The Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) Consortium, and the German DRM Platform held a comprehensive European workshop in Erlangen, Germany from April 6 to 7.

DRM is the universal, openly standardised digital broadcasting system for all broadcasting frequencies., providing high quality sound combined with a wealth of enhanced features.

 The DRM standard comprises of ‘DRM30′  – intended for broadcasts on short, medium and long wave up to 30 MHz providing large coverage areas and low power consumption and ‘DRM+’ for VHF bands above 30 MHz, tailored for local and regional coverage with broadcaster-controlled transmissions.

The workshop, titled ‘Flexible and Complete Digital Radio for Europe, was a first such DRM event aimed at offering solutions to all broadcasters large or small.

During their presentations and discussions participants urged all stakeholders of Digital Radio in Europe – including European organisations, regulators, broadcasters and the receiver and automotive industry – to embrace publicly the duality and complementarity of the open DRM and DAB standards as the complete Digital Radio solution for Europe (and worldwide).

The first session took a brief look at the status of DRM adoption around the world, including the DRM roll-out in India, ready to become the largest digital radio market in the world with over 600 million people being reached by DRM broadcasts.

Joachim Lehnert, Chairman of the German DRM Platform, concluded that the workshop was an important step to bringing national activities together and added: “With all the European DRM activities presented and the encouraging messages from the receiver industry, I believe that the famous ‘chicken or egg’ problem can be solved from the receiver end by adding DRM as a complement to existing digital receivers. This will eventually help all radio broadcasters across Europe, whether national, local or community stations, and will ensure each has a digital home in the future.”