 2nd DAB+ Bundesmux will comprise 82 locations.

On Wednesday 5 July, TDF is making official the extensive roll-out of digital radio in Lorraine, at its Nancy-Malzéville broadcasting site, in the presence of Gaëlle Kaminsky, Deputy Director of TDF's Audiovisual and Networks activities, representatives of the Audiovisual and Digital Communication Regulatory Authority (Arcom), partner radio stations and local representatives. TDF is now broadcasting DAB+ from its sites in Nancy-Malzéville, Commercy-Lérouville, Scy-Chazelles, Thionville-Beuvange, Saint-Dié-L'Ormont, Forbach and Epinal. Broadcasts from the TDF sites in Sarreguemines, Bar-le-Duc-Saint-Roch, Hambach and Ludres-Branly will begin in the coming weeks

“It has to be one of the most exciting station launches in Australia.” That was the verdict from Disrupt Radio Founder and CEO Benjamin Roberts after its first week on air. The digital start-up burst out of the blocks, with Libbi Gorr presenting Enterprise Breakfast alongside guest host Sir Bob Geldof, and the legendary George Donikian reading half-hourly news updates. Radio Today caught up with Roberts, who says launch week was nothing short of incredible: “The response has been overwhelmingly positive and the national publicity, largely driven by Sir Bob co-hosting Breakfast with Libbi, was unprecedented.”