Stephen Fry on DAB in Just A Minute

The BBC has launched a series of neat animations promoting Just A Minute.
It’s curious, though, that they chose this particular excerpt from Stephen Fry on DAB…

Nicely done, nonetheless.
(Actually, we do need to face up to reception issues, and improve coverage strength so that these issues go away).
As ever, these are my views, and don’t reflect those of my employer.


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4 responses to “Stephen Fry on DAB in Just A Minute”

  1. Steve Green avatar

    “(Actually, we do need to face up to reception issues, and improve coverage strength so that these issues go away).”
    Whereas you couldn’t care less about the issue with the audio quality.

  2. Adam Bowie avatar

    Contrary to what you might believe Steve, I certainly care about audio quality. Way more than the average person.
    It’s completely untrue for you to say otherwise.
    Most people prefer the audio from DAB to what they were getting. Our listeners in particular, have to largely listen on AM. Without DAB, they simply wouldn’t be able to hear Absolute Radio outside London in an acceptable quality via portable devices on a free-to-air basis.
    A top quality FM signal will always surpass, but most people don’t have one.
    But I’m not getting into an argument with you over this.

  3. Steve Green avatar

    “Contrary to what you might believe Steve, I certainly care about audio quality. Way more than the average person. It’s completely untrue for you to say otherwise.”
    I don’t see how you can square that you support DAB and care about audio quality when those two things are mutually exclusive.
    “Most people prefer the audio from DAB to what they were getting.”
    Don’t try to patronise me, Adam. You’ve said yourself below that FM “surpasses” DAB in terms of audio quality for people who’ve got a good FM signal, and I say that the large majority have that, so referring to the DAB industry’s market research is disingenuous.
    You know full well that a large percentage of people who say that DAB sounds better are simply deluding themselves, basically, due to reasons discussed in the following article:
    http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/articles/Why-dont-some-people-mind-DABs-sound-quality.php
    “A top quality FM signal will always surpass, but most people don’t have one.”
    It doesn’t need to be “top quality”, it just needs to be “good”, and I’d say that the large majority of people have “good” FM reception quality, therefore DAB delivers far lower audio quality to the large majority of people.

  4. Adam Bowie avatar

    I’m not patronising you Steve.
    You claimed that I didn’t care about audio quality. You’ve never met me. We’ve never spoken about it. You don’t know what my views are.
    I’ve told that I do care about audio quality. If you don’t believe me, so be it. I don’t care to be honest.
    That said, I’m also a realist.
    Most people listen in mono to FM via inferior radio sets. I have a lovely hi-fi FM tuner. But most people do not listen this way. Most people have a whip antenna at best, not a standalone roof-mounted antenna.
    You say that FM doesn’t have to be top quality – just good. Well guess what? DAB is “good”. It’s easier to tune into, and subject to a decent quality signal most people are happier with it.
    Is it perfect? No. Are there issues? Absolutely. But there are issues with television too. Many would argue that CDs are inferior to LPs, yet most are happy with CDs. Actually, many are happy with relatively low quality mp3s.
    I’m a pragmatist and a realist. I work in commercial radio and DAB is the only broadcast digital solution that will be adopted in the immediate future. As I say, I work for a broadcaster who commercially depends on it. Half Absolute Radio’s listening comes from a digital platform – I think that proves something.
    I’ve got to say that your aggressive stance and does you no favours within the industry, and actually probably doesn’t help you meet your aims.
    Anyway. As I say, I’m not getting into an argument here over this. There are plenty of other places to have this discussion, and I’m afraid my blog is not one of them.