Back in the 1980s, it became clear to many experts that FM was reaching its limits. A new digital radio system was being discussed in professional circles. The EU launched the idea in an EUREKA project, which began testing in 1995. At the time, it was not known whether the new system would work properly in the mountains. This was because radio waves are reflected by mountains and therefore reach the receiver multiple times. This caused interference on FM. A DAB trial was conducted on the Niederhorn (Bernese Oberland, Switzerland) in 1997. And lo and behold, DAB not only worked well, but even better because of the reflections. In the same year, DAB was presented to the world for the first time at the Geneva Motor Show. In 1999, SRG began building its DAB network.
In 2008, Sumatronic was allowed to publicly demonstrate the new DAB+ for the first time in Switzerland at RadioDay in Zurich. Since the end of 2009, all SRG programmes and many private radio stations have been available on DAB+ throughout Switzerland via the SwissMediaCast (SMC) network. SMC had already been broadcasting all programmes in DAB+ from the outset. Many networks from digris, Romandie Médias SA and Dabcom have since been added. All programmes that were previously broadcast on FM have been available on DAB+ for a long time. Depending on location, between 40 and 200 radio programmes can now be received in Switzerland.
Since its inception, countless optimisations have been made to the DAB transmission system. These include DAB+, which now enables around 18 radio programmes to be broadcast via a network of transmitters instead of just seven, and additions such as the highly detailed TPEG traffic management system. DAB+ is now a mature technology that has been tried and tested millions of times over. With the ASA (Automatic Alert System) function, it can now also warn and alert the population. ASA-enabled radios can also be switched on remotely at night in the event of an alarm, and the messages are unobstructed (even for blind and deaf people) and can be transmitted in many languages. In addition, the alarms can also be regionalised, i.e. in the event of an incident, only the affected neighbourhoods of a city are woken up, not the entire region or half the country.
DAB+ and ASA are becoming increasingly important throughout Europe due to climate change (e.g. forest fires, landslides or tsunamis).
It is still unclear whether the ASA system will also be adopted by the Swiss authorities.