The biggest advertising campaign on radio last week according to AirCheck was for radio – digital radio. If radio were a paying advertiser it would be a true recession buster for the industry.
But while the ad campaign is in full swing, most of the staff on the retail floor have yet to hear of it. A student from Ian MacRae’s Radio School tried to buy a digital radio at Harvey Norman, Bing Lee, Retrovision and a number of other big stores last week…and…nothing.
A typical comment on a well known news group is, “I went to Dick Smith, the Powerhouse branch in George St Sydney, to ask about a digital radio receiver. They know nothing about such devices. They don’t have any, they don’t know anything about it.”
According to Commercial Radio Australia, actual digital radio sets won’t be in stores till next month. But when they do become available each one will be tagged and tracked like whales to see where they end up and how they’re used.
CRA Chief, Joan Warner, said it was important to understand from day one, not only the numbers of digital receivers purchased but also the types of receivers that are purchased. “We want to track the sales of DAB+ digital radio receivers so we can gain a unique profile of digital radio listeners in Australia right from the beginning of the technology,” said Ms Warner. “We will use this information together with our digital radio platform of listening data, set to be included in the Nielson radio ratings from May to further understand our audience.”
Digital radios will be available to purchase in more than 400 stores across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth from May at leading retailers including; Harvey Norman, Dick Smith Electronics, The Good Guys, Myer, David Jones, Clive Peeters, Big W, Retravision and specialist retailers.
Commercial DAB+ digital radio services will progressively switch on in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide throughout May 2009. A simultaneous five state mainland capital Listener Event with all commercial radio stations and the ABC and SBS will be held on 6 August.