Desi Radio in Southall surrenders its AM licence

Desi Radio has surrendered its AM frequency on 1st January 22026 in order to concentrate solely on its DAB digital radio service.

The Southall-based community station had been broadcasting on 1602 AM but relinquished the frequency earlier this month. It is now available exclusively on small-scale DAB+ in west London, as well as online.

In a post on social media, Desi Radio announced: “We’re no longer on analogue radio! We bid farewell to 1602 AM (and the famous jingle) as we move to DAB+ and head into 2026.

“We know that many of our listeners already tune in via DAB and online, and we wanted to get ahead of the curve before AM radio is phased out.” Ofcom has no plans to phase out AM in the near future as all but one Asian commercial stations are on AM

Although the station has not officially confirmed the reasons behind the move, cost is believed to have been a significant factor. While many traditional South Asian audiences continue to rely heavily on analogue radio, listenership on DAB platforms continues to grow steadily.

Desi radio has also stopped broadcasting on SSDAB in North London as well as Sky platform it was also previously available on London-wide DAB.