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My knowledge of radios began and ended with big wooden boxes that needed five minutes to warm up, glowed in the dark and only picked up Polish radio stations. Therefore my attempt to explain this new technology may only succeed in digging a large hole for myself.
Nevertheless, it seems digital radio is going to be the next "big thing" in communications after all the other big things. Existing analogue radio signals, such as FM and MW, are often distorted by interference from features such as mountains, high buildings and weather conditions. To overcome these problems Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) has been invented. It uses these effects as reflectors to create multipath reception conditions to optimise receiver sensitivity. Because DAB always selects the strongest regional transmitter it delivers CD - like quality, even in a car. However, the quality improvement is only part of the story.
Now this is the clever stuff. DAB in fact is two signals mixed together Each service signal, one audio and one data, is multiplexed in the Main Service Channel (MSC) then shaped by Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) so that they don't interfere with each other. Basically, this means that not only can DAB carry audio stuff, but text, pictures data and even videos as well. Yes, I know someone has already invented the TV but this is different.
DAB has been developed by the Eureka 147 project, an international consortium of broadcasters, network operators and consumer electronic companies. It is currently designed for terrestrial broadcasting to be picked up by tiny non-directional stub antenna, but satellite broadcasting may come later. The system includes a facility to determine precisely where a listener is, which has obvious positive implications for traffic management and rescue services.
This all sounds dead sexy, but what does it mean for the man on the Clapham omnibus? Well, first of all he has to buy a new radio that will have a screen and some way of dealing with data. The other implication is for broadcasters and content providers. They will be able to send out data at the same times as talking about various subjects. Immediately it is possible to see the benefits for content such as finance programmes if share price graphs can be sent out as a stock is being discussed.
The dear old BBC is already involved and its major radio programmes now go out in digital format as well as analogue. The commercial radio stations, namely GWR (LSE: GWG) and Capital Radio (LSE: CAP), are also making big strides moving into this new media space. Another company, UBC Media Group, is vying for attention in this arena. It is seeking a listing on the AIM market in July to raise £5m.
I can't quite get my head round what all this means as a consumer, and far less as an investor, but it seems clear that we will be hearing more about digital radio shortly.
• BBC Digital
• UK DAB
• World DAB Forum