ASIA

This week Triple M Breakfast with Marto and Margaux raised $24,000 for UNICEF Australia’s Tongan Recovery Appeal.Tomorrow, the Vintage Reds take on a Tongan Invitational side at Suncorp Stadium – dual International Lote Tuqiri and fan favourite George Smith will feature in the Tongan side coached by Toutai Kefu while Chris Latham, James Horwill, Scott Higginbotham, and David Croft will line up for the Vintage Reds.Marto and Margaux auctioned off a place in the Vintage Reds side.Rob Flux from Property Developer Network was leading the bidding heading into the final stages, keen to resurrect his rugby career. “The body is a bit brittle, I’ve had three or four knee reconstructions, but this is all for a great cause.”But he was blinded by Sam Delvin from Harcourts Property Centre who come in with seconds left in the auction. “My brother was the First IV coach with Toutai Kefu at Ioana last year, so I’ll go to nine grand on the proviso that Toutai (former Wallabies great Toutai Kefu) doesn’t tackle me.”The pair traded bids until coming to a gentlemen’s agreement to EACH buy a place in the team for $12,000.The duo will take to the field with some of the greats of Australian rugby including Lote Tiquri, Digby Ioane, George Smith, James Horwill, Drew Mitchell, and Nathan Sharpe.Red’s coach and Dual International Brad Thorn also revealed exclusively to Marto and Margaux that he will be taking part in the game. “I always take my boots and mouthguard,” Thorn said. “I’ll play the first half of the match and then put my coach’s hat on for the Reds game against the Rebels.” […]

Astro Radio’s SYOK was awarded the ‘Most Number of Radio Channels on a Mobile Application’ by the Malaysia Book of Records, in recognition of the simultaneous launch of 60 online radio stations on the SYOK app.The award was presented to Kenny Ong, Chief Executive Officer, Astro Radio by Jwan Heah, Director, Business Development, Malaysia Book of Records.With an average of 3.18 million of digital listeners weekly on SYOK, the 60 online radio stations offer users extensive variety and compilations of music, and a Chinese news channel ‘YOU-NEIRONG’ for the latest news and current affairs updates.The stations on SYOK enable users to stream their favourite music genres and categories across languages including ballads, classics, acoustic music, dance music, workout music, K-pop, hip-hop, favourites from the 70s, 80s and 90s, rock, Jiwang, Cintan, Nasyid, Arabic, Bollywood songs, Irama Malaysia, Dangdut and more.Kenny Ong, Chief Executive Officer, Astro Radio, said: “We thank all Malaysians for their support and look forward to continue being pioneers in transforming the local audio landscape. We hope everyone enjoys the diverse and relevant online radio choices available on SYOK and look forward to more exciting offerings in time to come.”Jwan Heah, Director, Business Development, Malaysia Book of Records, said: “We congratulate SYOK for this achievement and we look forward to continue recognising more record creators locally for their feats, achievements and creations in the Malaysian landscape.” […]

The Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh has renewed the appointment of Ahmed Quamruzzaman as the Director General of national broadcaster Bangladesh Betar from February 7. Earlier, he served as the Director General (Grade-I) of Bangladesh Betar from January 11, 2021 to December 30, 2021.Kamruzzaman started his career by joining the broadcaster in April 1986 as Assistant Radio Engineer under BCS Information Cadre and went on to work in various important departments including radio engineering and broadcasting sections.In October 2014, he took the charge of Chief Engineer of Bangladesh Betar.According to a release by the broadcaster, during his long 36 years radio career, his efficiency, ‍skills and speculation have made Bangladesh Betar a modern broadcasting media that competes with private FM radios and the international broadcasting media.He has launched FM broadcasting channels of Bangladesh Betar across the country and under his leadership, Bangladesh Betar is now broadcasting through Bangabandhu Satellite, online streaming and mobile apps. […]

