DAAURA, Switzerland� From May 1, ten new cultural and thematic radio stations will be heard via DAB + around the Swiss city of Aaura and environs.
Interestingly, the stations needed to invest only 135,000 Swiss francs (about $138,000) to set up their systems. This relatively low cost is made possible by technology from Digris AG (previously coveredin Digital Radio Update). Additionally, the new stations will spend only about 1,220 Swiss francs per year (about $1250) as operating expense related to transmission.
Back in June of 2013, Switzerland�s office of Communications granted Digris AG various licenses for smaller DAB muxes around the country.�� Broadcasters rent a time slot on the mux for an annual fee. The technology has generated substantial interest and makes for a good example of how “low cost digital radio” can be implemented.� Costly hardware components are replaced by software modules and installed on a PC; the software is open source and based on that developed by the Canadian Research Center.
More small DAB networks are planned in Switzerland.� The first were switched on in 2014, in Geneva, Zurich and Lausanne. �By the end 2017, an additional 15 DAB + networks will be on, allowing for a total of 120 new radio stations across the country, according to radiowoche.de.
