Talk:Digital radio in Australia

Omission
Perth gets Coles Radio. Needs to be added to the list. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 118.209.167.206 (talk) 04:14, 21 April 2018 (UTC)

Table format?
With this edit, undid this edit that I made recently. There was no reason given for the reversion. Even though it is longer, the table format that I implemented has advantages: it is easier to find information, and it is sortable (something that allows functionality that the previous table can't). Does anyone else have an opinion on the two table formats? If no (reasoned) opinion/consensus is forthcoming, I will re-establish my table format for the reasons given above. Thanks.  HWV258  22:48, 6 September 2009 (UTC) Anyway, hope I've made an improvement here, I certainly think it is better (might need to be tidied a bit though) GoForMoe (talk) 14:56, 20 January 2010 (UTC).
 * Sorry, I should have explained my revert. I essentially reverted it because the changes to the station names was half-hearted: Melbourne station Sport 927 became "Sport", the stations with branding like 97.3FM were changed to their (rarely used) callsigns, and using "ABC" rather than, say, "ABC Local Radio" or "702 ABC Sydney" would make some stations harder to find, rather than easier. I've been playing with the format of the tables, and my attempt at a sortable table is here (Format Three). I've also added in some extra info, such as the station owners. If you like the formatting, feel free add the table to the article. ZanderSchubert (talk) 10:44, 7 September 2009 (UTC)
 * I've made some major changes here, the FM/AM based listings were far from appropriate in my view for a Digital Radio station, also this format incorporates the extra digital channels in a much more user-friendly way. Removed references to call signs, except for stations that actually identify themselves as such. Find me someone who calls Vega 2PTV or Mix as 2UUZ and I'll add them back in. Sometimes Wikipedia takes the accuracy over callsigns way too far and this doesn't help someone who just comes here to find out what stations are on digital. The pathetic state of our TV article names is a case in point. That said radio is a bit better (The ABC Local Radio articles are perfect in this regard).

Zoo Super Digi
For the time being I have removed Zoo Super Digi from the Sydney listings, for two reasons:

1: At current it is only testing

2: There is no reference to it on the Digital Radio Plus website

Therefore, as far as I'm considering, it does NOT exist. Once Digital Radio Plus lists it, then I will add it. Wally Otto (talk) 11:19, 21 March 2010 (UTC)
 * Agree, though the DR+ website is frequently out of date, so I think when the 2SM site starts promoting it as they do with Gorilla or when http://zoosuperdigi.com/ is a proper site it should be added in. GoForMoe (talk) 06:08, 24 March 2010 (UTC)
 * Agree there. Same thing should apply to 3MTR when it comes in. Wally Otto (talk) 01:20, 25 March 2010 (UTC)
 * I've removed Barry, under the same clause. As it hasn't started properly broadcasting, there is no need to have it. Wally Otto (talk) 03:48, 7 June 2010 (UTC)

Four Austereo Digital stations & Bitrates.
Has ACMA given Austereo another station "licence" for digital? It just seems a bit odd there is 4 stations instead of 3. Or is it just that the bitrate has dropped? On that topic, would it be useful to have bitrate's added as another column to the table? Wally Otto (talk) 03:16, 4 June 2010 (UTC)
 * Austereo bought additional spectrum in all cities in the auction of the excess. I don't think the bitrates is something important enough for the article, perhaps a discussion of bitrates on Australian digital radio in text, but the exact detail for all stations is possibly too far.


 * As well as Austereo in all cities, DMG bought some in Brisbane, allowing for adding Koffee and doing Nova at 128kbps. ARN bought it in all places except Adelaide (where Austereo got all of it) and Perth (obviously). CRN/Grant bought half of Perth's. 2SM bought a small chunk in Sydney but aren't using it for some reason, Sport 927 bought some in Melbourne, but don't use it. (they only use 64kbps) (DTVForums has fairly updated bitrate listings here)


 * To answer your exact question, in Melbourne: Barry 48kbps, Caravan 64kbps, Fox 64kbps, I see red 48kbps, Radar 64kbps, Triple M 64kbps. --GoForMoe (talk) 10:11, 4 June 2010 (UTC)


 * Yeah, I wasn't paying attention and only checked tonight on that answer. Sorry for that.. 2SM's I think you'll find is Zoo, but I'm not that confident. For all we could know, there could be something in the pipeline.
 * I don't suppose you'd know how much every broadcaster was issued with? (Helps with writing up a section) Wally Otto (talk) 11:01, 4 June 2010 (UTC)


