Zeroes, heroes and ones

Louis Barfe does not dig the digital

The timetable for analogue TV switch-off has been set, but not a peep has been heard about analogue wireless since Ofcom announced last autumn that there was no rush. Take your time, chaps, or, better still, leave things just as they are.

When VHF/FM was introduced in the Fifties it was assumed that it would replace medium and long wave, but half a century on they all still happily co-exist. The main reason for AM's survival is that VHF/FM's range is very short, while 198 KHz LW provides a nationwide service from just three transmitters. There are other, unplanned benefits. On my bedside radio, BBC London's position on the FM dial corresponds exactly with Radio 4 on MW, allowing a brisk opt-out whenever Jon Gaunt opens his mouth.

But surely digital is progress, ergo a GOOD THING? Unfortunately, anything that converts data into ones and zeroes is digital. Consequently, it can mean anything from your actual high-end audiophile gubbins with go-faster stripes and no tape hiss (boo, etc.), to a grotty low-bitrate MP3 (not many ones and zeroes) sounding like a cover version of the original made by musical dolphins and people farting underwater.

When the only stations available on DAB were Radios 1-5, they were apportioned enough ones and zeroes each to sound as good as or better than FM.

Unfortunately, commercial pressures and the desire to cram in as many different stations as possible have degraded the sound quality. The flipside is increased choice, and the digital-only BBC stations are mostly rather good, as is commercial speech station Oneword. Choice is, however, an illusion, when you have several near-identical stations that all sound shite.

As a result, for all but Radio 3, FM still sounds better, although many of the same stations can be found in decent digital quality on satellite and Freeview. It would be criminal to replace FM with something worse, even without taking into account the environmental cost, as millions of perfectly functioning radios will be sent to landfill.