News

An important page in the history of radio is being turned in Luxembourg: the giant transmitters of Beidweiler in Luxembourg were finally switched off on 1 January. It was the last of the big radio stations in France to still broadcast on long wave. Since the beginning of 2023, this is over. RTL no longer broadcasts its signal on long wave from its transmitter centre in Beidweiler, Luxembourg. The measure, which was taken primarily to save money, should enable the group to reduce its electricity consumption by some 6,000 megawatt hours (MWh) per year, the equivalent of 3,000 people in France. The station has launched a communication campaign to help its listeners switch to other listening methods, in particular FM, DAB+ digital terrestrial radio, TV boxes and its mobile application.

As many as 1,135 radio products were added on DAB+ in Europe and beyond by 2022, currently bringing the total to 7,238 'digital audio services'. This is the fastest growth DAB+ has ever recorded. 2021 was also already a record year with 'only' 800 new radio channels on the digital airwaves. On a national level in Flanders, last year saw the arrival of Crooze, TOPversuzRadio and Willy ClassX, but the launch on 9 January of Business AM, the very first talk radio ever for Flanders, is most eagerly awaited.

The deadline is approaching (10/01/2023) for the consultation launched on 13/12/2022 by the Ministry of Enterprise and Industry on the Guidelines on the "Selection Procedures for the Assignment of Rights of Use for Planned Networks on Local Area Networks to Network Operators - DAB+". Ultimately, the step preceding the publication of the calls for applications for the allocation of rights of use to the consortia. As a result of this, the process of settling existing DAB consortia has intensified. In the past few days, for example, the mux on Rome of the Digital Radio Group consortium has been put into operation.

If the next year will be crucial for digital terrestrial TV, for DAB+ digital radio everything depends on domestic institutions. Already at the end of this year, things were looking really promising. At the end of September, the Czech Telecommunications Office (CTU) published for discussion the basic principles of the upcoming auction of frequencies for DAB+ networks intended for commercial radio. At the same time, it outlined its ambition to deal with the comments on the document very quickly so that it could submit a draft of the conditions of the tender for these frequencies for public consultation before the end of this year. However, it turned out that the CTU was very optimistic and nothing had happened by the end of the year. However, it is still envisaged that the auction of frequencies will take place in 2023.

A new radio station, Radio Toruń, is broadcasting in Toruń. It can only be listened to by those who have a DAB+ receiver, because the broadcaster has received a licence to broadcast digitally. "As we do not operate on FM, we can afford a slight de-formatting, so we are betting on original programmes to be more noticeable on the market," announces Tomasz Kaczynski, editor-in-chief of Radio Toruń.

The Christian music radio station RADIO R is taking its broadcasting in French-speaking Switzerland a step further. "Radio Réveil has decided to join Romandie Médias SA, the company responsible for the DAB+ broadcasting of private radio stations in French-speaking Switzerland", explains Emmanuel Ziehli, the director of RADIO R. A network of 55 and soon 60 transmitters spread over the whole of French-speaking Switzerland will broadcast the radio's signal between Visp, Fribourg, Bienne, Boncourt and Geneva.

Broadcast radio is facing some significant challenges — and one of them involves young people. That’s according to a recent report to the government of the United Kingdom. Though specific to the U.K. marketplace, the “Digital Radio and Audio Review” explores issues that are relevant to broadcasters everywhere. Patrick Hannon is president of WorldDAB, which advocates for the DAB/DAB+ digital radio platform. “The key challenge for radio is to pursue a course that balances the need to encourage innovation, whilst simultaneously protecting the core strengths of broadcast radio,” he said.

From 21 December 2022, the Baden-Württemberg private radio mux (channel 11B) will also be broadcast from Pfänder, as announced by the network operator On Air Support. The transmission power is 10 kilowatts. The site is located in the Austrian province of Vorarlberg and also operates as "Bregenz 1". The target area is the south-eastern Lake Constance region including parts of Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. The mux broadcasts 14 private radio stations from Baden-Württemberg as well as the nationwide programmes Radio Teddy and Schlager Radio.

After multiple postponements, Switzerland’s FM switch off is planned for Dec. 31, 2024. The main reasons for the digital migration are to minimise operational costs and increase diversity through a more extensive frequency offer. DAB+ allows more radio stations to operate, which is currently difficult given the saturated FM band. Local radio stations can also broadcast over a much larger area than that limited by their FM signal. Moving completely away from FM will minimise costs for stations, which will no longer need to fund two broadcast technologies. In addition, digital broadcasting, whether via DAB+ or the internet, offers listeners better listening quality and associated services.

North Rhine-Westphalia could get another DAB+ digital radio multiplex. Plans to this effect emerge from the budget planning of Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) for 2023. In the "Financial Plan" chapter, "the withdrawals from the special reserve should enable investments in the amount of 6.5 million euros", among other things for the "construction of a 2nd DAB+ metropolitan area multiplex in North Rhine-Westphalia".