BBC World Service and Deutsche Welle have announced plans to launch a joint radio service to Europe on DRM shortwave. The new stream, which will be entirely in English, is expected to go live in early 2009. It will be available from early morning till late at night targeting Western and Central Europe and a potential audience of 170 million listeners with global news and current affairs and a rich mix of in-depth analysis, documentaries and cultural programs. The service will provide a multimedia offer of audio and text, the latter coming automatically from the BBC News website.
Erik Bettermann, Director General at Deutsche Welle, said: “It is great that two of the world’s most established broadcasters can work together on a project of this scale. This is an exciting venture that will offer European listeners top class content and provides the perfect opportunity to reintroduce listeners to DRM.”
(Source: DRM Consortium)
on Sep 14th, 2008 at 22:19
I dont understand. Surely the maximum potential audience for this new service is the number of people with DRM receivers, not the population of people living in the target area. This brings back memories of Worldspace, (now curiously renamed 1worldspace) which used to claim 3.4 billion people in their brochures - potential audience again. The last quoted figure showed this network had a mere 171,657 subscribers after years on the air.
on Sep 15th, 2008 at 09:20
The broadcasters are pushing ahead with this despite there being very few DRM receivers in the European and UK marketplace(and the fact you have to buy online;nothing is in the shops YET). I would\’ve hung fire until there is a sufficient number of DRM receivers in the consumer marketplace to make it worthwhile. Merely targeting audiences first before the receivers to get the service are available is like talking into thin-air and is a very poor strategy! The receivers need to be available to listeners first(and in sufficient numbers)to make this sort of thing worthwhile.
on Sep 15th, 2008 at 09:27
I don’t think they are “pushing ahead” before there are receivers available, otherwise why would they announce it six months before it’s due to start? I believe there has been a deal between at least one receiver manufacturer that belongs to the DRM Consortium and the broadcasters. Something on the lines of “Show us you’re serious about DRM and we will put DRM receivers into production.” That’s why the press release is cautious, saying it’s “expected to go live” in early 2009. Clearly it’s contingent on something.
on Sep 15th, 2008 at 11:52
What would be the difference between this DRM-programme and the current BBC-WS outlet, which gives, to my best knowledge, news and current affairs and in depth analysis. DW does the same, in German. Both can be received very well in anlogue SW, BBC-WS is even easier for me with it’s outlet on 648 24/7. In EXCELLENT audio quality, near FM. I wonder if DRM will realy sound better, and stereo for spoken word programme’s is silly.
When I am listening to the radio I am doing something else, driving my car, working in my home or office, so I wil not watch a display on my radio (dangerous while driving). When I I want more text info I go to the Internet, many very good news etc sources. When I am near a TV I can watch CNN and BBC-WS. OK, this might not be available all over Europe, but Internet is.
Forgive me, I cannot see the use of DRM.
Wireless Internet has much more future in my eyes. Now available in this country for a very fair price. This gives everything, Radio, TV, news pages etc etc. and very good choice.
For radio Internet Radio seems to be the fiuture: during change over to this the old analogue FM and AM willl hold. For a broadcaster it is easy and very cost effective to simulcast on the Internet, most stations already do. So this is viable, of course this is just my vision.
on Sep 15th, 2008 at 13:10
I can understand that the broadcasters think that radio sets must be available before it makes sense to broadcast on DRM. I can understand that radio set makers think that you have to be able to pick something up on the sets before people will buy them. But it is certain that as long as there are neither interesting broadcasts to pick nor a good selection of radios to buy, then the consumers will stay away. In this case, chicken _and_ egg must come first. If there were a vertically integrated (radio-) broadcaster, they might be able to do that by themselves, but since there is no such company to my knowledge, the broadcasters and the radio set makers should make some agreements with each other. Perhaps this is what Andy is mentioning, though if that\’s really the case, then we have to start to learn to read tea leaves to learn what really they\’re trying to tell us. (You would have thought someone like DW would be able to say clearly what it means.)
on Sep 15th, 2008 at 13:12
Broadcasters are NOT going to go down the internet only route;they WILL eventually replace their AM and FM transmissions with newer higher tech platforms for delivery be it DMB/DTT/DRM/DRM+/DAB/DAB+/FMXtra/DSat/Dcab/IBOC/Worldspace whatever. Why have several stations in the UK and Ireland and some parts of Europe and worldwide got rid of SW/MW/LW? Because a)quality reasons, b)poor reception at night on MW/LW and frequently on SW,and c)loss of audience who are searching higher quality listening methods without the interference/fading that mars AM reception(and who can blame them!). There needs to be replacements for these outdated platforms to enable that and DR platforms and compatible receivers can only help this cause.
on Sep 15th, 2008 at 14:08
“Broadcasters are NOT going to go down the internet only route” - perhaps they aren’t, but the audience certainly is.
on Sep 15th, 2008 at 14:24
But what you fail to realise and ignore is that terry NOT everybody has internet access,or wireless broadband access or WiFi sets! How do you think the final 40% without these means can access radio? The answer IS simple: with radio sets, traditional analogue AM/FM/LW/SW radios and broadcasts or Dsat/Dcab/DTT(if television) or DAB/DAB+ and/or other digital equivalents where the broadcasts/receivers are available!
on Sep 15th, 2008 at 14:54
re ruud:
With the Netherlands being just between Britain and Germany, I can see why you have no problems receiving BBC and DW so clearly. But I think reception quality is worse in other parts of Europe.
