That which is Declared Dead Lives Longer

Despite the reduced funding for the continued development of Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB), the Media Authority Berlin-Brandenburg (MABB) is not giving up on the radio standard which was chosen as UKW successor.

Soon terrestrially broadcast digital radio could experience an unexpected renaissance – cheaper devices, improved technology and more frequencies will ease the transition. Optimists hope that 2009 will be the long hoped for year of the digital »Radio Big Bang«.

DAB alternatives

While DAB coverage in Berlin and Brandenburg is quite impressive, the range of programmes appears lacking: The stations of DeutschlandRadio, including the new programme DRadio Wissen, as well as the oldie station oldiestar. There are no private local radio stations – these do, after all, reach too few listeners with DAB to justify investments.
But the competition does not rest – an alternative to DAB could be the worldwide standard »Digital Radio Mondiale« (DRM) and radio reception via DVB-T and DVB-H. »Digital Multimedia Broadcasting« is being tested in the Bavarian town of Regensburg and »HD Radio« in Switzerland. Yet there is one digital radio standard which has been successful already for a long time – web radio.