I’d put it squarely in the “NEVER EVER” category. DAB+ only got the (small) adoption it did in Australia because we were playing catch-up with Europe, and relatively cheap receivers were available from day one.
There aren’t any mainstream broadcasters properly broadcasting in DRM yet. There are no manufacturers of consumer DRM radios yet - 100% of listeners to test broadcasts are just radio geeks with their SDRs.
It took 10 years for Australia to adopt a proper digital radio service. Car manufacturers only include DAB because it is widely adopted in Europe, and Aussie spec cars usually include the European versions of multimedia systems anyway (and AFAIK many modern car radio tuners are SDRs so it’s piss easy to include).
Spectrum availability of AM and FM radio in Australia outside the capital cities is a complete non-issue, which is what’s supposed to be driving the digital switch.
In 10 years time, I daresay we may even have a satellite option available through Starlink or similar companies, rendering DRM+ completely useless.
I just don’t see the point to DRM. There may be something to it in Europe and Asia where there’s limited spectrum, but here? No chance.
I agree as well, why not just bypass digital radio and just make it internet based? Sure it has a few flaws, like much wider competition from across the country and globe + the lack of control over infrastructure. But DAB has barely been embraced as it is, nevermind the fact that terrestrial radio could well be near extinction in a few decades when this actually gets fully implemented to the levels we see with dab right now.
Exactly how I feel, but even in Europe and Asia it would already be redundant, since internet streaming is already well underway. Radio is past the point where it can implement new technologies which would require a complete overhaul of existing receivers and continue having mainstream appeal.
My biggest problem with this is that the test is being done of an FM frequency using up already scarce spectrum for more ABC services. Reading about the tests overseas, it looks like you can get 3 services per FM frequency so to get the 11 or so ABC services that are now available on DAB that would need 4 more FM frequencies for ABC per market.
I think you’re right about that. With Europe’s population density, there’s very little chance you’d be out of mobile coverage on a cross-country trip like is common here in Australia. Europe (the main pushers of this project) already have comprehensive DAB SFNs as well, so what exactly is the rationale behind DRM?
Yes that’s true, but even still we’ve got to think into the future. It could be years before a permanent DRM service actually gets established (if at all), and by the time DRM actually has a chance to get to the levels at which DAB+ is at today in Aus (which isn’t even impressive anyway), we will be several generations along from where we are at today. Listening to a radio the way we know it today may be consigned to the elderly. The mobile telecoms infrastructure would most likely have better coverage than Digital Radio could realistically have by that point (if even just marginally).
If the ABC really thinks it will have enough money to fund a large-scale rollout of this, then it thinks it it will have enough money to have not made so many people redundant rather than invest in a doomed technology.
Couldn’t agree more. Too late to market and already obsolete (considering the proliferation of smart devices along with improved mobile coverage and generous mobile data allowances, NBN etc etc.).
My mate just ordered the new Amazon Alexa auto device for his car because he doesn’t like the offerings of Sydney radio.
This right here is exactly why the ABC or any broadcaster shouldn’t pour money into this.
We’ve already seen a small group of people who want non-stop music and choose to listen to Spotify over the radio, but this group haven’t been listening to the radio since the invention of cassettes, so radio hasn’t felt the impact of this a whole lot. However a large majority of current radio listeners aren’t faithful enough to buy a DAB+ receiver, so why would they buy a DRM receiver? Just like your mate, they’ll simply choose the streaming option as it has the potential for many more stations than DAB/DRM, and much higher quality too.
The ABC and all other broadcasters need to pour their money into improving their online presence rather than fighting an uphill battle to get DRM into the homes and cars of future generations.
I get why the ABC would be keen on DRM+ but the optics of this aren’t great - we’ve not seen the majority of the sweeping cuts across the broadcaster because of funding limits, yet they’ve committed to a trial of a broadcasting technology that is hardly used, with little listening device options. Not only that, there is no cogent strategy for the rollout of digital broadcasting beyond what we already have.
I agree it’s too late to implement a new technology for terrestrial radio. By the time it rolls out and people have a way of listening people will already be on internet radio one way or another.
I think there’s a (very) small window to get adoption of DAB in the larger regional centres and to get a better uptake in metro areas but even that window is narrowing. Commercial operators resisted DAB too long and the ACMA ensured it wouldn’t work by not opening up DAB to new operators. I still think there’s a slight chance for DAB but I think there’s zero chance for another technology like DRM.
All in all it’s a bleak assessment for terrestrial radio. Even if they re-stacked FM and let all commercial AM stations convert to FM it’s not enough choice for listeners anymore. It’s certainly not enough choice for me. For example I wouldn’t listen to Triple M on FM because there’s too much talk, too many ads and the music playlist is too narrow. However I will listen to Triple M Classic Rock and Soft Rock - but neither of these choices would make it onto FM under any scenario. So it’s DAB or Internet for me. I would probably listen to 4BH or 4KQ on FM though but that’s never going to happen, so again it’s DAB or Internet.
Could it be that Broadcast Australia wanted to trial this as an option for its clients, rather than the ABC asking for it? It will just use ABC programming for the test.
That part of Victoria in particular has a lot of problems with multipath distortion on analog FM due to the mountainous terrain. Could be why they’re trialling it there.
BTW agree it’s somewhat of a waste of time for all the good reasons given before.
Hi guys, as part of a board reshuffle, we’ve closed a couple of mega threads and @Moe suggested a split in content/stations and technical would be beneficial. So here we are.