Another problem is that standard radio sets don’t feature SW bands any more and this has been like that for a decade. DRM might be a technology appealing to younger or different audiences, or so they hope.
You mentioned the Internet, but
a) at least mobile data services are still quite expensive, which means that Internet radio is not accessible from everywhere
b) with mass surveillance of the Internet, conscious users may grow wary about their Internet usage. DRM reception on the other hand cannot be traced. A certain privacy/data conscious minority might find that appealing and I think these critical users of information technology could be a significant part of the audience.
on Sep 15th, 2008 at 15:02
100% of the final 40% already has analogue radio, in order to use this before Internet arrives they need to do nothing at all.
The Internet wil come to this 40% as well, Internet is a very attractive phenomenen, the demand for this is very high, in many areas it will be wireless/mobile Internet only, as many developing countries never had 100% coverage with landline telephones. They went to mobile from the start, easier and cheaper to implement. Last night I saw a report from Africa where mobile telephone is establishing.
This will go as well for mobile vs landline Internet. My expectation is that worldwide mobile Internet will replace Internet via landlines. And when there is mobile Internet there is mobile Internet radio and television and etc…. Internet is a total solution, digital radio is radio only. Internet radio will give me far more stations then whatever digital radio-system.
on Sep 15th, 2008 at 15:27
Er ruud,it won’t! not everybody wants internet radio or has it, for the refusers of internet radio the other means such as DRM/DRM+/DAB/DAB+ etc will STILL be available to them and in time will become attractive as content and choice on these platforms improve(and given time and breathing space it will). Not everywhere has wireless internet and in places that do, some charge fees for the use of it on wifi laptops and radios(these connections aren’t free you know somebody has to pay for it)
on Sep 15th, 2008 at 17:40
As it stands people dont want digital radio, this has been proven now.
Nowhere it really coms off the ground. DRM is even nowhere, only terrible noise on my AM radio.
Internet radio is gaining more and more success, and with the introduction and wide acceptance of mobile Internet Internet radio will get a major boost.
Mobile Internet costs me about 35 Euros /month, with unlimited data use. This is including a UMTS device to be connected to the USB port.
For this sort of money I can also get a mobile Internet phone. Just a plug between the headphone output and the input of my present carradio and I can receive stations from all around the world in fair to good quality.
ff course the sam money gives aal other benefits fromn the Internet.
OK I’m registered, a problem in bad government counties. But free radio does not exist there. Bad countries can block the use of Internet. Now they are interfering with analogue radio signals from abroad, as they will do with DRM signals.
Sorry, still not convinced to digital radio, as the public voting with their feet for not buying digital radios, and the retailers in consequuence for not putting themn in their shops.
Internet radio has another advantage, easy to check out for the audience figures, so you don’t need expensive research as for analogue and digital radio. An nice option for commercial broadcasters.
on Sep 16th, 2008 at 06:51
How do you know people don’t want digital radio Ruud? Let me tell you something mate and I know this more than you:it may NOT have come to your attention that DAB HAS taken off in the United Kingdom with more and more buying the radios needed to listen to it;the broadcasters in the UK and digital multiplex operators for DAB point to good sales figures for the sets to recieve it,and more and more people here are realising that soundquality is NOT now quite the issue it was, but choice IS and DAB offers that(even though the quality may not be that brilliant). There’s NO such thing as digital pay-radio in the United Kingdom Ruud except Music Choice on Skydigital(and some cable networks). The UK’s national broadcasters WILL eventually adopt DRM on MW or SW or LW for national coverage like Talksport/Virginradio/BBCR5L(and I only hope they do;I don’t like listening to AM because the reception at night goes belly up on MW with interference from European/Russian and Middle Eastern stations on the same frequencies as the UK ones and unpleasant deep fading especially on warm summer evenings and afterdark in winter becomes an issue, DRM on the AM bands can and does improve on this with an all digital signal that isn’t so corrupted by these foibles(OK YOU DO get occasional digital dropouts if the signals are corrupted by excessive propagation/sunspots etc as you get with DRM-SW, not so bad on DRM-MW/DRM-LW);why did R.Luxembourg closedown on MW1440khz on 30thDec1991-I’ll tell you why:because local radio and national radio in the UK has better higher quality coverage on FM that DOESN’T suffer interference and quality issues and they were using that argument to kill it, plus advertisers were disillusioned because of it and were finding their commercials were difficult to target the very people who buy their products with the noisy static and constant whistling and fading) and local BBC/ILR radio stations will also probably use DRM on a local level for local MW coverage(OK maybe not now but sometime in the future, indeed Ofcom has hinted at using DRM reception to fill in the gaps in DAB coverage to take in and cover the areas that DAB can’t;such