It’s been two years since we formed the RadioDNS Project, and interest in the project just keeps building and building.

We like to keep things simple at RadioDNS, but we’ve got to the stage where we need some help to deal with all the things we want to do, and keep communicating with all the people we want to keep in touch with.

So we’re going to appoint someone to be Project Co-ordinator for RadioDNS. It’s a modest role, but one that will involve some really interesting conversations and projects.

Have a look at the full job description, which has details of how to apply and when to apply by. It doesn’t matter where in the world you’re based – we’re a virtual organisation.

Photo: Tobias Horvath

It’s one of the largest broadcast events in the calendar: the NAB Show in Las Vegas, NV, USA.

Once again our member NAB has generously invited us to exhibit, and we’ll there at booth C547 in the Central Hall from Monday 16th April thru’ Thursday 19th April. Nick Piggott (the RadioDNS Project Chairperson) and James Cridland (Secretary Elect) will be on hand, demonstrating RadioDNS on radios and cellphones.

We’ll be showing how you can use Broadcast + IP to add great clickable visuals to radio, to have a radio that switches automatically between FM/HD and IP streaming, and a radio that lets your listeners bookmark and explore things they heard on the radio. Our RadioDNS members are putting together some great demonstration content, including content for radio stations in Las Vegas.

If you’d like to find out more, do come and have a look, or send us an email to make an appointment. As an added incentive, we’ll also have stocks of Cadbury’s chocolates for anyone passing by.

Also during that week:

• The RadioDNS Steering Board meets on the morning of Tuesday 17th April
• James and Nick will both be presenting at the Digital Strategies Exchange for Radio on the afternoon of Wednesday 18th April

We look forward to seeing you in Las Vegas.

Although Internet radio and terrestrial broadcasting have thus far largely evolved side by side, there are signs that the line is starting to blur. Internet radios like Slacker may eventually offer live content, and a number of terrestrial broadcasters are moving their services closer to online streaming.

… starts an interesting article from Jan Stojaspal which mentions RadioDNS and other technologies.

Read the full article at Telematics Update

What has RadioDNS been up to over the last twelve months? At the General Assembly in Geneva on February 14th, we presented this short highlights overview.

Each year we have our General Assembly, which is our chance to bring everyone together to review how we’ve done in 2011, and tell you about our plans for 2012. As well as hearing about the usual important things, like Financial Reports and what the Steering Board has discussed/agreed on, our Working Team leaders will also report on how their application developments are going.

We’ll also have our annual elections for the Chairperson, Secretary and members of the Steering Board.

Anyone is welcome to attend the General Assembly, in person or by phone. This year’s event is on Tuesday 14th February, at 14:00 (CET), kindly hosted by the EBU at their building in Geneva.

You can find all the details on our Fifth General Assembly page.

The General Assembly is taking part during the EBU’s Digital Radio Week. Also in that week there’s a Radio Hackday workshop for programmers, and RadioDNS will be being represented.

Frontier Silicon announced today the launch of new software for its widely adopted DAB/DAB+ platforms. This latest release not only brings advanced text and image capability with DL Plus and RadioVIS technology, but also provides a 20% improvement in power consumption.

A key feature of this latest software update is an implementation of RadioVIS that is unique to Frontier Silicon. Part of the RadioDNS hybrid radio standard, RadioVIS enhances the listening experience by using an internet connection to provide graphics and text synchronised with the audio broadcast by the radio station. By integrating RadioVIS seamlessly into its iPhone App, Frontier Silicon has enabled this advanced technology to be implemented in a low cost radio receiver simply by using the screen and IP connection of the iPhone when docked. This release is ready in perfect time to support RadioVIS services already available in Germany and the UK and also the new service from the BBC to be launched this quarter.

“RadioDNS is supported by broadcasters in the US, Europe and Asia-Pacific, who recognise the strength of combining broadcast radio and IP in one seamless experience,” said Nick Piggott, Chairperson of RadioDNS. “With Frontier Silicon bringing RadioDNS technology to their customers, we expect to see a wide range of hybrid radios coming to the market in the next twelve months.”

