Friday, October 22, 2004

Conference on digitalization predicts "world-wide renaissance of radio"
Text of press release by Deutsche Welle on 21 October

"Digital short-wave will revolutionize cross-border broadcasts and will
initiate a world-wide renaissance of radio." This was the opinion of the
director general of Deutsche Welle, Mr Erik Bettermann, during a panel
discussion at Munchner Medientage. Mr Bettermann, the head of the German
international broadcaster - and instigator of the event - was not the only
one to present an optimistic prediction of a "digital global radio"
development: The other panel specialists also emphasized the advantages of
digitalization in the so-called AM range, i.e. short, medium and long-wave.

The discussion was chaired by Peter Senger, director of distribution at
Deutsche Welle and chairman of the Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) Consortium;
and next to Erik Bettermann, BBC representative Mike Cronk, Dan D'Aversa of
RTL Group and Phil Laven of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) were also
participating in the debate.

(Media Network)