More mutterings from the commercial radio sector about the BBC's Radio 1 and Radio 2 - which some in the commercial sector reckon should be privatised given their mainstream nature. The boss of commercial radio body RadioCentre Andrew Harrison doesn't go that far, but he does reckon the Beeb should make the national services digital only in a bid to boost the switch over to digital audio broadcasting - ie if Radios 1 and 2 were only on digital more people would invest in a DAB device.
Speaking at the Radio Festival in Glasgow, Harrison said: "Radio 1 and Radio 2 should be in the vanguard of converting the listener from a backward-facing analogue medium to a forward-looking digital one. The quicker Radio 1 and Radio 2 are made digital only, the quicker DAB will become the default standard".
Although commercial radio giant GCap said it planned to basically dump DAB as a format and concentrate on analogue and internet services, the BBC and other commercial players remain committed to the digital broadcast format, mainly because they've invested so much into it to date. Of course with new management at GCap as Global Radio take them over their anti-DAB policy is on hold.
Commercial players in particular want to encourage a faster move to DAB so they can start to see a return on their investment in the infrastructure and digital-only radio services, and also to bring to an end the extra cost of having to broadcast flagship services in both an analogue and digital form.
But Radio 2 and 6Music boss Lesley Douglas does not agree that making her analogue station digital-only at this stage would help. According to the Guardian, she told the Festival: "To make Radio 1 and Radio 2 digital-only at the wrong time, and too early, would cripple the radio industry in this country. It's important to remain engaged and drive the platform from FM".