 * 2SM oddly are doing it as 32kbps for 2SM, 48 each for Gorilla and Zoo. 6iX in Perth are doing the same, 48kbps for 6iX and My Perth Digital and 32kbps for Hot Country. This is despite both companies purchasing additional spectrum. Technically Austereo and ARN are breaking the law, they are supposedly only supposed to own 256kbps in total (the digital version of the 2 station rule), but that seems to be ignored.
 * Each commercial licence (FM and AM) got 128kbps (the only source I know of is the legislation on that one), so as in most cases each broadcaster has two stations in each market, they just bundle it all in as 256kbps. I can't give specifics on the auction, beyond knowing who bought spectrum, they don't mention who bought each chunk, so there isn't a way of telling the actual resulting amounts beyond monitoring usage.
 * As mentioned in the article currently, 2/9ths or 256kbps per multiplex is reserved for community stations. That means less than 40kbps each in Perth, around 50 in Sydney and above 70 in Brisbane. ABC have 2/3rds of the SBS/ABC multiplex. --GoForMoe (talk) 13:24, 4 June 2010 (UTC)

Regional trials.
Was digging through the ACMA list of broadcasting transmitters & found the following: (Dates are "licensing dates")
 * Canberra: 10B (211.648 MHz) - 1 July 2010 to 30 June 2011
 * Darwin: 10B (211.648 MHz) - 23 July 2010 to 22 July 2011

Does this suggest that Darwin is further progressed? Wally Otto (talk) 11:53, 16 July 2010 (UTC)

Community stations
We should really find some legitimate reference for community stations on DAB: otherwise, adding them amounts to little more than hearsay. ZanderSchubert (talk) 08:42, 15 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Agree there Zander. It would make sense to have every station referenced. (For example, Inspire Digital).
 * In addition to this, can we NOT add the coming soon stations? It's a bit pointless for a current list, and fits with WP:CRYSTALBALL. Wally Otto (talk) 10:13, 15 March 2011 (UTC)

External links modified
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 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20140228154147/http://www.mediaspy.org/report/2011/03/21/melbourne-community-radio-stations-go-digital-next-month/ to http://www.mediaspy.org/report/2011/03/21/melbourne-community-radio-stations-go-digital-next-month/

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External links modified
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I have just added archive links to 3 one external links on Digital radio in Australia. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
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 * Added archive http://web.archive.org/web/20100103083343/http://www.sbs.com.au:80/radio/article/717/Live-commentary-schedule to http://www.sbs.com.au/radio/article/717/Live-commentary-schedule
 * Added archive http://web.archive.org/web/20100309074107/http://www.cbaa.org.au:80/content/Digital-Radio-A-Go-Go to http://www.cbaa.org.au/content/Digital-Radio-A-Go-Go

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AAC+
The opening section of this page notes that Australia uses AAC+, suggesting AAC+ is used exclusively. However, not all stations use AAC+. In Sydney, 2SM uses standard AAC (AAC-LC) at 64kbps. 2GB also uses standard AAC, but at 128kbps. — Preceding unsigned comment added by SydRadio (talk • contribs) 11:38, 10 February 2018 (UTC)


 * Changed to "all but a few" (albeit with a "which" as I am unsure what is actually left)... AAC-LC is indeed rare, and there may not be anything outside of 2SM using it now (as I suspect it's unlikely they have changed, but don't have the means to confirm). As of 2024, 2GB is running on 48 kbit/s, thus probably not using AAC-LC anymore. -Spi 04:13, 17 July 2024 (UTC)

Questionable paragraph re: bitrates of national services, left for discussion
This paragraph was inserted in February 2024 under the national broadcasters section:

"Because the Australian Government chose to give the number of DAB channels (and hence revenue) priority over technical and quality factors, the bitrates available per channel are very low by international standards. The audio quality of Australian DAB is correspondingly low - only 80kbps for ClassicFM, for example, and most channels have much lower bitrates than this. So DAB is in general well below the 128kbps traditionally accepted as CD quality, and an interference-free FM broadcast will almost certainly provide better audio."

I'm unsure as to whether the comparison with international services is entirely valid given Australia's choice to use DAB+ from the start, rather than the original DAB having been used in parts of Europe such as the UK, thus having used AAC (and mostly AAC+) compared to MP2. The comment is most certainly valid in some forms - even 128 kbit/s for original DAB would struggle to be CD quality due to it using MP2 and not MP3 and/or original AAC - but 80 kbit/s is not an unusual rate for an AAC+ channel by world standards; perhaps even on the high end when the WorldDAB forum suggests common bitrates in the range of 40-88 kbit/s. Indeed, the UK's commercial Classic FM, for instance, went to 64 kbit/s when it switched to DAB+.

It also seems slightly NPOV for the paragraph to be placed in the national services section, when it is probably a broader point about DAB+ in Australia in general, and perhaps more seen on the commercial side with broadcasters squeezing many of their channels into as little as 32 kbit/s (with some argument seen that it's to make it seem a poor sibling to their streaming services). Although it's a general point perhaps worth raising, as the proliferation of services from the ABC and SBS does limit what they can give their music-based channels, ABC Classic aside - but it's difficult to find a suitable place for it elsewhere in the article as it stands.

Some of this is also out of date, as by 2021 ABC Classic had been increased further to 120 kbit/s (unknown whether switched to AAC-LC in the process, per previous paragraph). I suspect the comment about FM often being seen as superior is also probably already covered in articles about digital radio and audio in general. -Spi 04:42, 17 July 2024 (UTC)