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“The dashboard is critical to our future, and that’s why we are here — to unite the automotive and broadcast sectors.” Jacqueline Bierhorst, WorldDAB president, could not have been more direct in her opening address at the WorldDAB Automotive 2024 conference on June 13. The hybrid event brought together about 300 professionals, both in person and online, from the broadcast and automotive sectors to explore the latest developments in digital radio technology for the automotive industry. In-car listening has always been crucial to radio, but while radio still holds prominence in cars, will this continue? How will the rapid evolution of advanced dashboards and onboard entertainment systems impact this?

At Digimedia 2024, Karel Zýka, technical director of the CRo introduced Jacqueline Bierhorst, president of the international organisation WorldDAB, as a guest at the conference, who presented the current situation of DAB+ in Europe and the world. Václav Ježek, the future operator of the nationwide digital radio network RTI cz, informed about the operator's readiness to start broadcasting. "We have purchased all the broadcasting technology and are waiting for the coordination of frequencies. We will be the first to retune our existing transmitters," Ježek said. Broadcast Services, which tested digital radio broadcasting in Brno until the end of May, is counting on sharing broadcast sites and masts with other operators, according to its CEO Jakub Juhas. "But in terms of clients and providing content for these networks, we will normally compete," he added.

Up to three new stations are to be prepared for digital radio broadcasting by the nationwide commercial radio Impuls, said Jiří Hrabák, CEO of Impuls and chairman of the Association of Private Broadcasters, in the third session of the DIGIMEDIA 2024 conference. "It could be one, but it could also be two or three. It depends on the conditions the network operators give us," Hrabák said. Of the eight winners of the auction of frequencies for networks dedicated to digital broadcasting of commercial radio, representatives of five of them attended the conference. Jan John from Play.cz announced the conclusion of a three-month exclusivity agreement with Czech Radio Communications for the design and construction of their network for digital radio. Play.cz plans to create a platform that will combine DAB+ terrestrial digital broadcasting with online streaming of the existing Play.cz service.

The Public Service Union (GÖD) is pleased to announce that RADIO GÖD - DER MUSIKSENDER will be available throughout Austria from 21 June 2024. With this expansion of the broadcasting area, Radio GÖD will provide its listeners with an interference-free sound experience via DAB+. The radio station offers a unique music programme from the 60s, 70s and 80s and is guaranteed to be free of advertising. GÖD Chairman Eckehard Quin also sees Radio GÖD as an important information channel: "We are proud to be able to offer our listeners a unique music and information programme via DAB+. This is a big step towards reaching even more people and informing them about important public service topics as required."

The highly anticipated final session of Thursday's Digimedia 2024 conference was extended from the planned hour and a half by more than an hour, but it outlined several important facts that will influence the future development of DAB+ technology in the Czech Republic. Several representatives of operators confirmed that they would like to share some of the broadcasting quotas with other entities and share any costs.

DAB radio broadcasters need to better communicate what they have to offer to in-car listeners, and collaborate more effectively with each other to make the medium grow. This was the message delivered by WorldDAB President Jacqueline Bierhorst as she opened the WorldDAB Automotive 2024 on June 13, 2024. The one-day conference was held in Prague, Czech Republic, in front of an in-person audience and streamed online. WorldDAB is the international association spearheading the adoption of the DAB digital radio transmission standard globally. “Last time I was here was for Radio Days Europe 2023, when we were celebrating 100 years of Czech Radio,” Bierhorst told her audience. “This anniversary is a great example of what the UK media consultant and DAB operator Matt Deegan called ‘radio’s relentlessness.’ But we can’t be complacent. We can’t rest on our success. The dashboard is critical to our future.”

The Association of Austrian Private Broadcasters is very positive about the planned increase in funding for private broadcasting: "The initiative motion submitted to the National Council today is an important measure to strengthen broadcasting services in Austria," states Mario Frühauf, Chairman of the VÖP Executive Board. The digitisation fund is to be increased by 1 million euros per year. This fund supports the costs of digital terrestrial radio broadcasting via DAB+. "From June, 30 new radio stations will be launched via DAB+ and will make the radio offering in Austria even more colourful and diverse," says Corinna Drumm, VÖP Managing Director. "This will give Austrians even more choice, completely free of charge and with a low threshold. However, refinancing these stations is difficult, especially in the first few years, so this start-up funding is important to stabilise the offering."

On 12 June 2024, the DGTEL of the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy (MIMIT) published on the Ministry's website the list of expressions of interest received by the same Ministry of consortium companies admitted to the procedures for the assignment of rights to use frequencies for the terrestrial digital radio broadcasting service under the PNAF-DAB for the following catchment areas: no. 03 - Lombardy; no. 10 - Umbria and no. 19 - Sicily.

At a total of nine locations in Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Hesse, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony and Thuringia, the majority of Deutschlandfunk and Deutschlandfunk Kultur programmes will be broadcast digitally in future. Together with Deutschlandfunk Nova and the special channel Dokumente und Debatten (Dlf DokDeb), the two programmes can already be received digitally locally via DAB+. In view of the very good regional DAB+ coverage, parallel analogue broadcasting via some smaller FM transmitters with a limited range will end on 30 June 2024. In Bad Tölz, Bavaria, a new DAB+ transmitter will go on air on 19 June; FM broadcasting (87.8 MHz) will also end here on 30 June. Another frequency will be switched off on 17 September, when Deutschlandfunk's FM broadcasting in Pfronten, Bavaria (96.5 MHz) will end.

The first final DAB network for commercial radio was launched on 12 June from the Prague-Zizkov transmitter. The R15 regional network was built following a licensing auction. The signal of this network, which broadcasts 14 radio stations, will cover more than 1.5 million inhabitants of Prague and Central Bohemia. While until the end of May it was possible to tune in to the CRA DAB+ multiplex from the Žižkov transmitter on channel 7A, it is now broadcasting on channel 6B, which was auctioned by the Czech Digital Group (a subsidiary of CRA) as Regional Network 15 in a frequency auction organised by the Czech Telecommunications Office.