DAB con

I have a DAB radio, well two actually – but as one is an Alarm clock it doesn’t count.

We are constantly bombarded with BBC adverts for DAB radio. It’s sold on the promise of more radio stations. So lets have a look at Birmingham’s local DAB Ensemble.


BBC Radio WM 128 kbit/s
brmb 128 kbit/s
Chill 128 kbit/s
Gold -Birmingham 128 kbit/s
heat radio 112 kbit/s
Magic 112 kbit/s
RADIO XL 128 kbit/s
Sunrise Radio 64 kbit/s (Mono)
Traffic Radio 48 kbit/s (Mono)
XFM 128 kbit/s

Quite a selection isn’t it. Seems fine until you look at the bit rates for each station. 128k is awful quality, so I dread to think what 112 & 64k are like.

The BBC has their own National Ensemble……

BBC Radio 1 128 kbit/s
BBC Radio 1Xtra 128 kbit/s
BBC Radio 2 128 kbit/s
BBC Radio 3 192 kbit/s
BBC Radio 4 80 kbit/s (Mono)
BBC Radio 5live 64 kbit/s (Mono)
BBC R5LiveSportX 64 kbit/s (Mono)
BBC Radio 6Music 128 kbit/s
BBC Radio 7 80 kbit/s (Mono)
BBC AsianNetwork 64 kbit/s (Mono)
BBC WorldService 64 kbit/s (Mono)
BBC Guide 32 kbit/s Packet Data
BBC Travel 32 kbit/s Packet Data

Again the BBC are guilty of poor quality, apart from Radio 3. Does anyone ever listen to 1Xtra? A station that plays mainly black culture music – which normally would be fairly bass driven so must sound awful at compressed 128k.

The regional DAB Ensemble is much of the same bland network radio rubbish….

Asian FX 64 kbit/s (Mono)
Choice FM 64 kbit/s (Mono)
Galaxy 128 kbit/s
Heart 128 kbit/s
Jazz FM 128 kbit/s
Kerrang! 64 kbit/s (Mono)
LBC 48 kbit/s (Mono)
Panjab Radio 64 kbit/s (Mono)
SMOOTH Radio 128 kbit/s
The Arrow - Rock 128 kbit/s
UCB UK 64 kbit/s (Mono)
UCBInspirational 64 kbit/s (Mono)
DAB Guide 8 kbit/s Packet Data
UBC Digital 48 kbit/s Packet Data

Take Kerrang, ‘rock’ music played down 64bit sounds nasty, can’t quite be sure if it’s as bad as AM or LW.

A (slight) breath of fresh air comes from the National Ensemble….

Absolute Radio 160 kbit/s
Birdsong 160 kbit/s
Classic FM 160 kbit/s
D1 Test A 80 kbit/s
D1 Test B 128 kbit/s
D1 Test C 112 kbit/s
Planet Rock 128 kbit/s
talkSPORT 64 kbit/s (Mono)
What's On 8 kbit/s

Now we have 3 stations at 160kbit/s, whilst 192k is better it is still miles better than the rather compressed 128k. On the horizon we have a new National Ensemble coming. I would get excited, but I know who’s involved…..

Operator: 4 Digital Group Limited (Channel 4 Radio, Sky News Radio, Emap Digital Radio, UTV Radio (GB), The Carphone Warehouse Group and UBC Media Group) The UK regulator Ofcom has awarded the second national commercial DAB franchise to 4 Digital Group Limited (Channel 4 Radio, Sky News Radio, Emap Digital Radio, UTV Radio (GB), The Carphone Warehouse Group and UBC Media Group). The licence is designed to cover the whole of the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, subject to international frequency coordination.

On-Air: 4 Digital Group proposes to begin broadcasting with 8 national services and at least 9 podcast providers within 12 months using a network of 174 transmitters covering 86.6% of the adult population. Two further audio services would launch at the as soon as possible thereafter and within the following 11 months.

4 Digital Group proposes to broadcast ten audio services:-

3 audio services from Channel 4 Radio

E4 Radio
Channel 4 Radio
Pure4

Talk Radio [News, views, entertainment] (UTV Radio)
Closer [Female AC, celebrity and lifestyle] (Emap)
Sky News Radio [Rolling News] (Sky News Radio)
Sunrise Radio [Asian] (Sunrise Radio Group)
Virgin Radio Viva [Female-friendly pop with attitude] (SMG)
Original [Adult album alternative] (CanWest MediaWorks)
Radio Disney [Children’s service] (Walt Disney)

So there we have it, another 8 or so poor quality stations.

Maybe they’ll cull a few stations per Ensemble, I doubt it. Though one thing for the future is DAB+, though whether Ofcom allow the use of this (apparent) better technology (AAC & DRM?) is another thing. No doubt Ofcom will see that many have DAB sets and decide to keep the UK using the poorer quality. One possible future for me is the current DAB (MPEG2) stations will shrink, allowing for better quality transmissions of the remaining stations.

Ensemble information gathered from the very useful resource Wohnort.org. Take a look 🙂