New DAB transmitter for West Yorkshire

Guests from Bauer Media and BBC Radio gathered at Arqiva’s Emley Moor site in West Yorkshire this morning to turn on a booster transmitter for the area.

Barry Sheerman, MP for Huddersfield pressed the big switch, along with Liz Green from BBC Radio Leeds, Euan McMorrow from Bauer and Ford Ennals from Digital Radio UK.

The booster will bring local DAB digital radio stations to 500,000 people in West Yorkshire for the first time, and improving the signal for many more.

BBC Radio Leeds, Radio Aire, Absolute Classic Rock, Absolute Radio 60s, The Hits, Magic, Kerrang! and Heat will be on DAB digital radio for the first time in the area. The addition of Emley Moor brings household local DAB coverage from 53% up to 96%.

Ford Ennals, CEO of Digital Radio UK, who hosted the event, said: “This is great news for people across the West Yorkshire area as until now they have not been able to receive all their favourite local stations on DAB.”

Barry Sheerman, MP for Huddersfield, said: “Boosting local coverage for West Yorkshire means the excellent range of local DAB digital radio stations can be received by even more listeners, at home and in their car.”

Earlier this year there was a further boost to the South Yorkshire DAB multiplex, bringing DAB coverage to a further 350,000 people for the first time in South Yorkshire. This now means that 83% of South Yorkshire and Sheffield homes can now receive local digital radio stations such as Hallam FM, Absolute Radio 60s, Heat and Gold.

Regional Managing Director of Bauer Radio in Yorkshire, Tracy Eastwood said “We’re delighted to be able to bring these services to digital radio in Yorkshire. Research has shown how much people value their local radio stations, so we hope this will make a big difference to the digital radio listening experience in the area.”

Rozina Breen from BBC Radio Leeds said: “We are delighted that BBC Radio Leeds will be available to even more listeners on DAB, bringing local news and stories to our listeners with the digital benefits of easy tuning and scrolling information.”

Paul Eaton, Director of Digital Radio at Arqiva, said: “We’re delighted to be able to bring these services to digital radio in West Yorkshire. Research has shown how much people value their local radio stations, so we hope this will make a big difference to the digital radio listening experience in West Yorkshire”.