as the high mountaineous areas of Scotland and Wales and the hillier mountaineous parts of N.England/NI,Wales and Cumbria where hilly countryside and mountains block out DAB and FM radio signals and can in some cases even reduce signal strengths on local low power MW stations/relays). The new DRM radios and car-radios automatically retune to a your chosen DRM station on another frequency or even another waveband should signal levels falter as you drive if listening on a DRM equipped car stereo or if you are listening on a DRM home set should the broadcasters change frequency in the middle of the broadcast as happens frequently on DRM-SW with european and international broadcasts(similar to RDS on the FM waveband). So you’re wrong again Ruud;digital radio can AND will succeed. And I am going to buy a DRM set and NOT a WiFi one a)I don’t have internet/wireless broadband at home and b)I believe in the digital radio dream
on Sep 16th, 2008 at 13:06
There’s now a BBC Press Office release which has some more quotes:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2008/09_september/16/drm.shtml
As Jonathan says this talk of potential audience is misleading, it’s nearly as many as the BBCWS audience now in all languages on all platforms! Nor are they native English speakers. I would assume that BBC and DW will be marketing receivers to their audiences, as to the DRM Consortium Chairman’s talk of growing number of receivers there’s only one new model been announced at IFA and it’s too expensive, they urgently need a small cheap receiver which can run off batteries and that includes the other European digital radio platforms. Whether devices that only act as radio receivers are marketable long term these days is another question.
According to a posting on the drmrx forums this new stream “will replace the existing (DRM) broadcasts of Deutsche Welle and BBC World Service.” which are two separate services. If this is correct will it be a mix of programmes, some from the BBC, some from DW and some jointly produced? There are questions of editorial control here I would have thought, particularly on news output.
on Sep 16th, 2008 at 14:42
Anthony,
the reception at night goes belly up on DRM as well as in MW, look at Devon try results that
were presented last July, decent reception was only possible in daily hours.
I also hope DRM be successful but there are still many issues to be addressed IMHO.
on Sep 17th, 2008 at 06:23
But DRM on MW only goes bad at night when you’re listening outside the station’s OFFICIAL reception area, in that case Plymouth. A local DRM-MW service is not designed to be heard outside the station’s service area(and it shouldn’t go bad within this zone if the broadcaster gets the transmission parameters right). Also tx power can also play a part in poor DRM-MW reception(a DRM transmission requires much less power than is required for analogue AM transmission so leading to the problems mentioned such as digital dropouts at night and stereo/mono dropout and back to stereo again if the broadcaster uses stereo on their transmissions).
on Sep 17th, 2008 at 15:26
if the “OFFICIAL reception area” is that small and tx power should be increased then where is the point in using DRM instead of DAB or FM ?
on Sep 18th, 2008 at 06:32
Maurizio conventional MW transmitter service areas provide a good level of reasonable reception during daylight hours but at night and especially after dark this is much reduced because of the interference that comes in on the ionosphere from foreign MW radio stations in Europe and beyond(and this manifests itself in twittering whistling fading and distortion);there are several modes for DRM-MW/DRM-LW/DRM-SW transmission providing adequate protection/robustness ratios to cope with the variabilities of AM propagation and fading that the broadcaster can use to counteract various reception conditions, and the broadcasters can vary the robustness and quality trade off differences to suit these different reception conditions. I would have experimented with the different modes at night to see which modes for transmission give better DRM-MW reception and settled on the one that gives reasonable quality and robustness for the interference that comes on night-time MW reception spoiling the signals and corrupting the transmission data.
on Sep 18th, 2008 at 18:06
Meanwhile we here in North America will be losing RNW via shortwave. One question regarding all these “delivery platforms”:
How many unique listeners will this DRM service reach, that wouldn’t otherwise hear the BBCWS and DW?
The same could be said for RNW here in NA…how many unique listeners will be lost (that don’t have access to these alternative platforms)?
on Sep 23rd, 2008 at 10:09
Ouch! The BBC has misspelled Erik Bettermann’s name in their press release. http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2008/09_september/16/drm.shtml
on Nov 25th, 2008 at 08:58
I am currently listening to BBC and DW Test-(the text as appeared on the display) on 9610 khz DRM. I am not sure where the transmission is being relayed from, but signal is steady, with stereo audio. Programming is featuring reports about the environment, agriculture, sciences etc.
on Nov 25th, 2008 at 09:37
The time is 0858 UTC. Test continues at 0900 on 9610 khz, opening with a bulletin of DW news in English.
on Nov 26th, 2008 at 10:28
The test on 9610kHz DRM-SW is from Sines,Portugal on DW’s DRM station.
on Nov 26th, 2008 at 15:27
Received on Wednesday , Nov. 26th, 2008 at 14.50 UTC on 9545 Khz.
BBC & DW Test with a Morphy Richards DRM radio with its telescopic antenna in Coria del Río, Seville, Spain.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9v5sn3L3iyY