DAB: the future of radio? The development of digital radio in four European countries

Digital radio reached its tenth birthday in 2005. However, anniversary celebrations have been rather muted. In contrast with digital television, where audience awareness levels are high and adoption rates similar, digital radio’s penetration into the marketplace has been minimal. Even when people have heard of digital radio, survey data shows that very few feel knowledgeable about it. Nevertheless, most broadcasters and most governments believe that, just as most other consumer electronics is migrating from analogue to digital tech-nology, radio too will eventually become all-digital. But development of dig-ital radio is very variable, with some countries having a large number of digital radio services available across the whole nation, while others have very few services. The picture is confused by there being a number of interpretations of the term ‘digital radio’. Almost all households that receive digital TV, whether by satellite, cable or over-the-air terrestrial transmissions, will also receive a number of radio stations with that service. So listening to a radio station through the TV is one form of digital radio service. A second form is listen-ing to streamed radio stations on the internet – this too can be regarded a