News

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.

Radio stations Expres FM and Classic Praha have newly expanded their digital broadcasting thanks to their inclusion in the PLAY.CZ DAB+ multiplex. They complemented Relax Radio from Kladno, which was the only one in this network until now. Both stations use a bitrate of 64 kbps, which corresponds to the standard of this network. The change means better availability of these stations for listeners in a wider area of the Czech Republic. At the same time, the Expres FM and Classic Praha programmes were disconnected from the ČRA DAB+ REGION network, which currently includes five radio stations. The change reflects transfers between network operators and optimisation of distribution.

MediaMarkt Austria is expanding its marketing portfolio with its own radio station: Radio MediaMarkt is now broadcasting around the clock throughout Austria on DAB+ and offers a programme of music, technology news and exclusive offers. The station is aimed at both tech-savvy listeners and customers who want to find out about current promotions. Radio MediaMarkt combines a varied music programme with current information from the electronics industry. In addition to chart hits and classics, it also broadcasts tech talks with experts and lightning-fast news from the world of electronics. The new programme will be broadcast on all regional DAB+ networks (MUX II) and can therefore be received throughout Austria.

Until now, GoDAB's DAB+ package, which is based in Friuli in Italy, could only be heard via a small transmitter around Udine. Since mid-April, the transmitter network has been expanded to include three more locations - including one with a wide reach. The Faedis/Pedrosa-Prati della Chiesa site, which was activated on 29 May, is in a somewhat bigger league. It has a wide range and has also been used in the past to broadcast German holiday stations for the northern Adriatic on VHF. The Pedrosa site transmits the GoDAB package on channel 9B with 630 watts ERP. The final expansion of the GoDAB transmitter network will include a total of eleven sites in Friuli. All of these will be operated with low transmission power.

I am a believer in Digital Terrestrial Radio. But not a radical. I believe that radio in Spain must tackle this subject that has been pending for two decades. But I understand the reality of the private sector, their fears and reservations (because I also worked from this side of the stage). But then you realise the huge role played by FM radio during the blackout, proving that it can continue to broadcast, even if the power is out. We talk about the future, and our mouths are full defending IP radio, streaming. But broadcast - over-the-air radio - continues to save lives in the midst of natural disasters and national emergencies. We defend progress and identify it with the network of networks. But dictatorships have an enormous facility to censor and cut off access to internet content, while they can do nothing to cut off terrestrial broadcasts.