Digital Radio Week: from June 5 to June 9.
We spoke to Digital Radio NL about Digital Radio Week, Digital Radio Netherlands and the power of digital radio. You can read all about it here:
How did Digital Radio Netherlands come about?
Digital Radio Netherlands is a collaboration between the Association of Commercial Radio (100% NL, BNR Nieuwsradio, Qmusic, Radio 10, Radio 538, Radio Veronica, SLAM!, Sky Radio, Sublime), the Dutch Public Broadcasting Corporation (NPO) and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Change.
What do you want to achieve within this collaboration?
Digital Radio NL works with regional broadcasters, local broadcasters, manufacturers, retailers, the automotive industry and a wide range of stakeholders to educate about the possibilities of digital radio listening and to accelerate digital radio listening. To enable the expansion of digital radio platforms and ensure that DAB+ makes more room for radio.
What does radio in general mean to you?
You can hear the latest news, the tastiest music or an interesting discussion. For decades, radio has been the medium that millions of people listen to every day, whenever and wherever you want and in many different ways. These include through the Internet on your phone, tablet or computer, through your digital television but also over the airwaves on FM and DAB+.
What is the strength of digital radio over FM?
DAB+ stands for Digital Audio Broadcasting, it is digital radio over the airwaves. With a suitable receiver just like FM to be picked off the air. The difference is, FM is analog and DAB+ is digital. With DAB+, the signal is broadcast digitally encrypted over the airwaves and you can listen for free wherever and whenever you want.
DAB+ offers numerous advantages over FM. For example, there are many more stations to receive, it is a free way to listen to terrestrial radio, it is anonymous (in other words, there is no provider in between), it is more environmentally friendly and you hear everything in digital sound quality. There is also no need to remember different frequencies, all DAB+ stations are listed in alphabetical order and you can easily set your preferred stations. Digital reception provides almost complete nationwide coverage (about 97%). Furthermore, DAB+ radios are often equipped with digital screens where, for example, album covers, title, artist and other additional information can be displayed. Especially in new cars, the dashboard is increasingly a large black screen, where with new technologies, including DAB+, a lot of program or general information can be shared with the driver.
What do people (perhaps) not know about DAB+?
Since the end of 2020, all new cars sold in the Netherlands must have DAB+ as standard. You can also have DAB+ installed in older cars; there are several solutions available for this. Nearly 4 million DAB+ radios have already been sold in the Netherlands (including cars). You can easily search your favorite stations by name, no need to remember frequencies! As many as 3.8 million Dutch people listen to the radio via DAB+ every week.
As a radio enthusiast, what can you expect during Digital Radio Week?
During Digital Radio Week, you can win DAB+ radios from many radio stations, and many retailers are offering great discounts on DAB+ radios during this nationwide action week.
Is your current FM radio in need of replacement? Then choose a new radio with DAB+ because you’ll be ready for the future. Almost all digital radios have the ability to listen to the radio via both DAB+/IP and FM, offering choice for consumers, but more importantly an opportunity to discover for themselves the benefits of digital listening. Who knows, you might discover a station only on DAB+ with your favorite genre of music!
Interview with Digital Radio NL: Listen live – Digital Radio NL
