An Analysis of the UK's Transition from FM to DAB Radio Broadcasting

This report investigates the proposal for the United Kingdom to switch off FM radio broadcasting and fully implement Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) within the next five years. It explores the core differences between FM and DAB, highlighting the advantages of DAB such as increased channel capacity, reduced transmission costs, and improved features for users, including text and image broadcasting. The report also addresses potential challenges and considerations, including consumer readiness, DAB coverage, and the cost of replacing FM radios. The analysis includes the role of government, industry stakeholders, and consumer perspectives in the digital switchover process, ultimately assessing the feasibility and implications of this transition for the UK radio landscape. The report references various sources to support its arguments and conclusions.

Switching of FM radio
broadcasting and moving to
DAB in UK within the next 5
years

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Should the United Kingdom switch of FM radio broadcasting and move totally to DAB in the
next 5 years?................................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Following report depicts that whether UK should switch off FM radio broadcasting and
implement DAB which provides digital signal platform for broadcasting. Report is in support of
the statement as there are many benefits related to switching over of FM radio along with some
issues which are needed to be eliminated to get successful implementation of the program. But
before implementing the switch there are some criteria which are required to be focused so that
government will be acknowledged whether the country is ready for the change or not. Also
government should keep a check on whether digital radios are within the reach of every
individual(Ala-Fossi, 2016.).
Should the United Kingdom switch of FM radio broadcasting and move totally to DAB in the
next 5 years?
Before getting into the topic, it is important to know about what exactly the digital switch
over is? The main difference is source of entertainment which gets converted into a digital one,
earlier radio were using analogue platform. It is because; to listen a radio station, every
individual will require a device that will pick the digital signal. But FM would likely to be used
at local or community radio station. Although, Ofcom is trying small scale digital radio
multiplexes as an attempt to bring these DAB. There is a need to answer that why to switch off
FM? The spectrum of FM is a crowded workplace in which radio stations battle for less costly
airwaves to reach individual's ear whereas, digital platforms like DAB and internet radio
provides more space as compared to FM spectrum. It is also good for consumers as greater
choices are available and beneficial for broadcast industry that gets high means to
advertise(Bonet, 2017).
These digital radio are not like analogue ones, it is considered as a blanket term that
includes broadcasting on the internet, listening radio on the TV and DAB radio as well. These
internet radios provide more stations including those local channel stations which are not in the
area and other international radio. The advantage of digital signals can be many but some of
them are like they require less space on the air waves, providing listener the more choices for
opting different stations and letting free some RF space which is valuable. Another benefit can
be that it can also transmits data along with the audio, which enables text and images to be
broadcast with any music or news; which means that it is impossible to transmit information with
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a song which includes the title of the track, album, pictures or lyrics of it. Also, basic news
stories can be scrolled across the screen of individual's radio(Cooper and Macaulay, 2015.).
Firstly, it is important to know what is the role of DAB, what does it actually means and
why is it regarded as the next step. According to Ofcom, almost half of the UK adults own a
DAB digital radio device, where only 36.3% of all radio listening is actually done through digital
radio only. DAB stands for Digital Audio Broadcasting and provides a digital way of
broadcasting radio with the help of FM or AM range of frequency. DAB or Digital Analogue
Broadcasting is next step in an era of broadcasting and a pillar of the government's plan to turn
UK media into digital platform. While, on the other hand, there are many organisations which
are opposing the great switch off which is resulting in the end of an era. However, others in the
same industry believe that nation is actually behind with the plans(Denisoff, 2017).
The government of UK has proposed to make DAB as the main platform for broadcasting
national radio stations which means that individual will not be able to receive local stations
through old FM/AM radio but there are certain criteria which should be met before the
happening of switch over. Currently, there are only three digital multiplexes in the nation where
one is for BBC and other are for two commercials. But the government has to decide yet a
particular date for the switch over from FM to digital radio completely. But before the process,
national digital radio coverage should match to that of FM. Therefore, local radio has to reach at
least 90 percent of the population in UK but percentage which is reached is 48.7% in 2017. Also,
new car has adopted these DAB radios as the standard which is helping to accelerate digital radio
adoption in country(Devlin, 2016).
