Well, one can't say DAB didn't do any advertising here. The real problem for DAB is that it didn't offer any DAB only content, so nobody was interested in giving it a try, especially when it meant buying a whole new radio.

DAB 90's radio ad:



 

I was involved directly in DAB, so I was "in the room" with the broadcasters and auto makers.   Car manufacturers were on board - at least GM and Honda, but the Canadian broadcasters led by CHUM Limited, refused to build out a DAB network along major highway corridors.  That killed DAB and the car makers wrote off their investments.  That was also around the time that Sirius and XM had applied to service Canada through Canadian affiliates - led by the Slaight and Bitove Families.  The satellite radio companies were smart, they engineered the chipsets (at their cost) and provided the chipsets to auto manufacturers.  There was also a generous financial incentive provided to automakers in N. America and overseas to incorporate the X-Band satellite radio chipsets into their OEM car radios. Likewise Sirius and XM developed really good boom boxes and other retrofit devices - again at their cost and had world-class companies manufacture the devices.  I know that for a fact.  I was at the R&D facilities.   XM literally induced an entire R&D engineering team to "defect" from Motorola - over to their facility in order to create the consumer technology.   CHUM applied for a pay audio service based on a modified DAB platform, won the licence but never implemented.  At the CRTC hearing, CHUM couldn't even produce a prototype model of their so-called consumer radio. There was never an L-band receiver created that could handle "pay audio".  In addition, there were technology companies in Canada who had the expertise to manufacture the terrestrial network and were prepared to offer generous financial terms to the Canadian broadcasters.  Again, the broadcasters led by CHUM Limited refused the offer to build-out the network(s) in the Windsor-Quebec Corridor, Toronto-Barrie and Calgary-Edmonton corridors.   There was never an L-Band receiver that was commercially manufactured that was actually a consumer-ready product.  Note (Canadian) DAB L-Band is in a frequency just below microwave ovens.  EU DAB is in the VHF (high band) around 200 mhz.  Great propagation in the EU's DAB band(s).  I recall there were two or three after market car radios on display at Kromer Radio on Bathurst street, ( tried a Blaupunt) but they cost in those days upwards of $700 (2004 $) installed.  Radio Shack had a DAB L-band handheld tuner that exhausted its batteries in a few hours, didn't have a speaker and for the most part could not receive the DAB signals indoors or out of doors in Leslieville - in direct line with the CN Tower.  (I still have the remnants of that radio - it fell apart - so poorly made). The radio did not display the names of the stations or any other information that would allow you to differentiate as between CBC and for example CHUM FM.  As a radio, It was a piece of crap.  Sony and other consumer radio manufacturers never produced a single L-Band DAB radio  - so there was no "product" to buy in Canada other than the Radio Shack no-name disaster.  When Moses Znaimer bought CFMZ (then CFMX), in his office at 550 Queen East, there was a DAB radio that had been Martin Rosenthal's.  Actually it was a car radio, that had been modified, and installed in a wooden "box", with speakers.  That was the reality of the consumer product.   A cluged car radio in a wooden box.  Ha, ha, ha!!!

The slick Canadian DAB ads were smoke and mirrors.  They ran in airtime that was unsold inventory of Canadian TV stations, or on the internet.  Canadian broadcasters had no real commitment. None!   And I will gladly debate Duff Roman - who was the spokesperson for DAB in Canada - any day of the week on the facts.   And today the bean-counters and financiers of radio in the U.S. and Canada are not about to finance another DAB fiasco.  Many US broadcasters have emerged from Chapter 11 proceedings or are precariously close to being off-side their banking covenants.  So a big investment in DAB is not going happen in the US.  In Canada, the big broadcasters are divesting of radio properties.  Corus of course is in play and Rogers just sold off several properties.  In 2025-26-27 you'll see many other stations in Canada either shuttered or put up for sale.

If the Canadian gov't had allocated DAB frequencies in the same bands as the EU, and Canadian broadcasters had actually built out the terrestiral networks, it might have worked.  But that's a lot of "ifs".  The crowd who ran Canadian radio at that time, weren't prepared to make a real sustainable investment.

Besides the spectrum that EU countries use for DAB - which is highly efficient in terms of propagation - is not available in North America. Never has beenavailable.    That VHF spectrum, has been used for other non-broadcast purposes.  The Canadian federal government has auctioned off a lot of fomrer broadcast spectrum and the auctions in Canada have generated billions of dollars of revenue.  Billions with a "B".  Spectrum auctions have been very lucrative.  So allocating new VHF spectrum for Canadian broadcasters to use for DAB - "free of charge" is not something the Libs or PCs are ever going to do.  And Canadian broadcasters are never going to pony up for high cost RF spectrum.  Not ever.  Canadian broadcasters are assessed no "cost" for use of AM and FM spectrum - by ISED.   CRTC licence fees are a different matter and not based on RF spectrum use.    The L-Band (former Canadian DAB) spectrum was auctioned off for 2-way communications several years ago. Gone, gone, gone.

So dream on.  DAB is never going to happen in North America.  Truth is, there was never a realistic plan on the part of broadcasters or regulators in Canada for DAB to become a "product" that consumers would gravitate to.  The EU is and has always been a completly different business case and regulatory environment.
 

