We are Digital Radio Ltd. Our Managing Director Dusty Rhodes is a constant innovative driving force in the Irish radio industry.

From early days developing his career with Dublins pirate stations in the 80’s, he was a founding member of Atlantic 252, re-introducing the LW band to a whole new generation across the UK and Ireland with a “hot hits” format that single-handedly changed the British industry.

That was followed by ten years with Irelands national RTE 2FM where asides from many ratings successes, he was instrumental in establishing RTE’s first internet presence and the first to incorporate text messaging into programming. Since 2003 Dusty has again been breaking new ground establishing the country’s most successful syndicated programming company, Digital Audio Productions (DAP).

Once again, he is leading the way by introducing a whole new vision for radio maximising digital platforms to provide unique formats in sound, text, pictures and on-demand content.

Dusty has established a new company especially for these stations called Digital Radio Ltd and is committed to launching four new national radio stations, two of which are already on air.

DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting) is the most fundamental advance in radio technology since the introduction of FM stereo radio. The main advantage of a digital signal is its ability to “multiplex” ie carry several simultaneous communications on the same signal. So where a traditional “FM” signal can carry just one station, a similar digital signal could carry ten.

It is this ability to carry more radio services and more choice that is the predominant driving force behind the success of digital radio.

Commercial digital receivers on the market are a joy to use. Gone are the days of remembering frequencies or fiddling with presets because when you turn on your radio it presents you with a list of stations you can hear.

Digital can also transmit a data stream with text, mp3 files or even pictures to your radio so while you listen to your favourite station, the broadcaster could be streaming the latest news/sports headlines or information about the song playing to your radios display. The latest receivers allow you to pause or even rewind live radio similar to Sky+.

On the signal side, gone are the days of fuzzy noise or dodgy reception because you either get a station or you don’t. In addition one frequency can cover the whole country so you don’t have to re-tune your radio as you drive from Skibbereen to Skerries.

Currently DAB is on trial in Dublin, the North-East and Cork. Digital Radio Ltd broadcasts two new DAB exclusive radio stations, All 80s and Mocha R’n'B.

A very short history of radio from invention of AM to todays brand new DAB.

Despite being invented in the very early 1900’s it was fifteen years before radio as an entertainment medium caught the public imagination. Broadcasting on AM the BBC was first established in 1922 followed by RTE here in Ireland in 1926. Ten years later radio began to enjoy it’s pre-television “golden age” in the thirties and forties and the public lapped it up.

However the crackly sound of AM drove engineers to develop a cleaner sounding radio medium and after World War 2, FM radio was introduced to the world. It took FM another forty years to really establish itself before becoming the radio standard during the eighties and early nineties. Yet again the public lapped it up.

Despite FM being terrific, especially in stereo, it was prone to background hiss and airspace was rapidly running out. So off the engineers went to find a way of getting more radio stations onto one transmitter. The answer was Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) where ten stations could be broadcast on a single transmitter using an audio compression format called MPEG. Yes, the DAB people are responsible for mp3 files!

Unlike AM and FM before it, the adoption of DAB is happening relatively quickly. The UK were one of the first countries to introduce new DAB only radio stations such as BBC Radio 7, Planet Rock and The Hits in 2003. In just five years one-in-five UK homes now own a DAB radio set and almost 30% of UK listeners now get radio every week using digital platforms such as DAB, Freeview, the internet and satellite.

Worldwide Germany, Switzerland, Ireland and Australia are following suit by also introducing digital only radio stations throughout 2008 and 2009. The United States are also experiencing huge success with their digital only stations launched via satellite and HD radio technology.

The future is bright, the future is digital.

The BBC launched digital radio in the UK in 1995 followed by national commercial multiplex operator Digital One in 1998. Since then local DAB (digital radio) commercial services have become available offering non-national BBC Radio and ILR on a local basis.

Initially digital radio was offered as a high-quality platform but public take up was slow. This was due to an imperceptible improvement in quality, receivers being expensive and not generally available. In 2002 the radio industry realised that quality in itself was not enough to drive the development of digital radio and shifted their focus to choice. Several digital only music services were launched by the commercial sector while the BBC brought to air several digital exclusive radio services.

The most successful of these is BBC Radio 7. Launched in December 2002 it offers the best of comedy, drama and readings from the archive. Listener research has often quoted this station as one of the main reasons they purchase digital radio and is regarded by the industry as one of the main drivers of digital radio in the UK.

