17 Feb Salon de la Radio 2016, Paris, France 31st January – 2nd February
The DRM standard was discussed and promoted during presentations held at the Salon de la Radio that took place in Paris from Sunday 30th January until 2nd February 2016. The regional radio station Bretagne was recently granted a MW frequency. Bretagne 5, whose current broadcast coverage reaches most of the Britany region, discussed its plans to move to digital using the DRM30 standard in the future and why the technology was so attractive and a real alternative. Stéphane Hamon, director of the station insisted there shouldn’t be a “two speed digitisation process” in France as this situation would damage the future of many stations like Bretagne 5. Video
During a debate about Belgium independent and community radio stations, Michael Tolley from Radio Air Libre and representative of CRAXX (association of community and independent French speaking stations in Belgium) reminded the audience that the digital radio standard DRM was also available and ready. He suggested DRM should be part of the digitisation of the country for independent and community station that are at serious risk of being left behind or worse, disappearing. Mr. Tolley denounced the existing prohibitive costs of going digital and promoted DRM as a more affordable and flexible solution for smaller stations. A representative of the Belgium CSA also took part in the presentations about Belgium.