Absolute Radio launches a new DAB digital service – Absolute Radio Extra

14Jul

Absolute Radio is launching a brand new DAB service,  Absolute Radio Extra, which will provide a dynamic content channel to the existing family of radio brands; Absolute Radio, Absolute Radio Classic Rock, Absolute 80s, Absolute Radio 90s.

Whenever Absolute Radio has exclusive and extended digital content such as uninterrupted live stage sets, football commentary or full-speech comedy programming, Absolute Radio Extra will allow listeners to choose between the services.

Absolute Radio Extra is pioneering premium and exclusive ‘red button’ style content on DAB Digital Radio to encourage further take-up. The new service will launch on Saturday August 14th with live and exclusive Barclays Premier League football commentary. The service will offer a mix of music, football commentary and content from the station’s prime talent; 

  • Extra football  content – 32 Live & Exclusive Barclays Premier League commentaries – ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Football Live’ on Saturday afternoon’s from 3pm, kicking off on August 14th on Absolute Radio Extra. An additional service to compliment Absolute Radio’s existing Rock ‘n’ Roll Football mix of music and goals fronted by Russ Williams.
  • Extra Music – Absolute Radio Extra will broadcast full live sets from Paul Weller, Paolo Nutini, Madness and Kasabian from the V Festival on the 21st/22nd of August and Kings of Leon at a future date.
  • Extra Comedy & Talent  -  Christian O’Connell, Frank Skinner, Iain Lee, Dave Gorman & Geoff Lloyd –listen again plus new and exclusive audio content.

Absolute Radio is leading the radio industry into a digital age. The station currently has 55% digital listening nationally, 48% for the family of Absolute Radio brands combined.

This new national service is being created by the station splitting its existing DAB bandwidth to create a brand new service.

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Posted by rhiannon on July 14, 2010

Comments (15)

  1. Gordon S Valentine @ July 14, 2010 at 10:57 am | Permalink

    Sounds good, till you read the “splitting its existing DAB bandwidth” guess I mean, they will up end up being in mono, which is bit crap.

  2. Mark @ July 14, 2010 at 1:43 pm | Permalink

    Absolute currently have 256k at their disposal (2 X 128k) on Digital One so I guess this means Absolute Radio 96k mono, Absolute 80s 80k mono, Absolute Radio Extra 80k mono.

    Not much point buying a stereo DAB radio anymore.

  3. adam @ July 14, 2010 at 3:38 pm | Permalink

    Yes – Absolute Radio and Absolute 80s will drop to mono during the period that Absolute Radio Extra is on-air. However, this is not a 24-hour service and will largely only be broadcasting during the football programming on Saturday afternoons, and the comedy programming during Sunday evenings.

    We know that many of our listeners enjoy our current music and goals coverage, and so we wanted to offer a choice of this or our live commentary. Going mono on DAB for a short period of time is the quid pro quo for being able to provide this choice of services. Dropping bit-rates for short periods of time is something that the BBC has also had to do accommodate additional services – for example in the recent Wimbledon fortnight.

    There will be one-off events such as our V Festival coverage, however look towards that *not* being in mono.

    For well over 95% of the week Absolute Radio and Absolute 80s will remain stereo services. We’re committed to offering as high quality music services to listeners as we’re able to.

  4. Adam @ July 14, 2010 at 3:38 pm | Permalink

    Great idea but if it’s in mono then what’s the point?

  5. adam @ July 14, 2010 at 3:43 pm | Permalink

    @Adam (“other” Adam that is)

    As explained above. The service will only be mono for a handful of hours per week.

  6. James @ July 14, 2010 at 6:54 pm | Permalink

    So when will Absolute be encouraging the Govt / Ofcom to launch DAB+ as the rest of Europe is using? So we can get real DAB+ radios in cars?

    This shows that the MP2 based DAB is a joke, Absolute *was* the best station at 192kbps, but now with the launch of more and more services, the bitrate has dropped to worse than FM.

    Thankfully Internet Radio is future, DAB is a horrible transition technology the UK made a big mistake deploying, as this shows very vividly.

  7. David, Northern Ireland @ July 14, 2010 at 7:29 pm | Permalink

    Once again I must voice my frustration and disappointment at DAB coverage. Northern Ireland only has 1 DAB multiplex which is operating at capacity. As an Absolute radio listener I am very much aggrieved that I am missing out by being unable to listen to Absolute Radio and its sister services on DAB. I sense a strongly worded letter of complaint to Ofcom coming on, calling for expansion of DAB services in Northern Ireland.