Concurrent to this investment by the BBC, more manufacturers were developing digital radios and in the summer of 2002 the first sub £100 receivers became available accelerating the take up of digital radio.

Surprisingly television has also helped the development of digital radio. Freeview in the UK includes access to digital radio stations hitherto only available on DAB. The significant take-up of Freeview has exposed new audience to these radio stations via their televisions set-top boxes and has become the second most effective transmission method for digital radio.

The “Digitally Enabled Universe” in the UK now stands at 60% and these numbers continue to grow especially as sales of digital radio sets are greater than those of analogue.

The latest UK RAJAR Listener Research shows the most successful digital only stations are continuing to increase audience.

The success and future of digital radio in the UK is best demonstrated with TV giant Channel 4’s successful acquisition of the second national digital commercial radio multiplex which is due on-air later this year.
Latest RAJAR figures show:

• 27.3% of adults own a digital radio at home
• 31.4% weekly reach for digital platforms (DAB/Freeview/Internet)
• 17.9% of all radio listening is done via digital platforms (DAB/Freeview/Internet)
Source: www.rajar.co.uk Q1 2008

Last year RAJAR figures also included interesting data on radio listening via digital television and the internet:

• 22.5% of adults listen to radio via digital tv at least once a week.
• 13.4% of adults have listen to radio on the internet at least once a week. Interestingly they’re mainly listening to UK national brands, not local or foreign stations.
• 9.2% of adults have listened to radio on their mobile phone.
Source: www.rajar.co.uk Q1 2008

Since 2003 listenership levels have exploded twelve-fold

with over 14million people now enjoying digital radio in the UK.

Early 2008 GCap announced they were pulling out of digital radio which really set the cat amongst the pidgeons. On closer examination GCap were making the move more in relation to a hostile takeover bid by Global Radio and their pulling out of digital really only affected 2 of their many digital stations. Incidentally, they also pulled out of 3 FM services but no-one screamed about that!

Since then GCap was indeed purchased by Global Radio and now have a more positive view on DAB. They have sold their Planet Rock brand and it continues on air to this day. Also since then, Bauer Radio have re-launched their Q Radio station putting it on DAB for the first time ever and NME have also launched their own new digital radio outlet.

This is all very fortunate for the Irish industry. At this early stage of development here, we can afford to sit back and learn from the mistakes made in the UK and not repeat them.

]]> http://www.digitalradioltd.com/dab-uk/feed/ 0 http://www.digitalradioltd.com/dab-worldwide/ http://www.digitalradioltd.com/dab-worldwide/#comments Tue, 02 Sep 2008 17:05:26 +0000 dusty http://www.digitalradioltd.com/content/dab-worldwide/

Worldwide, over 475 million people can now receive almost 1,000 different digital radio services. Commercial digital receivers have been on the market since summer 1998 and there are now hundreds of different receivers available in the €30 to €90 price range.

Digital radio has developed significantly over the past ten years across the main EU Member States. It is widely available in Germany, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Norway, Denmark and the United Kingdom.

The main drivers of digital radio in the coming two years will be Ireland, Australia, Germany and the United States. Australia have adopted the DAB+ system of digital broadcasting and launch in all major cities in 2009. Germany, which has excellent DAB coverage, will drive take-up with brand new digital only services next year. Meanwhile, American broadcasters have opted for a digital broadcast system called HD and new digital stations are being launched almost weekly.

Some countries have even begun asking about the eventual turn-off of FM. In Norway, the regulator is considering a turn off of FM sometime after 2014 and the UK regulator will consider the question in 2012.

The Irish radio industry is a vibrant, buoyant and profitable one thanks to a lively advertising market and relatively few stations on air.

Across the entire country there are just six national services, four regional services and twenty-six local services meaning Ireland as a whole has less radio stations than San Antonio Texas. Figures from IAPI show almost €150m was spent on radio advertising and €22m on internet advertising in 2007 with a growth rate of 7% predicted for 2008.

Now the market is changing with the introduction of digital radio to Ireland offering listeners more stations and advertisers more targeted audiences, better tracking for ROI and cross-platform multi-media connections with the audience.

Digital Radio Ltd are at the heart of this new revolution in radio and invite you to join us. For a full prospectus call Dusty Rhodes at + 353 1 66 11 999.