Digital One

UK national commercial digital radio multiplex

Digital One is a national commercial digital radio multiplex in the United Kingdom, owned by Arqiva. As of March 2010^[update], the multiplex covered more than 90% of the population^[1] from 137 transmitters.^[2] Coverage was extended to Northern Ireland in July 2013. It contains a list of DAB and DAB+ radio stations operated by Bauer Media Audio UK, Global and News Broadcasting.

Stations carried

DAB

DAB+

History

On 24 March 1998, the Radio Authority advertised for the first national ensemble to be broadcast on DAB, with the three national commercial services on FM and medium wave required to be included in the ensemble. This included Classic FM, Talk Radio UK (now Talksport) and Virgin Radio (now Absolute Radio).^[8] The licence was awarded to the sole applicant, GWR Group and NTL Broadcast to form Digital One.^[9] The original licence application included the following stations:^[10]

Digital One was due to launch on 1 October 1999,^[11] but this was postponed until 15 November 1999.^[12]

The "Classic Gold Rock" service eventually went on air as Planet Rock, which remains on air, having migrated from D1 to the Sound Digital multiplex in 2016; it is, however, the only one of the D1 launch stations (bar the INR simulcasts) still to be broadcasting as of 2017, and is also the longest-established DAB-first service in UK national radio, having been a digital-only service until 2013, when new owner Bauer put PR on their 105.2 FM frequency in the West Midlands (previously Kerrang! Radio); the FM berth was turned over to Absolute Radio in September 2015, leaving Planet Rock as a digital-only service once again. The "plays, books and music" service went on air as Oneword. The "Teen & Chart Hits" service became Core, and the "Soft AC" service – which was ultimately provided by the then Capital Radio Group (now part of Global Radio) was launched as Life (later known as Capital Life). The "Sports Channel" proposal was dropped as a separate entity and instead combined with Talk Radio in 2000 to form the current Talksport as broadcast on AM and DAB. ITN's rolling news service ultimately went on air as part of the multiplex, later joined by a business news service provided by Bloomberg. "Club Dance", however, never made it to air. The space released by the absence of the Club Dance and Sports Channel services from the eventual lineup was used to allow the Oneword service to end at midnight rather than the proposed 7pm, and also freed up a slot for a melodic easy-listening music service aimed at an older audience, the Saga-operated PrimeTime Radio.^{[citation needed]}

After the closure of PrimeTime Radio in 2006, the original licence was amended to allow the launch of a new classic and contemporary jazz service, TheJazz which was launched on 25 December 2006, before 31 December 2006 deadline set in the licence amendment.^[13]

On 11 February 2008 GCap announced that it was selling its interest in Digital One to Arqiva and that "non-core" DAB stations Planet Rock and TheJazz would be closing by the end of March 2008. Whilst TheJazz ceased broadcasting at midnight on 30 April 2008, Planet Rock was sold off and remains on air. GCap also closed down their two other D1-only stations, Core and Capital Life, prior to GCap being taken over later in 2008 by Global Radio.^{[citation needed]}

Former services

Services previously carried on the multiplex include:

