World's First Affordable Digital Radio

Much cheaper than anything previously
LBC Newsletter, September 2000

I've had a couple of requests for more information about digital radio, so I thought I'd give you a little update this week. First of all, a brief and hopefully easy to understand explanation of what digital radio is. Until now, most radio broadcasts have been on FM or AM (also known as Medium Wave). Now there is a third type of transmission, called DAB. This is a digital form of broadcasting, meaning the signal is clearer and of a much higher quality. It's like the switch from vinyl records to CD. LBC is now broadcasting on DAB, as well as continuing to broadcast on 1152AM.

To receive the DAB broadcasts you need a digital radio - that is a radio specially built to pick up DAB, not to be confused with an FM or AM radio that has digital tuning. At the moment, the cheapest digital radios are around five hundred pounds and only available from specialist hi-fi shops. The good news is that last Thursday I visited Live 2000 at Earls Court, and had a long chat with a company called VideoLogic. They're producing a DAB receiver for £299.

Now that's still a lot of money, but it's much cheaper than anything previously, and VideoLogic tell me it will be available in a `major high street retailer' in time for Christmas. The great thing for LBC is that with a digital radio you get the station without any hiss or crackle. If you want more information on digital radio, visit www.ukdigitalradio.com - or for more information on the VideoLogic receiver have a look at www.videologic.com.