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The WorldDAB session at the IBC2024 confirmed how DAB+ listening is gaining momentum in various countries where digital radio coverage is growing. In her keynote speech, WorldDAB president Jacqueline Bierhorst pictured the latest news and trends in the market and said, “DAB+ is safeguarding radio stations’ digital future.” She mentioned how Swiss public service broadcaster SRG SSR will cease FM broadcasts by year’s end, and private stations will follow at the turn of the new year. In the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, public service and private broadcasters agreed to switch off their FM transmissions by 2031; some stations will start as early as next year. DAB+ listening share in the U.K. recently reached 57%, with a remarkable 6% growth from last year.
France and Spain are rapidly increasing their national DAB+ coverage, reaching 60% and 50% of the respective populations. “We are unfreezing DAB+ in Spain,” said Xavi Redon Hernandez, product manager at Cellenex Telecom. Half of Spain already had DAB+ coverage years ago, but a reduced output to only two transmitters — in Madrid and Barcelona — significantly reduced coverage. This year, EU regulation helped reverse the trend. “Anyone buying a new car got a DAB+ radio without even asking but then realized there was almost no coverage,” Redon Hernandez continued. About a million new cars were sold in Spain this year, pressuring authorities to re-invest in DAB+ networks.
On Sept. 12, as part of its federal warning day, Germany trialed the new DAB+ emergency notification feature, “Automatic Safety Alert,” on test receivers during normal broadcasting operations. In case of an emergency in a specific area, the ASA can either switch turned-on receivers to a dedicated station or wake up standby receivers and tune them to the same station. ASA can be highly localized — to clusters as small as one square kilometer — ensuring safety alerts are only targeted at those needing to take action without alarming others. From mid-2025, new generations of DAB+ receivers will support the ASA standard.
After receiving a Master of Science in Engineering, the author worked for Telecom Italia and Italian public broadcaster, Rai. Based in Bergamo, Italy, he now spends his time as a broadcast consultant for radio stations and equipment manufacturers, specializing in project management, network design and field measurement.
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