The workshop on ASEAN Digital Radio Broadcasting was held on day 1 of the two-day conference in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam, hosted by the Radio Television Brunei(RTB). The meeting was attended by delegates from the ten ASEAN countries: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam.
Mr. Haji Muhammad Suffian Hj. Bungsu, the Director of Radio Television Brunei (RTB), welcomed the delegates and mentioned that digital radio broadcasting is a priority, a cheaper means for broadcasters to attract and reach their audiences and to realise the ASEAN Communication Plan of “ASEAN: a Community of Opportunities”.
Each of the ten ASEAN countries, many represented by their own regulators, presented their own country and radio digitisation efforts so far. The picture is as diverse as the countries themselves and the radio digitisation does not seem to have made huge steps so far though there are tests going or in preparation and a lot of interest.
The workshop included a full presentation from DRM Chairman (Ruxandra Obreja) and Honorary Chair of DRM Indian Chapter (Yogendra Pal). With concrete examples (the case of India), videos and sound illustration this was a presentation that elicited questions and discussions about the value of digital broadcasting, emergency warning, car receivers and general implementation.
Both DAB (Ms Joan Warner) and HD (video) had presentations at the workshop. The general conclusion was that radio broadcasting remains powerful, given the signal coverage and its free access. Much of the workshop has been taken not only with the advantages of digital broadcasting but also with the challenges, the way forward for regulators and broadcasters and the introduction of the platform to listeners.
Both in the DRM and DAB presentation there was a lot of emphasis on the need for strong coordination and cooperation among stakeholders.
For DRM the conclusion was that the key to the successful deployment of digital radio is the close cooperation of all stakeholders working towards a jointly agreed public launch-date.
The participants are working on such introduction scenarios to be presented and discussed on the second day of the workshop.
Ruxandra Obreja
