On June 12th, Radio Voce della Speranza (Voice of Hope Radio) in Florence started broadcasting in DAB+ in the cities of Florence, Prato and Pistoia, where about 1.5 million people live (besides hundreds of thousands of visitors from all over the world!).
Daryl Gungadoo, Distribution & Network Engineer, Adventist World Radio (Europe), said “That makes Radio Voce della Speranza the first AWR-affiliated radio station to broadcast in the new DAB+ which is getting more and more important in Europe.”
Unfortunately, in Italy the DAB+ standard is still at an early stage, and there are few Italians who own DAB+ receivers, though it is easier to find such receivers in normal shops. But everything is ready to change, and there are in Tuscany many FM stations which have started broadcasting in DAB+ as well.
What matters is that RVS (Voice of Hope Radio) is already there! It would have been much more difficult (and expensive) to get DAB frequencies in the the future, so it was very smart of the Italian Church to be involved in the early stages!
Thanks to the leaders of the Communication Department and the Radio Ministry of the Italian Union, some stations of the Adventist network have managed to enter the game: the sooner the better, as the DAB frequencies are likely to become more expensive in the future!
RVS producers believe the size of the DAB+ audience will depend on the equipment car firms will use for their standard (car) radio receivers in Italy.
The credit of these huge efforts is due to the leadership of the Church in Italy.
“As I drove from Florence to Pistoia, I was delighted to discover the clear and crisp sound of our broadcast, and how steady it remained along the 32-kilometres-long motor road that joins the two cities”, so Roberto Vacca, Producer of the network Voce della Speranza.
“I thanked the Lord because this is an open door that makes the future of our station much brighter, as the present frequency in FM is getting worse because of technical and legal problems with other stations”, he continued.
However, for a number of years the FM frequency will continue to be the main asset.
RVS has to thank AWR for this privilege. In fact, RVS began to broadcast on FM thanks to the efforts of the director of AWR-Europe. Ron Myers, back in 1979 (the first European Adventist station to broadcast in FM 24 hours a day).
“This morning Sofia, the wife of the director of the Italian Adventist Review, came to our studio and told us that she had just met a lady at the gate of the church”, so Roberto Vacca. “The lady was standing silently looking at the signpost, reading the name of the station: “RADIO VOCE DELLA SPERANZA”. “Can I help you?” Sofia asked and the lady replied: “how much I love this station, I am tuned to RVS all the time, I like their programs!”.
May the Lord provide the Italian Radio Ministry with a wide open door so that the Spirit of God may reach hearts and minds of many listeners.
