The Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) Consortium (www.drm.org) ended on a high note its full presence at the 29th edition of BES (Broadcast Engineering Society) EXPO International Conference & Exhibition on Broadcast & Media Technology, being held in New Delhi, India (July 3-5).
Even on the third and last day of the event, a hot Saturday in Delhi, a stream of visitors came to the DRM Booth in Hall 10 eager to learn more about the extra services of DRM like emergency warning delivery, e-learning, public signage and the multi-channel DRM FM option. Some guests even took a drive in the electric MG car parked at the entrance to the exhibition in order to experience the live DRM AM signal of the public broadcaster DRM transmitter in Delhi. This affordable car is just one of the over 7 million vehicles on Indian roads equipped with DRM digital receivers. Other car solutions and receivers and modules were also demonstrated at the booth to officials, private broadcasters, telco representatives coming and making this Saturday a busy last BES day for DRM.
After the first conference panel discussion of the BES conference on July 3rd, where Alexander Zink, DRM Vice-Chairman, made the case for DRM in FM and for its advantages, on the last day of the BES conference the DRM Chairman, Ruxandra Obreja, developed the idea that DRM, a standard made for India, is ready to meet the requirement to “Make in India”. DRM is the most suitable standard to be adopted in the FM band in the Indian context and set up, she argued, both from the perspective of its many and suitable applications in the country and that of the innovation and developments carried out by the broadcast industry (e.g. Indian companies or global companies with strong Indian presence and input). A decision by the government to extend the use of DRM in the FM band would give a new impetus to the Make in India desire opening a new digital chapter for the important Indian radio sector.
Afterwards, the DRM Chairman and the Experi/HD senior representative were then invited to record a joint podcast on the future of Indian digital radio at one of the top Delhi and Indian private stations, Red FM.
