News

Portugal will be trialling Digital Audio Broadcast (DAB) for two years. The announcement was made by the Secretary of State for Parliamentary Affairs, Carlos Abreu Amorim as part of World Radio Day, on RUA FM's special broadcast in the Algarve. Carlos Abreu Amorim said that this experiment would be centred on Lisbon and Porto. ‘We're going to see if it has the capacity, if it has legs, and then, of course, everything will be monitored by Anacom and other organisations,’ he said. The Secretary of State pointed to the ‘enormous capacity’ and potential that the DAB could have in the area of Civil Protection and the Ministry of Health, in order to overcome ‘some of the deficiencies that currently exist at FM level’.

ON AIR support's Bad Urach transmitter site went into operation on 11 February 2025. It provides the town of Bad Urach with digital radio DAB+ channel 11B. The important B28 and B465 transport routes are now also much better served. Some areas in the rural districts of Reutlingen and Alb-Donau also benefit from the transmitter site.

With more than a month delay compared to other locations launched on New Year's Eve, RTI cz's nationwide radio multiplex C started broadcasting in Liberec on Tuesday. This happened a week after the regional DAB+ network of Czech Radio Communications started broadcasting in Liberec. Four multiplexes for digital radio broadcasting with 39 radios can be tuned in from this week by listeners in Liberec and the surrounding area. At the beginning of last week, only two such networks (with 22 channels) were broadcasting in the North Bohemian capital, the public multiplex of Czech Radio and the regional network of Teleko digital. In the middle of last week, the regional network of Czech Radio Communications was added, and this Tuesday the national multiplex of RTI cz was added.

Broadcast Services and GG Omikron's regional digital radio network will begin broadcasting by Sunday evening at the latest. The two operators will use the same transmitters in regions where their DAB+ broadcasts overlap, in locations where the 24 TV multiplex broadcasts from. Broadcast Services auctioned a total of five regional networks in last year's frequency auction, GG Omikron three. This week their one-year deadline under the Electronic Communications Act, by which they must launch at least one transmitter for each network, expires. They will follow all the other auction winners, who - with the exception of Play.cz - have already done so.

Just over a year ago today, RNE began broadcasting in DAB+ with the firm intention of deploying this digital radio standard in Spain, which is set to replace FM in the long term. At that inaugural event, RTVE also announced its commitment to progressively increase RNE's DAB+ offer and the coverage of the service. One year later, on World Radio Day, RNE ratifies its commitment to the digitalisation and accessibility of radio. RNE becomes the first Spanish radio station to start legal DAB+ broadcasts in Castilla la Mancha, starting to broadcast its programming of Radio Nacional, Radio Clásica, Radio 3 and Radio 5 in the metropolitan area of Guadalajara from Cellnex Telecom's broadcasting centre located in Iriépal.

Radio Contact has a great announcement for you: a brand new radio station launches this Thursday. Contact Max promises to take you back to the carefree days of the 80s and 90s. From 13 February 2025, Contact Max is coming to bring back your best moments! ‘Radio Contact has been around for 45 years and, in a few moments, we're going to be working with you to launch this new 100% digital radio station, with the ambition of becoming the first 100% digital French-language radio station in Belgium,’ says Frédéric Herbays from the Contact studio. By creating a third radio station, RTL Belgium is reaffirming its confidence in the future of DAB+ and strengthening its presence on the Belgian French-language radio scene with its new arrival: Contact Max.

Radio station CREAM has launched its broadcasts over the Internet and DAB+. The music station brings a mix of pop to jazz, soul and rock, world to classical and everything in between and beyond. The radio station is an initiative of Renny and Leon Ramakers. With more than 30 years of experience as a critic, editor, curator, initiator and co-founder of Droog Design, Renny Ramakers has a significant influence on the world of design. Leon Ramakers, former director of Mojo Concerts, has spent decades bringing music to major venues. Merijn Tiemessen is programme director of CREAM and has a versatile background at various record labels, events and in radio. Listening to the station can be done via DAB+ (MTVNL/channel 7D).

Hamburg has a new radio station: KISS FM ‘Home of HipHop & R'n'B’. The young, urban programme can now be received by two and a half million people throughout the greater Hamburg area via DAB+. The programme is broadcast via the DAB+ multiplex on channel 10D. ‘Hamburg, like Berlin, has always been a centre for hip-hop and R'n'B, and now the Hanseatic city finally has the right radio station,’ adds KISS FM Programme Director York Strempel. ‘KISS FM is the hip-hop station in Germany, and it was long overdue that we could also be received here on DAB+.’

Abdulkadir Uraloğlu, Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, announced that they have switched to DAB+ technology for the first time in Turkey. Minister Uraloğlu stated that DAB+ is a technology that offers a clear sound experience free from interference and increases frequency efficiency with its capacity to host multiple radio channels on the same frequency. Underlining that there are currently no FM frequencies available in Istanbul, Uraloğlu said, "But now that we have started DAB+ broadcasts, we have eliminated this situation. Thanks to this new technology, we will be able to provide 448 new frequencies according to incoming requests. Already 12 radio channels, both public and private, are starting to serve with this new technology."

Roman Gerner, Managing Director of Radio Klassik Stephansdom and Chair of the Austrian Digital Radio Association, on DAB+ in the Radiotest, demands for funding from the new government - and the continued existence of his station after the crowdfunding campaign. HORIZONT: The new DAB+ radios were measured by Radiotest for the first time. How do you assess their market entry in view of the current figures? Roman Gerner: We won't see really valid data until the end of the next six months, as the new DAB+ stations didn't go on air until June 2024 and have therefore not yet had a full year of coverage in the Radiotest. However, it can be said with relative certainty that, based on initial indications, the prospects for positive trends in DAB+ are quite good.