Broadcasters call for strong radio future at car tech summit

Global, Bauer, the BBC and other public and commercial broadcasters have made a united call to the car industry to ensure that radio remains easy to access and prominent in connected vehicles.

The message was delivered at WorldDAB Automotive 2025 in Madrid, where close to 200 executives from the broadcast and automotive sectors gathered to discuss the future of radio in the car.

Tobias Nielsen from Bauer Media and Tomas Granryd from the European Broadcasting Union launched a new global initiative called “Radio Ready for Connected Cars”, which aims to keep radio freely available and prominent in digital dashboards.

Earlier today, leaders from Bauer, the EBU and the Association of European Radios took part in a panel focused on collaboration with the automotive sector. Jacqueline from WorldDAB chaired the session and emphasised the importance of using a hybrid model of DAB+, FM and online streaming.

Spain’s Secretary General for Telecommunications, Matías González Martín, opened the event by confirming that Spain’s government was reviewing options to support DAB+ and would be making a regulatory decision in the coming weeks.

Spain was chosen to host the event as one of Europe’s top car manufacturers and a growing DAB+ country. RTVE now broadcasts DAB+ in 15 cities in partnership with Cellnex.

The working group has key partners across Europe, including Bauer Media Group, European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the Association of European Radios (AER), BBC, Global, NRJ, RTL, Radio France and SR who further got support of the initiative from Antenna Group and Radio Hamburg in Europe.

Momentum is building on a global scale, too, with RCA, the body representing all commercial radio stations in Australia, signing up earlier this week. The working group invites all other broadcasters and trade bodies to join the working group and support Radio Ready.

DAB+ expansion was also highlighted, with updates including a national launch in Greece, a February rollout in Turkey, and trials underway in Thailand, Ireland, and Bosnia & Herzegovina. In Switzerland, SRG SSR completed its switch-off of FM at the end of last year.

The next WorldDAB Summit will be held in Antwerp on Thursday 20 November 2025.