There is “a lack of forward thinking about digital radio” in the broadcast bureaucracy, according to Commercial Radio Australia’s CEO Joan Warner.

Warner made the comments at this week’s SMPTE conference in Sydney, saying that the spectrum planning requirements for digital radio “continue to be ignored.”

She disputed claims that the radio industry is indecisive about digital radio, citing recent progress on the DRB tests in Sydney and outlining the next steps in testing digital radio, which require access to both VHF and L Band spectrum for comparative tests.

She accused broadcast bureaucrats of “planning away the spectrum” that will be required for the Eureka 147 Digital Radio system and giving it to the television industry, especially in regional areas. Warner said Eureka is the only system with affordable receivers that is available now, although she did not rule out further testing of rival digital broadcast systems IBOC and DRM.

“If these trials prove the need for the Eureka system we will require that spectrum… it should be quarantined with a view to the future… give the radio industry the respect it deserves,” said Warner.

In the same session, AFTRS Head of Radio Steve Ahern outlined the technical, creative, staffing and programming implications for Digital Radio discovered at AFTRS over the past 2 years. His paper is available in the Technology News page of this site (click below).