ABC managing director David Anderson told a Senate Committee hearing last night that public broadcasters in the Pacific have raised concerns about Chinese government pressure to carry state-owned news content.The ABC is lobbying to expand its operations in the Pacific and play a greater “soft diplomacy” role, as China increases its influence in the region. Across the Pacific there are many infrastructure projects funded by China that give it leverage in many areas, including broadcasting.The national broadcaster ended its shortwave Radio Australia transmissions in 2017 under managing director Michelle Guthrie, amidst warnings that shortwave radio was still important and that other countries would extend their influence in the Pacific in the absence of ABC Radio Australia signals on shortwave. In 2018, China extended its shortwave broadcasts into the region on the vacated ABC frequencies.“For the ABC to have an expanded presence there is important, particularly with concerns, frankly, over the Chinese government,” Anderson told the Senate Committee. “The single biggest piece of information that comes back to us from them is concern over the pressure the Chinese government put on them to carry content to broadcast through the Pacific.”The ABC also previously broadcast tv news bulletins into 46 nations including Indonesia and Papua New Guinea through the DFAT funded Australia TV Network, which was closed in 2014 after federal budget cuts. Chinese President Xi Jinping has expanded the state-owned China Global Television Network in recent years, to “make the voice of China heard.”The ABC continues to broadcast in the Pacific region, but at a smaller scale than in previous years.The ABC is currently lobbying the federal government for an additional $12 million to support the expansion of broadcast services to the region again.In his opening statement to the Senate Estimates Committee, David Anderson also outlined the success of the national broadcaster in several areas:“The ABC is the leading Australian radio network with the highest reach and share of listening.“ABC News finished 2021 as the number one digital news brand in Australia with more than 63% of Australians connected with ABC News platforms.“ABC iview was the number one Broadcast Video on Demand Service.“Importantly, 78% of Australians trusted the information provided by the ABC, which is significantly higher than all other media institutions and information providers… In its 90th year the ABC is more relevant to Australians than ever…” […]

DAB+ radio came as standard in 95% of new cars sold in key European markets in 2021, according to figures released by WorldDAB.These results reflect the implementation into national legislatures of the European Electronic Communications Code (EECC) which, from December 2020, requires all new car radios sold in the EU to be capable of receiving digital terrestrial radio.These figures reinforce the findings of the recent Car Buyers Survey* by Edison Research which found that 90% of survey respondents say a broadcast radio tuner should be standard equipment in every car.Several new EU countries surveyed for the first time are already on a par with more established DAB+ markets and were found to have a high percentage of new cars sold with DAB+ fitted standard notably:
Austria:                  94% of new cars sold in 2021 have DAB+ as standard
Czech Republic:    93% of new cars sold in 2021 have DAB+ as standard
Poland:                  92% of new cars sold in 2021 have DAB+ as standard
Spain:                    91% of new cars sold in 2021 have DAB+ as standard
Patrick Hannon, President of WorldDAB, said: “Across Europe, new cars are coming with DAB+ fitted as standard. For broadcasters and listeners, there is a rapidly growing installed base of cars with DAB+. This applies to established digital radio markets, such as Germany, Italy and the UK, and to countries at earlier stages of development, such as Czech Republic, Poland and Spain. It is clear that DAB+ is the future of broadcast radio in Europe.”Key findings of the report:DAB+ is now in 95% of new cars in key European markets, driven by the impact of the European Electronic Communications Code which came into force end 2020, as well as the expansion of DAB+ in key markets such as Germany, France and Switzerland where preparations are ongoing to switch off FM in 2024.13 of the top 15 car sales markets in Europe now have over 90% of new cars sold with DAB+:
Italy, Norway, Switzerland, UK and Belgium – all have 98-100% of new cars with DAB+
Netherlands 95%
Austria is on a par with Germany and Denmark – all at 94%
Czech Republic 93%
Poland 92%, Spain 91% and France 90%
* Download the full report – Edison Car Buyers Survey […]

As the rest of the world marked #WorldRadioDay on February 13, Afghanistan mourned the loss of as 86 radio stations which have halted operations over the past six months since the Taliban took control of the country.Radio in Afghanistan began in the era of the former Afghan King Amanullah Khan in 1926. The first radio station was named Radio Kabul and broadcast in Kabul.Although the media has technologically developed in a variety of ways, radio still remains one of the main sources of information in the country.“We have a lot of memories from the radio. There was a time when restrictions were imposed on listening to the radio. When we were listening to the radio, we would task one individual to keep a lookout; we were listening to it in secret,” said Mangal, a resident of Wardak, while speaking to Tolo News.Current financial and political issues are the main reasons for the collapse of the Afghan media and the recent political change following the fall of the republican government has severely affected the country’s radio sector.Based on the statistics, over 300 different kinds of media organizations have been closed since the Taliban swept into power in August.“Around 70 per cent of radio stations are closed in the country. The reasons are economic challenges and broadcasting programs–in the current situation. On the other hand, the government insists on collecting taxes from radio stations,” Shafiullah Azizi, head of the Zamzama radio stations told Tolo News.“Our findings show that if the international community doesn’t provide financial support to the media, many of these radio stations will be closed within the next six months–this shows a collapse of the media in the country,” said Hojatullah Mujadidi, head of the Afghan Independent Journalist Association. […]