  8. Senior @ July 14, 2010 at 9:12 pm | Permalink

    On Digital One, will the football be on Absolute Radio or on Absolute Radio Extra? Will Freeview users hear what’s on Absolute Radio, or what’s on Absolute Radio Extra?

  9. jimbo @ July 14, 2010 at 11:52 pm | Permalink

    Will the football commentary be on satellite, or just DAB and MW?

  10. adam @ July 15, 2010 at 9:15 am | Permalink

    @David – Recent legislation brought about by the Digital Economy Act has put in place the ability of Digital One to broadcast in Northern Ireland. Prior to that, it wasn’t allowed by law strangely. I couldn’t say how quickly any expansion into Northern Ireland would take place, so you’d be better contacting Digital One.

    @Senior @jimbo – The football commentaries will be available on all our digital platforms: so DAB, Freeview, Sky, Freesat, Virgin Media, online, our mobile apps etc. And it will also be available on AM/MW. So during periods of the football, these services will all effectively be carrying “Absolute Radio Extra” programming.

    The music and goals service (that we currently offer) will continue to be available on DAB nationally, online and on FM in London.

  11. Gary Patterson @ July 23, 2010 at 8:27 pm | Permalink

    I would dearly love to have Absolute available to me on DAB in Northern Ireland as the am signal that I pick up can be a bit suspect at times. Please do some thing for your legions of fans here.

  12. Peter Henderson @ July 31, 2010 at 1:18 am | Permalink

    David/Gary:

    I’m also totally frustrated that Absolute Radio (and Digital One in general) aren’t available in NI (apparently due to the ROI’s television service still being on VHF). When I e-mailed Digital One a while ago, they did tell me they weren’t licenced to broadcast in the province so it’s good news this has now changed.

    By the way, BBC Radio Foyle are currently testing on the commercial multiplex (so there must be some free space). When the test is in progress (during the morning/early afternoon) both BBC Radio Ulster and Radio Foyle are at 64 kbps in mono. At other times the Radio Foyle place holder relays Radio Ulster and both are at 128 kbps in stereo. Surely Absolute Radio would have been a better addition to the multiplex ? There must also be enough space for at least one more station at either 118 kbps or 128 kbps in stereo.

    So come on Absolute. Why not do something for the deprived listeners in NI.

  13. Peter Henderson @ July 31, 2010 at 1:22 am | Permalink

    P.S It’s diabolical that the only way some Norn Iron listeners can get a decent signal from Absolute Radio is via the internet. Crazy in this day and age.

  14. Mark @ August 2, 2010 at 6:50 pm | Permalink

    The BBC has an allocation of 128kbps on the one commercial multiplex in NI (Block 12D). Sometimes this is split into 2 X 64kbps to allow Radio Ulster & Radio Foyle to broadcast separate programming, but at other times both station labels are pointing at the one 128kbps service. There is currently no spare capacity on this multiplex to allow for further stations.

    As stated above Ofcom has the power to vary the licence areas of multiplexes under the provisions of the Digital Economy Act 2010. If Digital One applies for an expansion into NI it will probably be approved although it will only be able to broadcast on low power in the Belfast & Antrim areas (on Block 11D) until the date when Irish analogue TV in Band III is switched off (probably December 2012).

    If Channel 4 had gone ahead with their proposed national DAB multiplex (on Block 11A) they would have faced the same issue. Only Channel 12 is clear for DAB use in most of NI until the date when RTE switches off its Band III TV transmissions.

  15. ian @ August 22, 2010 at 12:14 pm | Permalink

    I thought Absolute radio Extra said that sets would be full and uninterupted? Then why was Paul Wellers set only a pathetic 26 mins?

    Please explain?????

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  1. Tweets that mention Absolute Radio launches a new DAB digital service – Absolute Radio Extra – One Golden Square -- Topsy.com
    @ July 14, 2010 at 10:13 am

    [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Absolute Radio. Absolute Radio said: Want extra music? Extra football? Extra comedy? Nodding furiously yet? A new service is coming – Absolute Radio Extra: http://bit.ly/ARExtra [...]

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