GCap Media plans to switch off its Gold stations on AM

20th November 2005

GCap Media, the UK's largest commercial radio group, plans to switch off the signals for its two AM stations, Capital Gold and Classic Gold. This change could happen by spring 2007 in order to drive digital take-up.

Although the audio quality on DAB is dreadful and sounds far worse than FM, DAB does sound better than the 80-year-old AM system, just.

GCap Media was formed from the merger of the Capital Radio and GWR radio groups, and GWR has been the main commercial group lobbying for Ofcom to abolish the minimum bit rate levels so that they can reduce their bit rate levels further. And Nick Piggott of GWR famously said on the subject of DAB bit rate levels in a speech at the Radio Academy: "We may make the case to go down lower again if we can show that the audience can’t tell". And, of course, toothless Ofcom has gone ahead with GWR's plans, and they are going to go the whole hog and abolish the minimum bit rate levels altogether!

My advice is the same as what someone from GWR once told me: if you're looking for hi-fi quality on the radio, you won't get it on DAB, so you'd be best looking elsewhere.