This year, World Radio Day is being celebrated on Tuesday 13^th February and the theme of 2018 is sports and how we can tackle important issues through the coverage of sports on radio. Specifically, World Radio Day 2018 will focus on the following topics in sports coverage: gender equality, diversity and peace and development.

In an article on RadioWorld.com, Mirta Lourenco, chief of section for Media Development at UNESCO, stresses the importance of radio: “radio can be a platform for sharing stories that interest and inspire their audiences”, adding that “we aim to hear more coverage of the kinds of sports for peace and development initiatives that showcase the positive values of sports – teamwork, fair play, solidarity, mutual respect.”

The intrinsic link between sports and radio allows World Radio Day 2018 to cover a wide berth of issues – but also the plethora of solutions that are available to us. Diversity is key to sport as sport allows people to connect with their cultural roots and celebrate something on both a club and international level. World Radio Day 2018 is also tasked with challenging gender stereotypes with inspiring stories from the world of sport and to inspire a new wave of young people with positive role models in sport.

World Radio Day 2017 was a real success, with UNESCO writing that “over 500 events took place worldwide in 2017”. Broadcasters from all over the globe are encouraged to co-operate to make World Radio Day a real force for good and one which we hope to see for many years to come.

For more information, see the official UNESCO World Radio Day website here.

The post Everything You Need to Know About World Radio Day 2018 appeared first on Best Radios.

Below is a brief overview of these new radios.

Shelford Retro DAB Digital FM Portable Radio

The Majority Shelford is a retro portable FM/DAB radio with a carrying handle that comes in either a red or cream finish. This radio lets you save 20 preset stations (10 on FM and 10 on DAB). The Shelford can be powered by 4 x C type batteries, and also comes with a mains adapter. Other features include an alarm clock, a headphone jack and a sleep function.

Read more about this radio and see prices on Amazon.co.uk

Barton Retro DAB Digital FM Upright Radio

The Majority Barton is a mains powered FM/DAB radio with a retro upright design reminiscent of the Pure Evoke H2. While the design is similar to the Evoke H2, the Majority Barton is significantly cheaper, which is one of the main selling points with Majority radios.

Like the Shelford discussed above, the Barton lets you save 20 preset stations (10 on FM and 10 on DAB), and also features an alarm clock, a sleep function and a headphone socket.

Read more about this radio and see prices on Amazon.co.uk

Histon DAB Digital & FM Portable Radio

The Majority Histon is a modern and compact portable FM/DAB radio that can be powered by 4 x AA batteries or plugged into the mains with the adapter included. The Histon’s slim and modern design is reminiscent of the Goodmans Canvas, though with its own unique twist.

The radio also comes with a micro USB cable so you can use a computer as a power source. Other features include an alarm clock, headphone socket and sleep function.

Read more about this radio and see prices on Amazon.co.uk

Girton DAB Digital & FM Portable Radio

The Majority Girton is a very affordable stereo FM/DAB radio with a design that combines both contemporary and retro elements. The Girton is portable and features a handle making it easy to carry around.

The radio can be powered by 4 x C batteries or by the mains adapter included. Some of the Girton’s other features include an alarm clock, a headphone socket and a sleep function.

Read more about this radio and see prices on Amazon.co.uk

The post Majority Technology Release New Range of Radios appeared first on Best Radios.

Here’s an overview of some of the new radios released to the UK market in 2017.

Majority Barton Retro DAB Radio

The Barton Retro DAB Radio is the latest addition to Majority’s range of affordable digital radios that are designed in Cambridge, England. It’s named after the village of Barton near Cambridge.

The Barton has an upright design with an attractive wood-effect finish reminiscent of Pure’s Evoke range.

Features

• FM/DAB radio
• 20 preset stations (10 on FM and 10 on DAB)
• Alarm clock
• Sleep function
• LCD display
• Headphone jack

Dimensions: 19 cm high x 12 cm deep x 12 cm wide

Buy online: Click for price.co.uk

Suzuki Boombox Portable CD Player

This radio is a CD player boombox with AM/FM radio and a USB port. It’s not clear if the boombox is made by the Japanese motorcycle manufacturer Suzuki, or if another company is using its name.

Early reviews of this boombox suggest that it is quite unreliable and has poor build quality.

Features

• Programmable CD player that can play MP3 CDs
• AM/FM radio
• USB port for playing music from a USB drive
• LCD display
• Can be powered by the mains or 6 x 1.5V batteries

Dimensions: 23 cm wide x 23 cm high x 15 cm deep
Weight: 1.45kg

Buy online: Click for price.co.uk

John Lewis Note

The John Lewis Note is a small and compact FM/DAB radio that comes in a range of colours. The Note is reasonably priced and has an attractive, stylish design.

Early reviews suggest it has decent sound quality and offers good value for money.

Features

• FM/DAB radio
• Saves 20 preset stations
• Mains or battery powered (with 4 AA batteries)
• 5mm headphone jack

Dimensions: 17.7 cm wide x 12 cm high x 5.3 cm deep
Weight: 375g

Buy online: See on JohnLewis.com

The post New Radios Released in 2017 appeared first on Best Radios.

