Sound Digital

Sound Digital Network
Licensed area United Kingdom
Frequency 11A (216.928 MHz)[1]
Air date 29 February 2016[2]
Owner Arqiva (40%)
Bauer Media Group (30%)
Wireless Group (30%) [3]
Website http://www.sounddigital.co.uk/

Sound Digital is a national commercial digital radio multiplex in the United Kingdom, owned by Arqiva, Bauer Media Group and Wireless Group. The multiplex is planned to covers 73% of the population from a total of 45 transmitters.[3]

History

Following the collapse of the winning 4 Digital Group bid for the second national ensemble in 2008, the capacity was re-advertised in 2014.[4] Two bids were received, Sound Digital and Listen2Digital, a consortium run by Orion Media and Babcock International Group. [5] On 27 March 2015, Sound Digital were selected as the winner.[6]

Between award and launch, Premier Praise and Panjab Radio, a Listen2Digital station, joined the line up along with DAB+ stations Fun Kids and Magic Chilled.[7] Also, BMR and UCB Inspirational were rebranded Awesome Radio and UCB2 respectively and talkBUSINESS was replaced by Listen2Digital station Share Radio.[8]

Test transmission commenced in February 2016, which consisted of Sound Waves and Sound Waves+ for DAB and DAB+ respectively.[9] An official launch took place on 29 February, with the majority of stations launching on this date and the remainder following over the next month.

Stations carried

DAB

Service Service ID Bit rate Audio channels Description DAB launch date
Absolute Radio 80s C8D8 80 kbit/s Mono 80s music 29 February 2016
Awesome Radio CAD8 64 kbit/s Mono LSF British Muslim lifestyle, music and speech 29 February 2016
Heat Radio CFD8 80 kbit/s Mono Pop music, celebrity gossip and entertainment 29 February 2016
Kisstory C4D8 80 kbit/s Mono ‘Old skool’ dance tunes and anthems 29 February 2016
Mellow Magic C5D8 80 kbit/s Mono Relaxing and melodic music 15 March 2016
Panjab Radio CED8 56 kbit/s Mono LSF Delivering extra choice for British Sikhs and Panjabi speakers 29 February 2016
Planet Rock C7D8 80 kbit/s Mono Classic rock radio 29 February 2016
Premier Christian Radio CCD8 64 kbit/s Mono LSF Christian music and speech 29 February 2016
Premier Praise CDD8 64 kbit/s Mono LSF Sister station to Premier Christian Radio 27 March 2016
Share Radio C2D8 64 kbit/s Mono LSF Business and finance programmes 29 February 2016
Sunrise Radio C9D8 64 kbit/s Mono LSF Asian music and speech programmes 29 February 2016
talkRADIO C0D8 64 kbit/s Mono News and current affairs 21 March 2016
talkSPORT2 C1D8 64 kbit/s Mono LSF Live sports and sports talk 15 March 2016
UCB2 CBD8 64 kbit/s Mono LSF Christian music 29 February 2016
Virgin Radio UK C3D8 80 kbit/s Mono Rock and pop music 30 March 2016

DAB+

Service Service ID Bit rate Audio channels Description DAB+ launch date
Fun Kids C5D8 32 kbit/s Stereo HE-AAC v2 National children’s radio station 29 February 2016
Jazz FM CAD7 32 kbit/s Stereo HE-AAC v2 Jazz music 29 February 2016
Union JACK C7FF 24 kbit/s Stereo HE-AAC v2 British rock/pop 9 September 2016
Magic Chilled CED7 32 kbit/s Stereo HE-AAC v2 Sister station to Magic 28 March 2016

References

  1. ↑ "SDL National". Ofcom. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
  2. ↑ "A Dozen Stations Launched On New DAB Multiplex". Radio Today. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
  3. 1 2 "More digital radio stations on their way to UK listeners". Ofcom. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
  4. ↑ "Two horse race for Digital 2 DAB multiplex". a516digital. 2015-01-29. Retrieved 2016-02-29.
  5. ↑ Martin, Roy (2015-01-29). "Orion Media partners with Babcock for D2 bid". Radio Today. Retrieved 2016-02-29.
  6. ↑ Martin, Roy (2015-03-27). "Sound Digital wins national DAB multiplex". Radio Today. Retrieved 2016-02-29.
  7. ↑ Martin, Roy. "Fun Kids to go national as DAB+ radio service". Radio Today. Retrieved 1 March 2016.
  8. ↑ "Sound Digital: full station list announced". a516digital. Retrieved 1 March 2016.
  9. ↑ "Sound Digital tests: See how hi-tech your digital radio is". a516digital. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
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