Tag: DAB

  • DAB and DAB+: Some Testing Ahead of SDL/D2 Launch Next Week

    Rupert Brun, expert on all things audio and late of the BBC, has been testing his radios at ahead of the Sound Digital (SDL) launch in a week’s time. The multiplex is in full test mode at the moment, so if you want to know if you can hear the new services, then a rescan…

  • D2: All Coming Together

    NB. This is not a DAB radio. The picture above is of possibly the most beautiful radio I’ve ever seen in my life. It’s the Nocturne, made in 1935 by a US company called Sparton and designed in Art Deco style by Walter Dorwin Teague. This one sits in the Wolfsonian museum in Miami. If…

  • D2 Bids: Further Thoughts

    [Note: Updated following the publication of the detailed bid documents on the Ofcom website. Note that only parts of the applications have been made public. Other parts are confidential. Sound Digital application here – Listen2Digital application here.] At a risk of boring everyone senseless about D2, I’ve got a few further thoughts that have come…

  • D2 Bid: Sound Digital

    Earlier in the week I put a bit of context into the background surrounding the advertising of a second national commercial multiplex. I plan to go through in a bit of detail what each of the bidders is proposing. As ever, these are my own views and don’t represent those of any employer, past or…

  • D2 Bid: Listen2Digital

    Earlier in the week I put a bit of context into the background surrounding the advertising of a second national commercial multiplex. I plan to go through in a bit of detail what each of the bidders is proposing. As ever, these are my own views and don’t represent those of any employer, past or…

  • Looking Ahead to the Second National Digital Radio Multiplex

    Ofcom is finally closing its doors on applications for a second national commercial radio digital radio multiplex. Originally bids had to be in by the end of October 2014, but Ofcom extended its application period to the end of January 2015 when a potential bidder sought a Network Access-only reference offer from Arqiva. (Since Arqiva…

  • Radio Radio

    A couple of interesting stories today with news that finally there’s a signed agreement to rollout local DAB coverage to 91.2% of FM equivalence. This has been a little while coming – to say the least – but now it’s here and the first of 182 new transmitters should be built in March. Why 91.2%…

  • Mono

    With great fanfare, EMI released The Beatles in Mono on CD back in 2009, and on vinyl last year. This, we were told, was the way that The Beatles should heard. These albums had been mixed and released in mono because that was the prevailing technology of the day. In due course, stereo mixes were…

  • Radio Extra

    Earlier this week, Global announced that it would soon be launching Heart Extra on national DAB. This is the first of a big DAB push. They already have Smooth Christmas running on the platform, and that rebrands as Smooth Extra from December 27th. They also have Capital XTRA, LBC and Classic FM all on the…

  • On DAB and Five Live

    It was a really interesting day for radio today with several important announcements. Of most interest to me was the formal announcement of the advertisement for a second national DAB multiplex. You may remember that back in 2007, this multiplex was previously advertised with Channel 4 winning it ahead of NGW the transmission supplier (since…

  • Why DAB Radio in the UK Isn’t Broken and Doesn’t Need Fixing

    A bold title, I think. But read on for the reason. There’s a Techradar piece – Why DAB in the the UK is broken, and how to fix it – that recently got a certain amount of traction and lots of retweeting amongst radio types. But it really needs some robust countering. I half expected…

  • LBC Going National

    The news today that LBC is going to be broadcast nationally from next month is really good for lots of reasons. Here are just a few: – It’s good for LBC. The station must be a reasonably expensive service to run since speech is always more expensive to do well than music. And a greater…