Meet D Love – digital radio’s secret weapon

A new character called D-Love has been unveiled at a radio conference held at the BBC’s New Broadcasting House on Monday, to promote digital radio.

Digital evangelist D Love, who you can hear addressing delegates in the Audioboo below, will be at the centre of a £10 million two-year industry communications campaign on BBC TV/Radio and commercial radio.

Cars will be an important focus for the promotions, as the Drive 2 Digital conference announced new consumer research conducted by Digital Radio UK and Auto Trader which shows high satisfaction levels (82%) among drivers with digital radio in their car and high willingness to recommend to others.

Broadcast Minister Ed Vaizey announced that the countdown to radio switchover now had inevitable momentum and that Government would announce a decision on radio switchover in 2013.

The Minister said that digital listening had increased to nearly a third of all listening and that a quarter of new cars were now fitted with digital radio as standard. He said that this great progress demonstrated that listeners love digital radio and that the car industry was fully engaged with the transition to digital.

Over 300 automotive industry and broadcaster attendees also heard about the progress being made on fitting digital radios in cars from the Minister, Top Gear’s James May and from a range of senior car and broadcasting executives.

Peter Davies from Ofcom had news of his own, saying a second attempt at a second national multiplex is definitely on the cards, just a matter of time when they advertise it.

Tim Davie, BBC Director of Audio & Music, confirmed the BBC’s commitment to digital radio and said increases in digital listening meant that the road to a future radio switchover was now clear and inevitable. He said this was due to listeners loving the expanded choice on digital radio and the success of the BBC digital radio stations such as Station of the Year 6 Music, Radio 4 Extra and the digital pop-up station BBC Radio 5 Live Olympics Extra.

Davie announced that specific plans for BBC National DAB coverage buildout to 97% would be confirmed in spring 2013, with a focus on ensuring that all motorways and major road networks were covered.

Attendees heard that there is a wide range of digital adaptors that will enable any motorist to get digital radio in their existing car and The Institute of the Motor Industry announced the launch of a new digital installer training scheme for the industry.