Early, in this year, Ford Ennals who is chief Executive of Digital Radio UK told BBC
that their country needs to stay in present and therefore, switching to digital platform can be the
best decision and also predicted that government will make some announcement regarding this
switching move at the end of this year. Government is somewhere against this switch as it won't
be able to earn a great profit by the selling of old spectrum of radio as the current plan includes
the usage of FM for broadcasting in local areas. Also, it is a matter of concern whether radio
station are actually popular or not, and do people really want that service in a new form? As
current scenario has music on demand concept, podcast and internet stations. So, there is a major
focus on the fact that will those traditional radio holds that much popularity when people have
lots of options available to opt(Gilski and Stefański, 2016.).
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Further Ford Ennals added that “ Country can't innovate and launch new stations as
they need a digital future and if radio will going to be rigid, this will not going to happen”.Long
back ago , communication minister Ed Vaizey suggested for this switch over as he was looking
as the end of the decade but does not updated it further. One thing to keep in mind is that the
digital switch over process took at most five years and during this process an independent body
was created 'Digital UK' that carried out different adverts and provided advice to make sure that
nobody will be left in dark(Jauert and et.al., 2017).
UK should switch off FM radio broadcasting and move totally to DAB in coming years
as it has many benefits for country and individuals as well. There are many benefits or the
advantages that individuals of UK will get when it will switch to digital platform.
Availability of More stations:
As it is known that FM spectrum is much crowded so, digital platforms provide a large
space for more stations considered from a consumer perspective who would have more choices
to choose from and listen to varieties of stations.
No dual transmission cost:
Currently, every broadcaster is paying dual transmission fees for broadcasting the same
station on different platforms which are FM and DAB. So, taking decision for moving to one
platform will help to reduce this cost for radio broadcasting industry(Lax, 2017).
Blue Sky Thinking:
Digital radio offers numerous features and also possibilities for all manufacturers for
developing radio content as a main source for entertainment and information than analogue radio
have, which also includes greater interactivity with other broadcasts. Moreover, additional
functions such as scrolling of text information related to show or kind of music individual is
listening are available on DAB and also, there are some additional features of pausing, rewinding
and recording live too.
Greater platform for Advertising:
As the digital broadcasting will be adopted, more channels will be operated via internet.
There will be a great platform for advertisement for companies that can choose more channels to
reach a huge mass of audience for marketing their products. Marketing of product will become
more effective as compared to other tactics for promotion of the product. Products or services
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will get more recognition; thus, benefiting the company itself which will indirectly affects the
economy of the country.
Improved features for users:
As DAB devices always performs band-scans on the entire range of frequency,
presenting the list of all channels to the user. It provides real time information regarding
particular content such as the title of a song, type of music etc. Transmission of DAB contains
the local time therefore providing option to device to use this as an automatic correction to
internal clock while travelling between different time zones(Lax, 2014.).
Quality of reception:
The standard integrated features of DAB reduces the negative consequences like
multipath fading and noises in signal which affects the analogue systems. As it transfers digital
audio there is no problem of weak signals which normally happens on FM.
Less interference of pirated stations :
DAB has a specialised nature and cost of equipments for DAB broadcasting provides
barriers to unlicensed or pirated stations which would be broadcast on DAB. In some cities such
as London there are many radio stations which are not licensed which means that one can
reliably access those stations which are difficult to receive on FM due to interference of pirated
stations.
Variable Bandwidth:
There are some channels like mono talk radios, news and weather along with non-
musical programmes which requires significantly less bandwidth as compared to typical music
radio stations, which allows DAB to carry them at a lower bit rates which results in leaving more
bandwidth for the usage of other programs(Street, 2015).
It may cover some other benefits like use of single network enhances the reception of
mobile and no fine tuning of frequency is required. It also root out the problem of interference in
AM and FM broadcasting. It has become more efficient in coding of audio which allows DAB
to carry more than 18 channels in a single mux. One network can broadcast around 6-10
channels with MPEG audio codec or 10-18 channels with high definition. By providing an
environment of multimedia broadcasting which helps media for developing a new market which
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provides audiences a better broadcast quality and service as well. Many DAB comes with an
option of FM radio which means one can still be able to choose to listen FM. Also, listening to
DAB cost nothing. If one listens to internet radio , data charges may have to be paid for that.
