A company called Frontier Silicon has developed a little flim flam - to use the technical jargon - that will enable radio listeners to access FM and DAB radio services via one electronic programme guide, which would be incorporated into DAB radio sets.

It's an important development because one of the objections to the proposals to switch off most of the FM network in 2015 is that a handful of smaller and community radio stations won't be able to make the switch to the digital network at that time - mainly because of a lack of capacity on DAB - and some fear that that would basically be a deathblow for those stations as the population at large stop tuning into the FM waveband (or, even worse, bin all their FM radio sets).

The combined EPG would mean that those services left on FM after the digital switchover could appear in the same programme guide as the DAB services, even though they are broadcasting on another network. The EPG would even put all the stations in alphabetical order, so it's not like all the FM stations would be stacked at the back.

The new technology is being supported by Digital Radio UK, the body charged with the task of turning us all digital in a radio stylee. The organisation's CEO Ford Ennals told reporters: "It's really exciting to see this project make such rapid and significant progress. Creating a secure and thriving future for all sectors of the radio industry is our primary objective, and ensuring that listeners can navigate with ease between their chosen stations, regardless of platform, is crucial to delivering that".

Frontier Silicon's Anthony Sethill added: "Our engineers have already made great progress in the development of the integrated guide. The prototype that we've demonstrated gives a really good working impression of how we can effectively and simply eliminate the need for a button or switch to navigate between digital and analogue".

The Student Radio Association has joined the debate on those previously reported proposals to start switching off a bulk of the AM and FM radio network in 2015, forcing everyone to start tuning into the digital audio broadcasting network.

While a 2015 switchover is supported by government, the BBC and the big commercial radio firms, smaller players argue radio listeners won't be ready for the switch in five years time, that the DAB network won't be extensive enough to ensure no one loses out, and digital radio - because DAB networks are managed by private owners - gives bigger radio companies an unfair advantage.

There is also some confusion as to what will happen to the FM network after 2015. It seems some smaller stations will be left on the analogue network because of the capacity and geographical limitations of DAB. Some see that as a bad thing, because it will put smaller commercial players left on FM at a disadvantage, though others see FM outliving the digital switchover as an opportunity, because it would free up the FM network for use by student and community radio stations.

Either way, both those groups of people don't support those other previously reported proposals, that consumers be offered a discount on DAB radio sets if they hand over old analogue radios, a move to take good old fashioned AM/FM radios out of circulation.

The Student Radio Association see the big stations going digital-only as an opportunity for an expansion of student radio, but they fear talk of encouraging consumers to trash FM radio sets will hinder those ambitions. They also criticise the ministers who have drafted the radio section of the Digital Economy Bill for failing to speak to the student radio sector about their plans, and where student-based radio services might fit in.

SRA chair Tim Dye told Radio Today: "Student radio is a unique feature of the UK radio landscape - it is almost entirely free of rigid formats and commercial pressures. As a result, student radio has become a hugely respected platform, from which world-renowned bands, DJs, radio presenters and other media professionals have launched their careers. The ramifications of an analogue 'switch-off' are huge [for us], and as yet we've been offered no viable alternative".

SRA secretary Sarah Ghost added: "DAB isn't a 'one size fits all' solution. Smaller broadcasters, like our members, feel that they're being railroaded towards a digital future where they currently have no place. DAB simply isn't right for many of these stations financially".

Of course media regulator OfCom, and all its predecessors in radio regulation, not to mention successive governments, have continually pissed on student radio in this country, despite frequently standing up at conferences and giving hollow support to the educational and creative potential of the medium. The only reason there isn't an FM-based student radio station in every UK city - which there could and should be - is because generations of OfCom officials haven't wanted it to be so. That they and relevant ministers are ignoring student radio while considering the digital switchover, therefore, comes as no surprise.

The music industry used to piss on student radio too, by charging royalty fees so high many college radio groups couldn't afford to go on air. But credit where it's due, both PRS and PPL sorted that out a few years ago now, providing support and affordable licensing for both those student stations on FM or AM, and the growing number of student stations who have leapfrogged the lip-service brigade at OfCom and opted to broadcast in the unregulated internet radio domain.

The much previously reported and seemingly growing opposition to the proposal to start turning off the bulk of the FM radio network in 2015 resulted in a formal submission to the House Of Lords last week, the 2015 target being one of the many things included in the Digital Economy Bill currently being considered by the peers.

