Montefusco: “Dab is the present of the Radio, the next zero-interruption challenge in the tunnel”

“I often hear that Dab, Digital Audio Broadcasting, is the future of radio, while it is already the present of the evolution of radio. Sound perfection, absence of interference and continuity of listening, whatever city or place you cross, Dab is a revolution in progress, which already covers 83% of the Italian population for external reception and on the move, especially by car: just think over 53 million people currently already travel with the Dab system, that the coverage of the service along the major routes and the highways is over 6,500 kilometers long and that indoor domestic reception has exceeded 55% of the population and this means that when someone goes to a retailer to buy a receiver they are now asking for digital radio as a Dab platform “. President of Radio Dimensione Suono (Rds) and of the Italian consortium of companies Dab Italia Eduardo Montefusco is enthusiastic about the path that Radio is making. Wide strides that have their fulcrum in “radio-generated content”, especially now that “radio has become multimedia, allowing everyone to follow their favorite broadcasts also via smartphone and on TV”. Not surprisingly, he tells Adnkronos Montefusco, the large publishing groups, as in the case of Rds, invest heavily in content. “But there is a next challenge waiting for this tool full of history and capable of always keeping up with the times: the use also under the long tunnels where anyone has experienced the absence of a signal, the interruption of entertainment programs or news, also relating to traffic: “The next challenge on which, personally, I wanted us to try our hand at that of starting the reception service in the tunnel at least on the most significant sections of the large-scale tunnels. We are already working on it – Montefusco anticipates – Another medium-term objective will be to reach 90% for outdoor reception “.” Currently listening in the car is crucial: 75% of our listeners follow us in the car. And clearly the transfer from analogue to digital in all new generation cars – he observes – is a strong stimulus: from 2020, among other things, it is mandatory to install a Dab receiver by the manufacturers and this has encouraged the dissemination of our contents. through the Dab and therefore on platforms that are followed by millennials with the relative rebound on social networks that acts as a further amplifier and the transformation, also because of all this, of our radio hosts into real stars: those who follow them can now also see them and not just listen to them. And the emotions of the radio are thus enhanced even more. Our channel (Rds) is also distributed on digital terrestrial at 265, on Sky at 724, and on Telesat at channel 50 “.” In the 70s the radio was mainly listened to at home with receivers in FM, but also in Am – underlines Montefusco – Then there was a transformation in the listening duration and today with all the platforms in the field that distribute our contents, there has been a real escalation: those who are passionate about some Rds program can follow it on smartphone, car, television. A medium, the small screen, which according to the data is chosen by 4.5 million users to follow the radio. And so we return to the starting point: more multi-platform content equal success of the radio “. Not only.” Dab also means the possibility of sending images and texts written during the broadcasts of songs that are programmed and cannot be interrupted – explains the president of Rds – This gives the possibility to alert on urgent news but also to see the covers of the discs being listened to or other interesting information for the listener. Today from the research and certification bodies of the park we know that the diffusion of the Dab system concerns almost 8,100,000 receivers in cars which will probably exceed the 9 million threshold at the end of the year. Nine million receivers that will send motorists far superior FM sound without even a break when the frequency changes from one city to another. A nice change, isn’t it? “.