DAB for North Wales

Ofcom this week confirmed the award of the new local Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) radio multiplex licence for North Wales to the sole applicant MuxCo Wales.

MuxCo Wales Limited is owned jointly by Town and Country Broadcasting Limited (70%) and MuxCo Ltd (30%)

MuxCo proposes to commence the new service with six local digital sound programme services within two years of licence award, using a network of two transmitters providing DAB "outdoor" coverage to an unusaully low 50% of the adult population of the licensed area.

Included in the radio stations proposed for the new network are the broadcasts from UCB UK.

MuxCo also proposes to provide "a wide selection of speech and music podcasts provided by a range of companies".

DAB plug-in for iPods and Mobiles

There are now over 300 products in the market capable of receiving a DAB signal, with the entry price for a DAB radio now under £15.

Industry sales figures show cumulative sales of DAB capable radios stood at over 7 million at the end of April

It is reported that Channel 4 is in talks with electronic manufacturers about creating a small branded DAB digital radio plug-in for iPods and mobiles phones, with the hope of making them available for no more than £20.

One applicant for North Wales DAB mux

Ofcom has received one application for the North Wales local digital radio multiplex licence, that being from MuxCo North Wales Limited.

Shareholders in MuxCo North Wales Limited are Town and Country Broadcasting Limited (70%) and MuxCo Ltd (30%)

MuxCo North Wales Limited is proposing to provide six local digital sound programme services, in addition to BBC Radio Wales and BBC Radio Cymru, including the broadcasts of UCB UK.

They also propose to provide "a wide selection of speech and music podcasts provided by a range of companies".

MuxCo North Wales Limited proposes to commence its service with all six local digital sound programme services within two years of licence award, using a network of two transmitters which it estimates will provide total 'outdoor' coverage of 50% of the adult population of the licensed area.

The full application for this licence will be published on the Ofcom website shortly and Ofcom seeks views on the application by 6 June 2008.

Day One closes on DAB

And after one year as the pioneer of Christian broadcasting on DAB in the UK, using the community access channel on the local digital radio multiplex covering the Wolverhampton, Shrewsbury and Telford areas, Day One Radio have ceased their broadcasts to concentrate on new developments for Christian radio in this country.

Listeners and supporters of Day One Radio were invited to a lunchtime meeting to learn more abour a new venture for the station which was described as having “unlimited potential for Day One Radio in the extension of God's Kingdom, building on our experience both as a broadcaster and producer of quality Christian programmes.”

Their Special Guest at that meeting was Ian Mackie, CEO of United Christian Broadcasters in the UK.

Programmes produced or distributed by Day One Radio will continue to be heard over the Internet, in the shops of Wesley Owen (with the Day One Album Chart Show) and also broadcast over the DAB transmitters carrying the new regional Christian DAB radio services in the whole of the West Midlands of England as well as other parts of the UK.

Web Links

• Day One Radio

Upgrading DAB

A new DAB+ upgradeable radio has been released by Pure.

In the opinion of some, all existing DAB radios will become obsolete in a few years time when the existing DAB compression standard (MPEG2) is replaced by the new DAB+ standard of AAC+.

Pure Digital has released its first DAB+ upgradeable receiver, called the Siesta, a clock radio with an recommended retail price of £50.

The software upgrade will be via a USB socket on the back of the radio and should become available later this year - at a small cost (in the region of £7 or £8).

Officially, the UK has no plans ever to move from, what some regards as, the low-quality MP2-based version of DAB the manufacturers are currently selling.

If the expected upgrade of the DAB system goes ahead, all current DAB radios could be unable to receive anything in a few year's time due to use of the new AAC+ audio codec instead of the old MP2 format.

Pure Digital recently announced their intention to switch over to DAB+ receivers by the end of 2008 and other manufacturers are expected to follow suit.

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