DRM Newsletter May 2026

Dear Friends, Colleagues and Partners,

Freshly returned from Indonesia I am offering a chance to all to enjoy and appreciate the updates and excellent demonstrations taking place in the big hall of the Indonesian radio public broadcaster. On this occasion RRI celebrated 10 years of DRM membership.

Multi-standard receivers, different chipsets, modules and receiver options defined this excellent event. DRM from transmission to reception was the thread participants followed during the open day and the members only session at the beginning of the meeting.

Please see details below on all the developments and news unveiled during the annual General Assembly.

You can also download the new and improved version of the DRM handbook now available on our web site directly and freely from handbook.drm.org.

This will be completed with other news from important DRM countries like China etc.

The A26 DRM broadcast schedules came into effect at the end of March. For the latest schedules please check schedule.drm.org.

In 2026 we keep open the invitation to join us as a free member. If interested, please make sure to get all the information.

Latest News

DRM General Assembly – Celebrating Successes and Looking Froward with Renewed Confidence

The DRM Consortium General Assembly 2026, a comprehensive two-day event, took place in Jakarta, Indonesia, at the beginning of May. For this event the DRM Consortium partnered with an important broadcaster and DRM member, Radio Republik Indonesia, RRI, to hold its annual meeting in a country of the Asia-Pacific region where DRM is currently the prevalent digital broadcasting standard. RRI was an excellent host and the truly global participation made this an important moment for the DRM project.

Multi-standard receivers, car receiver solutions, monitoring and innovative receivers, DRM for education and disaster warnings, as well as the Indonesian digital radio broadcasting parameters were all headlines of this intense but exciting general assembly.

To find out how the open day went and get a feel for the coming strategy please check:

DRM General Assembly in Pictures

If you want to share with us some of the moments of the DRM General Assembly here are some pictures: DRM General Assembly in Pictures – news.drm.org.

DRM Leads the Way in Multi-Standard Receivers

The decision of Indonesia to go for a dual digital broadcast solution has stimulated many of the DRM members to come up with workable, affordable receiver solutions that could be manufactured in Indonesia and other countries like South Africa, Africa in general and other important territories.
One such solution was presented by CML Micro together with companies from China and South Korea.

Matthew Phillips, Product Director at CML Micro and member of the DRM Consortium Steering Board explains in his article why DRM in FM is required now in India where digital radio and D2mobiles for TV are marked as the next important stages in media development.

This announcement received extensive international media coverage:

📄 DRM/DAB+ Digital Radio Receiver Unveiled at General Assembly – Radio World

📄 DRM Assembly Sees Launch of DRM-DAB+ Receiver Platform – Content + Technology

📄 CML Micro demonstrates dual-standard receiver platform at DRM General Assembly – RedTech News

📄 DRM General Assembly Sees Launch of DRM-DAB+ Receiver Platform – news.drm.org

👍 Read and like the post on LinkedIn

DRM Handbook – New Version (6) Available

Building on the existing DRM Handbook, a new version was launched during the DRM General Assembly. This is free to consult and download from our website via handbook.drm.org.

To find out what is new in Handbook 6 (system features, support for receiver implementations) please go to:

📄 DRM Publishes Updated Handbook – Radio World

📄 DRM General Assembly marks launch of updated DRM Handbook – RedTech News

📄 DRM General Assembly Welcomes Launch of the DRM Handbook Update – radiotvlink.com

📄 DRM General Assembly Welcomes Launch of the DRM Handbook Update – news.drm.org

👍 Read and like the post on LinkedIn

DRM – Small and Beautiful, too

Community stations also need to go digital, but their financial possibilities are often limited. DRM offers not only an ideal technical solution for it but also a practical path. Doug Gregson of Alongside Tech in the USA gives a very personal introduction to such a solution which enables quite sophisticated transmission possibilities linked to reception in simple and affordable receivers.

🎞️ DRM Easy Solution for Community Stations – news.drm.org

DRM Elects Its Key Bodies and Officers

At the General Assembly in Indonesia the full DRM members confirmed the election of the main body of the Consortium, the Steering Board, with unchanged composition from the last 2-year term.

Ms Ruxandra Obreja was re-elected as DRM Chair and will serve alongside DRM Vice Chairs Mr Alexander Zink (Fraunhofer IIS) and Mr Matthew Phillips (CML Micro – newly appointed). The DRM members confirmed Mr Johannes von Weyssenhoff as DRM Technical Committee Chair.

Congratulations to all, to all the members!

📄 DRM elects main board members – RedTech News

DRM in Indonesia – a Model for Papua New Guinea

Following from the successful DRM General Assembly held together with the public broadcaster RRI, an important delegation from Papua New Guinea arrived in Jakarta and then visited Yogyakarta for technical discussions and demonstrations. The experts form PNG were welcomed and had animated talks with representative of RRI, the Ministry etc.

Sharing not only an important island, but also with a similar topography and common challenges, the top-level PNG demonstrations was eager to understand and see the way to digitise radio for the benefit of their whole country and population.

📄 Papua New Guinea Delegation Visits Indonesia for DRM Technical Exchange – news.drm.org

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DRM In Focus at CCBN 2026 in China

Before the DRM General Assembly DRM Digital Radio took Centre Stage at the annual China Content Broadcasting Network (CCBN) exhibition in Beijing as China’s Digital Radio Ecosystem Gains Momentum.

The DRM representatives conveyed a consistent message at this exhibition and conference: China’s DRM ecosystem has moved beyond the standards stage and is now advancing on multiple fronts – field testing, deployment, and domestic industrialisation.

📄 DRM Digital Radio Takes Centre Stage at CCBN 2026 as China’s Digital Radio Ecosystem Gains Momentum – news.drm.org

👍 Read and like the post on LinkedIn

DRM of Interest to Nigerians

A high-level delegation from Nigeria, including representatives from the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), Voice of Nigeria (VON), National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON), and Ecalpemos Technologies, visited Cestron International in Teltow, Germany at the end of April.

DRM was presented and discussed at length with the Nigerian guests. The discussions confirmed that broadcasting remains a relevant medium, with digitisation identified as essential to maintaining its appeal. DRM is the only digital radio technology able to provide local, regional as well as full country and international coverage Nigeria is engaged in.

📄 DRM Progresses in Nigeria: High-Level Delegation Explores Digital Radio Solutions – news.drm.org

👍 Read and like the post on LinkedIn

DRM Members at BroadcastAsia 2026 in Singapore

DRM Consortium members Fraunhofer IIS, Nautel and RFmondial as well as Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union will participate in BroadcastAsia 2026, taking place from in Singapore 20–22 May 2026.

BroadcastAsia is one of Asia’s major broadcast and media industry events, bringing together broadcasters, technology providers, and media professionals from across the region. The event provides an opportunity to showcase the latest developments in broadcast technology and discuss the future of digital media and radio services.

If you wish to be in touch with any of the DRM representatives please write to projectoffice@drm.org.