PARIS — The 2016 edition of Salon de la Radio, held Jan. 31–2 Feb. in Paris, proved once again to be an important gathering for radio professionals.
Taking place in the Charlie Parker Center at the Grande Halle de la Villette for the first time, the venue, located in the northeast corner of the city, offered some 3,920 square meters of floor space and a warm atmosphere. The previous three editions of Salon de la Radio, which launched in 2003, were held at the smaller (1,700 square meters) Centre Etoile Saint-Honoré in the center of the city.
Each year the Francophone conference draws in radio broadcasters from France and abroad. This year’s event was no different, attracting an increasing number of foreign visitors and exhibitors. The show floor featured a circular, open layout with a café in the middle. Axel Technology of Bologna, Italy was present for the first time with its own stand. Enrico Vaccari, sales manager for the company, said they met a lot of people from Africa and other Francophone regions they wouldn’t usually meet at the larger shows.
Comrex was also on hand with its own stand. Chris Crump, director of sales for Comrex, said the exhibition
was very useful and that he had also met visitors from France and beyond. He said he believed having a dedicated Comrex stand reinforced the efforts of his distributor, SAVE Diffusion, who was also exhibiting at the show.
With Belgium as the guest country of honor, the 2016 edition featured four thematic workshops, parties and events. The new venue also offered individual workshop and session rooms, six closed studios as well as a networking area. The 2016 edition featured some 77 exhibitors, 100 workshops and paper sessions.
“After Canada and Switzerland, Belgium is being celebrated for three days this year,” said Philippe Chapot, show founder. “The country, its radios and its professionals were fully represented in honor of our Belgian friends who fiercely love radio.”
On Tuesday WorldDAB organized a session, “La Radio Numérique Terrestre européenne en march,” which offered attendees an overview of DAB+’s recent developments and what’s in store for the coming months. During the session, Patrick Hannon, president, WorldDAB and vice president corporate development, Frontier Silicon, provided a status report on digital radio globally. Other speakers included Sergio Natucci, chief operating officer, Club DAB Italia; Nicolas Bresou, manager for digital radio, RTBF, Belgium; Olivier Ramond, president, SIRTI; Patrice Gélinet, advisor for the conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel; and Helwin Lesch, head of distribution and control, Bayerischer Rundfunk.
As in previous years, the “Awards ON’R Multivote” awards ceremony took place Sunday evening. At the ceremony, the “Produit de l’année 2016” (product of the year award), was attributed to Broadcast-associés, while ITAS-TIM was awarded the “Prix de service de l’année,” (service of the year). In addition, Paul Guibouret of SAVE Diffusion received the “Prix Maurice Chapot,” which celebrates those who have contributed extensively to the radio industry.
The official numbers are not yet available for this year’s edition, but the 2015 gathering drew in approximately 4,800 attendees of which 10 percent were international attendees.
Exhibitors present at the 2016 edition included WorldCast Systems, PHF Com, Netia, AudioPole, Multicam Systems, Enco, Orban, Zenon-Media Broadcast Associates, ATS-France Nagra Audio, Eurocom Broadcast, Save Diffusion, WinMedia, Wheatstone, Tieline, Digigram, WorldDAB and RCS.
