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Classic FM and LBC are now available for first time on DAB Digital Radio across the Channel Islands. The two stations have gone live to an additional 160,000 potential listeners across Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark and Herm broadcasting in DAB+. It’s the first time either has been broadcast terrestrially in the Channel Islands. Both stations are owned by Global, the Media & Entertainment Group, which already broadcasts Heart, Smooth and Capital on DAB+ to the Channel Islands. The Channel Islands DAB multiplex is operated by Tindle Radio - owners of Channel 103 in Jersey and Guernsey’s Island FM - through its Bailiwick Broadcasting subsidiary. The addition of Classic FM and LBC brings the total number of stations broadcasting in DAB+ to the Channel Islands to 22. According to industry listening figures from RAJAR more than half of all islanders in Jersey and Guernsey tune into DAB radio each week.

As audience habits are transformed with significant growth in streaming and digital radio listening, BBC Radio looks to launch four distinctive music stations on DAB+, giving people more choice and value from the licence fee and building on the BBC’s wide-ranging support for British music. The new extensions for BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 3, which will also be available on BBC Sounds, look to delve deeper into specific genres and periods of music with context, curation and storytelling done in a way only the BBC can do. The proposed music extensions will be streamlined, curating on-demand music programmes available on BBC Sounds, with archive material and some new commissions, some simulcasting, and a small amount of new live content. They are a cost-effective way to reach audiences on DAB+ where listening is growing as people move over from FM. As DAB+ is much more spectrum efficient, the extensions can be launched by using the BBC’s existing DAB allocation.

We reproduce in full the opening speech given by Roch-Olivier Maistre, Chairman of Arcom, on Tuesday morning at 11am at La Bellevilloise in Paris on the first day of the Paris Radio Show. "Another technological innovation is opening up new prospects for the sector we share: I'm talking, of course, about the roll-out of digital terrestrial radio, or DAB+. We all know the advantages of DAB+: improved listening comfort, a revitalised radio landscape (since radio is a supply medium), a lower environmental impact than FM or Internet listening, and no risk of disintermediation for the players."

The longest continuously broadcasting digital radio network operator in the Czech Republic has ambitious plans. It wants to launch new multiplexes before the telecommunications authority asks for them. Teleko Digital, a company from Příbram, will proceed with the construction of networks for digital radios significantly faster than required by the conditions of the frequency auction organized by the Czech Telecommunications Office (CTU). The company, which has been promoting and piloting DAB broadcasts for almost 20 years and is one of the biggest proponents of digital radio in the country, has managed to auction two regional networks covering the whole of Moravia, eastern Bohemia, Vysočina and the Liberec region.

"Another technological innovation is opening up new prospects for the sector we share: I'm talking, of course, about the roll-out of digital terrestrial radio, or DAB+. No fewer than 555 services have been authorised, and more than 60% of the population of mainland France should be covered by this broadcasting standard by the end of March. The increase in coverage is accompanied by a growing awareness of DAB+, including among public authorities, thanks to the work of the promotional association and an active communications campaign. We can finally hear people talking about DAB+ on social networks, in the corridors of the Paris metro and in several major French cities! We should be delighted about this and continue our collective efforts to go further, faster and stronger with the general public and opinion leaders, including distributors and equipment manufacturers."

Building on its image and its lead, Crooner Radio is now attracting its first audiences, which are being snapped up by advertisers and partners such as Aston Martin and Live Nation. It is also developing its podcast production activity, digital radio and the implementation of a "new economy for the radio medium". On Tuesday 6 February, the Crooner Radio team, led by Jean-Baptiste Tuzet, was at the Paris Radio Show at La Bellevilloise "to present its reinvention of radio advertising". Crooner Radio, which now has DAB+ coverage in France's biggest cities, is delighted with this positive impetus from major players in favour of digital radio.

The German-speaking Community is now almost completely covered by DAB+. At the weekend, the Belgian Broadcasting Corporation (BRF) switched on the second major site in Wallerode (municipality of Amel). This means that digital radio can now be received in large parts of the Eifel region. In the north of East Belgium and parts of the Euregio Meuse-Rhine, listeners have been able to receive BRF's digital transmitter network since last year. The "DAB+ in East Belgium" pilot project is the result of an initiative by the BRF, which is making the necessary investments for the pilot phase. A corresponding decree from the government of the German-speaking Community allows the BRF to use the DAB+ frequency with the inclusion of private radio stations from East Belgium.

Bayerischer Rundfunk will be broadcasting its DAB+ service from two new locations from 5 February: the transmitter network will grow to 87 DAB+ locations and reception of the digital radio service will continue to improve. In the Upper Palatinate, near the Czech border, the Geigant transmitter will cover the municipalities of Waldmünchen, Schönthal and Rötz in future. In the district of Forchheim in Upper Franconia, the new DAB+ site in Ebermannstadt will go into operation for the municipalities of Ebermannstadt, Forchheim, Kirchehrenbach, Leutenbach, Pretzfeld and Weilersbach.

Since 1 February Radio Gdańsk has also been broadcasting a Slupsk city programme on the second DAB+ channel. On DAB Regions you can listen to Radio Gdańsk's local programmes from Slupsk and Station Kaszuby. "DAB+ gives listeners a much wider choice of programming. The digital channel accommodates many more programmes, while the analogue FM or AM band gives the possibility to receive only a few/more stations," explains Andrzej Dubas, chief engineer of Radio Gdańsk.

New UK audience figures show DAB's share of in-car listening hitting a record high of 55.4%, up over five percentage points from 49.7% in the same period last year. The platform's share of all listening also rose to 42.7% from 38.8%. In total 76% of the population - 43 million adults aged 15+ are now tuning in to radio via a digitally-enabled platform (DAB, DTV, Online/App, or Smart speaker) each week. In an average week, digital listening accounts for 729 million hours; DAB has a 59% share of those digital listening hours, with DTV 5%, Website/Apps 15%, Smart Speaker 20%. The new figures cover the period to 17 December 2023.