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The Digital Radio Mondiale Consortium will mark World Radio Day on Feb. 13, highlighting the role of digital radio in delivering emergency warnings and critical information during natural and human-made disasters.
World Radio Day, established by UNESCO in 2011, acknowledges the ongoing significance of radio among public, commercial and community broadcasters. This year’s theme, “Radio and Climate Change,” emphasizes how radio can improve the coverage of one of today’s most urgent global challenges.
The DRM Consortium supports this initiative, emphasizing that its digital radio standard can be vital in emergency preparedness and response, especially in light of climate change. Scientists have connected increased extreme weather events — such as hurricanes, flooding, and wildfires — to climate change, making early warning systems more essential than ever. DRM’s built-in Emergency Warning Functionality (EWF) is designed to function across all frequency bands, ensuring that alerts reach affected populations even when other communication networks fail.
The system enables authorities to broadcast emergency messages, detailed text, maps and multilingual information, even from remote transmitter sites. Unlike other alert systems, EWF does not require special chipsets or additional modifications—its capabilities are already integrated into DRM-compliant receivers.
Climate change-driven disasters
DRM says that for an emergency warning system to be effective, it must:
- Reach the maximum number of people in affected areas as quickly as possible.
- Provide high-reliability coverage on a local, regional, national and international scale.
- Function when internet and mobile networks are down.
- Deliver alerts to devices people use daily, including portable receivers and car radios.
- Operate independently of the electrical grid.
- Remain unobtrusive during regular use while ensuring uninterrupted transmission during emergencies.
- Offer multilingual audio and text-based messages for accessibility, including support for visually and deaf and hard of hearing individuals.
- Be directly controlled by authorities for immediate message dissemination.
DRM adds that as climate change drives more frequent and severe disasters, EWF provides a critical, resilient communication tool to keep populations informed and safe.
You can see a demonstration video showing a standard DRM transmission switching to an emergency alert here.
Image: Freepik
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