On Sept. 1, Belgium’s German-language public broadcaster Belgischer Rundfunk will switch its BRF-DLF service in Brussels exclusively to DAB+. The transition marks a significant milestone in BRF’s digital strategy and establishes a national first, with the broadcaster becoming the first in Belgium to fully transition from FM to a DAB+-only service.
Since 2001, BRF has broadcast a community program co-produced with Germany’s Deutschlandfunk for the German-speaking population in Brussels. That service has aired on FM 95.2 MHz, which will go off air on Aug. 31. Listeners are being redirected to BRF-DLF’s DAB+ transmission on channel 6D, which the broadcaster says offers higher audio quality, more stable reception and access to additional metadata.
“With the transition to digital radio in Brussels, we are setting the pace for a sustainable and economically viable distribution of our signal, especially in the capital region,” said Alain Kniebs, director at BRF. “Our FM broadcasts in Brussels would have required significant investment in aging infrastructure. We also see more and more listeners switching to DAB+, thanks to its user-friendliness and excellent coverage.”
BRF is also expanding its DAB+ footprint in its core German-speaking region in eastern Belgium and across the Euregio Meuse-Rhine. BRF1 and BRF2 are now available on channel 8A in those areas, alongside continued FM broadcasts. In Brussels, BRF1 and BRF-DLF are broadcast on channel 6D. All BRF radio programs are also accessible via livestream and the broadcaster’s dedicated mobile apps.
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