Various services are added to it such as primary services which includes main radio stations,
secondary services consisting of additional sports commentaries and various data services. These
DABS have ECC (Error- correction coding ) which is an important technology for a digitalised
communication system which can determine the robustness of the reception for a given strength
of signal. Older virion of DAB was using punctured convolution coding for ECC whereas its
new version standard has better ECC which is more stronger than the older version(Ala-Fossi,
2016.).
After talking about why UK should switch off and considering all the positive aspects it
is important to acknowledge that whether the switch over of digital radio is a consumer led
decision?.Radio switch over should be take place only when people are ready and keeping in
mind that no one should be left unable to access national radio during the event of a switch over.
Coverage of DAB and reception in homes should be addressed before any switch over ; also, the
cost of impact on consumers for replacing FM radios with digital ones should be equivalent. If
broadcasters and radio manufacturers wants digital radio switch over to be a great success than
they clearly need to provide benefits and advantages for opting digital radio above FM so that
consumer will be influenced to choose switch over .The government has switch over criteria
which includes target figure that is consumer based and ensuring that no individual is left
without radio(Denisoff, 2017).
There are some issues which are related with DAB directly and needed to be resolved to
confirm the success of DAB over FM radio broadcasting. As DAB radios are expensive as
compared to analogue radio due to high production cost of components which are included
in them; therefore the cost of radios should be decreased. Also, reception of DAB is patchy
across the country. If an individual is listening to a DAB radio and quality of reception is poor
than the sound of the channel may cut out and will start to stutter which will make it very
unpleasant while listening, for this problem to disappear more transmitter are needed to be
installed hence one should work upon reception part of DAB to avoid becoming it patchy. As
87% of new cars in the country have DAB radios while millions of people are on the road
without having them. Many cars have Digital Broadcasting adaptors which allows analogue
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radios of car to pick up digital transmission. Efforts should be made to increase coverage DAB
over major networks of route. There are some battery issues like drainage of battery is faster
which needs to resolvent. Unlike switching to digital TV it is not simple and sensible as that,
switching off to digital platform is quite a complex procedure as it includes the whole country for
the change(Digital radio switch over explained,2018).
CONCLUSION
With this report it has been concluded that there are two types of radio which are FM and
DAB which works on analogue sources and digital sources respectively. Digital Audio
Broadcasting has more advantages over FM radio which includes providing more option to
consumers,a greater platform for the advertisement, quality of reception is one of the highlighted
feature of DAB radio, less interference of pirated stations and variable bandwidth. But the
government somewhere is not in the favour of switching off as it would not provide profit to
them and would require more money for investment in the process.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journal
Ala-Fossi, M., 2016. Why did TV bits and radio bits not fit together? Digitalization and
divergence of broadcast media. In Media Convergence Handbook-Vol. 1.pp. 265-285.
Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Bonet, M., 2017. Every Window of Opportunity Needs a Frame to Support It. DAB in Spain:
Analog Matters. Journal of Radio & Audio Media.24(1).pp.61-76.
Cooper, M. and Macaulay, K., 2015. Contemporary Christian radio in Britain: A new genre on
the national dial. Radio Journal: International Studies in Broadcast & Audio Media.13(1-
2). pp.75-87.
Denisoff, R.S., 2017. Inside Mtv. Routledge.
Devlin, J.P., 2016. The relationship between the BBC and the commercial radio sector in
promoting DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting) in the United Kingdom (Doctoral
dissertation, Bournemouth University).
Gilski, P. and Stefański, J., 2016. Can the Digital Surpass the Analog: DAB+ Possibilities,
Limitations and User Expectations. International Journal of Electronics and
Telecommunications.62(4).pp.353-361.
Jauert, P. and et.al., 2017. The Future of Radio Revisited: Expert Perspectives and Future
Scenarios for Radio Media in 2025. Journal of Radio & Audio Media.24(1).pp.7-27.
Lax, S., 2017. Different Standards: Engineers’ Expectations and Listener Adoption of Digital
and FM Radio Broadcasting. Journal of Radio & Audio Media.24(1).pp.28-44.
Lax, S.E., 2014. The failure of a ‘success story’: digital radio policy in the UK. Australian
Journalism Review.36(2).pp.103-115.
Street, S., 2015. Historical dictionary of British radio. Rowman & Littlefield.
Online
Ben Stockton.2018. Digital radio switch over explained. [online]. Available through
< https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/radios/article/digital-radio-switchover-explained - Which?>
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