The BBC remains by far the most popular broadcaster, with a 53.5% share of listening, and the top three most popular stations were all BBC stations:

1. BBC Radio 2: 15m listeners a week
2. BBC Radio 4: 11.3m listeners a week
3. BBC Radio 1: 9.6m listeners a week

Classic FM is the most popular commercial station, with roughly 5.4m listeners a week.

Now that all the figures for 2016 are in, the total number of hours people in the UK spent listening to the radio in 2016 can be calculated at roughly 4.1 billion. This shows that radio remains an incredibly popular and important medium, despite the growing range of alternatives.

See the full figures on RAJAR’s website here.

The infographic below shows some of the highlights of RAJAR’s Q4 2016 data.

The post RAJAR Figures for Q4 2016 Show Radio Remains Buoyant appeared first on Best Radios.

Some local stations will continue transmitting on FM for a few more years, but national commercial stations and Norway’s public network NRK will only be available on DAB from 2017. Norwegians will see their choice of national radio stations increase from 5 to 25.

Norway is already one of the leading countries in the world when it comes to DAB coverage, with roughly 99.5% of the population having access to DAB reception according to WorldDAB. This is a great achievement given Norway’s geography, with its many islands and mountains. There is also an ambitious project underway to bring DAB radio coverage to the hundreds of tunnels across the country, offering drivers unbroken radio coverage on their journeys.

Why Norway?

Norway’s FM infrastructure was outdated and would have needed significant investment to upgrade. This was one of the drivers in encouraging the country’s government to plan for a digital switchover, along with the fact that DAB can accommodate more channels than FM.

Norway was also far more ready for a switchover than most European countries. Norway was one of the earliest countries to adopt DAB radio, with its first digital stations becoming available in 1995. By December 2016, 7 out of 10 Norwegians owned a DAB radio according to NRK. However, only 3 in 10 cars had a DAB radio, which is a cause for concern.

Why not let people switch at their own speed?

Norway has a very challenging topography with a lot of mountains and islands. To keep both FM and DAB running would require lots of transmitters, which would cost 200 million Kronor (about £20 million) a year extra according to NRK. Also, since the majority of Norwegian households already had a digital radio and DAB was becoming the more common way of listening to the radio, it was considered a good time to simplify things and bring costs down by switching off FM.

Couldn’t Norway just switch to internet streaming?

It might seem strange to invest so heavily in DAB radio at a time when broadband internet is so widely available. A lot of people expect online streaming to become the dominant way of listening to the radio, but there is still a need for offline radio.

There are still lots of places where accessing the internet would be difficult or impossible, for example on fishing boats. Radio is also free to listen to, and is more likely to be accessible after a shock event like a natural disaster.

Controversy

The decision to switch off FM networks has been very controversial, and has become the subject of much debate among the country’s major political parties. There have been many calls to delay the switchover process, but it looks set to go ahead on schedule.

Many Norwegians are frustrated that their AM/FM radio will become defunct overnight, and feel that the change has been unnecessarily quick and forced. A poll done for Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet in 2016 showed that 65% of Norwegians opposed the switchover. Since 2017 is an election year in Norway, the switchover could have negative consequences for the ruling Høyre party.

Several groups have particular concerns about the consequences of switching FM off. For example, fishermen in Nordland, the region where FM will be switched off in January, rely on the radio for weather reports. Nordland is Norway’s most northerly region with only a few hours of daylight in winter, and it is also one of the country’s most import important fishing regions. If fishermen haven’t updated their radios, they could be at risk of being unprepared for bad weather.

A boost to radio sales

Unsurprisingly, sales of DAB radios have exploded in Norway since the switchover was confirmed by a majority vote in the Norwegian parliament, and DAB radios are expected to be one of the most popular Christmas gifts in 2016. The switchover has made radio a hot topic in Norway, for better or for worse.

However, given the common feeling that DAB radio is being forced upon people, some Norwegians may choose to start listening online instead, or even stop listening to the radio altogether.

Is Norway a model for other countries to follow?

Several countries have considered switching their radio networks completely to DAB/DAB+ including the United Kingdom, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands and Italy. While there are no definite dates for doing so yet, it is expected that other countries will follow Norway’s suit in the next five years. As in Norway, any switchover in these countries will be controversial.

In 2016 a few AM stations in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Germany were switched off to transfer their funding to digital radio, and German station Klassik Radio voluntarily switched off its FM transmission to focus exclusively on DAB. While these actions indicate a strong trend towards digital radio, we will have to wait and see if any of these countries take the plunge and follow Norway’s example.

In its Digital Radio 2016 Report, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) named Denmark, Switzerland and the United Kingdom ‘Leaders’ in digital radio in 2016, along with Norway of course. Switzerland is planning to replace AM transmissions with DAB+ in 2020, and replace FM with DAB+ between 2020 and 2024.

The post How Norway Is Leading the Way in DAB Radio appeared first on Best Radios.