Some facts for people who say DAB is a failure in the UK;
• 40% of UK homes have a DAB radio.
• Half the population listen to radio via a digital platform at least once a week.
• Almost one-third of all radio listening is done via a digital platform.
• Overall radio listening is increasing.
• DAB is becoming the standard fit radio in new cars.
This has all been achieved in under ten years, without any subsidy, and against strong sentiment that DAB just doesn’t work. Well, it appears the numbers speak for themselves.
Source: RAJAR

Within eight years Norway are going DAB exclusive for the majority of their radio services.
Why have Norway taken such a bold step? The answer is here from Ole Jorgen, the CEO of Digital Radio Norway, who shared their experience and thinking at the recent World DBM event in Berlin;
“The digital radio venture in Germany is not just important for German radio listeners and radio channels, but for all of Europe. As Europe’s largest radio market, it means a lot to us in less populated countries that the major European markets …

A brief update on DAB worldwide, compiled by ourselves, was published in the Sunday Business Post yesterday. A scan of the article is here and full text is below;
Real growth is being experienced worldwide by DAB the new digital radio system designed to replace FM.
It’s easy to see the attraction. DAB broadcasts multiple stations simultaneously meaning significant cost savings over the, one station per transmitter, FM system. This extra capacity opens significant expansion opportunities to commercial radio and DAB’s ability to broadcast text and pictures is a bonus for advertisers. …

Massive development for DAB this week with the launch of DAB+ in Germany.
Germany is by far the largest radio market in Europe and one of the biggest in the world. Adopting DAB+ is a huge endorsement of the technology, and if it takes off in Germany, it’s not unreasonable to expect the rest of Europe to follow.
A key factor is the involvement of commercial radio. Until now, the only national German networks have been public service broadcasters. This launch of DAB gives commercial broadcasters a national platform for the first …

“Ford drop CD from In-Car radios” scream the headlines.
As ever things aren’t quite that dramatic! I was speaking with Eddie Murphy, the Head of Ford Ireland, who said any move regarding in-car entertainment is a gradual one. The future for Ford is USB mp3 drives, aux inputs, DAB and even connections to cloud services.
One gradual move becoming evident with all manufacturers is the inclusion of DAB as standard in all new car models. As a presenter of a motors programme, every day I get press releases about new motors, and …

FM in the UK continues its downward fall.
The latest RAJAR market trends released yesterday shows a market share for analogue (AM & FM) has fallen to 65.4% with the remainder of listening done on growing DAB and digital platforms.
The big winners are digital only stations like Jazz and Planet Rock. Absolute Radio have also done phenomenally well with about half their listeners tuning in on DAB, Freeview and online. Not bad for an AM licenced station!
What I also find interesting, is that this churn is actually driving an …

Car manufacturer Ford have just announced that DAB radios will be fitted as standard in all Ford models from next year.
Part of the roadmap for switchover to DAB in the UK is to have DAB as standard in all new cars by 2013. So Ford have beaten that deadline by a year.
Read the full story at What Car magazine.

Why go digital is the most frequent question we get asked by broadcasters. FM works. Why fix something that isn’t broken?
Well, asides from massive cost savings, brand expansion and new revenue possible with DAB, there is something much Much MUCH bigger at stake. Losing your audience.
Watch this 2 minute video. It will change your world.

Commercial operators across Europe are just as keen as public broadcasters to see DAB arrive, and being commercially minded, they’re making it happen!
That was the loud and clear message at the Euro DAB conference for commercial broadcasters hosted by the WorldDMB organisation in Paris on March2nd.
Recent milestone developments include Germany’s big launch of DAB+ in August and Norway’s commitment to turn off FM in eight years time – fact.
Germany
Boris Lochtghofen, from Regiocast Germany, announced that DAB+ will begin full commercial service on August 1st. DAB has previously been on-air in …

Good to hear lots of positivity around DAB from within the industry. At last weeks Digital Radio Conference in Belfast, the consensus was that the road to DAB will be a long run and a hard journey, but it is most definitely the way to go. As previously reported the EBU are now to lobby the EU to establish DAB as the main broadcasting platform for the future.
Another positive update also today on DAB progress worldwide from WorldDMB which reads as follows;
While traditional radio listening is threatened by new …