Digital developments in radio broadcasting

In the past decades, the mass media have seen quite a genuine revolution. Television has developed at high speed, reaching new quality standards and new ways of transmission, and the Internet has become one of the main ways of information dissemination. Nevertheless, radio broadcasting, which will soon mark 100 years of existence, remains one of the major means of mass information and entertainment.

Slower than other sectors, radio broadcasting has nevertheless followed the trend of digitization. In order to meet the new technological challenges generated by the limits of the broadcasting spectrum, and to offer listeners a better sound quality and better reception, radio broadcasting has looked for new ways of transmission. Stations started to broadcast live on the Internet to a large extent, as well as through landlines, through three main standards. The first was the DAB or Digital Audio Broadcasting implemented as of the 1980s. Its main aim was to replace the system of analogue radio broadcasting on ultra-short waves. The HD Radio standard was created mainly for the FM waves, which is present mostly in the US. For long, medium and short waves, which are characteristic of long-distance transmissions, the DRM or Digital Radio Mondiale standard was set up. This standard is also compatible with FM transmissions.

Radio Romania International was among the pioneers of digital radio broadcasting through the DRM standard. Next we’ll talk to Ruxandra Obreja, the president of the DRM Consortium, and a former journalist with the Romanian Section of the BBC, about the advantages of this system and the challenges faced today by the promoters of long-distance digital radio broadcasting:

“The DRM system is simply a means through which the old, medium and short wave radio broadcasting system, whose signal was interrupted by background noise or got jammed, was replaced so as to produce a perfect, clear sound similar to that of FM transmissions. The DRM system allows presentation of information typical of the Internet medium, and also of images, thus enriching the offer of radio broadcasting which so far has provided only audio signal. Why was this system implemented in Romania? Big countries cannot set up thousands of small transmitters to provide coverage for each town and village. Romania is a big country, it is the second largest country in eastern Europe after Poland. Its terrain is quite varied, it has mountains and valleys, many villages, and the only way for the radio content to reach these regions is the DRM standard.”

But how hard is it really to switch from the analogue to the digital system? Norway is the most advanced country in this regard, 2017 being the deadline for the definitive elimination of analogue broadcasting. Things are going much slower in other parts of the world.

“Some countries have set the years 2022 or 2027 as deadlines for the elimination of analogue broadcasting. Some are talking about a swift passage from one system to the other, others speak of a transition process from analogue to digital systems. But one thing is sure: we have a digital ecosystem! All the content that we can access on the mobile phone or on TV is created in a digital system. Keeping an analogue segment within the overall digital system will become very expensive. Actually one signal, one transmitter may cover an entire country. There is no better system when it comes to providing nationwide coverage and services to all citizens than the terrestrial transmission. Of course there is the DAB with its millions of receivers and so on, but the fact is that the countries in Europe are diverse and so is the rate at which they implement the system. Furthermore the DAB is highly efficient in big cities with a large number of stations and less efficient in small towns. Warsaw may be perfect for it, but if you go to a small Polish village or town with only two radio stations, the DAB will not work properly.”

Another issue facing the DRM standard is the high cost of the equipment. If a DAB device can be found at 20 euros, the price for a DRM one is four or five times higher. According to Ruxandra Obreja, the price is justified by the equipment’s high complexity.

“The DRM receivers were built after the DAB ones. We have a different vision, maybe different standards. We believe a receiver must comply with all standards. It’s not worth buying a receiver that complies with a certain standard and then the next day you’ll need a new one, then another, and so on and so forth. We believe in this kind of solution. We have a cheaper receiver model that launched on the market, which is not expensive and serves both as a tablet and as analogue and digital radio by any standard.”

One way of promoting digital radio receivers is to fit them into the standard equipment of new cars. Many high-end automobiles are already fitted with the DAB radio receivers. The DRM standard has recently made its way to the automotive market, but Ruxandra Obreja is optimistic about its future.

“Carmakers will equip their products with devices complying with the standards required in their countries. If Romania will use the DRM to broadcast across the entire country, I can assure you that all carmakers will come up with cars equipped with DRM devices. However, what’s most interesting is the fact that big carmakers are no longer willing to choose between DRM and DAB, and have decided to equip the cars they produce with both systems.”

The main competitor for the traditional land transmission is the Internet radio, available through computers, tablets or smartphones, but the system has its technological limits, as Ruxandra Obreja, chair of the DRM consortium, explains.

“The Internet is an inflow of information ‘from me to you’, so to speak. For this reason you need many of these inflows and this band, which assists us all in everything we do, is a limited resource. It has already reached its limit and I can give you an example in this respect. The most listened to radio programme in Britain is the morning show aired between 6 and 8. And they estimated that if this programme had been broadcast only via the Internet to reach the same number of listeners, perhaps the entire British network would have collapsed in a matter of minutes. Internet radio for the time being stays at 10 % ahead of terrestrial radio.”

The development of digital technologies may have more new surprises in store for us. What is certain though is that the way towards the all-out and definitive digitization of radio transmissions is one with no return. (Translated by L. Simion & D. Bilt)