3.3 The market for radio listening including DAB radio is increasingly mature. Around 66% of UK adults currently claim to have access to a DAB radio set at home. However, over the past five years, there has been a decline in sales of new DAB portable devices used in the home. The growing use of smartphones and online music services has been a factor in this, as has the launch of smart speaker devices, selling in large numbers, often at a discount.
What Is The Difference Between AM And I M According to data from consumer goods industry analysts, GfK, in-home DAB radio sets sales fell by 17.8%, analogue radios by 24% and, overall, all radio devices declined by 21.1% in 2020. This trend is forecast to continue as smart speaker device penetration grows alongside the increasing choice listeners have via online audio services. This is likely to impact future investment in radio-only products resulting in some manufacturers exiting the radio market in the next five to ten years.
The emergence and growing use of connected audio devices like smart speakers, and the shift of platforms into the radio and audio space, has started to impact on the strategy of UK radio broadcasters. In addition, Radiocentre commissioned MTM to examine issues of prominence and access on these platforms. This work has resulted in new thinking about the future challenges and the need for the government to consider extending protections being discussed for other digital markets to support UK radio and audio. Medium wave is the part of the medium frequency radio band used mainly for AM radio broadcasting.
The spectrum provides about 120 channels with more limited sound quality than FM stations on the FM broadcast band. During the daytime reception is usually limited to more local stations . Improved signal propagation at night allows the reception of much longer distance signals . This can cause increased interference, because on most channels multiple transmitters operate simultaneously worldwide.
In addition, amplitude modulation is often more prone to interference by various electronic devices, especially power supplies and computers. Strong transmitters cover larger areas than on the FM broadcast band but require more energy and longer antennas. A simple method to achieve FM is to vary the capacitance of a resonant LC circuit in a transmitter. Because the frequency of a radio wave is less vulnerable to noise than the amplitude, FM was originally introduced to reduce noise and improve the quality of radio reception. In order to accomplish this, FM radio signals have bandwidth several times that of AM signals.
For example, commercial stereo FM broadcasting (88–108MHz) is assigned a bandwidth of 200kHz in which to broadcast 15kHz of audio-music bandwidth. Also in AM if the amplitude of modulation is to be increased, the power must be increased proportionately. In FM the amplitude of the frequency modulation can be increased without increasing the power at all.
In addition, since the amplitude of the FM signal remains constant, amplitude limiters can be set close to the FM signal amplitude and thus very effectively reduce impulse noise. AM was adopted for the transmission of the video part of a TV signal because AM is the least wasteful of the radio frequency spectrum, which is a precious commodity in a wireless environment. FM, though, because of its relative noise-free reception, is used to transmit the audio part of the television signal. In much the same way, radio waves carry energy as an invisible, up-and-down movement of electricity and magnetism.
This carries program signals from huge transmitter antennas, which are connected to the radio station, to the smaller antenna on your radio set. A program is transmitted by adding it to a radio wave called a carrier. Sometimes a radio program is added to the carrier in such a way that the program signal causes fluctuations in the carrier's frequency. Another way of sending a radio signal is to make the peaks of the carrier wave bigger or smaller. Since the size of a wave is called its amplitude, this process is known as amplitude modulation .
Frequency modulation is how FM radio is broadcast; amplitude modulation is the technique used by AM radio stations. 3.39 Whilst mandating all domestic radio receivers to include DAB/DAB+ alongside FM could give a small boost to UK digital radio sales and digital radio listening there were concerns about the impact on listeners' access to low cost radios. The final conclusion is that the government and industry together should review FM listening uptake before the end of 2026 to consider whether legislation should be introduced to mandate all domestic radio receivers to include DAB+.
However, analogue-only radios offer a very narrow choice of services with a limited lifespan with a strong likelihood of losing national AM services - such as talkSPORT, Radio 5 Live and Absolute Radio - in the next few years. 3.37 Traditional radio including DAB is being challenged by new forms of IP-based listening, including on connected audio devices. This raises a significant risk that listeners may face greater complexity and encounter new barriers in discovering or accessing radio services even while the radio industry is investing more in new radio stations and content.
