BBC
Asian Network creates a new digital divide
(25 October 2002)
Launched
with much fanfare on October 28th was the BBC's latest digital channel
- BBC Asian Network. Until now the Asian Network has been broadcasting
in the Midlands and the North on medium wave frequencies. The new
digital channel boasts a morning a programme presented from London
by the vivacious Sonia Deol.
 Sonia,
who joined the station from BBC London is well known for her ability
to engage with audiences. She will focus on exploring topical issues
ranging from social and personal ones to world politics. At
the launch, Sonia Deol said,"my programme is all about the
listeners, it's going to be highly interactive and in that sense
quite unpredictable. Phone-ins on Asian radio can be cuddly and
afraid to rock the boat but my show will be different. It's the
only truly national phone-in for Asians that deals with the real
issues in their lives."
The
station will broadcast a mix of speech and music to second and third
generation Asians. Its sharp, contemporary tone and content is designed
to reflect the issues that the BBC believes matter to British Asians.
Latest Rajar figures show that the Asian Network will certainly
have more than a technological barrier to overcome. Figures up to
15 September 2002 show the BBC Asian Network having a 3% reach,
some 141,000 listeners out of an estimated listener base of 4.9
million. This puts it just ahead of Premier Christian Radio in share
of listening, but almost 2,500 hours of listening behind arch rival
station Sunrise Radio for the same period.
Jenny
Abramsky, Director of BBC Radio & Music, said: "The Asian
Network has already done sterling work at a local level. By going
digital we have the opportunity to make it a national network available
to the whole Asian community - almost half of whom live in London
and the South East. In providing a national public service we will
be able to reach a significant audience previously under-served
by the BBC and develop a source of on- and off-air talent which
will enrich the wider BBC for the future."
Although
the BBC should be lauded for their attempts to hasten the adoption
of digital radio, the high price of equipment and patchy availability
of digital channels have hampered this market. The Digital Radio
Development Bureau (DRDB), funded by a consortium that includes
the BBC, estimate in their first newsletter that "currently
the number of units in the market stand at around 70,000 and that
figure is growing at a rate of 1,000 month. In the nine months to
May 2002, the DAB digital radio market was worth some £3 million".
Hardly earth-shattering when compared to existing Rajar statistics
that show that some 44 million of us listen to analogue stations
for up to 23.9 hours each week via our portable, in-car or bedside
radios.
About
Digital Radio
Digital
Radio is like analogue radio but better. It offers an abundance
of new digital only stations, improved sound quality, no frequencies
which makes sets very easy to tune, no interference; no retuning
in the car and the introduction of text, data and pictures.
Digital
radio was developed by a consortium of 12 partners, known as EUREKA-147
- the system was originally called Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB).
In 1994, Eureka-147 was adopted as a world standard. However, not
every single country worldwide has adopted the system with the USA
choosing a different standard.
Like
much of new technology, digital radio requires new equipment. This
can be in the form of a portable radio that now retails for just
under £100, HiFi- tuners which retail at £130, PCI digital
radio cards for computers that sell for £100, in car equipment
that sells for between £150-£300 and top-of-range radios
with MP3 technology that cost considerably more. A digital radio
hi-fi tuner will come with an indoor aerial, either a ribbon dipole
or a monopole (half dipole).The indoor aerial supplied should work
perfectly well unless you are in a steel framed building or in
areas such as Hertfordshire which currently has no regional digital
broadcaster.
Ying,
Yang and Yagi....
Many
postcode sectors are left with signals that may need boosting with
a roof-mounted aerial. To obtain the best results either use a dipole
(omnidirectional aerial which means it should work well for moderate
to strong signal levels provided it is vertically polarised) or
a Yagi (this has a much higher gain than the dipole but is directional)
- this aerial is best suited in areas where reception is poor. The
aerial must be pointed at the transmitter. DAB aerials must be vertically
polarised.
Given
that the building we currently occupy has an eaves height of 70
feet, climbing up to the roof and installing an aerial is no easy
feat. A
factor that SKY digital recognised earlier. It has been broadcasting
a number of digital radio stations via its aerials for some time,
although this is a luxury available only to SKY subscribers.
Club
Asia granted AM radio licence
Ironically,
the launch of BBC Asian Network was followed by news that the Radio
Authority has grated an AM (medium wave) licence to Club Asia, owned
by Sumerah Ahmad. Club Asia dubbed as the sound of a new generation
of Asian Londoners will be an urban music-led service primarily
targeting British Asians aged 15-34. Commenting on the award of
this licence, Richard Hooper, Chair of the Radio Authority said
"members were impressed with Club Asia's proposals for a service
appealing to an under-served young Asian community in Greater London".
Club Asia's licence Comes into effect on 3 July 2003 and will be
granted for a period of eight years.
Digital
Divide
Whilst
the DRDB does not anticipate that analogue channels will be switched
off before 2015, no firm date has been given by the Government yet.
DRDB research shows that people are prepared to upgrade to digital
radio because the stations they like they can hear much better,
because the choice is greater and the reception a vast improvement
on current FM signals. That in itself is a powerful proposition.
However
with in-car digital radios not being a standard option until 2004
(Ford) and a shortage of affordable portable units, the penetration
of digital radio must be pressing issue for Government. When asked
why Japanese manufacturers were not mass-producing the devices the
DRDB could only state "the past 18 months has been something
of a chicken and egg situation, the set manufacturers will not mass
produce product unless there is the demand, yet there is no demand
without available sets."
That
dilemma, is something with which all Asians are familiar.
Want
to know more?
Top
|
News
| Business
| Films
|
Galleries
| Music
| Theatre
News |
Business |
Money |
Property
| Views
