News

With the launch of the Federal Ministry of Housing, Arts, Culture, Media and Sport (BMWKMS), a centralised body has taken up its work in Austria that is also important for media policy. The Austrian Digital Radio Association recently had the opportunity to meet and have a constructive dialogue with Answer Lang, the person responsible for media policy and media law. Digitalisation is changing all areas of the media - including radio. In a discussion with the BMWKMS, Managing Director Thomas Pöcheim and Chairman of the association Roman Gerner presented the current developments and strategic goals of Digitalradio Austria.

The 23rd MBT Conference, held this week in beautiful Opatija, Croatia, from 21 - 23 May 2025, welcomed over 200 delegates from 23 countries. The event continues to grow year after year, and this year was particularly special as the host, Croatia's OIV, celebrated its 99th year of operation. The conference delegates were welcomed by OIV's CEO, Mate Botica, and the newly elected President of the MBT Association, Mihael Jančić. The opening keynote was delivered by Lars Backlund, secretary-general of Broadcast Networks Europe (BNE), who emphasised the importance of innovating and preparing for the long-term future of terrestrial broadcasting. WorldDAB Project Director Bernie O’Neill outlined the three key features which set ASA apart and why it is now rolling out: location coding, new signalling, and receiver synchronisation.

Factum Radioscape, a global leader in Digital Audio Broadcasting technology, has been awarded the contract to upgrade the national DAB+ multiplexing system in Kuwait. The project will deploy Factum Radioscape’s flagship MultiMuxa and MultiMonitor platforms, delivering a future-ready, fully redundant DAB+ system for the Ministry of Information (MOI). The system upgrade includes main and backup configurations for full operational redundancy, ensuring high availability and reliability of service. Once deployed, the national multiplex will continue to carry 16 DAB+ radio services, including established stations such as Al Danah, Kuwait FM, and Easy 92.5.

Regional broadcaster RTV Zulthe can be heard on DAB+ from 23 May. The broadcaster can be heard on the digital airwaves via channel 6D. RTV Zulthe is the regional broadcaster for the municipalities of Noordenveld and Westerkwartier. The broadcasts via DAB+ are made possible by transmitter operator Radio Netwerk Nederland (RNN). It will be broadcast from a transmitter mast in Tolbert. Currently, local broadcaster RTV Zulthe is the only broadcaster that can be heard over this network. ‘Thanks to this development, the regional broadcaster of the municipalities of Noordenveld and Westerkwartier is now firmly represented in the digital ether,’ RNN said.

When MENT TV was founded, it focused on homegrown Flemish talent. Its mission was to strengthen links with the Flemish culture and music industry. The station then broadened its horizon to include an international hit repertoire. With MENT TV already producing TV content with a “radio feeling,” the step to a fully-fledged radio station was evident. “Online radio streaming is not sufficient to build a strong radio brand. We’ve set up a completely new radio station while maintaining the link with our TV channels. TV is limited when there’s no video clip for every song on the playlist. Radio doesn’t face these limitations,” said Marc Hallez, station manager with MENT TV. “We launched MENTpop-radio on 6 January, broadcasting on the 11A DAB+ multiplex, operated by Broadcast Partners.”

Nation Broadcasting has hired a team including former Capital DJs, to launch Nation Classic Hits on DAB across London and the southeast. Nation is also investing in its broadcast platforms and distribution, adding Nation 90s and Nation 70s to its London DAB portfolio and Nation 80s to the Central Scotland and Ayr multiplexes from 23 May. Nation’s founder Jason Bryant said: “Nation has recently enjoyed a period of sustained growth and last week posted a record weekly audience of over 1.3 million listeners. This is a milestone investment; adding Nation Classic Hits, Nation 90s and Nation 70s to Nation Radio and Nation 80s will give us five services available across the UK’s biggest market and signals our ambitious plans for expansion.”

UK media regulator Ofcom has published its latest research looking at how people in the UK listen to different content and platforms. The findings are based on its 2025 annual Audio and Podcast Surveys, in which it asks people about their use of and attitudes towards different types of audio. "The importance of in-car listening to the radio industry is exemplified by its steady, gradual growth. Just over a quarter of live radio listening took place in cars, vans and lorries in Q1 2025 (26%), up by 4pp in the last decade," the report states. "The majority of this listening (56%) is via DAB, which has been steadily subsuming AM/FM listening in cars as the technology has become more widely available."

Ofcom has today awarded small-scale DAB multiplex licences for five more areas in the UK. Small-scale DAB is an innovative technology which provides a low-cost way for local commercial, community and specialist music services to take to the digital airwaves. These latest awards mark the conclusion of the round six small-scale DAB multiplex licences. Alongside these awards, we have published the 24 applications we have received for the 33 licences advertised in round seven. We are also today announcing the list of areas that we will be advertising later this year in round eight. This will be the last currently planned round of small-scale DAB multiplex licensing as part of this programme.

Nova Classic Rock has joined the DAB+ digital radio line-up in Ireland, offering a 24-hour stream of classic rock music across Dublin and Leinster. The station, which replaces Nova Xtra, is now available on the Fáilte DAB multiplex on a 12-month trial basis. Radio Nova CEO Kevin Branigan described the new service as “an experiment” and a niche extension of the main Nova output, created for fans of classic rock. He said: “It’s the perfect channel for the Fáilte DAB trial.” DAB+ continues to be tested in Ireland as part of ongoing digital broadcasting trials. Nova was one of the original participants in the Fáilte DAB project and has maintained a presence as the platform develops.

STV has announced it is extending into audio with the launch of a new Scotland-focused commercial radio station. The studio will be based at STV’s headquarters in Pacific Quay, Glasgow, and the mainstream music station, predominantly aimed at 35-54 year olds, will be available on DAB and online. Key presenters along with the name of the station will be revealed later this year. The new station will be headed up by radio industry stalwart Graham Bryce, who was previously Chief Operating Officer of Bauer Media UK. Graham will report to Bobby Hain, who takes on the newly created role of MD Audience – News, Audio and Regulatory at STV (previously MD, Broadcast), and who has worked in the radio and TV sector for more than 40 years.