A quick note to point people in the direction of a digital radio announcement coming from the BBC today.
Radio 4 Extra – the soon-to-be-renamed BBC Radio 7 – will have classic episodes of Desert Island Discs, with an extensive online archive of 500 or so shows plus the music choices of every guest in the show’s history! (Actually – a lot of this is already online, but it’s nice to get the announcement).
6 Music fans will be delighted that Adam and Joe are returnining the airwaves!
And more plans for various themed hours on Radio 4 Extra are being firmed up. There’ll be extended versions of The Now Show and News Quiz, while 1Xtra is getting its own Live Lounge with Trevor Nelson.
And as for coverage:
In addition, [Tim Davie, Director of BBC Audio & Music] outlined some steps to make listening to the digital-only services easier, including a commitment to keep building out national DAB coverage towards FM equivalence, continuing to develop new ways of listening – like the Radioplayer – and offering more innovation such as HD Sound, which will be rolled out more widely this year.
I think this is a really positive set of announcements surrounding the BBC’s digital services which I’m both excited about as a listener, and delighted about as someone who believes in a digital radio future and works for a business that also believes in that future.
NB. For the avoidance of doubt, while I’ve illustrated this piece with a photo of DAB digital radios, this is obviously a good story about all digital radio and not just DAB!
As ever, these are my own views, etc., etc.