According to research commissioned for the Review, the slowing of DAB sales will continue with a real risk of radio devices being harder to access as retailers reduce ranges, but there are steps which can be taken to address this. There are, for example, significant benefits from strengthening the partnerships and cooperation between UK radio with radio device manufacturers and with retailers to promote the benefits of radio and the increased choice of services available. Without a coordinated approach and support from UK radio, there is a risk that retail support – which has been critical to the success of DAB – may diminish, resulting in a slow but inevitable withdrawal of DAB radio devices from retail. Clearly having radio sets in the market that are unable to receive the full range of available digital radio services has and will continue to result in consumer confusion as customers are not aware if the purchase they are making will give them access to all radio stations.
In spite of the Digital Radio Tick Mark scheme, some retailers also appear unsure if a device is DAB+ capable. 6.31 A mandated analogue radio switchover (i.e. a government-led process to switch off analogue radio on AM and FM with a defined process and timetable) has been much debated in previous reviews of digital radio. Radio manufacturers, the car industry and some broadcasters have previously advocated setting a date and developing a switchover plan.
They have argued the high level of simulcast costs of analogue transmission could be better channelled into programming; manufacturers and retailers would benefit from increased demand for digital radios; and spectrum currently used for FM radio could be released for other uses. Consumer groups have tended to be more cautious, raising concerns about listeners losing access to favourite stations; analogue radios being made obsolete; and the need for improved coverage of DAB so that it matches FM coverage. In previous reviews some broadcasters opposed a mandated switchover on the grounds that not all stations had the ability to access the DAB platforms. The effect on UK radio, as more and more listening shifts, could be profound, and impacts on the ability of commercial radio to monetise its content and of radio providers as a whole to adapt to meet the needs of listeners. Opening up access to data to radio services carried on connected audio platforms would be in line with Mission 1 of the government's National Data Strategy which seeks to unlock the value of data across the economy. In the absence of reforms in this area, platforms will be able to continue to realise value from this data and secure a competitive advantage over radio broadcasters who will continue to be unable to monetise their audiences fully.
5.11 The BBC and commercial radio have responded by ensuring their live radio services and streamed content are available on smart speaker devices and platforms and this work has been done alongside traditional distribution activity. These agreements have given broadcasters some flexibility to develop services carried via voice-enabled devices and other online audio platforms, and to manage issues which come with providing services on these platforms. While these arrangements provide some benefit, neither the BBC nor larger groups have been able to secure satisfactory agreements for access to listening data or prominence for the carriage of their services. 5.3 The transition of UK radio listening to connected audio devices has, so far, been a positive experience for listeners. These devices have opened new routes for listeners to access live radio and other audio content and provided new avenues for content creators to reach audiences with podcasts and other audio output.
The government should, therefore, consider introducing legislation to ensure that all new domestic radio products that include DAB will be mandated to include DAB+ by the end of 2023. This would ensure that consumers buying new digital radio equipment can have the confidence that they will have access to the full range of services available and support the introduction of new DAB+ stations in the future. At the same time this will bring the UK in line with the European countries who only have radio receivers with DAB+ in their markets. 3.26 A key theme that emerged from the discussions with manufacturers, and which chimed with the PwC research findings, was the level of interest from some device makers and silicon providers to support the further development of the smart radio/hybrid radio sector. There would need to be clear agreements that an IP-enabled connected radio device should support appropriate prominence for radio and UK audio services and any consumer data collected should be shared with the content provider.
As smart radio devices would need to deploy an aggregator for IP services there would also need to be clear rules on how selection of content is managed and over the prominence of radio services. These issues are discussed in more detail in Chapter 5 which examines the challenge that connected audio devices, such as smart speakers, raise in relation to radio's ability to continue to reach listeners. 0.8 Broadcasters and technology providers have innovated to achieve continuing success, taking advantage of many new ways to reach listeners. Radioplayer is one example of successful cross-industry collaboration – a broadcaster-led, not-for-profit organisation dedicated to keeping radio listening simple on computers, smartphones, tablets and smart speakers, now with a sharp focus on in-car listening. BBC Sounds aggregates content from across its radio, music and podcast output to create a curated experience for listeners. Other platforms, including Global Player and Bauer's Planet Radio, are also extending their content and functionality.
