Details of all these stories are available on the DRDB website at www.drdb.org or the consumer site at www.digitalradionow.com
Marketing Update
You’d have to be living on Mars not to get the DAB Digital Radio message this Christmas.
DAB Digital Radios make the perfect Christmas gift from under £50. That’s the message coming out of UK TVs, radios, newspapers and magazines this Christmas.
The multimedia campaign has been building throughout November with DAB radios appearing in all the consumer and lifestyle magazines’ Christmas Shopping pages.
Now, as December rolls in, stand by for a TV, radio and poster campaign from the BBC. Promotions will also run on nearly every commercial radio station across the country. And listen out for some heavyweight competitions on air.
Marketing Update - BBC
The BBC has launched a major campaign for its digital radio networks. The five-week campaign underlines the BBC’s commitment to DAB Digital Radio, through its portfolio of digital radio networks – 1Xtra, 6 Music, BBC 7, Five Live Sports Extra and the Asian Network. The TV spots run from 27th November, with posters appearing nationally on 3rd December.
The animated trails dramatise the enhanced listening choice that DAB Digital Radio offers. They are set in a computer-generated world where people come face-to-face with representations of the radio content they want to hear; from rock music (represented by a storm cloud) and sport (a giant football) to easy listening (a swarm of butterflies), comedy (a jelly man) and hip-hop (giant headphones).
Marketing Update - Wall of Sound
Here are just some of the Christmas promotions you can hear on UK radio stations this season:
* National radio station Classic FM has teamed up with Roberts Radio to give away a special Classic FM branded DAB radio every hour between December 13 and 19. The RD12-CFM DAB has a similar styling to Roberts Gemini 12, however this new model has been designed so it will automatically tune to ‘Classic FM’. It features the ‘Classic FM’ logo and a red button that listeners simply press once to return to ‘Classic FM’, should they have been listening to another station! The radio retails for around £100.
* National station Virgin Radio and Digital One are giving away a DAB radio every hour between December 11 and 24.
* Classic Gold is giving away a PURE Digital radio every day from December 1 to 24.
* Capital Gold is also giving away a PURE Digital radio every day from December 1 to 24.
* And DAB Digital Radios feature large in a series of BBC competitions across the analogue and digital Networks throughout December.
* London FM station Xfm is on the road visiting cities across the UK and running RSL services for a month at a time to promote listening out of London via DAB. As part of the promotion, they’re giving away 100 of the new Xfm branded DAB radios from iTech.
Add to this TV ads featuring DAB Digital Radios from all the leading electrical retailers and you’d have to be living on another planet not to get the message.
The Arrow teams up with Classic Rock
MXR Digital - the UK’s leading regional digital radio consortium - has set a groundbreaking contra deal between rock station The Arrow and Classic Rock Magazine.
The Arrow is the first commercial radio station to write and produce a programme made purely from magazine content. ‘The Classic Rock Magazine Show’, hosted by Nick Hennegan, plays an hour of music from a selection of artists featured in the current edition of the magazine, interspersed with chat from its editor Siân Llewellyn.
In return, The Classic Rock Magazine carries editorial about The Arrow in the news section of the magazine, publicising special Arrow programmes, guests and upcoming playlists.
To further tie the two brands together, within its featured music reviews, the magazine signposts when a particular album or track can be heard on The Arrow, allowing readers to enjoy interactive music content for the very first time.
The Arrow will also broadcast advertising trailers each month promoting the magazine and the show.
The Arrow, available on digital radio, blasts out great rock music from the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and beyond. You can listen to The Arrow on Sky, Cable, online at www.thearrow.co.uk or with a DAB digital radio.
Classic Rock Magazine is published monthly by Future Publishing.
New Products
New DAB digital radio products coming to market in November include:
Roberts Gemini 11
A DAB/FM radio from the Roberts Radio family, the Gemini 11 features the company’s PausePlus functions at a price point of around £139.
Evoke-1XT Prestige Edition
PURE Digital’s Evoke-1XT Prestige edition adds several enhanced features to the Evoke-1XT including a walnut veneer with distinctive high-lacquer finish and a separate speaker for true stereo separation.
The mains powered radio is exclusively available at John Lewis Stores and features six station presets, a high performance speaker, a headphone socket and stereo line-out for recording. The cabinet is bass ported for a richer more natural sound.
