Digital Radio in the United Kingdom

The radio industry in the United States continues to hope that HD Radio will keep people from adopting satellite radio. The radio listeners in the United States continue to ignore HD Radio for the most part.

A while back, Wired.com ran a story about the current state of that technology. According to the article, HD Radio receivers have sold in the low hundred thousands compared to 4.7 million digital radio receivers in the United Kingdom since 1999. That's around an average of 670,000 units per year!

To be fair, there are two entirely different situations at play and the differences are what is making the UK version so hot.

In the UK, the digital radio standard is called Digital Audio Broadcasting, or DAB. Consumers call it Digital Radio. I won't get into the technical differences between HD Radio and DAB, but the two technologies deliver similar results to the listener.

Stations utilizing DAB send compressed digital signals using the same bandwidth that they use for their analog signals. This results in sharper audio for one thing. It also allows for more audio streams. So, like US HD Radio stations do, UK listeners get more stations to listen to.

The key to the technology's success lies in the fact that the BBC partnered with manufacturers to develop the standard and implement the infrastructure. So, it's no surprise that the BBC threw it's considerable weight behind DAB and wholeheartedly supports it.

The BBC, which was an early adopter, offers several digital-only stations in their "multiplex."

There's Five Live Sports Extra which offers play-by-play coverage of cricket, soccer, swimming(!), etc. They also offer 1Xtra which plays "The Best in New Black Music," or more specifically "...the latest in hip hop , RnB, garage, drum & bass and dancehall as well as other styles like house, gospel and soca." I kind of like the choice to use the word "extra" when referring to what HD Radio calls "side channels." It sounds like the consumer is getting more for their money than just something on the side.

With such rich content, it's no surprise that UK consumers have embraced DAB. Right now the BBC is using that content to help usher in the age of digital television by making their digital-only stations available over their digital TV signals.

So far, DAB seems pretty similar to HD Radio. However, DAB offers much more functionality to the listener. Digital Radios come with a small screen that can receive text along with the audio, like the one pictured to the right from Sharp. UK broadcasters are sending lots of information this way including song titles and artists, sports scores, web addresses and other information related to the specific program. Newer radios can even display a program guide.

Speaking of newer radios, the latest DAB breakthrough is the ability to pause, rewind and record live radio. I kid you not. It's like having TiVo for the radio, only it's not a separate device. It's built right into the radio and it's already been activated the minute you turn on your new radio. The model pictured below has a giant orange pause button on the top. Radios with the pause/rewind feature start at around $200 which is what an HD Radio receiver costs. Same price. More functionality. Amazing.

I would think that HD Radio will catch up with DAB at some point. The aforementioned Wired article indicates that text and data via HD Radio is in the works. But, don't we all have at least one device that can receive data? Like a wireless phone? It would be a nice extra for HD Radio receivers, but it's not going to sell radios.

Pause/rewind is the killer app for HD Radio. It would sell radios like nothing else currently can. I'm guessing that the RIAA would put up a strenuous fight over copyright protection if this feature were ever considered, so we may never see that feature in the US.