Digitalisation will initiate a world-wide renaissance of radio

By Erik Bettermann (specialist panel with the Director General of
Deutsche Welle in the context of Medientage München)

"Digital short-wave will revolutionise cross-border broadcasts and
will initiate a world-wide renaissance of radio". This
was the opinion of the Director General of Deutsche Welle, Mr Erik
Bettermann, during a panel discussion at
Münchner Medientage. Mr Bettermann, the head of the German
international broadcaster and instigator of the event
was not the only one to present an optimistic prediction of a
"Digital Global Radio" development: The other panel
specialists also emphasised the advantages of digitalisation in the
so-called AM range, i.e. short-, medium- and longwave.
The discussion was chaired by Peter Senger, Director of Distribution
at Deutsche Welle and Chairman of the Digital
Radio Mondiale (DRM) Consortium; and next to Erik Bettermann, BBC
representative Mike Cronk, Dan D'Aversa of
RTL Group and Phil Laven of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) were
also participating in the debate.
Senger outlined the advantages of digital short-wave as follows: The
world-wide accepted DRM standard provided an
excellent audio-quality comparable to FM. In addition, the search for
frequencies was obsolete, as the station
identification tuned in to the designated frequency and automatically
switched to the best one. In parallel, it allows for
the sending of accompanying programme information such as text
messages.
"On top of everything, digital transmission technology saves a lot of
energy and costs compared to the analogue
one", Senger said. This would open up enormous opportunities,
especially for international broadcasters.
For several years, DW like many other broadcasters has noted that
listeners migrated from short-wave to FM or
other new distribution channels in digital quality, said Bettermann.
Deutsche Welle had to stay abreast of these
changes. "According to test transmissions being operated by Deutsche
Welle, we anticipate large area coverage in
almost FM quality without interference such as jitters, induced
power-noise or fading", the General Director stated. At
the same time, not only stationery indoor reception, but also mobile
reception in cars and with small portable devices
is possible.
Admittedly listeners would need new receivers. As a consequence, the
real challenge for the DRM consortium would
be to achieve successful implementation, said Technical Director of
the EBU, Mr. Philip Laven. The timetable for the
introduction of digital services in the AM bands would in fact be set
by broadcasters, "but the speed of the transition to
digital will be set by consumers", stressed Laven.
Dan D’Aversa of RTL Group sees the chance to develop pan-European
coverage and that RTL Group would try to
ensure "that low-cost DRM receivers will be on sale in time for
Christmas 2005".
Mike Cronk stated that the BBC had invested heavily in DRM and that
they were now developing "a detailed strategy
for its initial deployment, probably into Europe, in 2005". According
to Cronk, DRM offered the unique combination of
wide area short-wave coverage and FM usability and quality.
As a consequence of using this digital medium, continuous direct
delivery to the audience avoiding "political or other
regulatory obstacles" will be possible.
Bettermann, having also stressed the aspect of the impossibility to
censor short-wave and, focussing on European
implementation, announced that Deutsche Welle would gradually switch
off its analogue short-wave transmissions. A
pre-condition would be the world-wide availability of DRM receivers.
21 October 2004