this post was submitted on 10 Jun 2025
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DAB Radio

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Discussion of all things DAB/Digital Radio!

UK channel list website: https://www.terrestrialtv.uk/dab

UK programme discussion is probably better in !britishradio@feddit.uk

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Plug is being pulled on FM radio in parts of Europe (www.radioworld.com)
submitted 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) by evenwicht@lemmy.sdf.org to c/dabradio@feddit.uk
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I wonder what is the rationale. Will be shitty if all FM radios become bricks because of some stupid push to obsolete them.

Or is there a smarter plan, like using the bandwidth for something more worthy than FM radio?

UPDATE

Some more FM advantages:

Fast channel changing.

Better reception. There is a station in my city that transmits both DAB and FM. Their DAB signal has chronic cut-outs but their FM station is good enough. And in general, weak FM signals are still useful while weak DAB signals are unusable. So a DAB-only policy marginalises people who live remote from the cities.

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[–] DosDude@retrolemmy.com 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Dab reception is still shit indoors. I'm not going to drill an antenna through my house just to get better reception. So if FM falls, I won't be listening to the radio anymore.

[–] Patch@feddit.uk 3 points 10 months ago (2 children)

In your own home, couldn't you just use internet radio instead?

I mostly listen to BBC radio, and I default to listening over BBC Sounds rather than DAB when I've got a WiFi connection. I mostly only use DAB when I'm in the car or out in the garden.

[–] DosDude@retrolemmy.com 3 points 10 months ago

Yes. But i have a stereo with DAB capabilities. It's not ideal connecting via bluetooth to listen to internet radio.

[–] evenwicht@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

In your own home, couldn’t you just use internet radio instead?

Internet radio is certainly not a replacement for broadcast radio.

  • Internet at home is not gratis!
  • Internet has many points of failure; radio does not
  • Internet comes with surveillance
  • Residential Internet has less availability than radio; also, some people are offline by choice.
  • Streaming would suck dry quotas of anyone who gets Internet over prepaid mobile service.
  • Residential Internet subscriptions in many (most?) regions cannot be paid for in cash, thus unbanked people are excluded
  • Cloud streaming has a high carbon footprint (though I’m not sure how it compares to FM transmission’s footprint)
  • Internet service has many middle-men and lacks national sovereignty. Most countries cannot escape using US actors in this industry.