RAJAR has today released audience research for the Quarter ended March 2012 and its great to see further strong growth in digital radio listening.

Key headlines for RAJAR are:

• 45% of the population has tuned in via any Digital platform
• 22.1 million adults have access to a DAB receiver up 12% year on year
• For the first time there has been more than 200 million hours recorded for DAB listening

Listening to radio via a digital platform in terms of weekly reach has increased by 5% year on year, with 23.5 million people now tuning in to radio via a digitally enabled receiver (DAB, DTV, internet) each week (up  from 22.3 million in Q1 2011).

The share of all radio listening via a digital platform is now 29.2% (against 26.5% in 2011), with DAB’s share increasing by 15% to 19.1% of all listening (16.7% in 2011).

The share of all listening through DTV is now 4.4%, with Internet’s share at 3.9%.

Further information on RAJAR and digital radio listening is available at www.rajar.co.uk.

For technical reasons, from 10 April you may be required to re-tune your digital radio so you can continue to receive the following stations: Capital, Heart. Choice, XFM, LBC and Kiss.

You may see the station name on your radio change to “Station Moved” or “Moved. Once you have re-tuned your radio, if you see the station name listed with a “?” after it, ignore that entry – chose the entry that doesn’t have a question mark after it.

If you have saved these stations on your “preset” function on your radio, you may need to save those again too.

For all DAB digital radios at your home or in your car, refer to the instructions for your particular product on how you re-tune, delete old station labels and reset your presets.

Re-tuning your digital radio

It is recommended that you re-tune your digital radio from time to time (every few months) to ensure you can receive new stations that have come on air in your area. It is also recommended that you regularly reset any presets you have saved on your digital radio.

Most digital radios can be re-tuned using the following simple instructions:

Press the Auto-Tune or Auto Scan button on your digital radio. It may take a couple of minutes for your radio to update the station list.

However, not all digital radios re-tune in the same way. The instructions below cover some other options.

OPTION 1:

1. Press the Auto Tune or Auto Scan button on your digital radio
2. The display screen will show ‘Autotune Quick scan’ / ‘Fast Scanning’
3. As new stations are found the station counter on the right hand side of the display will increase and new stations will be added to the list
4. This should only take a couple of minutes
5. Simply scroll through the display to find the stations available to you

OPTION 2:

1. Press ‘Menu’ button on your digital radio
2. Rotate the ‘Tune’ button until you see ‘Autotune’ in the display 3. Select ‘Autotune’
4. As new stations are found the station counter on the right hand side of the display will increase and new stations will be added to the list
5. This should only take a couple of minutes
6. Simply scroll through the display to find the stations available to you

Deleting the old “station label”

Some radios will keep the “station label” in the station list which may have a “?” after it. If you want to delete this from the list, please follow the instructions below:

1. Switch on your radio
2. Press and hold the ‘Select’ or the ‘Info’ button on your radio until the display shows ‘System reset’ or ‘Factory reset’

OR…

Press and hold the ‘Menu’ button for three seconds. Push the ‘Tune’ button within 3 seconds to confirm the reset.

3. A full reset will be performed and your station list will be updated.
4. Please note that any presets will be erased, so you will need to reset them.

For more information, the user should contact their manufacturer or refer to the instruction booklet.

How to use your presets

Resetting your radio (as above) may result in your radio losing its presets. If you want to restore your presets, please following the instructions below:

1. Select your favourite digital radio station on the station list.
2. Hold down the suitable preset button for 5 seconds
3. Release preset button

For re-tuning or resetting instructions for your digital radio, please see the following links to manufacturer/retailer sites:

PURE
Roberts
Sony

Switchdigital London has announced plans to change transmission provider from June 2012 and extend multiplex coverage.

Switchdigital has agreed a 12-year deal with French company VDL, which will see the service through its second licence period to 2024.

The deal includes a new transmitter at the BT Tower which is expected to improve indoor reception of the stations on the multiplex for DAB listeners in Central London.

Switchdigital is jointly owned by UTV Media, TIML (owners of Absolute Radio) and Carphone Warehouse. The contract will mark VDL’s first move into the UK digital radio transmission market.

Piers Collins, Director, Switchdigital London, said: “We have been very impressed with VDL’s fresh approach, value for money and desire to work with Switchdigital as a strategic partner.”

Yannick Andre-Masse, VDL’s CEO added: “For VDL, the establishment of a presence in the UK digital radio transmission market represents an important strategic extension of the company’s existing FM and digital transmission network operations in France and Belgium.”

The London 2 DAB multiplex was launched in July 2000.  Current stations available include XFM, Gold, BBC London 94.9, Absolute Radio’s 70s and 00s decades stations and French Radio London.