Oneword Reduced to 56kbps Overnight

13th December 2004

Oneword, on the Digital One national multiplex, was observed to be testing at 56kbps mono overnight one night last week. Oneword usually only transmits from 6am to midnight and transmits at 64kbps mono. It can only be assumed that they were carrying out this test with a view to reducing Oneword to the lower bit rate.

A bit rate of 56kbps falls within Ofcom's "Notes of Guidance" (the rules, in other words), because Oneword uses the 24kHz low sampling frequency (LSF), whereas the vast majority of other stations on DAB use a sampling frequency of 48kHz, and the Notes of Guidance stipulate that the minimum for a mono service is 64kbps.

It would be interesting to know whether this has anything to do with Channel 4, because Channel 4 are co-operating with the owners of Oneword, UBC Media, in a venture that is exploring the possibility of starting a new speech-based Channel 4 Radio station, and given that the Channel 4 CEO, Andy Duncan, was the Director of Marketing at the BBC when the new BBC digital radio stations were launched, then I'm sure that he has absolutely no qualms about providing low audio quality radio stations on DAB...