Small-Scale DAB 12 Months On

Entering into the DAB trials was, for me, something of a ‘born again’ experience. I’d remained deeply sceptical about the UK’s handling of DAB until quite recently. DAB was like a private club – the members being the BBC and commercial radio’s big groups – meaning there was no route to DAB for hundreds of small IR, internet and community radio stations. More importantly, the listener had been badly let down. Having been promised ‘more choice’ and ‘higher audio quality’, the new platform delivered neither.

Choice

​The BBC’s national multiplex merely simulcast existing services (with the notable exception of 6 Music and 4 Extra). In commercial radio, due to financial constraints, there was a move towards automated brand-based services. These were generally bland, ‘clunky’ and almost invisible in terms of marketing support. Does anyone remember Core, Life, Capital Disney, TheJazz, Oneword and Digital News Network?

Quality

​The problem here is bandwidth. With traditional FM and AM, every station has its own transmitter and own dedicated frequency on the radio dial. The best way to think about DAB is as a single data stream – on a single frequency – carrying all available stations. That single data stream has a fixed data rate. This means that every time a station is added, something somewhere has to give. And therein lies the DAB paradox: It's supposed to offer better quality and more stations, but the more it does the latter, the less it can deliver the former. As a consequence, most of the national DAB stations are now broadcast in mono and, with sample rates as low as 64 kbit/s, they sound inferior to their FM counterparts.

​Don’t get me wrong, the fundamental concept of DAB is completely sound, but the UK’s implementation of it was flawed. The critical decision was to adopt the Eureka 147 system back in 1999. This relied on MP2 encoding which has since been superseded by the more efficient AAC system. I suspect this was largely down to the BBC’s ability to throw license fee money at the project with impunity; it’s easy to take risks when you’re gambling with someone else’s money!

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but naivety abounded in high places back then. Many believed that digital switchover for TV and Radio would be so great for the consumer that people would quickly throw their old sets into the skip and invest in something that would deliver the ‘Digital Promise’ – ‘More Choice & Higher Quality’.

​In TV that did happen – and why wouldn’t it with the massive explosion of choice and the clear benefits of Widescreen, HD, 3D and now Ultra HD? For radio, though, it was a very different story. Did we really expect people to replace all their radio sets to hear pretty much the same stations – in poorer quality?

The Turning Point - Small-Scale DAB

​Ofcom’s decision back in 2014 to stage a number of small-scale DAB trials was, for me, one of those ‘lightbulb moments’. The trials were to rely on ‘software defined’ techniques running on low-cost and readily-available computer equipment as opposed to the expensive bespoke hardware in use elsewhere. 

​At Niocast we saw this as a major step towards potentially overcoming DAB’s two key impediments to growth at a stroke:

1. A cost-effective solution for existing and new radio stations bringing greater choice and interesting new formats to DAB;
2. A chance to explore new ways of managing digital capacity to improve the audio quality of services;

​Ofcom’s own agenda was more aligned to the technical aspects of the trial:

1. To test the function, capability and stability of software-defined DAB multiplex technology;
2. To test how well the available technology lends itself to several parties coordinating their services into the multiplex; and
3. To give the market an opportunity to learn about the software-defined DAB platform and the potential opportunities the technology affords. 

Niocast's Year

​The focus of our application was on extending choice. The more variety DAB offers, the more likely it is that people will make the switch and, at least, sample the new stations. Our original six stations were all different and distinctive representing a 60/40 mix of existing operators and new entrants to the industry. Fundamentally, there was nothing on our multiplex resembling any existing DAB station in the market.

Niocast Manchester - Formats at Launch

​We were delighted to launch with such a diverse range of services, demonstrably enriching the DAB listening choice for Manchester:

• Chris Country
• Gaydio
• Panjab Radio
• Manchester Business Radio
• Revolution 96.2
• The Steve Penk Wind-Up Channel 

​We continued to welcome new services and by February 2016 we had grown our ‘bouquet’ to eleven. MAX 80s, Unity Radio and London Greek Radio were swiftly followed by New Sunset Radio – a fondly-remembered station from the 90s and something brand new – NQR, a station targeting Manchester’s thriving northern quarter.

More Choice and Higher Quality? Bring on DAB

​Early in 2016 we set out to explore the feasibility of DAB+ as a means of enhancing the trial whilst providing us with additional options for clients. Unlike DAB where the audio signal is encoded in MP2, a DAB+ audio signal uses AAC (Advanced Audio Coding). This deploys a number of clever techniques to make it more efficient, achieving better audio quality at lower bitrates. Typically, 48 kbp/s DAB+ sounds the same as a 128 kbp/s DAB signal. Most radio sets produced since 2007 are compatible with both DAB and DAB+ although up until 2013 some manufacturers chose to disable the facility because there were no DAB+ services to receive. (If in doubt contact the manufacturer). What was really interesting to us, though, is that DAB and DAB+ services can live side-by-side on the same multiplex.

​By now, we were past the half-way mark in our nine month life-cycle so Ofcom’s decision to extend the trial by two years came as welcome news, giving us the time and security we needed in order to invest in new codecs and reconfigure our systems.

​A trip to the WorldDAB Automotive conference in Brussels further strengthened our resolve to commit to DAB+. Chatting to delegates it became apparent that most countries in Europe and others around the globe are now looking to DAB+ as the long-term solution.

Niocast's John Evington & David Duffy at WorldDAB, Brussels

​Offering existing clients a DAB+ upgrade has enabled us to dramatically increase the range of services on the multiplex whilst, at the same time, allowing them to broadcast in higher quality. 

Niocast Manchester – Formats One Year-In

​On the anniversary of our launch we’re proud to offer more services than any other UK multiplex:

• 19 stations
• 9 in stereo
• 14 of them using DAB+

Niocast Manchester – Multiplex Timeline

​We’ve retained all of our original services which is a real testament to their belief in the platform. Encouragingly, we continue to receive enquiries on a regular basis from prospective new services suggesting that, in Manchester at least, the demand is there to sustain a smaller tier of DAB.

​It’s been a great year for Niocast Digital and, for me, especially rewarding to come back to the city where I began my broadcasting career and help shape the future radio ecology. When I started out there was just one commercial station – Piccadilly – and half the population listened to it! Now we have one of the most developed and sophisticated radio markets in Britain with 71 DAB services available across the city – 27% of them from the Niocast multiplex. Manchester is a great place to be just now and we relish the prospect of developing things further in our second year.

DAB and DAB+ Services Available in Manchester