Dorothee Bär, German Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure With more than 200 radio experts in attendance, U.K. Minister of State for Culture and the Digital Economy Ed Vaizey, and German Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure Dorothee Bär, spoke about their visions for radio’s digital future at the WorldDAB General Assembly.
“U.K. listening figures show the future of radio is increasingly digital,” said Vaizey. “It’s reflected in the fact that more than three quarters of new cars now come with digital radio as standard. Listeners are already benefiting from a wide range of new digital radio services and significant improvements in reception quality, so the time is right for European governments to work together to accelerate the international adoption of digital radio,” he said.
“Germany is fully committed to a digital future for radio,” echoed Bär. “DAB+ is emerging as the future platform for radio in Europe. We are keen to work with other markets to help realize this vision.”
WorldDAB President, Patrick Hannon added: “International collaboration across all elements of the radio ecosystem will be the key driver of success.”
Currently, Norway and Switzerland have planned digital switchovers for 2017 and between 2020 and 2024 respectively, said WorldDAB. Other European countries like the U.K., Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Italy, Poland, France, Belgium, Czech Republic and Austria are making progress toward DAB, the organization added.
Other news from the General Assembly included the re-election of Hannon for a second two-year term as president and Anthony Sethill, founder and CEO of Frontier Silicon, as the winner of the WorldDAB Award for Outstanding Service.
The WorldDAB General Assembly took place Nov. 3–4 in London.
