News

In the second half of 2025, people aged 15 and over listened to live broadcasts from Swiss and foreign radio stations for an average of 76 minutes per day. Radio audiences in Switzerland remained strong in the second half of the year following the partial deactivation of the FM band in early 2025. This is according to radio audience data for the second half of 2025 collected on behalf of the Mediapulse Foundation. This stability is worth noting, as it indicates that although the switch-off of FM broadcasting for SRG radio stations in early January 2025 had an impact on the audience of the stations concerned, the overall radio audience has not suffered as a result.

Desi Radio has surrendered its AM frequency on 1 January 2026 in order to concentrate solely on its DAB digital radio service. The Southall-based community station had been broadcasting on 1602 AM but relinquished the frequency earlier this month. It is now available exclusively on small-scale DAB+ in west London, as well as online. Although the station has not officially confirmed the reasons behind the move, cost is believed to have been a significant factor. While many traditional South Asian audiences continue to rely heavily on analogue radio, listenership on DAB platforms continues to grow steadily.

The broadcasting leader České Radiokomunikace (owned by Cordiant funds), which is a strong player in the operation of broadcasting infrastructure, cloud, and data centers, continues to develop its DAB+ business. Over the course of several days, it will launch additional transmitters, both for its own DAB+ multiplex and for the digital network that ČRa is building for an external partner. The CRA CZ company launched the nationwide DAB+ network in February last year. In addition, it is building regional networks. "Currently, the CRA's nationwide DAB network meets the CTU's development criteria," said Marcel Procházka, director of the CRA's legal and regulatory department.

On 21 January 2026, the Buková hora transmitter in Ústí nad Labem will begin broadcasting three digital radio stations. Specifically, Dance Radio, the children's program Pigy, and Rádio Dechovka will appear on the regional network of České Radiokomunikace. On the same day, the coverage of the regional DAB+ network from the Praha-město transmitter on channel 6B will increase significantly. The power will increase from the current 0.8 kW to 10 kW, the same as in Ústí nad Labem. "We plan to build a number of other transmitters by the end of February 2028 in order to meet the development criteria and make the regional network an asset for our radio customers," Marcel Procházka of České Radiokomunikace promised at a press conference.

At its general meeting, Verein Digitalradio Österreich [Digital Radio Austria Association], the central industry platform for the promotion and further development of DAB+ in Austria, elected the board for the next three years and confirmed the management. With this broad-based team, the course that has been set and the implementation of the Radio 2035 roadmap will be consistently continued and further developed. Public broadcasting has also recently begun to rely on digital technology – the joint task now is to further expand the most modern radio standard across the board. Roman Gerner, CEO of Digitalradio Austria, explains: ‘The focus is on raising awareness of DAB+ in Austria, which is characterised by its programme diversity, innovative content and formats, and high quality.’

DAB+ continues to expand in western France. On 17 and 18 December, 90 new transmitters were brought into service, mainly in Brittany and the Pays de la Loire region. This expansion of the network has enabled several radio stations belonging to CORLAB (Coordination des Radios Locales et Associatives de Bretagne) to extend their coverage area on digital terrestrial radio. This operation is part of a national initiative to increase DAB+ coverage to 80% of the population by the end of 2026, compared to around 70% today. This new roll-out now provides almost complete coverage of the main urban areas in Brittany and major road networks. Twenty-six national radio stations previously only available between Rennes and Brest now have their coverage extended southwards, between Rennes and Quimper.

A new project called Šlágr rádio is heading to DAB+. Česká muzika has applied for its terrestrial digital licence. The station will follow up on the television channels of the Šlágr media group, which focus on folk music and domestic performers, combining them with teleshopping. Šláger muzika and Šláger originál are broadcast nationwide in DVB-T2. According to available information, Šlágr Radio will primarily be intended for reception on the DAB+ digital radio network, which has become the standard for modern radio broadcasting in recent years.

Liberec will soon have two new digital radio networks. One will be available from the transmitter in Ještěd and the other from the Liberec Regional Authority building in the city center. One of them, Regional Network 5 from Play.cz, which uses CRA infrastructure, has already obtained a broadcasting license. Specifically, Regional Network 5 has been broadcasting from Buková hora in Ústí nad Labem, and now it can add Ještěd. It will broadcast from there on channel 10C with a power of 10 kW. The multiplex includes Relax, Expres FM, Classic Praha, Slow Down Radio, Hey, and Color Music Radio. Play.cz operates several regional DAB+ networks covering the entire Czech Republic, except for the Vysočina and Pardubice regions.

Ofcom has today published the list of applications received for the eighth round of small-scale DAB multiplex licences. The regulator says it has received 21 applications for the 50 small-scale DAB radio multiplex licences that were advertised as part of the latest phase of the rollout. Ofcom says each submission will be considered against its statutory criteria, with decisions on which licences will be awarded expected in the coming months. Any comments on the applications must be sent to Ofcom’s licensing team by 5pm on Friday 6 February this year. The round eight applications cover a wide range of areas across the UK.

The digital radio offering in South Tyrol has been expanded: the music station ‘Beats Radio’ has recently started broadcasting via the province-wide DAB+ network of Rundfunkanstalt Südtirol (RAS). The provincial government approved the corresponding agreement at its meeting on 19 December. ‘With Beats Radio, we are making targeted use of free capacity in the existing DAB+ network to further diversify radio offerings in South Tyrol,’ emphasises RAS Director Georg Plattner. ‘The programme brings a music genre to South Tyrol that was previously not represented in the province-wide radio offering.’