As online listening increases, the challenge for broadcasters is to ensure their strong brands continue to resonate and for the government to ensure that UK consumers continue to have easy access to UK-generated radio and audio content. 0.7 Over the past 10 years, listening choices have expanded greatly thanks to digital technology and in particular to the successful development of the DAB digital radio platform. As well as online listening, there are 574 stations available on DAB across the UK, in addition to thousands of online stations and streams and 333 analogue (FM/AM/MW) stations.
There are also over 300 analogue community radio stations which collectively reach over 1 million listeners every week. Smart speakers, which emerged only five years ago, are owned or accessed by a third of all adults, and account for 6% of all audio consumption. 64% of audio consumed on a smart speaker is live radio.The rapid growth of streaming and podcasts demonstrates the enduring appeal of audio and the medium of radio in a multitasking world. 6.25 Plum Consulting's report for the Review confirmed the initial assumption that mobile reception will be important for in-car, supporting a range of communication needs as well as supporting the streaming of audio services onto in-car audio devices.
Plum's analysis suggests 4G coverage today is already better than DAB and already at a level adequate for delivering streamed audio listening. However, real-world testing is recommended to test the conclusions of Plum and build confidence in them particularly if radio broadcasters want to be clearer in messaging about IP as the means of reaching listeners not served by DAB. A testing methodology would need to be agreed between industry stakeholders and Ofcom to ensure that the results, which may be contentious, will be broadly accepted. Understanding the suitability of mobile coverage and assessing further coverage and capacity improvements in the medium term is also important in determining whether future DAB expansion should be modest and targeted.
5.18 UK radio and audio publishers have taken steps to secure carriage on smart and voice-activated speakers and have developed skills to ensure a better experience for listeners. A number of providers have also invested in developing direct relationships with the platforms, in order to reduce the dependence on aggregators to distribute services to IP-based devices and to try and secure a better presence on connected devices. However, radio broadcasters and audio publishers have no ability to maintain a level of control over how their content reaches their listeners, due mainly to the way in which relationships between platforms and content audio providers are structured. Nor are they able to fully personalise services on connected audio devices.
1.8 Since 2013, the partnerships developed as part of the Digital Radio Action Plan have continued to support steady growth, boosted by the transition of radio listening in-car and more recently by the emergence of connected audio devices. In 2018, digital listening passed the 50% of all radio listening threshold. 6.59 The UK radio industry is calculated to consume around 115 GWh/year of energy at an estimated £16 million per annum on electricity for transmission; the electrical energy equivalent to that used by 30,000 households. Of this, around three quarters of the energy is used for analogue radio broadcasts (FM & AM) and one quarter for digital radio broadcasts . Most of the radio stations provided as analogue broadcasts are duplicated on DAB transmission networks which also carry many digital-only services. Using information from the BBC, Arqiva and commercial radio, the Review has calculated the overall energy consumption and costs of the various broadcast transmission modes, as set out in the table below.
6.5 FM is used for five national stations (Classic FM and four of the BBC's national networks) and most of the UK's Nations, local and community radio stations. Since 2010, the percentage of listening to stations on analogue platforms has fallen from 73.5% to 41.4%. Projections from Mediatique suggest that on current trends, including allowing for the emergence of smart speakers, FM will decline to around 12-14% by 2030. As set out in Chapter 2 (para 2.16 and recommendation R1), FM will continue to be an important platform for listeners and be needed until at least 2030. 2.5 Radio and audio provide a unique relationship with the listener and have the power to gain a loyal and committed following even in an age of so many media distractions.
The mixture of private and public funding and community support, plus the PSB remit of the BBC and the wide breadth of commercial and community radio services, means that every radio audience taste can be catered for. There is also a vibrant independent audio production sector with companies based around the UK, delivering through its content a wide range of ideas, stories, voices and talent to broadcasters and digital platforms. Up to the present time the choice of modulation technique for use in satellite communication has been greatly influenced by the cost of carrier power reaching the receiving antenna.
