Coinciding with the celebration of World Radio Day, Feb. 13, and the centenary year of radio in Spain, Radio Nacional de España, the country’s state-owned public service radio broadcaster, has started broadcasts in DAB+ in conjunction with Cellnex Telecom. The broadcaster intends to employ the DAB+ standard throughout the country and replace FM in the long term.
A symbolic ‘switch-on’ of DAB+ took place in an informative day in Torrespaña, inaugurated by Verónica Ollé Sesé, director of the Cabinet of the Presidency of national broadcaster RTVE. “We’ve been watching Europe, learning from the experience accumulated by our neighbors over the last years, and are investing in a technology that helps guarantee the provision of a public service that is for everyone,” Sesé said.
WorldDAB President Jacqueline Bierhorst said the organization was ready to support RNE.
Antonio Fernandez Paniagua, Deputy Director General of Planning and Management of the Radio Spectrum, State Secretariat for Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructure (SETELECO) congratulated RNE for its initiative and encouraged other broadcasters to follow. “Just as we advance in technological innovation in digital terrestrial television, we also have to do so decisively in digital radio.”
Ángel García Castillejo, director of Audiovisual Policies and Public Service at RTVE, closed the event saying, “As members of the radio family, we should not, if possible, enter this process alone.”
In addition to the existing DAB broadcasts of Radio Nacional — Radio Clásica, Radio 3, Radio 5 and Radio Exterior in Madrid and Barcelona — the following are now available on DAB+:
- Radio Nacional and Radio 5 in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Murcia and Bilbao.
- Radio 3 in Valencia, Seville, Murcia and Bilbao.
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