The United Kingdom has consistently been on the forefront of the digital radio revolution. It all began in 1987 when the European Union decided to work on a project to convert all of their analog radio stations to digital. Thirteen years later in the year 2000, the project came to a close with the creation of Eureka 147, a public domain digital radio format. Eureka 147 received general critical acclaim but never found a major outlet until 2001 when UK digital radios sprung to life. With over fifty privately owned channels and the entire BBC network switching over to Eureka 147 digital broadcasting formats, the United Kingdom became the first recipients of digital audio broadcasting. America was not far behind in setting up it's two (2) major XM radio broadcasts. Five years later, UK digital radios are still operating at peak performance, light years ahead of analog radios. To begin with, digital radio receivers are able to display something called radiotext. A station broadcasts the song and the name of the artist and title of the song. When the receiver plays the song in your car or at home, the name of the artist and title of the song are displayed so you never miss the opportunity to know the name of a great tune. UK digital radios also provide listeners with an automatic retuning feature which proves to be especially useful for people on road trips. When you get out of the optimal coverage area for a radio station, the UK digital radios will automatically search for a better frequency, so you can enjoy your broadcast uninterrupted even if you are traveling long distances from your starting location. To make digital radio even better, all of these benefits can be enjoyed from a standard car radio. In America, you need a special reciever that is usually not inexpensive. I predict that, like most electronic devices, the price will come down as manufacturing processes are improved. UK digital radios can also benefit from satellite radio coverage over parts of Europe. The pioneers of satellite radio, WorldSpace, offer coverage to most of Europe, including the bottom three quarters of Britain. As with American satellite radio, WorldSpace offers a huge variety of different radio stations that almost anyone can enjoy. Although the stations are all commercial free, they require a monthly or yearly subscription fee. Plans to launch a satellite especially for Europe are still in the works. This author does not see that satellite taking long to become a reallity. |
