The Australian is reporting that more than 100,000 digital radios have been sold Down Under in the six months since DAB+ launched there.
The figure, twice as many as expected, was revealed by Frontier Silicon the company which supplies the chips and software for the majority of receivers in the market. Chief Executive of Frontier Silicon, Anthony Sethill, says they expect a further 250,000 sales this year meaning Australia will have 400,000 units in the market by Christmas.
Joan Warner of Commercial Radio Australia said they will “have official figures in March …

The Guardian reported yesterday on plans by the UK industry to introduce a radio scrappage scheme similar to the car industry. The plan suggests that people will receive a 20% subsidy on a new DAB set when they hand in their old analogue radio.
This idea is actually quite commonplace. As mentioned the motor industry has its own scrappage/subsidy scheme in place right now. Most times when you buy a mobile phone the real cost is subsidised by the network operator. Sky have almost always subsidised their boxes and if I’m …

The Swedes have become the latest nation to support DAB+ as the future of radio broadcasting.
Teracom, the company which operates the transmission network for public broadcasters in Sweden, is actively pushing for DAB+ to be launched there in the next 12 to 18 months.
Currently they are trialling a DAB+ service in three cities featuring public, commercial and community broadcasters. Like Ireland, they have supplied a panel of listeners with DAB+ receivers, and will include feedback from this panel in their trial results.
The results will then feed back into a review …

A neat idea is being floated by the UK government where new radios would display a listing of stations receivable by the radio regardless of whether they’re on FM or DAB.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Mr. Siôn Simon outlined the idea during this weeks debate about the UK governments plans for the future of local radio;
“We are committed to ensuring the implementation of a combined station guide, which is similar to an electronic programme guide, which will simply have a list of station names. The …

The beginning of a new year is a good time to look at what’s in store for DAB over the coming months.
The downturn in the economy has unsurprisingly put the brakes on investment in DAB across Europe. However it has not prevented many countries from considering how they will implement digital broadcasting as the economy picks up again.
Ireland
The BAI are due to publish a white paper on how digital broadcasting will progress in Ireland. It’s widely expected they will establish DAB in line with new FM licences due for renewal …

RTÉ have announced an expansion of their DAB transmission network which will see DAB coverage reaching over half of the Irish population.
Currently RTÉ’s DAB transmission network includes sites in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Clermon Carn Co.Louth serving many of Irelands main cities.
Now a new transmitter located on the Kippure transmission site will bring DAB to many of the midland counties including Kildare, Laois, Meath, Offaly and Westmeath. Broadcasting will commence before Christmas.
A map of the new broadcast area is available here and the accompanying RTÉ press release is below;
RTÉ Radio …

Another key milestone in the roll-out of digital radio is the agreement today from motor manufacturers to install DAB receivers in cars from 2014.
This fits very well with UK and French targets for digital broadcasting with both countries having key digital dates around 2015.
Up to now car manufacturers have been reluctant to install DAB radios due to conflicting standards across Europe. However, now the WorldDAB standard has been established, a single €10 chipset can handle all these different types of signal. This means a digital radio set will work equally …

The “Digital Radio for Ireland” report was launched at the BCI on Friday. It’s an overview of the industry’s position on the future of Irish digital broadcasting compiled from the views of key commercial, public and independent operators including our company.
The report recommends a Digital Radio Forum be established to conduct more research to present in a White Paper for further consultation. The BCI itself welcomed the report saying it “will play a key part in assisting and informing the policy development process”.
So if you’re waiting for the formal adoption …

Digital One, the national UK digital multiplex, has another DAB exclusive station on board.
Premiere Christian Radio begun broadcasting nationwide today joining a growing list of DAB exclusive stations including Planet Rock, BFBS and Amazing Radio.
Although probably not earth shattering news to most it is another green shoot in digital broadcasting after the ravages of the past eighteen months. Another is the continued adoption of “Slideshow” where broadcasters “now playing” information is displayed with graphics on a DAB receivers colour screen. It’s also encouraging to hear all of the new radios …

A very interesting new radio set was announced today.
The huge jump forward is that the Pure Sensia is a very visual radio. The large 5.7” colour screen displays a touch-screen user interface including “slideshow” images from broadcasters. Listeners will now see what’s playing in colour text and pictures as well as hearing it.
Many of the UK’s biggest broadcasters have signed up to make the most of this new display. They include Classic FM, Heart, Capital, Planet Rock, Absolute Radio, Fun Kids and more.
Better again the method employed to get …