The image shows the sign installed on 5 October 2020 announcing the start of work on the site that will host a new 100 kW medium wave digital DRM transmitter at Sariab Road (Quetta) Source
The PBC (Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation) has asked the government to make it compulsory for cars to be equipped with digital receivers in the next five-year plan for the automobile industry. For some time now, public radio and television have been broadcasting using the DRM digital standard in the AM and FM bands. DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale), unlike DAB (which uses VHF channels in band III), is a digital broadcasting system applicable to all frequencies, from the HF bands (LW, MW, SW) to VHF (bands I, II, the FM band, and band III). And it foresees investments to complete the digital migration in the next five to seven years, to improve audio quality (claimed to be equal to that of a CD) and energy efficiency.
Buongiorno Slovakia, an online newspaper published in Italian since 2009, talks about the proposed increase in the radio and television licence fee and the difficulties of approval after similar initiatives had been rejected in recent years Source
RTVS, radio and television of Slovakia (Rozhlas a televízia Slovenska) has accounts in the red. In the last ten years, attempts have been made several times to adjust the canon to make up for it, but they have always failed. The last one was in 2016, when the Minister of Culture proposed to raise it to 7 EUR (about 50% more). Today citizens pay 4.64 EUR per month, pensioners 2.32 EUR, rates set 17 years ago. The current proposal (to go up to 8.5 EUR, 83% more) will have a long and difficult path: to be approved, it will have to pass the inter-ministerial evaluation, reach the Council of Ministers and finally be voted by Parliament. More details here
There is also controversy in Germany
In Germany from 2013 the cost of the annual fee is set at 17.50 EUR per month, with plans to rise to 18.36 EUR from 2021 Source
When you touch up a concession fee it is never roses and flowers. In Germany in 2022 the increase will only be 86 Cents per month, but in Saxony there is resistance from the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Eurosceptic nationalists of AFD (Alternative für Deutschland). The newspaper Nordbayern warns of the possible convergence between the two political forces to block the increase; an approach defined as “typically East German”. But Nordbayern is also critical of those who minimize it by saying that the figure is modest, because in both cases the management of public service is not questioned. This is something to be said about, because during the pandemic (according to a study conducted by researchers at the University of Passau) the ARD and ZDF networks with their special programmes created a climate of permanent threat without sufficiently questioning the measures taken by the government.
The situation in other European countries
The AGI service compares the cost of the fee in different European countries. In the photo, the bronze horse, five metres high, work of the Sicilian sculptor Francesco Messina installed in 1966 in front of the historical headquarters of the RAI in Rome, Viale Mazzini 14, has become the symbol of the public broadcaster Source
In Italy, according to a study by Anci (Association of Italian Municipalities) conducted in 2011, the radio and television fee was the most hated tax: it was evaded by 25% of the population. To avoid it, in 2016 the Renzi government reduced it from 116.50 to 90 EUR per year and linked the payment to the electricity bill. In France the annual fee is 139 EUR, but advertising has been abolished from the public networks. In the United Kingdom, on the other hand, the fee is £157.50 (173.50 EUR), and if you use a black and white TV set, reduced to £53. In Spain the tax was abolished in 2010, but according to a study by the University of Santiago de Compostela, it costs citizens 98.80 EUR in fees. More details and rates from other European countries can be found in the article published by AGI Agenzia Giornalistica Italia. Curious also the case of Austria: the amount is not uniform, but between 41.86 EUR in Oberösterreich / Vorarlberg and 53.46 EUR in Steiermark.
The new Audi radio indicates whether the signal is coming from FM or the web: WILD 94.9, in the area where the image was taken (Bay of San Francisco, California), is available via their Internet stream. Source
Audi cars sold in the United States can be equipped with a hybrid car radio (i.e. capable of receiving the signal over the air or streaming via the internet) that maintains the tuning of the preferred station even if the signal broadcast over the air is weakening during the journey. With a traditional device, when you leave the coverage area of a station, noise increases until the audio becomes unintelligible. Cars equipped with the Hybrid Radio® system, on the other hand, allow you to continue listening because when the listening quality starts to deteriorate they automatically switch from the signal transmitted over the air to the digital signal received via the Internet.
Star 101.3, a San Francisco radio station owned by iHeartRadio, is received at the current vehicle position only via the web. Source
The new functionality is available on vehicles in the 2021 series (on sale from September 2020) equipped with the MIB 3 modular multimedia system, which connects to the network thanks to the integrated 4G Wi-Fi hotspot (requires a subscription to the Audi connect® Prime or Plus service). iHeartRadio, a leading U.S. radio company, is making more than 600 stations throughout North America compatible with the Hybrid Radio® system, in order to participate in the project.
The Swiss radio site has dedicated a service to Radio Al-Balad, a community radio station in Amman broadcasting on FM 92.5 MHz, which has devised a programme written and conducted by Syrian refugees. Source
Radio Al-Balad, a community radio station in Amman, devised a programme written and conducted bySyrian refugees. The idea came from Daoud Kuttab, director of the Community Media Network, to which the station also belongs, to give a voice to the refugees of the conflict, more than 1.3 million in the country. In recent years, the radio staff has trained about a hundred reporters who have produced reports for the programme “Syrians among us”.
