Discussion
ninepoint2 said:
TheInternet said:
Evercross said:
As far as I am concerned there is still a demand for it
It is more popular than ever and increasing. More radio is listened to via DAB than FM in the UK.So I would be inclined to take any published figures with a 'pinch of salt'.
Edited by TonyRPH on Wednesday 2nd September 11:57
I agree. Like many people, I only listen to radio in the car. Of the three cars on my driveway, only one has the ability to receive DAB broadcasts. An awful lot of people in the area I live in drive cars less than three years old, but in other parts of the country people hang on to cars for longer. Since DAB is still an optional extra in some cars (Porsche I'm looking at you!) I'd estimate that only 60-70% of cars on the road can receive DAB, while 99.9% of them can receive FM. So although published numbers say that DAB listening finally overtook FM listening earlier in 2020, I think that's a highly optimistic statistic.
LunarOne said:
I agree. Like many people, I only listen to radio in the car. Of the three cars on my driveway, only one has the ability to receive DAB broadcasts. .....I'd estimate that only 60-70% of cars on the road can receive DAB.....
Maybe I am wrong, but personally would be amazed if it was that high, even if weighted for car-mileage.My 20 yo BMW is older than most would drive granded (FM and Analog TV tuners) but my Ms Mk7 58 Fiesta is still a very common car and does not have DAB. What do Dacia fit these days?
Radio in the garage, decent micro system hand my down, is FM only.
Kitchen radio (Roberts) is DAB enabled, and sounds like arse regardless of source!
Tuner hooked up to the whole-house HiFi is a 'vintage' Quad unit and FM only.
Daniel
LunarOne said:
I agree. Like many people, I only listen to radio in the car. Of the three cars on my driveway, only one has the ability to receive DAB broadcasts. An awful lot of people in the area I live in drive cars less than three years old, but in other parts of the country people hang on to cars for longer. Since DAB is still an optional extra in some cars (Porsche I'm looking at you!) I'd estimate that only 60-70% of cars on the road can receive DAB, while 99.9% of them can receive FM. So although published numbers say that DAB listening finally overtook FM listening earlier in 2020, I think that's a highly optimistic statistic.
It wouldnt be surprising if DAB in the home has overtaken FM or maybe that purchases of radios with DAB has overtaken those without.Whats not clear is how many people try to use DAB in the car, do listen to it, accept its shortcomings despite theose being worse than FM.
FM has its issues, Try listening to Radio 4 and drive into mid wales where the radio 4 frequency is used by another channel and Radio 4 has a Wales variant at times of day so the automatic tuning wont switch to it.
I note that on this site, rather than state that DAB listening is on the up, they refer to "digital radio listening" which of course could encompass listening via the internet too.
Given the amount of devices out there which are capable of "tuning" to internet stations, I suspect that the latter is probably more on the rise than DAB.
Some time back, I seem to recall that reference is now being made to "digital radio listening" instead of DAB. The commentator concerned seemed to imply that this was in order to cloud the issue.
EDIT: Actually Which magazine are somewhat more open about digital listening and go on to state:
Given the amount of devices out there which are capable of "tuning" to internet stations, I suspect that the latter is probably more on the rise than DAB.
Some time back, I seem to recall that reference is now being made to "digital radio listening" instead of DAB. The commentator concerned seemed to imply that this was in order to cloud the issue.
EDIT: Actually Which magazine are somewhat more open about digital listening and go on to state:
Which said:
Roughly 90% of the UK population – approximately 48.7 million adults – are tuning in regularly to listen to their favourite digital broadcasts. This includes accessing the radio on TVs as well as smartphones and tablets, and the proliferation of dedicated internet radio apps has no doubt helped the recent surge in radio listening.
But they also go on to state:Which said:
DAB is still far and away the most popular platform for digital listening, but there’s been a recent rise in the number of people tuning in to internet radio.
I'm not so sure about that statement, given how many people probably listen to internet radio via smartphones etc.- It should be noted that Which the article appears to be about 2 years old or more.
Edited by TonyRPH on Wednesday 2nd September 12:11
The article in your first link also states:
Listening via DAB grew by 16.1 million hours (or by 4%) year on year to now account for 41% of all listening and 70% of digital listening, and DAB listening hours are now ahead of FM listening hours when split out from overall AM/FM listening.
Figures supporting this are from RAJAR, not the gov.
RAJAR stands for Radio Joint Audience Research and is the official body in charge of measuring radio audiences in the UK. It is jointly owned by the BBC and the Radiocentre on behalf of the commercial sector.
