DRDB Appoints New Vice-Chairman

The Digital Radio Development Bureau has appointed the BBC’s Tim Davie as vice-chairman.

Davie is set to succeed Jenny Abramsky in the role, who was also his predecessor at the BBC as director of audio and music.

His appointment comes just weeks after Channel 4 abandoned plans for its second national digital radio multiplex (see Channel 4 Abandons Digital Radio Venture).

Channel 4 decided to withdraw from its digital radio venture, which would have seen the broadcaster launch three radio stations – Channel 4 Radio, Pure 4 and E4 Radio, with 4 Digital Group earlier this month due to the current economic climate.

However, according to reports the broadcaster may still remain a shareholder in the consortium.

Despite the uncertainty in the current digital radio market, the recent RAJAR figures reported a good quarter for the sector.

Listening to the radio via a digital platform was up slightly period on period, by 0.4 percentage points to 31.4% of the population.

The Q3 figures also showed that digital listening total hours number 188 million in the UK, an increase from 153 million for the same period a year earlier.

DAB radio now has an 11.3% share of listening on digital platforms, up from 8.6% in Q3 2007, while its weekly reach has increased to 17.8% of all digital listeners from 15.3% in Q3 2007 (see Good Quarter For Digital Radio).

DRDB: 020 7306 2630 www.drdb.org