News

Among today's speeches, one concerned the use, for the first time in Italy, of DAB+ for a social emergency. Ettore Vantaggiato, vice-president of the board of directors of the Media DAB consortium, and Fabio Placidi of ITEL (a company that supplies DAB equipment, in the opening photo on the right, alongside Ettore Vantaggiato), a consultant to the consortium, explained how the network operator intervened "in Florence, Tuscany, in June, on the occasion of the disappearance of a young girl."

The Ministry for Enterprise and Industry has launched the procedure for the submission of the application and the related expression of interest for the assignment of the right to use the frequencies in band VHF-III planned for national networks no. 1 and no. 3 for the DAB digital radio broadcasting service.

Javier Sánchez of RTVE has been elected a member of the Steering Board of WorldDAB, the international body that oversees the development of DAB, to promote DAB+ over the next two years, including Spain. How should we interpret this move by RTVE and your new responsibility? Sánchez laughs. "As a "it's about time". This is something that should have happened more than a decade ago. There are plenty of reasons. But suffice it to point out that RTVE was the only EBU Big Five that was not a member of WorldDAB."

The new specialised channel of the Croatian Radio (HRA) HR Klasik, launched at the beginning of this year on HRTi, is now also available on the DAB+ platform. Croatian radio thus joined the world's most famous radio stations that have implemented this service. "Croatian radio and television always strive to provide its users with the highest quality service possible, and the launch of Radio Klasik on DAB was a significant step forward. I am very proud of our teams, who have shown innovation in the technological direction and promotion of digital radio, as well as programming creativity, providing citizens with top musical pleasure 24 hours a day," said Robert Šveb, director general of HRT.

North Yorkshire-based community service Drystone Radio has added itself to the newly launched East Lancashire small-scale DAB multiplex. The station says it is launching a new station for East Lancashire after extending and rebroadcasting its output on DAB in Bradford earlier this year. Drystone Radio was founded in 1998 as a registered charity to promote active community involvement in regeneration and social inclusion, and to enhance diversity and inclusion.

On 6 November, at the start of Belgium’s “Week van de digitale radio” (Digital Radio Week), the digital radio group Digitale Radio Vlaanderen published the results of a bi-annual survey by research company IPSOS on radio consumption in the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium. The survey, assigned by Benjamin Dalle, Minister for Media, Youth and Brussels in the government of Flemish Minister-President Jan Jambon, revealed a significant increase in digital radio usage. Close to half (49%) of radio consumption is now through digital media like DAB+, internet and digital TV, growing from 41% two years ago.

WorldDAB’s out-going President, Patrick Hannon is the recipient of this year’s WorldDAB Outstanding Service Award. Hannon has stepped down after ten years as President of the global forum for DAB digital radio, having been elected and re-elected five times. The award was presented by the new President, Jacqueline Bierhorst, as part of WorldDAB’s General Assembly, its annual event for members held this year in Munich, Germany. Presenting the award, Bierhorst described Hannon as “a remarkable individual whose exceptional contribution has significantly advanced the cause of DAB and DAB+ digital radio.”

The South Tyrolean Civil Defence carried out a nationwide civil defence test alert in October. For the first time, the transmission of DLS scrolling texts and images via slideshows was used on all digital radio programmes DAB+ of the RAS and the local private stations. The scrolling texts and images were activated directly via the country's civil defence centre and broadcast on all RAS programmes. The information was broadcast on all channels and the test was successfully completed.

Great British Radio has secured a spot on the Sound Digital multiplex to take it across the vast majority of the UK on DAB+. The schedule will include Mike Osman on Breakfast, former Invicta and Heart in Ken Neil Kefford from 10am to 1pm, Cheryl Baker on afternoons and Chris Storey from 4pm to 7pm. It will expand from its current local DAB multiplex in Hampshire on December 4th 2023. CEO Mike Osman told RadioToday above the move: “Great British Radio was born to entertain. We are an upbeat station, a positive station, something different. And now, with the national DAB licence, we can reach even more people. We can’t wait to bring Great British Radio to the Great British public."

Country radio station The WOLF can now also be heard in the districts of Bad Kreuznach, Mainz-Bingen, Rheingau and Wiesbaden via DAB+. It broadcasts on channel 12A from a location near Bad Kreuznach. A local DAB+ multiplex has been broadcasting from there for several years as a trial operation. The WOLF has been on air in Lower Saxony via DAB+ since the summer.