• Smooth Radio Christmas – festive music service, ran from 1 November until 27 December 2011^[14] and operated again as a pop-up in Nov/Dec 2012, 2014 and 2015 (due to the launch of Capital Xtra there was not space for the service in 2013)
• Absolute Radio 80s – 1980s music service. Transferred to the Sound Digital multiplex on 29 February 2016.
• Absolute Radio 90s – 1990s music service. Moved onto Digital One from 2010 – initially sharing a slot with Absolute Radio Extra – having previously been provided on local DAB; returned to local-layer DAB in January 2015 so that its capacity could go towards the addition of Magic to Digital One. Absolute Radio 90s returned to Digital One during 2018 (replacing Magic Christmas), before migrating across to Sound Digital in February 2019, as part of a wider reorganisation of Bauer's space across national and local DAB, ahead of the launch of Scala Radio on SDL in March.
• Planet Rock – Classic rock music station. Transferred to the Sound Digital multiplex on 29 February 2016.
• Smooth Radio – Easy listening service relaunched in 2010 as national network; local content on local/regional FM frequencies was replaced with network output also broadcast nationally on Digital One. New owners reintroduced local content on local FM/DAB in March 2014 and withdrew Smooth from Digital One in November 2014.
• NME Radio (ceased on 12 July 2010^[15])
• Panjab Radio (temporary service, ceased on 31 May 2010)
• Fun Kids (temporary service, ceased on 3 October 2009)
• Birdsong (ceased on 1 June 2009, replaced by Amazing Radio)
• TheJazz (ceased on 31 March 2008)
• Capital Life (ceased on 31 March 2008)^[16]
• Core (ceased on 11 January 2008,^[16] immediately replaced by BFBS Radio)
• Oneword (ceased on 11 January 2008^[17] because of financial problems, replaced by Birdsong – see the section below)
• Primetime (ceased on 24 May 2006, replaced by theJazz on 25 December 2006)
• D1 Temp (ceased on 9 June 2005 – see the section below)
• Bloomberg (ceased on 6 December 2003, replaced by D1 Temp)
• ITN (ceased on 1 July 2003)
• Smooth Radio 70s (ceased on 6 October 2013)
• TeamRock SID C0C1 (started on 1 May 2013, ceased on 1 July 2015)
• Premier Christian Radio (started on 21 September 2009, transferred to the Sound Digital multiplex on 29 February 2016)
• BFBS Radio – following an initial three-month trial service (replacing Core), which ended on 31 March 2008, test transmissions for a permanent service began on 17 April 2009 and the station officially launched as a full-time service on Digital One at 07:00 on 20 April 2009. The station was withdrawn from Digital One on 6 March 2017; broadcasts of BFBS services on other platforms continue.
• Heart Extra and Smooth Extra – these stations played automated music during the daytime, simulcasting the breakfast and evening/night programmes of Heart London and Smooth London respectively. Smooth Extra launched 27 December 2014, following the removal of Smooth Radio (2010) from Digital One (Smooth Christmas had used the slot in November/December), with Heart Extra following in February 2016 in tandem with the migration of several stations from Digital One to Sound Digital. Heart Extra and Smooth Extra converted from mono DAB to stereo DAB+ in 2019, and closed on 12 March 2020, replaced by the national Heart UK and Smooth UK feeds (already used on other national platforms such as TV)^[18] The Extra stations' broadcast slots on satellite TV had earlier been switched over to Heart 80s and Heart Dance respectively.

In addition to the audio services listed above a number of data services, short lived temporary audio services, and mobile video channels have been broadcast on this multiplex.

Birdsong

Birdsong was a temporary transmission of a continuously looping recording of bird song.^{[citation needed]}

When the magazine-format digital radio station Oneword ceased in January 2008, the birdsong audio returned to the multiplex on the Oneword channel and the service name of the DAB channel changed to "Birdsong", until Amazing Radio launched on 1 June 2009.^[19]

See also

• Sound Digital

References

1. "Coverage – Future transmitters". ukdigitalradio.com. Digital One. Retrieved 13 March 2010. Although already covering more than 90% of the population...
2. "Coverage – Current transmitters". ukdigitalradio.com. Digital One. Retrieved 13 March 2010.
3. "Kisstory Replaces Absolute 90s on Digital One", RadioToday, 2019-01-25
4. "LBC Goes National: Everything You Need To Know". LBC. 11 February 2014. Archived from the original on 1 March 2014. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
5. "Global to launch Heart 80s nationally on DAB", RadioToday 2017-03-13
6. "UCB goes national on DAB digital radio" (PDF). United Christian Broadcasters. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 November 2009.
7. "Two new tenants for Digital One". Radio Today. 1 November 2009. Archived from the original on 8 November 2009. Retrieved 1 November 2009.
8. "Radio Authority announces advertisement date for National Commercial Multiplex". Ofcom. Radio Authority. 5 March 1998. Retrieved 5 May 2007.
9. "APPENDIX 3.6 – Digital audio broadcasting" (PDF). Competition Commission. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 June 2007. Retrieved 17 April 2007.
10. "Radio Authority receives one application for first and only National Commercial Digital Multiplex licence". Ofcom. Radio Authority. Retrieved 12 May 2007.
11. "Digital One is awarded 12 year digital licence". PR Newswire. Retrieved 8 November 2009.
12. Pearse, Justin (20 October 1999). "Motor Show: Digital One unveils launch line-up". ZDNet UK. Retrieved 8 November 2009.
13. "ANNEX – PART I – Conditions relating to simulcast services and digital sound programme services". Ofcom. Archived from the original (docx) on 15 June 2007. Retrieved 12 May 2007.
14. About Smooth Radio – Smooth
15. ukdigitalradio: News – NME Radio Stops Broadcasting on DAB Digital Radio
16. West, Dave (11 January 2008). "GCap closing two digital radio stations". Digital Spy. Retrieved 11 February 2008.
17. Welsh, James (10 January 2008). "Oneword Radio to shut down". Digital Spy. Retrieved 11 February 2008.).
18. RadioToday.co.uk, 2020-03-12
19. "Amazing – a new DAB station". Radio Today. 1 June 2009. Retrieved 1 June 2009.

External links

• UK Digital Radio Digital One's consumer website (not seemingly updated since 2017).