Last edited by tvguy (December 11, 2024 11:36 am)

In addition to the technical issues, there was never a real plan from regulators or broadcasters to provide unique stations to DAB. Selling this to mainstream consumers on the basis of sound quality alone was a complete non-starter.

Now today, if the technical, regulator, and content issues disappeared overnight, it wouldn't matter. It's far too late.

Even in spite of the listenership figures cited in that article, it baffles me as to why the authorities in those countries have gone to and are going to the efforts to actually legally phase-out analog FM broadcasts when there doesn't seem to be any prospects of auctioning off any of the 88-108 MHz band. With no financial incentives, why bother eliminating a fairly robust legacy analog technology, potentially disenfranchising smaller community broadcasters of more modest financial means in the process? As for the climate goals claimed, I'm a lot more worried about E-waste and the seemingly universally shorter lifespans and more difficult repairability of modern DAB+ radios and equipped stereo receivers. More aggressive greening of their electric power generation and transmission infrastructure and replacements of older transmitters with new models would probably be a better move.

I read in pretty good detail about DAB in Canada about nine or ten years ago. The story is similarly as fascinating as it is disappointing. Supposedly, the US actually conducted successful experimental broadcasts in the 1.45 to 1.49 GHz "L Band" in San Francisco in 1996, but the Department of Defense refused to relinquish any of the 1.45 to 1.49 GHz band that was to be used and was used in Canada for the duration of the fruitless saga. This effectively prevented the system from being adopted in the US in any capacity, which prevented the development of a sufficient supply chain of radios. This also ultimately led to the development and widespread implementation of what's known as HD Radio, which uses in-band, on-channel sideband technology that requires no new dedicated spectrum. As DAB+ was being rolled out in Europe, the operational DAB multiplexes in Canada were decommissioned, and the whole thing went less-than-nowhere, its very existence almost completely unknown to the listening public. The posts by "tvguy" and "Evuguy" are eye-opening.

Last edited by tdotwriter (December 12, 2024 6:41 pm)

I don't think that FM is going to end in Italy, Portugal or many other EU countries anytime soon.  I spend a lot of time in taxis in Europe...as well as hotels.  The reality is, even recent vintage hybrid toyota cars and taxis and many other vehicles, Renault, citroens, etc, don't have DAB as standard equipment.  So if manufacturers started putting DAB into every car tomorrow, there is a life-cycle of tens of millions of vehicles on the road that would have to be factored in by broadcasters.  My European friends, don't "trade in" or "junk" their cars as frequently as we do in North America.  So its a much longer life-cycle.  And, even if people started to adopt EVs (which have more advanced tech), it's even longer, because EVs aren't selling very well in many countries of the EU - little or no charging infrastructure today.   I have worked with a major car manufacturer who has worldwide sales.  I know for a fact that the "planning" cycle from engineering to assembly line is measured in years (not months or weeks) for such items as the electronic systems.  I know that because I've been in meetings with the engineering groups that work on in-car infotainment.  I am not privy to that company's plans - say - 5 years hence but I would wager a bet that FM isn't coming out of their cars - to be replaced by DAB+ only radios.   And none of my friends have DAB or DAB+ portable or table radios or stereos.  Yup, they're still all analogue and will be for years to come.   Perhaps a public broadcaster in a small nordic country with less commercial radio activity can bet that turning off FM won't hurt them, but in Italy and Portugal and other EU countries I doubt that regulators or commercial radio operators are going to wager their future on such a scenario.  

On a personal note, my friends in Bologna Italy drive a (very small) Fiat Panda.  It is a good car and meets their needs.  They only have a few thousand KMs on the car after a number of years.  Why?  Because vehicular traffic has been banned in the city centres of a number of Italian cities, during certain business hours.  But scooters are permitted.  So they take their Vespa downtown or use the excellent public transit system and they can walk downstairs and across the road to bakeries, markets, restaurants, etc.  Yes, they walk a lot.....  We had a discussion over aperitivo and drinks on their balcony about "when" and "if" they'll replace the Panda.  Not anytime soon. It runs well, and there's no pressing need to change cars.  Besides, the condo where they live, has a tiny parking garage, that can only accomodate a car of the same size.  There's no electrical charging anywhere nearby and money is tight these days.  So they'll be driving around in their Fiat Panda, probably for the rest of my lifetime, listening to FM.   I also canvassed another friend about his Toyota Hybrid Yaris (nothing like the Canadian model).  He doesn't know what DAB is, and doesn't have it.  He and his wife still listen to FM.  They drive a bit more, and the Hybrid Yaris will possible out last me.

My friends have "smart speakers" so some in-home listening to conventional radio is via the smart speakers and some of their listening is to music streaming services.  But they still listen to FM, a lot!!!!

Media ownership is highly consolidated in some EU countries, and the guys who "own" these media companies seem to be a bit more tuned to the realities of the market than broadcasters in other countries.  Many of the companies are not "publicly traded" so the owners call the shots.  I don't foresee them shutting off FM and taking the risk that they will suddently repatriate 80% or more of the automotive tuning on DAB if the car radios don't exist....
 

Last edited by tvguy (December 13, 2024 9:42 am)