Listening via DAB grew by 16.1 million hours (or by 4%) year on year to now account for 41% of all listening and 70% of digital listening, and DAB listening hours are now ahead of FM listening hours when split out from overall AM/FM listening.
Figures supporting this are from RAJAR, not the gov.
RAJAR stands for Radio Joint Audience Research and is the official body in charge of measuring radio audiences in the UK. It is jointly owned by the BBC and the Radiocentre on behalf of the commercial sector.
@TheInternet
I know who RAJAR are.
I'm not quite sure how (from a technical viewpoint) the number of DAB listeners can be (accurately) determined, I presume this is derived from polls.
At least with internet radio, the streaming providers can supply reasonably accurate statistics by way of connected devices.
I'm sure there must be many people who 'tune in' via the radio services provided by FreeView, FreeSat, Virgin etc. so I wonder how many of those are accurately accounted for?
I remain sceptical that DAB listening is as popular as statistics would have us believe.
However I don't dispute that FM listening is probably on the decline, but likely more in favour of internet radio, where there is a huge selection of stations that are not blighted by adverts.
I know who RAJAR are.
I'm not quite sure how (from a technical viewpoint) the number of DAB listeners can be (accurately) determined, I presume this is derived from polls.
At least with internet radio, the streaming providers can supply reasonably accurate statistics by way of connected devices.
I'm sure there must be many people who 'tune in' via the radio services provided by FreeView, FreeSat, Virgin etc. so I wonder how many of those are accurately accounted for?
I remain sceptical that DAB listening is as popular as statistics would have us believe.
However I don't dispute that FM listening is probably on the decline, but likely more in favour of internet radio, where there is a huge selection of stations that are not blighted by adverts.
saaby93 said:
Whats not clear is how many people try to use DAB in the car, do listen to it, accept its shortcomings despite theose being worse than FM.
Similarly, whats not clear is how many people try to use FM in the car, do listen to it, accept its shortcomings despite theose being worse than DAB.TheInternet said:
saaby93 said:
Whats not clear is how many people try to use DAB in the car, do listen to it, accept its shortcomings despite theose being worse than FM.
Similarly, whats not clear is how many people try to use FM in the car, do listen to it, accept its shortcomings despite theose being worse than DAB.
TheInternet said:
It is not trivial, but one would expect the methods utilised for the FM/DAB metrics to be consistent and for comparisons between the two to be valid.
TheInternet said:
Evercross said:
As far as I am concerned there is still a demand for it
It is more popular than ever and increasing. More radio is listened to via DAB than FM in the UK.DAB is s
t though so I now just don't bother listening to any radio of any kind and just have a load of tracks loaded onto an SD card. I am an old git, so Radio2/Radio4/Classic Fm fodder.
In a normal car like my ancient Saab I listen to the above on FM.
Good clear reception, no lack of signal.
I always had problems with the DAB signal at home in rural Norfolk 10 years ago, so ditched it.
A man of my age can only stand arms outstretched holding the aerial for about 10 minutes at a time
My only exception is in my TVR, where the aerial is so rubbish I cannot get a decent FM signal.
Then my 11 year old grandson told me about Radioplayer.
I downloaded it to my iphone, plugged said iphone into the car's gramophone (it has a handy USB port on the front), and lo and behold out come my favourite radio stations loud and clear......except for approximately two miles of a country lane in a valley the Peak District.
Who needs DAB?
In a normal car like my ancient Saab I listen to the above on FM.
Good clear reception, no lack of signal.
I always had problems with the DAB signal at home in rural Norfolk 10 years ago, so ditched it.
A man of my age can only stand arms outstretched holding the aerial for about 10 minutes at a time
My only exception is in my TVR, where the aerial is so rubbish I cannot get a decent FM signal.
Then my 11 year old grandson told me about Radioplayer.
I downloaded it to my iphone, plugged said iphone into the car's gramophone (it has a handy USB port on the front), and lo and behold out come my favourite radio stations loud and clear......except for approximately two miles of a country lane in a valley the Peak District.
Who needs DAB?
The DAB in the OH's car's has been faultless and other in built DAB radio's. Not noticed any drop outs even on long journeys.
The DAB on my aftermarket unit in my van on the other hand can be crap.
Mostly listen to BBC Radio 6 and sometimes Radio X. Being restricted to FM is terrible and i tend to put spotify on.
The DAB on my aftermarket unit in my van on the other hand can be crap.
Mostly listen to BBC Radio 6 and sometimes Radio X. Being restricted to FM is terrible and i tend to put spotify on.
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