A new Community DAB Handbook is set to launch this weekend offering help to any community media organisations, community businesses, and social entrepreneurs looking to apply for a small-scale DAB multiplex.
The Handbook has been produced in the context of the rollout of small-scale DAB across the UK and the opportunity this new tier of digital broadcasting presents as a community asset and as a platform for community digital sound programming services.
The Handbook explains the background to DAB, the relevance of community ownership models, and the new legal and regulatory framework for small-scale DAB.
It provides practical guidance on business modelling, including consortium building, legal structures, technical design, market assessment, and financial planning. It sets out how to prepare a compelling application for a licence to operate a small-scale DAB service and it provides further advice on getting from licence award to launch and operational management thereafter.
Bill Best, Operations Manager at the Community Media Association, tells RadioToday: “Small-scale DAB is an important new digital broadcast platform and heralds a new era of digital radio broadcasting for community radio andsmall commercial radio stations. The platform will provide new opportunities for a new generation of broadcasters and listeners.
“The Community Media Association has been delighted to work with Steve Buckley, Lawrie Hallett, and the DCMS to support the rollout of small-scale DAB with the publication of The Community DAB Handbook”.
Steve Buckley of SheffieldLive and Shefcast says: “Community broadcasters should be looking to get on board with small-scale DAB. We hope this Handbook will help them to do so”.
The Community Media Association has worked with Steve Buckley from Shefcast, the new SSDAB multiplex for Sheffield & Rotherham launching later this year, and Lawrie Hallett of Future Digital Norfolk to create The Community DAB Handbook.
The Community DAB Handbook has been produced by the Community Media Association, with the support of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is intended to be kept up to date as a sourcebook of good practice, taking account of feedback from users and practitioners as well as technical and regulatory developments.
The meeting will be held online via Zoom and is free to attend. It is open to anyone with an interest in community radio, this Saturday from 12pm – register here.
This story first appeared on radiotoday.co.uk