Panjab Radio to go national on DAB in March

Panjab Radio has confirmed to BizAsia that it will be going national on DAB digital radio in March.

It has agreed deal with Sound Digital to launch nationally using capacity on the second national digital radio multiplex. Subject only to the final green light from broadcasting regulator Ofcom, the station will launch in the next month to six weeks. Incidentally, Panjab Radio was one of the services being offered on Sound Digital’s rival platform, Listen2Digital. Ofcom awarded the second national multiplex to Sound Digital in March last year.

Panjab Radio will simulcast its main existing feed and relay it across the UK on DAB digital radio. The station aims to be inclusive to all people in the UK for whom Punjabi language or music is important, and has programmes with general appeal to Punjabi speakers of all faiths. Recently, Panjab Radio has been working to extend its reach on various services. It is now available on FM in North London, nationally on Sky Digital and local multiplexes in London, West Yorkshire, West Midlands, mini multiplexes in Manchester, Glasgow as well as in Berlin (Germany) and Oslo (Norway). It is currently unknown whether the station will continue on local DAB multiplexes once it goes fully national.

Panjab Radio’s Managing Director, Surjit Singh Ghuman MBE said, “Panjab Radio serves a unique audience. This is once again the biggest step for Panjab Radio since its launch and we believe the time is right again for us to launch across the UK. We�۪re grateful to those who�۪ve supported this initiative and to the thousands of individual listeners across UK”.
Surjit added “It�۪s a significant expansion for Panjab Radio which has come a long way since its launch as a satellite station in September 2000, when it was only available on Sky.”

Glyn Jones, General Manager of Digital Radio Platforms at Arqiva said: “The UK radio industry has had a poor record of making sure its stations reach out to all audiences, and are inclusive of all Britain�۪s communities. The inclusion of a Panjabi radio station on the national airwaves is good news for listener, and arguably long overdue. Congratulations to the team, advertisers and listeners of Panjab Radio for getting the station on air across Britain once again.”

Panjab Radio joins Sunrise Radio and British Muslim Radio, which will be the only other two Asian commercial stations available nationally on the new multiplex. BBC Asian Network is already available across the UK on the existing multiplex.

The new stations are expected to go live on Monday 29th February backed by a heavy marketing campaign by Sound Digital throughout March.