Good stuff James, though I suspect that many both in Australia and at home will be raising eyebrows at the statement “DAB Digital Radio has been wildly successful in the UK”.

Has it? Surely the UK industry made all the mistakes you go on to mention – cramming in meaningless classic rock or pop jukebox stations whilst ignoring the need to give the public something genuinely new and exciting. There have been a few exceptions – ‘chill’ is perhaps a good example, but it remains to be seen if the economics of these will ever add up.

DAB as a platform is capable of so much – IMO the industry in the UK has tried to launch too many new brands and failed to build up its existing offerings. The visual media side is one aspect – but secondary streams and ‘download’ content under the same station banner would work far better than all these new 24 hour standalone stations.

And what about using the same presenter links for streams with different music genres? For example, Virgin Classic Rock and Virgin Xtreme would, I reckon, get a much larger audience if Christian O’Connell was presenting breakfast on them as well. These stations could become secondary streams of the main Virgin Radio. Keep the strengths of the core station but pull in new audiences.

37 *additional* stations on DAB in Brizzle? If only…

Chris: ah, you’re right. Whoops. It was (at the time of writing), 14 stations on analogue, and a -total- of 37 on DAB. Apologies. My fault.

Paul: If you’re telling me that 6.5m sets sold (this Christmas, DAB reportedly outselling the iPod) is in some way a failure, I’m surprised. You’ll be telling me next that Apple has, in some way, failed with its products.

Failure is a strong word James, but the prevailing view I encountered in Australia was that for us to have something like 5% of all listening on a platform that’d been up and running for going on 10 years was pretty dismal. It’s great that the receiver manufacturers are making a few quid but what about commercial success for broadcasters? Has a single DAB station even come close to breaking even? Why aren’t companies lining up to buy Planet Rock and the Jazz now that they’re up for sale?

Rather than comparing with the iPod – a single manufacturer’s product with, let’s face it, limited appeal to anyone over 40 – what about comparing with Freeview? Nearly 10 million receivers sold in 2007 alone – compared to DAB’s 6.5m in ten years – and surely households generally have more radio sets than TV sets? Did Christmas sales really meet the industry’s aspirations? I seem to remember seeing a huge pile of DAB sets selling at half price in my local Sainsbury’s in January.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a great advocate for DAB on the whole, but I do think “wildly successful” is pushing it a bit. I think it could be wildly successful, but that large swathes of the public are still unsure what exactly the point of it is. I think the industry desperately needs to raise its game and start providing a bit more ‘wow’. Hopefully Channel 4 will be able to do just that.

I think comaprisons with Freeview aren’t the fairest thing to do. And yes, I’m aware of many DAB-only stations that do make a profit. I used to work for one.

I would like to make the observation that, as a member of the “YouTube Generation” (or, I think I am – I’m 21 – does that count?), I find that the screenless aspect of conventional radio is one of its great strengths.

When I listen to the radio, I don’t want to be drawn into staring at the stupid thing as well; I want to get on with something else and have it as background noise, or close my eyes and let it wash over me.

And I do find that, even if it is just showing what song is playing, I am inexorably drawn to staring at the screen on a digital radio when I would rather be doing something else. That is a big turn-off for me and one of the (many) reasons I am a DAB holdout.