Talking Radio: Chantal Cooke

Chantal Cooke

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Passion for the Planet's co-founder issues a call to arms over the migration to DAB and the much-discussed prospect of FM switch-off.

Radio, like no other industry, loves shooting itself in the foot. Rather than celebrating what's great about radio in the 21st century, there are far too many chronic complainers, especially when it comes to the scariest word in their (bleak) vocabulary, "change".

But at last the industry is being positive and looking to a bright future. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport recently released its interim proposals from the Digital Radio Working Group (DRWG) - and they make a lot of sense.

The DRWG proposals clearly state that radio's future must be digital (DAB); if not then it runs the risk of becoming irrelevant in the digital age. It also sets out that dual transmission costs (FM and DAB) are unsustainable, and that it's therefore important to set out a migration plan.

So how do we get to this digital future? The interim report suggested that the migration plan should kick off when 50% of total listening is to DAB-enabled devices. This is expected to happen sometime between 2012 and 2015, with migration to DAB complete by 2020.

As a DAB-only operator, I'd like the migration to start sooner and be completed quicker, but I'm sure some would prefer it started later and took longer. Overall, the DRWG proposal is fair and equitable to all of us.

The detail has yet to be finalised, but the idea might be to migrate the nationals first and then the regionals, so the smaller stations could stay on FM until a viable alternative is found.

This should mean those smaller stations are in no danger of being squeezed out or sidelined. Virtually all DAB radios also have an FM setting, so even if every radio in every household were DAB, FM fans are sorted.

It's not often that I am 100% in agreement with a proposal, but in this case I am. It's in the consultation phase at the moment and the DRWG is looking for comments, so it's important that, as an industry, we all speak up. Ensure the DRWG knows your views on the proposals.

Unfortunately, what often happens is that those who are happy stay quiet, and those who want to bitch are the most vocal. At a recent DCMS stakeholder meeting there was agreement from the majority of the industry and a lot of whingeing and time wasting from the community radio representatives (don't get me started on what a waste I think community radio is).

Radio in the 21st century is exciting, sharp and bursting into the digital age with so much to offer. The days of vinyl, cart machines and medium wave transmitters on a boat are gone. If that makes you sad, get over it. It's time to embrace the creative and financial opportunities of a digital future.

If we don't move forward, if we insist on focusing on the past and ignoring how innovative radio is and can be, if we knock anything new and different, if we keep trying to be TV's poor cousin, if we ignore what technology has to offer - well then the serial complainers will be right. Your DAB radio and your FM radio will both be obsolete in a few years.

If that happens everyone loses - the listeners, the advertisers, and the industry. I'd rather be a winner. What about you?
Chantal Cooke is owner and co-founder of DAB station Passion for the Planet