On behalf of the thousands of community media around Europe, the Community Media Forum Europe (CMFE) and AMARC-Europe (the regional section of the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters) wrote a letter to Neelie Kroes, The European Commissioner for the Digital Agenda, on 19 December 2011.
In this letter the organisations ask Ms Kroes to enter into a dialogue:
- To include necessary actions in the Digital Agenda to accommodate community (local) media to enter the digital broadcasting era;
- To enforce the use of open standard, hybrid digital radio receivers;
- To support and promote the adoption of DRM+ and
- To monitor the revision of national FM frequency policies among member states.
The widely supported and promoted digitalization technology, DAB(+), is in many cases unsuitable for community (local) radio stations. The two organisations therefore plea for preservation of the FM Band for radio broadcasting and support for the introduction of DRM+ standard on FM and eventually even on Band III alongside DAB(+).
In this way the richness, diversity and pluralism of the media sector is best guaranteed, respecting the contribution of thousands community (local) radio stations, their ten thousands of practitioners (active European citizens) and millions of listeners, say CMFE and AMARC-Europe in the letter to Mrs Kroes.
(Source: Christer Hederstrom, CMFE Nordic)
on Dec 20th, 2011 at 11:52
Still is analouge broadcasting the best solutions to small radio stations in FM/AM.
The audio is natural in analouge even on AM as on FM. Very simple antennas can be done to up to 500watts on AM. Plenty of place and space to low power commercial and community radio all over the world on AM and SW.
on Dec 20th, 2011 at 18:15
As long as market share of digital radio in Europe remains as low as it is it certainly seems that analog broadcasting is the better option for local or community radio. The cost is much lower and sound quality is better in most cases, at least on FM. By the way: most DAB+ receivers can receive FM, not AM.
on Dec 20th, 2011 at 21:36
Seems to me that listeners are being totally left out of the equation when all these considerations over digital radio are made. Radio broadcasting has evolved step-by-step over the years. each step has brought in train improvements in audio quality for listeners. The introduction of high quality FM broadcasts and then stereo. Now in the UK we have DAB which is far inferior to the sound quality of FM. The multiplexes are often engineered with terrible low bit rates to cut the costs for broadcasters and many, even music streams, are in mono ! If digital is to give future generations of listeners the same quality that we have enjoyed in the past, then someone has to prevent the commercial interests giving us all sorts of digital gimmicks, beloved by the software industry, but losing the end quality.. Also there is the case that local radio and community radio will be seriously weakened if they lose the FM Band II. ideal for low cost very local use.
Perhaps DAB+ and DRM will help, but only if the international frameworks are in place to make sure that digital systems equal, or hopefully exceed the audio quality that we have been enjoying.
on Dec 20th, 2011 at 22:13
Haweeha; there are lot of am fm dab+ recivers, like Bush retro even with LW. Lot of car radios got am fm dab+ etc. In Germany even community radio is on SW = 6005 kHz. 1 kW. Soon a new radio is comming up with am/drm, dab+ and FM. You can never get a 10 watts dab tx, but an am or fm you can get.
let the new x band be open to low power on 1611-1710 kHz, like 500watts.
on Dec 21st, 2011 at 20:49
@Roy Sandgren
There aren’t lots of AM/FM/DAB+ portable or kitchen radios, in fact there aren’t ANY ! They are almost invariably DAB/FM only, even DAB+ ‘out of the box’ being quite rare (at least in the UK).
The only ones that come to mind are the Sony XDR-S1 and the Bush TR82-DAB-CC.
Neither is still generally available.
The Sony was good in parts, but I doubt whether the Bush was up to much. They didn’t even realise that the tuning scales (kHz, increasing clockwise) didn’t match up with the old station names (metres, increasing clockwise) !
There are a few DAB/FM/MW/LW car radios but, once again, anything with even vaguely comprehensive coverage is very much the exception rather than the rule. And that’s even before you consider DAB+, DMB, DRM, DRM_DAB+ etc.
on Dec 22nd, 2011 at 06:26
Gerry; in facto, there are more am/fm recivers in the world than dabplus. even in England. You can get more listners on an am station than a dabplus station. Every household got an am reciver somewhere in the house or the car.