Licensed area United Kingdom | Air date 15 November 1999 | |
Frequency 11D (222.064 MHz) England, Wales and Northern Ireland12A (223.936 MHz) Scotland Website | ||
Digital One is a national commercial digital radio multiplex in the United Kingdom, owned by Arqiva. As of March 2010, the multiplex covers more than 90% of the population from a total of 137 transmitters. and from 26 July 2013, Northern Ireland.
Contents
History
On 24 March 1998, the Radio Authority advertised for the first national ensemble to be broadcast on DAB, with the three national commercial services on FM and medium wave required to be included in the ensemble. This included Classic FM, Talk Radio UK (now talkSPORT) and Virgin Radio (now Absolute Radio). The licence was awarded to the sole applicant, GWR Group and NTL Broadcast to form Digital One. The original licence application included the following stations:
Digital One was due to launch on 1 October 1999, but this was postponed until 15 November 1999.
The "Classic Gold Rock" service eventually went on air as Planet Rock, which remains on air, having migrated from D1 to the Sound Digital multiplex in 2016; it is, however, the only one of the D1 launch stations (bar the INR simulcasts) to still be broadcasting as of 2016, and is also the longest-established DAB-first service in UK national radio, having been a digital-only service until 2013, when new owner Bauer put PR on their 105.2 FM frequency in the West Midlands (previously Kerrang! Radio); the FM berth was turned over to Absolute Radio in September 2015, leaving PR as a digital-exclusive service once again. The "plays, books and music" service went on air as Oneword. The "Teen & Chart Hits" service became Core, and the "Soft AC" service - which was ultimately provided by the then Capital Radio Group (now part of Global Radio) was launched as Life (later known as Capital Life). The "Sports Channel" proposal was dropped as a separate entity and instead combined with Talk Radio in 2000 to form the current talkSPORT as broadcast on MW and digital. ITN's rolling news service ultimately went on air as part of the multiplex, later joined by a business news service provided by Bloomberg. "Club Dance", however, never made it to air. The space released by the absence of the Club Dance and Sports Channel services from the eventual lineup was used to allow the Oneword service to end at midnight rather than the proposed 7pm, and also freed up a slot for a melodic easy listening music service aimed at an older audience, the Saga-operated PrimeTime Radio.
After the closure of PrimeTime Radio in 2006, the original licence was amended to allow the launch of a new classic and contemporary jazz service, theJazz which was launched on 25 December 2006, before 31 December 2006 deadline set in the licence amendment.
On 11 February 2008 GCap announced that it was selling its interest in Digital One to Arqiva and that "non-core" DAB stations Planet Rock and theJazz would be closing by the end of March 2008. Whilst theJazz ceased broadcasting at midnight on 30 April 2008, Planet Rock was sold off and remains on air. GCap also closed down their two other D1-only stations, Core and Capital Life, prior to GCap being taken over later in 2008 by Global Radio.
In April 2009, Global Radio sold its 63% stake in the ensemble - acquired as part of its takeover of GCap, part-owner of D1 - to Arqiva, making the transmission firm the sole owner and operator of the ensemble. Arqiva also owns the NOWdigital suite of local DAB multiplexes, having acquired these from Global (again these were inherited from GCap), and the Ayr local ensemble previously owned by SCORE Digital (sold when Scottish Radio Holdings was taken over by Bauer Radio.)
Following Global Radio's 2012 purchase of Real & Smooth Ltd, and Bauer Radio's purchases of Planet Rock and Absolute in 2013, these firms between them control a majority broadcast stations currently transmitting on Digital One - as of 2016 and the migration of two Bauer stations previously on D1 to Sound Digital, Global now operate seven stations on D1, and Bauer three.
Former services
Services previously carried on the multiplex include:
In addition to the audio services listed above a number of data services, short lived temporary audio services, and mobile video channels have been broadcast on this multiplex.
Birdsong
Birdsong was a transmission consisted of a continuously looping recording of bird song. When financial news station Bloomberg, and rolling news station ITN News Radio ceased to broadcast within several months of one another in 2003, replacement audio services were never found due to a commitment in Digital One's broadcasting licence to provide a news station. This resulted in a station playing a 36-minute, 56-second loop of birdsong and ambient sounds, entitled D1 Temp which broadcast until June 2005.
When the magazine-format digital radio station Oneword ceased in January 2008, the birdsong audio once again returned to the multiplex on the Oneword channel and the service name of the DAB channel changed to "Birdsong", until Amazing Radio launched on 1 June 2009.
When Jazz FM left the Digital One multiplex at the end of 2013 and migrated to local availability in London only, Birdsong returned to D1 in January 2014 on a temporary basis until LBC launched in the slot on 11 February.