In addition to providing these exciting new features, Frontier Silicon’s latest software also consistently reduces the power consumption of the module by 20% under normal DAB/DAB+ playback conditions. This represents a significant gain in the battery life of products using the technology, further reducing the cost of ownership of portable DAB/DAB+ receivers.

“The major launches of DAB/DAB+ broadcasts we have seen in Germany and Hong Kong over the last few months are evidence of the growing strength of digital radio in the market,” said Steve Evans, VP Marketing & Business Development at Frontier Silicon. “These new developments will allow our customers to take advantage of the benefits that digital radio brings across their product line up, and will bring exciting new radio products to consumers over the coming months.”

DL Plus is an advanced text feature currently broadcast as part of the new national DAB+ service in Germany.

From a press release

James Cridland, RadioDNS Project secretary, writes:

I was privileged to visit BBC R&D’s Central London Lab the other week.

Nestling close to Broadcasting House, the team are currently working on RadioVIS and RadioTAG services. I saw the new Revo Axis, which shows off the BBC’s test slides that are delivered over IP alongside the BBC’s DAB transmissions.

A passionate team showed me some of the work they’ve been doing on RadioTAG, which they’ve been working on alongside their colleagues in BBC Audio & Music Interactive, chipset manufacturers Frontier Silicon and commercial broadcaster Global Radio. It was invigorating to see how the team have been working together to produce a simple, straightforward service that works well.

Because the RadioDNS Project is open, anyone can develop applications using the RadioDNS specification. It’s very exciting to see a multi-disciplinary team committed to working together. I’m told the RadioVIS work will be live soon, while the RadioTAG work has just completed user testing and this is currently being reviewed.

Read more on the BBC website

• More details on the RadioTAG work are available on the BBC’s website
• …and the RadioVIS trial was blogged about earlier in the year

Today, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) is hosting live radio shows in French and English from inside the European Parliament in Brussels, to demonstrate how practical, cheap and easy it is to broadcast with hybrid radio technology, including RadioVIS using RadioDNS.

The event is a prelude to the EBU New Radio Group’s annual Digital Radio Conference, and is timed to coincide with the release of the EBU Viewpoint on the Future of Digital Radio.

The one-hour live shows are in French between 1400 – 1500, and in English from 1600 – 1700 in the Vox Box, a multimedia studio in the European Parliament. The English language show will be hosted by award-winning Swedish Radio presenter, Lotta Bromé (P4 Extra).

A live online stream of the shows can be found here.

In a press release today, the EBU stated a “firm conviction” that the future of radio listening will be via a combination of broadcast and internet.

The RadioDNS Steering Board meets twice a year, to review the progress of the project, and to discuss matters that are important to our members, supporters and users. You can see the Agenda at http://radiodns.org/steeringboard

The next RadioDNS Steering Board meeting is on Thursday 29th September. If you have any issues or questions you would like to have raised at that meeting, then you can pass those through in two ways:

• You can contact one of our Steering Board members
• You can contact me, as Chair of the Steering Board (nick.piggott@radiodns.org)

In particular, I’d like to remind you that the EPG Working Team have proposed some changes to both the RadioDNS specification and the RadioEPG specification, which have been sent to our technical community for peer review. We will be looking through the comments received at this Steering Board meeting, so if you do intend to comment, please do (or say that you want to) by Wednesday 28th September.

Our next significant event will be our General Assembly in February 2012, and we’ll let you know the dates of that meeting soon – it will be timed to coincide with the EBU’s Digital Radio Week, as it was this year.

Finally, I’d like to welcome everyone who’s joined this mailing list since meeting us at IBC Amsterdam, NAB Radioshow in Chicago, the Russian Radio Academy Conference in Moscow, the Prix Italia in Turin, and IFA in Berlin. It’s good to have you all along.

Nick