AudioMedia - June 2008 - (Page 14)

w h a t ’s u p UK whatsupuk@audiomedia.com DABbling In The World Of UK Radio Put down those pens and tuck away the fond clichés, DAB’s obituaries are not to be scribbled out just yet… igital radio had a terrible start to the year. Three national DAB stations closed, a pessimistic report stated that the industry had not prepared the market for this new form of listening, and a big radio group more or less turned away from the technology. But the situation has improved; the number of people listening to DAB rose by ten percent during the first quarter of this year, and ownership of the right kind of receiver was up 40 percent on last year. This suggests that although UK commercial broadcasters, after following the lead of the BBC and becoming part of the first wave of DAB in Europe, were succumbing to the jitters, the consumers had at last come to love digital radio. A friend of mine sent me a message back in March along the lines of, “What’s going on? Digital is the way ahead.” Certainly that has been the view of Ralph Bernard, who, while still Chief Executive of GCap Media, last year threatened to remove the group’s stations from DAB multiplexes unless broadcasting regulator Ofcom made a firm decision on turning off analogue radio frequencies. Bernard is a staunch supporter of digital radio, shown by his now being Chairman of multiplex operator Digital One, so many considered the threat to be empty. His successor at GCap, the even more forthright and verbally unrestrained Fru Hazlitt, was brought in to not only shore up the business but fend off a hostile takeover bid from Global Radio, the company formed by ex-ITV boss Charles Allen to buy Chrysalis Radio in August 2007. Hazlitt branded DAB ‘not economically viable’, identifying broadband and FM as the way ahead for GCap. The group had already shut down new music channel The Core in January, around the same time Channel 4 and UBC Media closed Oneword. Less than a month later Hazlitt announced the demise of The Jazz and Planet Rock, although D the latter is still on air while discussions progress with a potential buyer. The group further distanced itself from DAB by arranging to sell its majority stake in the national commercial multiplex, Digital One, to the minority shareholder, transmission provider Arqiva. Digital was not the sole casualty in GCap’s overhaul; the Xfm analogue licences in Scotland, South Wales, and Manchester were also to be disposed of in an attempt to trim back the group’s operations and outlay. All radio companies suffer from the vagaries of the advertising market and have had to pay out even more to sustain DAB transmission networks as well as FM and AM. This point was made in The Future of Digital Radio, a report published during January by Enders Analysis. It quoted figures of £15 million a year to run a digital station, compared to £8 million a year for analogue. The report’s author, Grant Goddard, observed that commercial DAB has been struggling since the late 1990s, and while the industry now knows a problem exists, there was a lack of confidence in the business being able to sustain two national DAB multiplexes. Uncertainty over when that second multiplex, to be run by Channel 4 and various media partners as the 4Digital Group, goes on air has done nothing to quell doubts. At least six channels were due to start broadcasting by July but there is speculation that a solitary service, E4 Radio, will not appear until later in the year. The building of new radio studios at C4’s headquarters in Victoria, London, has been put on hold, although, apparently, interim facilities have been given the go ahead. C4 was contacted several times for clarification but the requests remain in voicemail hell. The launch of new digital-only channels is clearly a positive move. Mandy Green, head of communications at the Digital Radio Development Bureau (DRDB), points out that, as with analogue radio, there has always been a turnover of stations in the digital domain; some are around for a while and may be successful, but ultimately many will disappear to make way for new services. This is a valid point but although new local multiplexes are opening, the recent closures, coupled with further rumours that 4Digtal might take vacated slots on Digital One before “Digital Two” is in place, just add to the not-quite-all-there image that has plagued UK DAB since its launch in 1995. Back then there were few services, mostly simulcasts from the BBC, and no receivers. The receiver problem, and a lack of new, original programming, held back the general acceptance of digital radio until the beginning of this century. Recent figures for digital radios show a marked increase in ownership, up 40 percent on last year. The number of receivers sold has topped seven million, with 17.8 percent of listeners tuning in digitally; DAB accounts for 10.8 percent of that total, the remainder made up by digital terrestrial television and the internet. Mandy Green hopes these figures will counter the ‘hysterical headlines’ of earlier in the year when obituaries were being prepared for DAB. Radio is a volatile business anyway; Global has succeeded in its bid for GCap and Fru Hazlitt is back on the job market. The deal was due to be completed by 6th June and a Global spokeswoman said details were not being given at this stage about Global’s plans for digital. As the sale of GCap’s Digital One share to Arqiva was put on hold until the Global deal was completed, the new owner will now have to decide what to do with the multiplex. All of which shows that while there have been more positive developments in digital radio in recent months, the uncertainty that has dogged DAB throughout its existence just will not go away. ∫ Introducing the new PortaGig. Glyph’s second generation PortaGig 800 can handle over 55 tracks of 24bit/48k audio, with edits, running on FireWire bus power. Weighing less than 10 ounces, all this power is backed by Glyph’s Advance Replacement and Data Recovery Policies. Up to 250GB capacity (2) FireWire 800, (1) USB 2.0 port 7,200 or 5,400 RPM SATA II drives Universal AC power supply included Store in a cool place.. A U D IUO IM E D IE A I A O V E M B2E0R0 8 0 0 5 2 A D O M D N JUNE Steyler Str. 121 D-41334 Nettetal +49 (0) 2157 870 22 32 mrichert@glyphtech.com glyphtech.com 14 http://glyphtech.com http://glyphtech.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of AudioMedia - June 2008

AudioMedia - June 2008 Contents Recording Post Broadcast AES Review What's Up UK? Geofocus: Australia For the Record Special Report: Videosonics Newstalk: DPA New Microphones Novation SL Compact Allen & Heath IDR-8 Eastwest Quantum Leap SD2 & Goliath Final Cut: Indiana Jones Merging ADR Module Koolworld SSL Duende Good Product Sampler: Microphones Video Guide AMSR Meyer Sound The Blue Planet Live! Royer Labs Mics R-121 & R-122

AudioMedia - June 2008

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