Digital One

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Digital One Network
Licensed area United Kingdom
Frequency 11D (222.064 MHz) England, Wales and Northern Ireland
12A (223.936 MHz) Scotland
Air date 15 November 1999
Owner Arqiva
Website http://www.ukdigitalradio.com/

Digital One is a national commercial digital radio multiplex in the United Kingdom, owned by Arqiva. As of March 2010, the multiplex covers more than 90% of the population[1] from a total of 137 transmitters.[2] and from 26 July 2013, Northern Ireland.

Stations carried

Service Service ID Bit rate Audio channels Description DAB launch date Analogue availability
Absolute Radio C1C0 80 kbit/s Mono Adult alternative music, carries London output during any programme splits, but with national news and advertising 15 November 1999 1215 kHz
105.8 MHz (London)

105.2 MHz (West Midlands)
BFBS Radio C3C0 80 kbit/s Mono Contemporary music; following a three-month trial service which ended on 31 March 2008, test transmissions began on 17 April 2009 and the station launched as a full-time service at 07:00 on 20 April 2009 20 April 2009 —
Capital Xtra C37B 112 kbit/s Joint stereo Urban and Dance Music. Formerly branded as Choice FM; relaunched and renamed to coincide with its national DAB availability 07 October 2013 FM in London only
Classic FM C2A1 128 kbit/s Joint stereo Classical music 15 November 1999 99.9–101.9 MHz
Heart Extra 80 kbit/s Mono Adult contemporary music 29 February 2016
Kiss UK C5C0 80 kbit/s Mono LSF A London-based station specialising in hip hop, R&B, urban and electronic dance music owned by Bauer Radio. Also broadcast on FM in London, South Wales and the Severn Estuary, and East Anglia; all frequencies including D1 now share programme content 27 December 2012 100, 101, 105-108 MHz
LBC C0C2 64 kbit/s Mono A national talk and phone-in station owned by Global Radio and also broadcast on 97.3 MHz in London. 11 February 2014[3] 97.3 MHz (London)
Magic C0C6 80 kbit/s Mono Melodic soft adult contemporary hits. Replaces Absolute Radio 90s. 1 January 2015 105.4 FM (London)
Smooth Extra C6C0 80 kbit/s Mono LSF Melodic hits from the past five decades. 27 December 2014 —
Radio X C4CD 80 kbit/s Mono Rock music 21 September 2015 104.9 MHz (London)

97.7 MHz (Manchester)
Talksport C0C0 64 kbit/s Mono LSF Sport and talk 15 November 1999 1089, 1053 kHz
UCB UK C4CA 64kbit/s Mono LSF Christian music 1 December 2009[4][5] —
INRIX UK TPEG E1C000BA 16 kbit/s Data Hidden service — —
Traffic Master E1C000B8 8 kbit/s Data Hidden service — —
What's On E1C000B1 8 kbit/s Data Hidden service — —

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).[6] The licence was awarded to the sole applicant, GWR Group and NTL Broadcast to form Digital One.[7] The original licence application included the following stations:[8]

Digital One Ltd (original application)
Classic FM Classical music GWR (now part of Global Radio)
Classic Gold Rock Rock music NTL
Club dance Dance music TBA
Plays, books and music Comedy, drama and serials TBA
Rolling news service Rolling news ITN
Soft AC Female contemporary music TBA
Sports channel Live sports and comment Talk Radio UK
Talk Radio (now talkSPORT) Talk radio Talk Radio UK (now owned by UTV Radio)
Teen and chart hits Pop and dance music GWR
Virgin Radio (now Absolute Radio) Complementary rock music SMG plc (station is now owned by Bauer Media)

Digital One was due to launch on 1 October 1999,[9] but this was postponed until 15 November 1999.[10]

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) to still be broadcasting as of 2016, 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 PR as a digital-exclusive 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 MW and digital. 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.

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.[11]

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.

In April 2009, Global Radio sold its 63% stake in the ensemble - acquired as part of its takeover of GCap, part-owner of D1 - to Arqiva, making the transmission firm the sole owner and operator of the ensemble.[12] Arqiva also owns the NOWdigital suite of local DAB multiplexes, having acquired these from Global (again these were inherited from GCap), and the Ayr local ensemble previously owned by SCORE Digital (sold when Scottish Radio Holdings was taken over by Bauer Radio.)

Following Global Radio's 2012 purchase of Real & Smooth Ltd, and Bauer Radio's purchases of Planet Rock and Absolute in 2013, these firms between them control a majority broadcast stations currently transmitting on Digital One - as of 2016 and the migration of two Bauer stations previously on D1 to Sound Digital, Global now operate seven stations on D1, and Bauer three.

Former services

Services previously carried on the multiplex include:

  • Smooth Radio Christmas - festive music service, ran from 1 November until 27 December 2011[13] and operated again as a pop-up in Nov/Dec of 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 D1 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 D1.
  • 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 D1. New owners reintroduced local content on local FM/DAB in March 2014 and withdrew Smooth from D1 in November 2014.
  • NME Radio (ceased on 12 July 2010[14])
  • 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) [15]
  • Core (ceased on 11 January 2008,[15] immediately replaced by BFBS Radio)
  • Oneword (ceased on 11 January 2008[16] 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)

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

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Main article: Birdsong (digital radio channel)

Birdsong was a transmission consisted of a continuously looping recording of bird song. When financial news station Bloomberg, and rolling news station ITN News Radio ceased to broadcast within several months of one another in 2003, replacement audio services were never found due to a commitment in Digital One's broadcasting licence to provide a news station. This resulted in a station playing a 36-minute, 56-second loop of birdsong and ambient sounds, entitled D1 Temp which broadcast until June 2005.

When the magazine-format digital radio station Oneword ceased in January 2008, the birdsong audio once again 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.[17]

When Jazz FM left the Digital One multiplex at the end of 2013 and migrated to local availability in London only, Birdsong returned to D1 in January 2014 on a temporary basis until LBC launched in the slot on 11 February.

Notes

References

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  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ http://www.smoothradio.co.uk/about/smooth-radio-christmas/smooth-radio-christmas-whats-it-all-about-/a9c94
  14. ↑ ukdigitalradio: News - NME Radio Stops Broadcasting on DAB Digital Radio
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.).
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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