Saturday 30 December 2017

Insufficient Indoor Reception Will Put DAB+ In Jeopardy

Digital radio test in two Dutch cities stopped
The DAB+ experiment in Rijswijk and Zoetermeer was stopped yesterday. In July 2017, Feel Good Radio decided to take part in the national experiment to find the best way for local channels to use DAB. Indoor reception of the channel was not sufficient in many cases.

Wednesday 20 December 2017

Norwegian Parliament Rumbling Over FM Switch-Off

Government questioned about DAB and secret agreements. 
Radio Metro tries to resist switch-off.
The national channels have now switched-off FM, but the political part of the process is far from over. After a year of overwhelmingly negative opinion, especially in daily press and social media, the government politicians have now started reacting. Written questions were sent to the Minister of Culture about DAB. MP Hege Haukeland Liadal (Social Democrats) asked: Can the Minister of Culture inform about the total development cost of DAB has been as of December 1 2017 compared to the costs the alternative to maintaining and upgrading of the FM network?

Wednesday 13 December 2017

One Out of Two Norwegians Are Still Dissatisfied With DAB Radio

"The People's Crushing DAB Verdict"
Widespread resistance to the DAB transition. 
Local commercial station refusing FM switch-off
During the year, FM transmitters for national radio broadcasters have been closed district by district. Today, the last closed in Troms county in northern Norway. Now on the FM band you can only listen to local radio, cross-border radio from Sweden and pirate radio. Today, the Oslo daily Dagbladet published an opinion poll by Ipsos, which shows that 56 percent are dissatisfied with the transition to DAB. 31% are satisfied and 12% do not know. This is an insignificant change since Ipso's measurement last summer when 60% were dissatisfied and 24% satisfied.

Sunday 10 December 2017

World’s Most Powerful Medium Wave Transmitter in Hungary


New 2 Megawatt NX2000 medium wave system is now on air.
Broadcast provider Antenna Hungaria’s new Nautel 2 Megawatt NX2000 medium wave system is now operational. Located at the broadcaster’s transmission facility near Solt, U.S. manufacturer Nautel says the project, involved large infrastructure changes at the site as well as installation of the new transmitter. The new solid-state Nautel system replaces a custom-built tube transmitter that had been in use for 40 years. Now, Hungarian national radiochannel
Kossuth Rádió will reach over the air in all of Europe.

Tuesday 5 December 2017

Digital Radio Is Not For The Kids

Children’s radio follows exodus of Dutch DAB+ channels this year
The Dutch radio station Efteling Kids Radio has abruptly stopped its broadcasts on DAB+.The radio station remains available via the analogue and digital cable. In addition, the radio station is on-line.
 With the disappearance of Efteling Kids Radio, another station disappears from the DAB+ offer. Earlier this year, Retro Hits, Arrow Classic Rock and Classic FM have disappeared from the digital ether.

Friday 1 December 2017

Latvia Rejects DAB Broadcasting

A too expensive step with an already strong Internet presence
The media authority National Electronic Mass Media Council (NEPLP) has evaluated the results of the DAB + standard test of digital sound terrestrial broadcasting in the region of Riga, carried out by the State Radio and Television and decided not to continue this testing, nor to support the introduction of digital sound broadcasting DAB + in Latvia for the next five years. NEPLP has been taking into account a number of aspects, including the long-term effectiveness of the standard in question, the benefits to society of the costs of implementing this standard, as well as the potential impact on Latvian broadcasters and the advertising market.