The deployment of Digital radio, announced in 2006 as the “salvation
of the Brazilian radio” has been paralyzed for such a long time because
of the Government’s indecision that risks not making a move in time to
save the dying radio market. The debates on digital radio implementation
in Brazil started more than 10 years ago. During this period the
technological progress has changed significantly the landscape of
broadcasting and the media in general.
The history of digital radio in Brazil dates back to the early 2000s,
when tests were carried out both by the Academy and by broadcasters in
order to define the best standard for the country. In 2010 the Ordinance
290 of the Ministry of Communications (MC) defined the guidelines of
the Brazilian System of Digital Radio but unlike what happened with
Digital TV, it did not establish a time limit for the definition of the
standard. In August 2012 the Ministry of Communication created the
Advisory Board of Digital Radio (CCRD – Conselho Consultivo do Rádio
Digital), to analyze and recommend the best standard for the country by
the end of that year. After intense activity at the beginning, the
absence of clear objectives, lack of significant decisions and no end
forecast, end of the Board, with no decisions taken. The only technical
definition was from Anatel (Brazilian Telecommunications Regulator
Agency), in 2013, with a report determining that: to operate in simulcast *,
the digital system adopted can only operate in one of the side bands of
the analogue signal. Only the DRM standard meets this premise,
therefore, the Brazilian system was set at that time. However, the
Ministry decided to continue the debates, and the CCRD languished.
There are no excuses for short waves and tropical waves
Ddigital radio grows exponentially in many countries on AM, below 30
MHz – “DRM30″. The ability to deliver good sound quality and multimedia
content for long distances has shown itself useful in several countries
with large territorial coverage and international broadcasts, very
important in a globalized world. DRM is the only standard recognized by
ITU for SW/TW and its adoption is worldwide. Today, digital SW and MW
(DRM) come from, Italy (Vatican Radio), United Kingdom (BBC), India
(AIR), New Zealand (RNZI), Japan (NHK), Indonesia (RRI), France (RFI),
among many others. Several digital tests were conducted in Brazil,
showing excellent SW audio reception from transmitter sites in the
French Guyana and Ascension Island (United Kingdom). The DRM daily
transmission schedule is available on the official DRM site (www.drm.org).
India stands out in deploying DRM30 digital radio, eventually being
able to cover almost the whole area of the country. Conflicts in Africa
have caused plans on investments in digital broadcasts on shortwave from
European public broadcasters facing that continent, where community
organizations may plan on the distribution of digital DRM receivers for
refugees. It is the implementation of the essence of this new media: a
large coverage area, a lot of content, with quality and robustness.
The deployment delay of digital radio in Brazil is justified by the
Government by claiming that it is not able to decide which standard
should be adopted here. However, since DRM is the only available
standard that covers shortwave and tropical wave (TW) broadcasts, there
is no reason for the Ministry of Communications not to approve
immediately this system in our country, in these frequency bands. This
decision would trigger an immediate modernisation for the broadcasters
in this sector, opening up the possibility of a revival of long-range
radio and allowing the creation of quality content in the country. It is
important to keep in mind that the deployment of digital radio in short
wave is the introduction of a “free for all” platform using an existing
broadcast system. It is not the revitalization of the short waves, it
is the birth of a new form of transmission of sound and multimedia data,
something new would be thus born.
While the non-deployment of digital radio in Brazil appears to be a
safe and low-cost strategy, we’ve got at a point where the industry is
already losing money. There is no progress without risk; we’re talking
about stagnation versus evolution. We are “stuck” in a country that
demonstrates a huge appetite for digital content (images, texts, videos)
and digital radio can offer that democratically to our population.
EBC is ready to invest in digital shortwave
On May 4th, EBC – Empresa Brasil de Comunicação, the public
governmental communication company, filed an official document to the
Ministry of Communications in which it advocates the immediate decision
in favour of the digital radio standard for shortwave frequencies. EBC
is responsible for the National Radio of Amazonia, which operates in 25m
and 49m shortwave. The broadcaster which will be 39 in September still
operates with the same transmitters used on its inauguration day. In
these four decades, radio has become a vehicle of vital importance to
many populations of the Amazon region, because shortwave reaches places
where no other media can get. The necessary revitalization of the
transmission site there – still one of the largest sites of Latin
America- depends on the future of the frequency.
Because of the growing difficulty to getting a good quality signal in
short wave, listeners are abandoning their receivers or not buying new
ones. For a public company such as EBC, this stops its ability to
continue investing in the Amazon National. “EBC has an investment plan
ready to revitalize the shortwave broadcasts of Rodeador, in Brazlândia,
city here of Districto Federal. There is already a Brazilian industry
with technology able to deliver new SW transmitters. They have sent us
the budget for the production of two new solid state transmitters,
capable of transmitting in both analogue and digital. But without a
Governmental decision on shortwave digitisation it becomes very
difficult to justify the investment. “, explains Peter Varoni, CEO of
EBC. For Peter, the decision in favour of the digital standard will
leverage the receivers sales. Listeners will be again interested in
short wave, since the audio quality will be equal to that of FM, while
the same current coverage area is maintained and multimedia data can
also be sent..
Digital radio, as well as Digital TV, allows an evolutionary leap,
enabling a dramatic improvement of sound quality, offering extra
features, multimedia content and interactivity. We can only hope to see
the end of Governmental sluggishness, with its successive postponements
and delayed decisions about Digital radio. Once again, the losers are
all the Brazilians
F.WDRM
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