Archbishop Thomas Luke Msusa (in the centre of the photo) is “impressed by the commitment of the team” that is carrying out the project of the new Catholic radio station. Source
Kuwala FM, a broadcaster of the Archdiocese of Blantyre, Malawi, was created to appeal to over 2 million listeners. It is the fourth regional radio of the Catholic Church in the country, after Radio Alinafe of the archdiocese of Lilongwe, Radio Tigabane of the diocese of Mzuzu and Tuntufye FM of the diocese of Karonga. The communications coordinator of the Archdiocese of Blantyre, Father Frank Mwinganyama, plans to go on air by the end of 2020. Radio Maria Malawi, Luntha Television and Montfort Media also operate in the diocese of Mangochi.
AGI (Agenzia Giornalistica Italia), in a short commemorative service, quoted the small television station in Campania that unconsciously sent live the thunderbolts of the 1980 Irpinia earthquake Source
Witnesses to history, tragic events, revolutions, and… even earthquakes. Like Radio Alfa 102, a small radio station in Avellino that forty years ago, on 23 November 1980, broadcast live the roar of the earthquake that devastated Irpinia. It happened by chance: during a live recording of folk music, at 7.34 p.m., the microphone picked up the deep and impressive roar caused by the collapses of the quakes. The earthquake, of magnitude 6.9 (the strongest in the last hundred years), devastated the Apennine territory on the border between Campania and Basilicata, razing entire villages to the ground and causing almost 3,000 victims and 280,000 displaced people.
The audio of the earthquake, the only one we know of, has been published on YouTube. The noise that can be heard under the music is also due to the recording head that oscillated on the tape due to the vibrations. Source
Is analog FM more energy efficient than DAB? Does it consume more electricity to transmit or receive programs? In the UK they now have the answers Source
In a study by the British public broadcaster, the energy impact of radio broadcasts on all bands was calculated: Medium Waves, FM, DAB and digital terrestrial TV. In addition to the consumption to produce the programs and distribute them on the different platforms, the research also estimated those to listen to them, then linking them (for each medium) with the hours of listening, to quantify the hourly energy consumption. This highlighted the key points where to concentrate efforts to reduce the energy footprint.
A similar study on the impact of television was published in September 2020 and can be read here Source
BBC radio attracts over 30 million listeners in the UK every week through live stations, podcasts and other on-demand content. Unlike TV, which completed the digital switchover in 2012, the BBC still provides analogue radio services that continue to make up a considerable portion of the audience. While broadcasters are discussing whether radio should switch to digital, the media industry has been studying the possibility of migrating to distribution exclusively over the Internet. Both of these approaches would have inevitable environmental impacts that have yet to be quantified. The research then assesses the effect that a digital radio switchover or a transition to IP-only services could have on energy consumption, and addresses also alternative scenarios.
The article of Panorama Audivisual dedicated an in-depth analysis to the rejection of the bill “Urgent measures for the promotion of digital terrestrial sound broadcasting” which took place on November 4th, 2020 Source
If in 2018 it was the PP (Partido Popular) that sank DAB, it now was the Socialists of the PSOE (Partido Socialista Obrero Español) who rejected the bill presented by Compromís, a political coalition from Valencia, to the Senate. The spokesman in the Senate of the Valencian political coalition, Carles Mulet Garcia, points out that from next December in Spain all cars will have digital radio (as required by European regulations) but that owners will not be able to receive programs, turning the nation into “a technological island of Europe”. In Spain the technical plan for the development of digital radio was launched in 1999. It foresaw the coverage of 80% of the population in 2005, then reduced to 20% in 2011. Today listening is limited to Madrid and Barcelona, although there are unauthorized transmissions on the Costa del Sol and the Canary Islands.
Article of 1982 on Radio Annick, a very well known Antwerp radio station, to which is dedicated an extensive card Source
Written in Dutch (well understandable with the translators of Chrome)Vrije Radio describes the history of radio in Belgium, from the dawn of radio broadcasting to the phenomenon of free radios in the 1980s to the present day. There you can find the cards of 326 radio stations, but the number is constantly increasing: only in the last week a dozen have been added. The site is born thanks to the answers of many protagonists who have worked in the radios of the past or still in activity, who have told their experiences. The stories are presented in an objective way and the site managers invite to improve them and add more details. In addition to photos and files on the radio stations you can listen to recordings of programs and announcements (all materials not protected by copyright). The site, which does not use cookies, is supported by the sister sites Archives Radios for the French-speaking channels, and The Flemish Radio Archive for the broadcasters’ logos.
FM tuners showing the logo of the broadcasters are being used in the cars. For broadcasters who manage to make the most of technology, it is an opportunity to increase ratings. But some systems rely just on RDS, which was not designed for this purpose: This can create serious image damage to a broadcaster. But to eliminate them you can turn to the experts.
