Tag Archives: Digital Radio Mondial

Radio World looks into the future of digital shortwave radio

“DRM is not seen as a profitable line for the major manufacturers,” said Sennitt. “A few smaller manufacturers have produced DRM receivers, but the unit cost is still too high, and there simply aren’t enough DRM transmissions audible at any one location to stimulate consumer demand. It’s a classic chicken and egg situation — which comes first, the transmissions or the receivers? The broadcasters and the receiver manufacturers are each waiting for the other to move first.”

Read the full article at Radio World Online.

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DRM: First Transmission for Southern Africa

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(Source: DRM Consortium Press Release)

The DRM Consortium will make its first ever DRM transmissions for Southern Africa in French and English on October 11th on the occasion of the Digital Radio Conference organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) at the headquarters of the European Parliament in Brussels.

The two day conference will include two live studio discussions on the possibilities and future of digital radio from the multimedia radio studio of the European Parliament. The programmes aim to showcase multiplatform and distribution techniques in front of a studio audience of Digital Radio Conference delegates.

The live show in French from 1200-1300 GMT will be followed two hours later (1400-1500 GMT) by a Digital Radio Show in English with international participation including the chairpersons of the DRM and WorldDMB Consortia.

Both the French and English programmes will be carried live on DRM SW 21800 from Ascension Island in the Atlantic Ocean and should be heard in countries like South Africa, Angola, Zambia, Lesotho, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Mozambique. The English programme will also be carried at 1800 GMT into Southern Asia on DRM SW 12085, at the end of the daily regular BBC/DW transmission.

Ruxandra Obreja, DRM Chairperson, says: “This is an exciting and imaginative undertaking that will demonstrate practically, even if for a short while, to European MPs and radio enthusiasts at thousands of kilometres apart the capacity of DRM to cover huge areas with excellent audio quality programmes. We are grateful to the EBU for the opportunity to showcase, alongside other platforms, that part of DRM, the only standard for all bands below and above 30 MHz, that could offer so much to the radio lovers in Africa.”

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All India Radio on DRM track

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As we’ve mentioned before, it appears AIR (All India Radio) may soon be a leader in digital radio in all forms, including shortwave. This, from the Deccan Herald:

The government plans to launch a 24-hour news broadcast channel of All India Radio (AIR) as part of its sweeping modernisation programme in the next five years.

AIR will also witness a complete digitisation of its studios, transmissions and connectivity across the country by 2017 according to plans by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. With a view to improving efficiency and broadcast quality, the government will replace old and obsolete equipment besides enhancing AIR’s infrastructure by refurbishing its studios.

[…]While the reach of the national channel is proposed to be extended to the whole of the country, the external services of the AIR will also be strengthened through digitalisation of shortwave transmitters.

Read the full article at the Deccan Herald. Thanks to @kaedotcom (Kim Elliot) for the tip!

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New Digital Radio Mondiale channel for South Asia

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(Source: BBC World Service International Publicity)

BBC World Service and Deutsche Welle (DW) are launching a new Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) digital radio channel for South Asia.

The channel will carry a four-hour daily broadcast that includes the best international programmes in English and Hindi from BBC World Service and Deutsche Welle. It will also bring to the audience all the advantages of DRM digital radio including near-FM quality audio, text messages, Journaline and an Electronic Programme Guide (EPG).

This joint initiative between BBC World Service and Deutsche Welle has been launched using two transmitters in the region and will cover much of South Asia. The signal covers the majority of the Indian sub-continent and may reach as far as Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and other neighbouring countries.

The new transmission starts on 31 October 2010 and will be broadcast from 1400–1800 GMT each day. Listeners will find the new programme stream on 13590 and 5845 kHz (SW) and additionally on 1548 kHz (MW) between 1700–1800 GMT.

Ruxandra Obreja, DRM Chairman, says: “Digital radio is as much about technology as it is about content. Through DRM we hope to increase the digital radio offer to South Asia giving people access to audio and multimedia content, which should in turn convince manufacturers that digital radio brings something new worth investing in.”

