News

DAB+ digital radio broadcasting will continue to expand in 2025. Operators, it was said at the Digimedia conference, are planning new transmitters and new stations are heading to multiplexes. A significant step will be taken by the Media Bohemia group, which will add new programmes alongside existing stations. At the same time, investments by Czech Radio Communications, Teleko digital, Digital Broadcasting and pHmedia are continuing. According to Marcel Procházka from Czech Radio Communications, the network is being thickened mainly according to the needs of broadcasters. "We want to improve coverage in the tunnels, including Blanka, but also in other regions. DAB+ needs new digital stations and, above all, exclusive content, otherwise people will not be motivated to buy DAB+ receivers," he said.

Martin Ajdari, President of Arcom, at the Assises de la radio conference: "The first is the modernisation of broadcasting, i.e. the continued roll-out of DAB+. Your efforts in this direction are bearing fruit: almost 65% of the French population (and around 17,000 municipalities) are covered by at least one DAB+ multiplex. The proportion is similar for motorways (7,000 km out of a total of 11,700 km). DAB+ is spreading, gaining ground and making progress... To improve the management of these two projects (broadcasting and equipment) and to have a say in the public debate, we are going to set up a Radio White Paper monitoring group, with the DGMIC and ‘Ensemble pour le DAB+’, whose first meeting will be held before the summer."

Exactly one year after its launch on digital TV channel 92, Radio Firenze Viola continues to grow and innovate, bringing its voice over the airwaves. Now, in fact, the broadcaster is available on DAB+ in most of Tuscany. A novelty that will allow all Fiorentina fans and loyal listeners to find RFV even in the latest generation of cars, simply by selecting the digital frequency from the vehicle's infotainment system. To tune in, simply access the digital radio list within the CR Dab Toscana mux. 'A natural step for a radio that, over time, has been able to build a lively, passionate and always up-to-date community on the events of Fiorentina and Italian football.

Virgin Radio Pride UK is back for summer 2025, broadcasting from 1 June to 31 August across DAB in London and Scotland. Now in its fifth year, the LGBTQ+ pop-up station will again feature a full schedule of presenters, interviews, themed shows and documentaries focused on celebrating Pride and addressing community issues. New content for this year includes a run of documentaries every Sunday at 7pm. These will explore themes such as loneliness within the queer community, a retrospective on the Scissor Sisters’ debut album, and a re-airing of The George Michael Story. Dennie Morris, Director of Audio at News Broadcasting, said: “The award-winning Virgin Radio Pride has really become an appointment-to-listen pop up, year after year.”

As part of the Fête de la radio (5 - 6 June), a number of key figures are taking action to publicise the benefits of DAB+. They include well-known voices such as Salhia Brakhlia, Thomas Sotto, Apolline de Malherbe, Pascal Praud, Louis from NRJ, Florian OnAir, Cécile de Ménibus, Natasha St-Pier... These personalities from public, private and community radio stations are featured in a series of videos designed to raise awareness of the benefits of DAB+. Broadcast by all French radio stations to coincide with the Fête de la radio, the videos are intended to demonstrate the unity of the industry in promoting DAB+ and its listening benefits. Gathered within Ensemble pour le DAB+, radio stations have launched a wide-ranging communication campaign to raise awareness of this technology.

The nationwide DAB+ station offer will be temporarily extended by a radio station this weekend, with Roparunradio on air. The Roparun [‘Rotterdam Paris run’ relay race] is being organised for the 34th time this year. During this Whitsun weekend, the Roparun can be followed via TV, radio and online. Roparunradio will provide a non-stop broadcast of no less than 72 hours during the entire event. From Friday evening 6 June at 18.00 until the finish, there will be live coverage day and night from the route and coverage of the charities the Roparun supports. Roparunradio can be listened to nationally via DAB+. The radio project is supported by NOS, Broadcast Partners and MTVNL, among others.

Boom Radio has launched Boom Light across a number of UK towns and cities, including London, Cardiff, Glasgow, Birmingham, Manchester and Newcastle. The schedule is designed to appeal to the over-75s, although Boom also believes there is growing interest in 1950s music among younger listeners. Boom co-founder David Lloyd said: “Some of our older Boom listeners told us they wanted to hear more ‘50s music – and Boom Light gives us that opportunity. This under-served audience includes many of those who are lonely and who depend on their radio.” Fellow co-founder Phil Riley added: “There’s a real shift in musical tastes between the early 1950s and the 1960s. That’s the gap we wanted to fill.”

At its May meeting, the Media Council of the Medienanstalt Berlin-Brandenburg (mabb) decided to award eight DAB+ programme slots in Berlin and Brandenburg. Two programme slots on the particularly wide-reaching DAB+ channel 10B of Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (rbb) were awarded to the programmes 94.3 RS2 Berlin-Brandenburg and Schlager Radio. This means that, for the first time, two private radio programmes have the same technical reach as rbb's radio programmes. Martin Gorholt, Chairman of the Media Council: ‘With this DAB+ decision, we have private and public service programmes together on one DAB+ multiplex for the first time in Berlin-Brandenburg. Listeners in Brandenburg in particular will benefit from this mixed allocation.’

Deutschlandradio is pushing ahead with the digitalisation of radio broadcasting. The network operator Media Broadcast has been commissioned to commission a total of 12 new transmitters for 2025. One focus is on Schleswig-Holstein, where the switch from FM to DAB+, which was agreed by politicians and public and private programme providers, began this year. Three new transmitter sites in Schleswig-Holstein - Bredstedt, Garding and Itzehoe - are to follow on 30 June and 1 July according to current plans. At the same time, the FM broadcasting of Deutschlandfunk and Deutschlandfunk Kultur will be discontinued in June and September in some regions with very good DAB+ coverage.

"We are already very well positioned with DAB+ reception in Central Germany. Now we need to close individual gaps in coverage and optimise reception of all MDR radio programmes via DAB+ as a whole," says Niels Schulze, Head of Programme Distribution at MDR. With the commissioning of the Salzwedel site, MDR is continuing to expand its transmitter network for DAB+. In the town of Salzwedel, digital radio reception inside buildings is now possible for the first time for around 14,000 residents. In the region around Salzwedel, digital radio reception indoors will also be further improved and stabilised for a total of around 28,000 residents. This will increase the level of coverage in buildings in Saxony-Anhalt from 98 to 99 per cent; coverage for mobile reception is already at 99 per cent.