L’articolo (In Italiano)
Si diffondono sulle vetture i sintonizzatori FM che mostrano il logo delle emittenti. Un’opportunità gratuita che aiuta gli editori ad aumentare la notorietà e gli ascolti. E quando il marchio non appare o è sbagliato ci si può rivolgere agli esperti
Una Classe A con il sistema multimediale MBUX (Mercedes-Benz User Experience). Presentato dalla casa tedesca al Consumer Electronic Show di Las Vegas nel 2017, usa l’intelligenza artificiale e attualmente è il sistema più evoluto Fonte
Nel 2013 sono apparse le prime autoradio che consentono di scegliere la stazione preferita in FM cliccando sui logo visualizzati sullo schermo. La funzione, ispirata dai sintonizzatori Dab (che mostrano i marchi delle radio ricevibili), rende l’impianto multimediale più accattivante e aumenta la sicurezza di guida, perché al conducente basta un colpo d’occhio per individuare la stazione preferita, e non è obbligato a distogliere lo sguardo dalla strada per leggere dall’RDS che radio ha sintonizzato.
Nel sistema multimediale della Volkswagen Golf il logo viene visualizzato a destra della mappa insieme ad altri comandi audio e per il telefono Fonte
Questa innovazione dà un vantaggio non indifferente agli editori, perché offre gratuitamente la possibilità di diffondere il proprio marchio e di farlo riconoscere (la brand awareness, uno degli indicatori che misurano il successo di un’azienda). Se il marchio è ben progettato, infatti, è facilmente riconoscibile e viene memorizzato con facilità. E se poi è accattivante, può attrarre l’attenzione e consentire di intercettare nuovi ascoltatori.
Un’immagine ad hoc per ogni sistema
Per sintonizzare una stazione si clicca su uno dei marchi che appaiono sullo schermo. Fonte
Per sfruttare al meglio queste opportunità, va tenuto conto che ogni sistema ha caratteristiche diverse, e alcuni parametri (come i colori dello sfondo) non devono essere trascurati nello studio della grafica. Occorre inoltre privilegiare la leggibilità, eliminando elementi che nelle dimensioni del piccolo schermo non risulterebbero decifrabili (come lo slogan o la frequenza, se scritte molto in piccolo). Meglio optare per un simbolo grafico o un disegno, purché stilizzato e ben riconoscibile.
E se il logo non appare?
L’autoradio mostra solo l’RDS di TSN di Sondrio (Tele Sondrio News) ma non il logo, come per le altre emittenti Fonte
Alcuni sistemi, pur essendo molto diffusi (come quelli montati sulle vetture del gruppo Volkswagen, che comprende le vetture Porsche, Seat, Skoda e le Audi prodotte fino al settembre del 2019), sono soggetti a dei problemi tecnici che possono penalizzare gli editori. Le anomalie in genere dipendono dal fatto che questi apparecchi non utilizzano il Gps (o appositi algoritmi, previsti negli apparati più evoluti) per evitare i conflitti tra le emittenti. Non sono rari anche gli errori dovuti all’aggiornamento del database: come quando non viene visualizzato il marchio dell’emittente o ne viene mostrato uno ormai datato.
Per chi non c’è è un serio danno d’immagine
Sintonizzando Radio Sound di Piacenza, viene visualizzato l’RDS ma appare il logo di Radio City di Paternò, località in provincia di Catania Fonte
Ma l’anomalia più grave si verifica quando lo schermo mostra l’RDS dell’emittente abbinandolo al logo di un’altra stazione. Un problema serio, perché l’ascoltatore può essere indotto in errore: potrebbe pensare che la radio non sia ricevibile e orientare la propria scelta su un’altra. Per cercare la radio preferita e memorizzarla dovrà ricorrere alla sintonia manuale della frequenza, e comunque vedrà sempre il marchio di una radio concorrente al posto di quella che ha scelto. Questa incompatibilità si può eliminare, ma non può prescindere da un’analisi preventiva dei database della vettura dove si verifica per individuarne la causa e le soluzioni.
Il supporto degli esperti
Sulla piattaforma Etermin sono disponibili le varie tipologie di servizi offerti per risolvere i problemi con i logo Fonte
Per eliminare le incompatibilità ci si può rivolgere a un gruppo di esperti. Radio Data Center, società tedesca leader nel settore, con otto marchi automobilistici supportati, su richiesta di diversi editori che volevano limitare i danni di immagine, ha analizzato il problema dei sistemi Volkswagen (che non assiste direttamente). Gli editori che notano dei problemi (direttamente o attraverso le segnalazioni degli ascoltatori) dei problemi, hanno la possibilità di chiedere una consulenza breve, un’analisi approfondita delle problematiche e l’individuazione delle soluzioni. Per farlo possono accedere alla piattaforma Etermin, dove è possibile prenotare ciascun servizio all’indirizzo E-Termin Radio Data Center GmbH.
