Thank you for that update. I'd always heard that they lost a small fortune on this, but recalling the sometimes penurious (synonyms for lean and cheap) nature of the place, your version would make more sense. And if you were there, I will take your word for it. 

I often wonder what our radio landscape in Canada and North America would be like now if the DAB experiment had succeeded and the difference between AM & FM had been erased. 

The big problem with DAB in Canada was the use of the L band (1452-1492 MHz).  While it allowed for much greater bandwidth and resultant bit rates than Band III (VHF) DAB, the coverage area for each transmitter was very small compared to the analog AM or FM licensed area. The bottom line was that it was simply unaffordable to replicate the coverage.  One study indicated that it would have cost $50 million just to replicate coverage in the Windsor to Montreal corridor. 
The other big issue was the lack of receivers, especially in cars.  The only portable pocket radio, (earphones only) ran off of four AA batteries that lasted about 3 hours.  tvguy may have one and can comment.  

In reference to skywave's comment. My recollection is that there was never a "table" radio or real portable radio marketed in Canada.  I still have the remnants of the so-called pocket DAB Radio marketed through Radio Shack in Canada.  2 AA batteries lasted under 3 hours.  No speaker, only worked with wired earpiece, which didn't allow listening on the go, you were tethered to it.  I took it over to a CHUM VP's home in the beaches area.  Direct line of sight to the CN Tower.  I would only work on his outdoor deck.  It was the first time he had ever held a DAB radio or tried it out.  Seriously!.  And he was very high up on the CHUM management team.  His comment to me, in frustration...."if that's what we've chosen...then we're "F'd"."  Martin Rosenthal, at CFMX had a car radio with a speaker installed in his office in a wooden box, at 550 Queen st. East.  Moses Znaimer inherited the radio when he bought the station from Trumar Communications.  He was not impressed with the kluged "box" radio.  There was never a real consumer product sold in Canada.  Or for that matter any arrangements with manufacturers to produce radios overseas.  GM and Honda were the only ones who spent real $$$ to develop chipsets that might have gone into the radios, but because the Canadian broadcasters refused to roll out any network of DAB stations in key strategic regions, including Windsor-Quebec City corridor,  Toronto-Barrie corridor, Calgary-Edmonton, BC,, etc, it took very little in terms of negotiations for them to "drop" the Canadian DAB project and align with XM.  XM hired the top RF engineers from Motorola to develop the "car" chipsets and consumer radio products - the operation was in Boca Raton FL.  I met with them at that facility.  I also flew to Ottawa with senior XM engineers to meet with Industry Canada.  The top folks at Industry Canada - to be charitable, were blind-sided.  They had failed to follow the development of satellite radio in the US and had no understanding, of the technology, compression system, and the work that Sirius and XM had done in developing chipsets, terrestrial repeater technology, etc.  One senior IC exec asked the XM engineers why they couldn't use the DAB technology and compression system and algorithms - instead of what they had developed.  He was serious!!!  They were puzzled by his lack of understanding.  Made for interesting conversation on the flight back.  One other thing, I did a fair amount of work with UBS (they might have had a different corporate name at the time) -- a Canadian technology company which had been involved in the development of XM's technology including the terrestrial repeaters.  I believe that UBS also was involved in some capacity in the development of the handful of transmitters for the CHUM-led Canadian "dab" project.  UBS offered to build out the Canadian terrestrial network in the Windsor to Quebec City corridor - at a subsidized cost (or free) in exchange for the long term use of some DAB network spectrum for data.  The CHUM "consortium" of broadcasters turned UBS down.  That was probably the last nail in the coffin for CHUM and the rest of the gang who had the DAB dream.  There were other pressures, Industry Canada told them "use it or lose it" in terms of the L-Band spectrum.  IC forced the CRTC to place a moratorium on further L-Band licensing and the spectrum was repurposed.  I was in a lot of "rooms" and a few private aircraft...so these are "first person" observations.   Think of Canadian DAB as the AVRO arrow of radio.  A good idea....but...doomed.
 

Last edited by tvguy (February 1, 2026 5:33 pm)