What is digital radio?

Digital radio transmissions are broadcast using advanced techniques allowing better reception and ease of use.

It also permits more stations to be broadcast by using the spectrum more efficiently.

In Europe there are two broadcasting standards which are currently used for digital radio, DAB and DRM.

DAB - Digital Audio Broadcasting

DAB is already on-air in many countries and carries mainly national and local services. There are currently a large number of DAB radio models on the market, and sales in the UK alone have grown to over 1.5 million sets.

DRM - Digital Radio Mondiale

This system is a relatively new broadcasting standard which was developed to allow digital broadcasting in the long, medium and short wave bands (known as the AM bands).

BBC World Service on digital radio

In the UK the World Service is available on DAB. In mainland Europe, the World Service broadcasts using the DRM system.

click Learn more about the BBC's domestic digital radio broadcasts

click Learn more about the BBC's overseas digital radio broadcasts

To receive the BBC's digital service, you will need to have a digital receiver which supports the right standard. Radios with DRM will almost always have DAB too. Look for each of the digital radio marks on the box.

Features of the new digital radios

Ease of use

• A digital radio will tune to a station at the touch of a button. No more twiddling a dial or remembering frequencies and wavebands to get the best reception.

• The radio will automatically find the best available frequency wherever you are in the service area. This means that if you are listening to one of the BBC's national or international services you don't need to re-tune your digital radio when you are on the move.

• The listener can scroll through a list of available stations, tune in by pressing the 'select' button.

• Digital radios receive super clear reception with the minimum of fuss.

Scrolling text

Have you ever heard a song on the radio and wanted to know who it is by or what it's called? Or tuned into speech radio and wanted to know what the programme is about or who is speaking?

Digital radio sets come equipped with a small screen which carries information about the programme you're listening to. This may be a plot summary to a play, the name of the track currently being played, email addresses, up-to-the-minute sports results or competition details.

Some stations also scroll news headlines and other up-to-date information. It is anticipated that this service will develop even further in time, providing free, useful information and an electronic programme guide (EPG) to make listening to digital radio an even better experience.

Radio on demand

An increasing number of digital radios include the facility to record programmes automatically onto a memory card. You can select items to record from the EPG (see above) and listen to them at your leisure. Other features include the ability to pause live programming and resume without losing any of the content ("interrupt radio"), and also the valuable feature of being able to scroll back to the beginning of a programme when you switch on part-way through.