Belgium: Five Local Stations Move to DAB+

At the beginning of March, five local radio stations in Belgium began broadcasting in DAB+ to serve the Picardy Wallonia region and the North of France. The transition from FM to DAB+ grows the listening area from 150,000 to 5 million people.

According to reports, the stations are using three transmitters, located at the top of Mont St-Aubert (Tournai), in Beloeil and in Comines.

In November, the five stations — Libellule FM, Néo Radio, Radio Beloeil, Radio Loisir Mouscron (RLM) and Radio Qui Chifèl (RQC) — formed a nonprofit group, Hainaut Ouest DAB+, to investigate the switchover to digital. The group received a subsidy of €85,000 from the Wallonia-Brussels Federation for the purchase of equipment. 

They are the first local stations in Belgium to broadcast by multiplex. Previously, only RTBF public and private radios were broadcasting digitally.