Turkey has announced its adoption of DAB+ technology.
The country’s Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloğlu made the announcement on World Radio Day, Feb. 13, according to a release from the Turkish ministry. Representatives from several radio networks in Turkey as well as the country’s broadcast association were in attendance.
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Uraloğlu said DAB+ will give the city of Istanbul 448 new frequencies, courtesy of multicasting. He said there are no more available FM frequencies in Turkey’s largest city. It is unclear whether the announcement means all new radio allocations in the country will be in the digital standard going forward.
Twelve Turkish broadcasters, both public and private, are already starting to broadcast with DAB+ in a test capacity from Istanbul’s Camlıca Tower, the minister said.
The networks include Alem FM, Best FM, Istanbul FM, Kafa Radyo and TRT-Haber, according to data from FMList.
Uraloğlu gave a speech on World Radio Day and he used the occasion to herald the country’s original adoption of radio. He said Turkey’s first radio broadcast occurred in 1927 from the basement of the Grand Post Office in Sirekci. “Radio, which undoubtedly changed the outlook of millions of people on life, was one of the most important inventions of the 19th century,” he said via an English translation of his speech.
The medium has played an important role over the country’s history since, according to the Minister, including during the 1974 Cyprus Peace operation.
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“Radio broadcasting, in a sense, supported imagination and allowed you to dream. In this sense, it really has a special place and I think this will never get old,” he said.
Camlıca Tower, in service since 2018, has the capacity to broadcast 100 stations simultaneously from one tower, which the Turkish ministry says is a first worldwide. 98 FM stations, filling nearly every evenly-spaced frequency from 87.6 MHz to 107.8 MHz, broadcast there, according to data from fmdx.org. The tower stands 587 meters above sea level, making it the highest in Europe.
The minister also lauded DAB+’s efficiency. He said it will result in an energy savings of 90 percent and will reduce Turkey’s carbon emissions. He offered an example of one DAB+ transmitter serving 16 broadcasts via a signal frequency, using the multicast capability of DAB+. “Analog FM transmitters, on the other hand, use a separate frequency and transmitter for each broadcast,” he said.
“We share with you the pride of starting a brand-new era with digital radio broadcasting,” Uraloğlu concluded in his speech.
