James Cridland

The BBC adds new stations to DAB

The Museum of Brands has a BBC Handbook

Multiplatform radio offers a great opportunity to broaden brands and offer additional choice for wider appeal. This has been particularly the case in the UK, where Virgin Radio was the first to add additional “brand extensions” - initially known as “Virgin Radio Classic” and “Virgin Radio Wheels of Steel” - back in early 2000. (In the main, these can offer yield management around advertising - ensuring that most advertisers buy across the brand network, rather than solus stations.)

The BBC recently launched three new brand extension stations on DAB+ in the UK - Radio 1 Dance, Radio 1 Anthems and Radio 3 Unwind. The stations have been on BBC Sounds for a while, but have now made it to broadcast radio as well. This is the first time that the BBC has broadcast DAB+ signals, as far as I’m aware. Back in 2007, the industry was loudly proclaiming that DAB+ would never come to the UK.

It does mean that the BBC’s DAB multiplex is quite interesting: a mix of the heritage stations on original-flavour DAB, and then three DAB+ services now squeezing in, with the brave choice of 32kbps (HE-AAC v2) being used, even for classical music! R1/2/3/4 have all slightly decreased in audio quality, from 128kbps to 112kbps.

DAB+ is the standard in most DAB countries these days. It’s a nervousness about the large number older, DAB-only sets that means that the BBC hasn’t switched entirely. But good to see new services making it DAB broadcasting, which is significantly more popular than online. It gives the BBC more opportunity to reach audiences, and that can only be a good thing.

RCS

Classifieds

  • Maths, Art or Magic? Radio scheduling and programming is easier when you know how to make it consistent and position it to succeed. Buy Robin Prior’s new book and discover clock-building, formatting, the forward-sell, music research, and much more.
  • Supercharge your radio show with world-class prep: the right show prep delivered to you on time, EVERY day, without fail. Grab a £1 week-long trial of Show Prep and stop chasing round looking for things to use on your show, running out of time before the show, and trying to sight-read the newspapers!

  • While in London, I went to the Museum of Brands. Striking how much radio stuff is in there, like the display above. A fun way to pass half an hour, if you’re ever in Ladbroke Grove.

  • More BBC-outside-the-UK oddness. You can’t “listen now” to this archive clip of Alistair Cooke’s Letter from America outside the UK - it takes you to a 404 error if you try. But there’s also a download button that works fine.

  • Interesting listen to CBC Radio 1 in Calgary AB, Canada. The news bulletin at the top of the hour was quite fresh-sounding, with some new stories just introduced using actuality, rather than a newsreader introducing every new story first. Quite a refreshing tweak to a standard five-minute bulletin. Worth listening in, if you can. (I don’t have access to a recording, sadly)

  • As more of us work for ourselves, it’s becoming harder for people to pick up the pieces if something happens to us. I wrote a piece about your digital legacy for Podnews, but it’s just as valid for radio as well. Please give it a read and see if it applies to you, too.

  • iHeartRadio will continue as a brand in Canada, after Bell Media renewed its agreement. (Really, though, what option do they have - with a sizeable install base within Canada, how would they transition to a new app?)

Where I am speaking next

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