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Video Over Shortwave Demonstrated at IBC

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(Source: TVB – Television Broadcast)

AMSTERDAM: Transmission of video over the shortwave radio topology is being demonstrated at IBC by Fraunhofer. The company rolled out “Diveemo,” a system delivers video via Digital Radio Mondiale, the MPEG-4-based broadcasting technology used in the AM radio band. It was demonstrated today at the convention with BBC content displayed on a NewStar DRM receiver, Fraunhofer said.

Operating at just 8 frames per second, Diveemo transmissions are not designed to compete with even standard analog television; instead, Diveemo is being positioned for large-area distribution of education and news programs where the video supplements an existing audio program.

Fraunhofer notes that shortwave transmission can reach from “100 to well over 5 million square kilometers depending on conditions and broadcast parameters. The service opens the door to a large range of unprecedented information and education services and is an ideal platform to reach audiences worldwide with a single DRM transmitter or an even more cost-efficient DRM single frequency network. Diveemo offers free-of-charge reception and is independent of gatekeeper and third-party providers like satellite and cable networks.”

The system is being demonstrated by Fraunhofer and Thomson Broadcast on their respective stands at IBC2010. Fraunhofer and Thomson, along with Chengdu NewStar Electronics, developed Diveemo. The service is being presented for standardization by ETSI, and can be implemented by any broadcaster using DRM30 or DRM+.

Video files are added to the Fraunhofer DRM ContentServer where they are converted to MPEG-4 and prepared for transmission. DRM+ is capable of devoting a larger amount of data to the video than DRM30, allowing for better video quality with DRM+. Diveemo complements existing data services within DRM30 and DRM+, including MOT Slideshow for still images and Journaline for text-based data services.– With Radio World

Read original article on TVB – Television Broadcast.

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India To Go DRM

In the broadcasting world, All India Radio has been an early adopter of DRM technology. I was pleased to find this article from the DRM Consortium via Andy Sennitt at RNW Media Network:

The Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) Consortium has welcomed the Indian government‘s approval of All India Radio (AIR)’s ambitious plan of converting its vast broadcasting network to digital using the DRM standard. India is one of the first countries in the world to implement such an extensive and well-researched plan to upgrade its radio infrastructure using the global open DRM radio technology and thereby ensuring that it can maintain significant reach to its 1.2 billion strong population whilst delivering enhanced radio services.

India’s Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure on Thursday 8 April gave its approval to the proposal from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting regarding 11th Plan of Digitalisation where Rs 9.20 billion (approx US$200 million) have been earmarked for AIR to convert to digital which will cover approx 70 per cent of the country. By converting to digital, AIR will deliver enhanced radio services that offer crystal clear sound, increase user experience with additional functionality such as automatic tuning by station name, interactive user interface through digital screens that offer slide-shows and many other services like EPG, Journaline.

The digitisation scheme involves the installation of over 40 digital (DRM capable) transmitters as well as other digital enhancements and networks for both state radio and television.

All India Radio (AIR) began moving towards digitisation with the adoption of the DRM standard after extensive field trials and tests since 2007 that was offering in their opinion the most ‘robust, reliable’ technology. Last year, it started a regular DRM broadcast from one of its high-power shortwave transmitters located at Khampur near Delhi and this year it acquired two high powered mediumwave DRM transmitters.

Source: DRM Consortium via RNW Media Network

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Disco Music Via Shortwave and in DRM

The Disco Palace a radio station dedicated to disco music, has announced that they are now broadcasting disco music in stereo via shortwave radio and using DRM (Digital Radio Mondial) technologies. They are targeting North America and Europe with the following broadcasts:

Broadcast Frequencies
Europe from 1400-1500 UTC 6015 kHz
North America from 2000-2100 UTC 17755 kHz

The Disco Palace is based in Miami, Florida and owned by Alyx & Yeyi, LLC, is the first and only disco music radio station broadcasting in DRM on shortwave. Belgium-based TDP is the shortwave and DRM broadcast technical service provider of The Disco Palace.

For more information visit:

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