Available exclusively from John Lewis at a price of around £149.99
Hitachi KC-1000
Another DAB/FM radio from Hitachi, the KC-1000 comes with CD player and dual clock alarm. It’s exclusive to Dixons and Currys and is available for just £99.99.
Ferguson FRG120D
A low cost DAB/FM radio from Ferguson is available for just £59.99 at Dixons and Currys
Revo
REVO is the new DAB radio product that turns your existIng in-car radio into a DAB digital radio. Add the optional home and mobile kits and Revo beocmes the only DAB radio you will ever need. Available from December 1 only via Revo Digital’s website at www.revodigital.com where you can take a "test drive".
Coming Soon
Several products announced in the press this month could be on the shelves for Christmas:
New from TEAC
Two new DAB products from TEAC.
* The SR-L50 micro is a DAB radio with a programmable CD player, clock with sleep timer, 20 station pre-sets, remote control and a built-in sub woofer with variable bass boost control. Priced at around £229. (Pictured below)
* Also coming soon from TEAC is an upgraded version of the H300 hi-fi system, the H300 MkII.
Xfm branded radio from i.Tech Dynamic
i.Tech Dynamic and Xfm launch the Xfm DAB radio.
Developed to meet the needs and tastes of Xfm’s target audience, the radio features both DAB and FM. It will play all MP3, SD and MMC cards and offers a ten minute DAB record and replay button. With clock and alarm, five DAB and five FM presets and using either mains or battery, the Xfm DAB radio is exclusive to Dixons and Currys and will retail for around £129.99
Environmental Awards Commend Passion
DAB radio station Passion for the Planet has received a Special Commendation at this year’s British Environment & Media Awards. The judges said that Passion “deserved special recognition of the way it was imaginatively covering environmental issues and doing so in the new media of digital radio”.
Passion entered its series of interviews focusing on projects across the UK organised by leading environmental organisation Earthwatch.
Passion’s “Earthwatch Month” showcased scientists in the field, their work ranging from spotting sharks off the Scottish coast to collecting poo in Oxfordshire, from planting trees in Wales to preserving dinosaur footprints in Yorkshire.
Passion is a ground-breaking DAB radio station, focusing on the 21st century’s biggest issues – health and the environment. 24 hours a day Passion mixes adult contemporary and world music with interviews on a variety of subjects ranging from desertification to green gyms, from road testing anti-wrinkle creams to self-cleaning glass.
Technology News
DAB EPG trials in Germany
Unique Interactive, in partnership with German broadcaster, DeutschlandRadio, and network operator Bayern Digital Radio, demonstrated broadcasts of the DAB Electronic Programme Guide during the recent WorldDAB Radio Programmers and the Munich Media Days Conferences. This trial is the first ever broadcast of a DAB Digital Radio EPG in Germany.
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Atmel Corporation, a global leader in the development and fabrication of advanced semiconductor solutions, has announced the availability of its new DAB baseband processor ATR2740 for DAB applications.
This new baseband IC provides maximum flexibility and an extremely low current
consumption at a low price. the new baseband processor is controlled by a standard ARM(R) core, allowing designers to work with standard tools.
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Frontier Silicon appoints Mike McTighe as chairman
Frontier Silicon - the leading fabless manufacturer of semiconductors for digital radio/TV and consumer multimedia products - has announced the appointment of Mike McTighe (50) as non-executive chairman of its board of directors.
McTighe brings with him significant experience in the mobile handset sector, which will strengthen the board and help Frontier Silicon maintain its leading position in driving the growth of television over mobile. The new chairman has experience of leading technology companies, both large and small, to success over the last 25 years, and will utilise this expertise to build upon the strong base Frontier Silicon has already established in the digital radio and TV market.
ENDS
October 19, 2004
The Digital Radio Development Bureau is funded and supported by BBC, Digital One, Emap Digital Radio, CE Digital, MXR (Chrysalis, GMG, Capital and UBC), Capital Digital and GWR’s Now-Digital. The DRDB’s task is to ensure digital radio’s wide accessibility and swift adoption in the UK with consistent and effective marketing.
Visit the DRDB's consumer web site www.digitalradionow.com, or our Business to Business site, www.drdb.org.
If you have any news you would like included in the next DRDB news bulletin, please email mandy@drdb.org
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Mandy Green
Press and Publicity Manager
DRDB
The Radiocentre
77 Shaftesbury Avenue
London W1D 5DU
020 7306 2636
07973 184995