Tech takeaways from 2024

Photo: Shutterstock

LONDON — The big radio takeaway from 2024 is that the venerable medium experienced a resurgence in popularity, which looks set to continue for the foreseeable future. This can be seen as part of the overall rise of audio in general, with podcasts and audiobooks now immensely popular and broadening the definition of audio-only productions as once embodied by radio.

In the United Kingdom particularly, radio experienced encouraging listening figures, with audiences of 50.8 million each week during Q2 of 2024 (according to Rajar). There are various reasons for this renaissance. Many people discovered radio as a vital link during the Covid lockdowns, and the relationship between presenters and their listeners has continued.

Technology played a big part by providing more ways to listen, with online and smart speakers (62% of U.K. users of Alexa/Google and other systems use them for radio) joining DAB and FM. It is also reshaping how radio will be produced and distributed — something that became more apparent during 2024 and produced the five tech takeaways that will influence radio in the coming years.

Artificial Intelligence

Inevitably, AI continued to dominate public discourse this year, not just in technology but also in society. In radio, AI appears to be coming out of its novelty phase, getting past the idea of virtual presenters and addressing the serious issues of fakery and copyright infringement. While there are still no standards specifically for radio, the EU AI Act and guidelines drawn up by the U.S. trade organizations NIST [National Institute of Standards and Technology] and SMPTE [Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers] have set out fundamental principles that can be applied to the sector, notably those covering deep fake audio.

Working on this more stable foundation, developers have introduced new systems and techniques that either support journalists and presenters by taking on more mundane production tasks — such as packaging news clips and producing short programs from longer form material — or offering listeners greater accessibility and engagement.

This was seen in the BBC’s trial project to provide subtitles for selected programs on its Sounds app and musician will.i.am’s RAiDiO.FYI platform, which enables its audience to create customized stations based on their interests and allows AI to interrupt shows with questions to deliver more information.

A pair of headphones and a mobile device playing audio — Photo: Shutterstock

5G Broadcast

Over the last decade, the idea of replacing traditional radio transmission methods with telco carrier technology has been discussed — and initially mostly dismissed. In its early days, the concept was based on 4G/LTE (Long-Term Evolution), but now a more advanced and radio-specific option has emerged in the form of 5G Broadcast (5GB, also known as LTE-based 5G Terrestrial Broadcast).

This was demonstrated during IBC when the Dutch NPO 1 TV and NPO 3FM radio channels were transmitted from the Cellnex broadcasting tower within the grounds of the RAI convention center in Amsterdam. The aim was to show that smartphones can accommodate live audio (and video) using 5GB but without the high mobile data demands, which was the major drawback of 4G. The technology is also based on the one-to-many principle used for traditional terrestrial broadcasting instead of the unicast approach of earlier mobile formats. The project is being advanced further following the publication of a 5GB receiver profile, another step toward new services being rolled out across Europe.

Visual radio

Radio with moving pictures dates back to the 1980s when it was often dismissed as “cheap television.” It has come into its own during the 21st century, with radio stations now offering live video streams of broadcasts and, perhaps more important than that, clips from shows with highlights of interviews or live music sessions on YouTube, Facebook and other social media.

The takeaway for this year is that although visualization or visual radio is now a well-established parallel service, it can go further still. A growing trend alongside this is the increasing use of images, not just video but also graphics, with more information on music played or people being interviewed. Among the systems aimed at this introduced in 2024 was a live graphics playout capability from Visual Radio Assist.

The takeaway for this year is that although visualization or visual radio is now a well-established parallel service, it can go further still.

In-car listening

In the mid-1990s, when digital radio was still embryonic, in-car radio systems were a crucial selling point for the new technology. A Rajar report shows that 60% of U.K. radio listening is done in the car, with 64.8% on DAB, underlining the importance of this area today.

Among the proponents of in-car digital radio is Xperi, with its DTS AutoStage entertainment platform, which supports DAB, HD Radio and FM. Joe D’Angelo, senior vice president of broadcast radio and digital audio at Xperi, concedes that auto manufacturers’ take-up of digital radio did “take a long time.” Still, it has now accelerated with 110 million cars on the road in the U.S. featuring HD Radio. “There are over 6,000 certified radio designs, and in the region of 44 global car brands supporting HD Radio,” he says, adding that the ratio of new cars with DAB/DAB+ in Europe is higher because of the European Electronic Communications Code, which was passed in 2018 and adopted into EU member states’ legislation in 2020.

It has taken nearly 30 years, but with the number of new cars fitted with DAB or DAB+ in Europe now being at a high 90% and 100% in the U.K., digital radio continues to extend its reach now and into the years ahead.

Online versus DAB and FM

This year, we have continued to witness the decline of FM analog radio broadcasting, although the long-standing transmission format is not entirely obsolete yet. Having said that, Swiss public broadcaster SRG SSR will shut down analog broadcasts at the end of December, and Switzerland will switch off FM completely in 2026.

FM has also now been overtaken by online radio for the first time, with internet-delivered listening accounting for 27.8% of the U.K. audience share in Q1 of 2024. According to figures released in Germany in October, “the future of radio is digital.” This, however, does not differentiate between DAB+ and the internet, with three out of four people in the country listening to one or the other (if not both).

As the number of internet radio stations increases — particularly local or special interest services — digital radio listening in general is set to increase. The obvious takeaway is that although DAB+ is likely to remain dominant, internet radio is growing in popularity, leading to higher demand for hybrid receivers that allow listeners access to each platform.

The author trained as a radio journalist and worked for British Forces Broadcasting Services Radio as a technical operator, producer and presenter before moving into magazine writing during the late 1980s. He recently returned to radio through his involvement in an online station where he lives on the south coast of England.