Despite the low receiver noise levels obtainable with even low cost earth station receivers, modulation techniques must be suitable for operation at relatively low carrier to noise ratios. Amplitude modulation is never used for analogue signals and the use of high order phase shift and hybrid modulation for digital signals is rare. However, modulation techniques which tolerate lower pre-demodulator carrier to noise ratios (C/N) tend to need wider bandwidth for a given information capacity. Thus the modulation parameters should be optimised for each situation, to ensure that the best use is made of transponder capacity. Findability, discoverability and prominence - The growth of connected devices and digital audio services increases the risk that radio broadcast content will be lost on connected platform devices.
Unlike screen-based devices , voice-controlled interfaces present more challenges for listeners in finding content. Some broadcasters are concerned that their services are being downgraded in voice search while other services are upgraded through paid promotion. There have been some examples of audio listeners who request access to certain licensed radio stations being redirected to a connected platform's own (radio-like) services, and difficulties for stations in being able to correct this. 3.22 Radio listening started to move beyond traditional radio devices in the 1990s with the development of audio services via the internet and the launch of digital TV services on cable, satellite and terrestrial platforms that also carried a number of radio services. In recent years the range of devices capable of carrying radio services has increased significantly with new types of connected devices allowing radio and audio services to reach new audiences at different times of the day. The growth in demand and use of these devices is closely related to improved mobile phone and broadband connectivity and the launch of new streaming services which gives access to a wide choice of content from the UK and around the world.
FM broadcasting has a high frequency and a small signal coverage, about tens of kilometers, and generally only some local radio stations. If you use an outdoor antenna, you can receive more, but there are exceptions. Under the influence of a specific time or event , it will also spread far. In the past, there were some FM long-distance receivers and received many foreign radio stations.
FM sound quality is better than amplitude modulation, and stereo broadcasting can be achieved, but the threshold effect is significant, and the signal is weak to a certain extent and the signal-to-noise ratio drops sharply. 6.67 The mix of distribution for radio services will continue to change as both AM and FM listening declines. This means coming together to plan for the retirement of AM services whilst ensuring that FM networks continue to offer a wide range of services until at least 2030. 6.66 In conclusion, switching off analogue radio platforms would produce a useful, albeit relatively modest, reduction in carbon emissions, but is only a part of the overall carbon footprint of radio listening.
Listening device energy consumption is more significant and the choice of digital listening device in any migration to digital may offset a large part of the analogue transmission energy savings. The potential reductions in carbon footprint in relation to transmission are not sufficient to mandate a switchover to digital in the short term. However, the radio industry has already started to turn off some AM services and the expected closure of analogue at some point after 2030 would align with the UK's carbon reduction goals. The report includes data suggesting that voice assistant platforms have, in recent years, become an important distribution channel for radio. At present, Frontier Economics estimates that around 6% of all radio listening is done via smart speakers , while other types of voice assistant platforms (e.g. in-car) also play a role in radio listening, though this proportion will grow as use of voice assistants increases.
5.6 The emergence of new ecosystems for connected audio devices and voice assistant platforms has been rapid. As described in Chapter 3, the first smart speaker devices with voice activation appeared in 2016. Since then growth has been rapid with 33% of adults now having access to a voice-activated speaker device. According to RAJAR MIDAS Spring 2020, around 6% of all radio listening is already via voice-activated platforms, contributing to the faster growth of IP-based listening. Mediatique forecasts that IP listening will account for between 32-40% of all radio listening by 2035, of which as much as 68% may be via a smart speaker.
4.28 However, the consensus view from broadcasters is that the shift in technology will, in the medium to long-term, require new regulation to be placed on car manufacturers to protect radio's route to its listeners. This is in addition to possible measures on online audio platforms whose services are carried in cars - an issue discussed at greater length in the following Chapter. 4.02 Cars and commercial vehicles have traditionally been an important listening environment for broadcasters and for listeners. Around a quarter (24%) of radio listening takes place in the car and over 65% of people listen to a radio service in a car every week. However, drivers across the UK are increasingly using their smartphone to connect to music streaming content and connected cars are bringing more competition to radio with a choice of apps and voice control and the improvement of 4G coverage and the introduction of 5G services.
