News on Friday from the BBC that "Radio 'could go digital in 2017'" indicated that :"Radio listeners could have just nine years to switch to digital sets, a government-backed report has said. The Digital Radio Working Group (DRWG) says that by 2015, less than half of all radio listening could be via traditional FM or AM sets. It says that if DAB broadcasts reach enough of the country by then, a switch to digital would be possible by 2017."
(You can click on headline above to view more of the BBC news report on this).
The fundamental issue is the "reach enough of the country" bit, as I get frequent complaints from residents in parts of the West End that digital radio (DAB) broadcasts can't be picked up in parts of ward. Many of these complaints come from people who get their TV reception from the Tay Bridge relay transmitter, not the Angus main transmitter. As http://www.ukdigitalradio.com/coverage/ makes clear, relay transmitters do not carry DAB signals and the list of future transmitters at the UK Digital Radio site implies that this will not be resolved any time soon.
Digital radio transmissions have different issues from TV transmissions and although the large number of relay transmitters required for universal TV coverage is probably not fully required for digital radio, it is equally clear that there's gaps in DAB coverage that must be filled before analogue radio is switched off.
I'd be interested to hear from any West End resident who has had difficulty getting DAB radio signals - please e-mail me at digitalradio@frasermacpherson.org.uk.