The Guardian Gets It Wrong

On Saturday July 11th, the Guardian carried a piece on DAB radio that was, at best, poorly researched, at worst the kind of skewed, blinkered drivel usually the reserve of certain tabloids. You can read it here [http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jul/11/fm-radio-dab-ofcom].

The DRDB has issued this reply ...

In its Editorial on Saturday – ‘Radio: Turn on, tune in, drop out’ - The Guardian again demonstrated its biased and misinformed campaign against DAB digital radio.

It is incorrect in virtually every point it makes:

1. Digital Britain states that when analogue is less than 50% of radio listening the Government will set an appropriate switch-off date (6 ½ years away at the earliest) and ensure the public is ready for it. Saying that everyone’s radios will stop working overnight is blatant scaremongering, as by any switch-off the vast majority will already be listening digitally.
2. Recent Ofcom research found that about 45m analogue radios are in regular use plus 22m in cars – not the 150m quoted.
3. DAB is not a primitive technology. It delivers digital quality sound, additional station choice (up to 50 in some areas) and other benefits such as text and even graphical information. DAB+ is just an updated version of DAB and would offer the vast majority of listeners only marginal benefits yet would make obsolete all the existing 9-10m DAB sets.
4. 88% of listeners rate the audio quality of DAB highly. The Guardian is blindly following an out of touch, audiophile agenda.
5. DAB does work well in cars – why else would Ford be making it standard on 50% of Mondeos, Galaxys, etc? I would challenge The Guardian to drive around the UK in a car with a properly installed DAB radio and report on the experience.
6. While the DAB signal is not as universal as FM (c.90% compared with c.98%), Digital Britain states this will be addressed before any switchover. The target is also to move to digital, not just DAB but also online devices and digital TVs.
7. DAB receivers have been reducing in price for some time now, and are available from as little as £25 today. We are currently working on an initiative which will reduce this to £15 to £25 within the next 18 months.
8. Re. the power consumption of digital radios The Guardian is out of date. Many DAB radios are now accredited by the Energy Saving Trust as using very low power levels, and this will only improve.

Finally, despite The Guardian’s efforts, more and more people are buying digital radios and now over 20% of listening is via digital (over two thirds of that DAB). Radio is a key foundation of the UK’s media sector and has to go digital to ensure its long term survival. I do not see The Guardian suggesting that any other media reverts to an analogue only state, so what makes radio different?

Tony Moretta
Chief Executive
DRDB