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2026 will get off to a noisy start, as hotly-anticipated national Scottish radio station, STV Radio, today confirms it will officially launch on Wednesday 7 January. The station promises to cure the January blues with an exciting schedule packed with Scotland’s favourite radio voices and an eclectic music offering with all the best tracks from the 80s, 90s and 2000s. STV Radio’s slogan – Never the Same Song, All Day Long – underpins the station’s commitment to offer a broader, more imaginative music mix every day, with less repetition and loads more brilliant tunes. STV Radio will begin test transmissions this week, rolling out on DAB and DAB+ regions of Scotland in the coming weeks ahead of launch.

On 16 December, the Moravian-Silesian Region saw a significant improvement in digital radio coverage. RTI cz launched a DAB+ transmitter on Lanová Street in Ostrava on channel 9D with a power of 20 kW. The new transmitter will significantly strengthen the signal of the RTI cz nationwide multiplex in the region, which will bring substantially better reception not only in the city itself, but also in the surrounding areas. The RTI cz multiplex broadcasts Radio Blaník, Český Blaník, Hitrádio 90, and Rock rádio, which moved to the RTI cz multiplex in December from the competing network of České Radiokomunikace. In addition to these stations, Rádio Proglas and Rádio 7, which have been broadcasting here for a long time, are also available in the multiplex.

Starting this Wednesday, 17 December, RMC is expanding its DAB+ broadcast coverage to new areas in France. This development will initially affect several departments in the west of the country, before a second phase of roll-out planned for the coming months. The aim is to broaden access to the radio's news, talk and sports programmes via digital terrestrial broadcasting. Starting this Wednesday, RMC listeners will now be able to listen to the radio in the Côtes-d'Armor, Finistère, Morbihan and Vendée regions. This first step marks a geographical expansion of the digital terrestrial broadcasting of the sports news talk radio station. The system will be completed in a second phase.

At its meeting on 15 December, the Media Authority of Hesse decided to allocate the requested DAB+ transmission capacities to VIUS SE & Co. KGaA for the distribution of the nationwide radio programme ‘NIUS – Das Radio’ in Hesse. The allocation is for the period from 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2035. ‘NIUS – Das Radio’ has a nationwide licence from the Berlin-Brandenburg Media Authority (mabb). ‘NIUS – Das Radio’ is already broadcast via various DAB+ multiplexes in the federal states of Berlin-Brandenburg, Hamburg, Lower Saxony, Saarland, Schleswig-Holstein and Thuringia. In Hesse, the programme will in future be broadcast via the DAB+ multiplex 6A ‘Hessen Nord’ and the DAB+ multiplex 12C ‘Hessen Süd’.

RRI Malang is part of the government's DAB+ Digital Radio programme. This program is considered crucial for more efficient frequency management. RRI Malang Co-Transmitter Yoyok Priyo explained the reasons for his agency's involvement in the program. "This is one of the government's programs to streamline frequencies," he said on 10 December 2025. He said the DAB+ system allows multiple stations to be broadcast through a single transmitter. This technology mimics the digital television model already implemented by the government. According to Yoyok, one transmitter can accommodate up to 30 radio broadcast slots. Currently, around 15 private radio stations have joined the system.

The decision on platform operation in the sixth and final region for regionalised DAB+ distribution in North Rhine-Westphalia has been made. At its meeting last Friday, the Media Commission of the State Media Authority of North Rhine-Westphalia decided to award the tendered DAB+ transmission capacities for the Münsterland region to Media Broadcast GmbH as platform operator. The allocation was preceded by a tender by the State Media Authority. Media Broadcast had previously been awarded platform operation for the first five regions in North Rhine-Westphalia. This makes the company the platform operator for all six regions in Germany's most populous state.

In crisis situations, every second counts – and DAB+ radio can become a vital source of information. The new Automatic Safety Alert (ASA) system, which is currently being tested, is capable of automatically switching on certified DAB+ radios and immediately transmitting recommendations for action for the affected region. As a further step towards the introduction of ASA, it is now possible to experience the technology live: anyone who already owns an ASA-certified device or is testing one in a specialist shop can see for themselves. The new function test is broadcast via the first national programme platform and can be received, for example, via the Deutschlandfunk channel ‘Dokumente und Debatten DokDeb’ (Documents and Debates DokDeb).

The German radio landscape is undergoing an interesting development in the national DAB+ sector: Radio Schlagerparadies, Germany's most successful private Schlager station, is joining Ballermann® Radio as a shareholder. The investment will take place on 1 January 2026. Radio Schlagerparadies, together with BR Beteiligungs GmbH, which is backed by Teutocast among others, will become the largest shareholder in Ballermann® Radio. Ballermann® Radio, considered the fastest-growing newcomer among national DAB programmes, already achieves well over one million streaming sessions per month, according to MA IP Audio.

In the UK, the RAJAR Audio Survey ‘MIDAS’ for Autumn 2025 has been published. The MIDAS Survey is designed to provide context and insight into how, when and where audio content is being consumed. Weekly audio listening in the UK remains strong, albeit varied between age and gender. For all adults, the share of ‘live radio’ dominates audio listening (excluding visual) with 63% of their listening hours spent engaging in this audio type. This is followed by on demand music streaming (19%), podcasts (8%), owned music (5%), audiobooks (3%) and catch-up radio (3%). 62% of listening hours are consumed by traditional FM or DAB radio sets.

After intensive discussion of the applications, the Media Council of the BLM today decided who will receive the Bavaria-wide DAB capacity advertised in the summer: The contract was awarded to egoFM – a key factor in this decision was the station's exceptional music programme, which differs from the classic radio format. Dr Thorsten Schmiege, President of the BLM: "The large number of applications makes it clear: the industry believes in radio and DAB+. Terrestrial digital radio has become a driving force for diversity and radio usage in Bavaria. As already predicted by the BLM in its audio strategy, daily usage of digital reception channels will be on a par with FM for the first time in 2025. The high relevance of DAB+ is also reflected in the high demand for the current tender."