Even though the analogue switch off is fast approaching, sales for DAB digital radios have gone into free fall in recent times here in the UK. It seems that the British public just can’t accept the fact that in order to continue to listen to their old ‘wireless’, they’ll need to upgrade to a DAB radio sooner rather than later.

Sales were performing well up until Christmas 2005, but as soon as the BBC finished running its DABaganda TV advertising campaign the sales dried up.

With such poor sales one could presume that digital radio would fail as a standard, however this is one format that cannot fail as it has no competition, and is required if listeners wish to continue with their radio service.

Of course, DAB isn’t the only way to listen to digital radio, digital TV and broadband also allow listeners to pick up digital radio.

The BBC however has only been pushing DAB digital radio as a platform for digital radio, when they should have been promoting the fact that other technologies can also pick up the signal. This would have meant more widespread listenership.

When the BBC launched their streaming iPlayer on their website, listeners online jumped 22% in a single month, 6 times faster than the DAB digital radio take up.

The big drawback to DAB is that only 90% of the population will ever receive the signal, meaning the BBC really should be promoting other avenues to run in tandem with DAB.

Those that are able to pick up the signal however enjoy a far better audio experience than that received from an analogue radio.