As previously reported, the big boys of radio - including Global Radio, Bauer Radio and the BBC - support the 2015 deadline, mainly because it will once and for all force people to move to the digital audio broadcasting network, and save radio firms from the cost and hassle of having to concurrently broadcast their services on both DAB and FM.

Though some conspiracy theorists argue that Global actually continues to support the 2015 switchover, despite divesting itself of its stake in the main national DAB network, because it fears that if the FM network is likely to be around for a good decade yet, media regulator OfCom may force it to reapply for the rights to use the frequencies occupied by one of its biggest assets, Classic FM.

But many smaller radio firms say the deadline is unrealistic, because DAB has relatively small market penetration and the network is yet to reach all parts of the UK. They are also bothered that current switchover plans potentially leave 120 smaller stations still broadcasting on analogue - because of limitations in the reach and capacity of the DAB network - which would put those stations at a distinct disadvantage once the bigger stations are only broadcasting on DAB.

They also argue that because channels on the DAB networks are controlled by private owners rather than OfCom itself, the bigger radio companies, who have more to bargain with when negotiating with said network owners, are at an unfair advantage. Such is the opposition to the 2015 switchover among some smaller radio operators that both UTV and UKRD-TLRC have quit commercial radio trade body Radiocentre over the issue.

The Lords submission was backed by 53 commercial radio stations owned by a total of thirteen companies, and said: "We believe that switching off AM and FM signals in 2015 would not be in the interest of consumers, and that the proposal to exclude over 120 local commercial radio stations from digital migration plans damages local radio. Rather than pressing ahead with a selective switchover in 2015, before consumers are ready, we propose that the switchover, if and when it occurs, should encompass all commercial and BBC radio".

Meanwhile The Guardian has quoted UTV's MD Scott Taunton on the issue, who noted last week's RAJAR stats in which listening figures on many digital-only stations were down.

He said: "[The RAJARs] show that the government is out of tune with radio listeners. It is completely premature to be legislating for a digital radio switchover when digital radio take-up is in decline. By all means we should make legislative changes which are necessary and urgent today, but why are we giving such enormous powers to the government to press ahead with plans to switch off AM and FM as early as 2015 when the evidence shows that listeners won't be ready by then?"

Taunton adds that if the radio industry waits before undertaking a complete digital switchover the superior DAB+ system will be ready.

Another smaller player in UK radio has spoken out against any rush to make Digital Audio Broadcasting - or DAB - the standard radio platform in the UK.

As previously reported, some in radio say broadcasting the same services on both FM and DAB isn't cost efficient, and the sooner FM is turned off forcing listeners onto DAB the better. The government backs a speedy switch off of FM because then it can flog off that airspace. But others in radio say that UK radio listeners are not ready for a total switch from FM to DAB, and forcing that switch in 2015 - as the government is proposing - will favour the bigger radio firms over the smaller operators.

Certainly, big boys Global Radio and Bauer Radio seem more supportive of a rapid switch to DAB than the smaller players. Meanwhile both UTV and TLRC-UKRD have hit out at the 2015 deadline for FM turn off, both quitting RadioCentre over the issue, accusing the commercial radio trade body of been to tuned into the interests of Global when it comes to DAB.

Now Adam Findlay, the boss of New Wave Media, which owns Wave 102 in Dundee, has supported UTV and UKRD's viewpoint. On Radio Today he is quoted as saying: "From the outset more than a decade ago the handling of DAB has been one of infliction against the radio industry. Radio operators were 'incentivised' to apply for the DAB multiplexes since the late 90's, since which millions of pounds has had to be written off and an untold number of radio jobs lost as operators try to absorb the huge losses incurred over the past decade".

He continues: "[Therefore] one understands [the bigger radio firms] wish now to recoup some of that 'investment' [by rushing the switch to DAB, but by switching off FM] smaller stations throughout the UK will be put at a terrible disadvantage, particularly those in rural and island locations. Some could even disappear from the airwaves due to monopoly ownership of DAB transmitters resulting in uneconomic pricing or simply the lack of DAB in a given area".

You can read Findlay's full piece at www.radiotoday.co.uk/news.php?extend.5587.

As previously reported, it has been mooted that those in the industry who support a rapid move to DAB are considering a radio scrapping programme where consumers get a discount on their digital radio sets if they hand over an old FM set when they buy it, a bid to take FM radios out of service. The body overseeing the move to digital - Digital Radio UK - has admitted it is a proposal they are considering.

Needless to say, the boss of the aforementioned UKRD, William Rogers, isn't impressed with that proposal. He told Radio Today: "This is yet another typical example of those who support this ridiculous piece of legislation [the 2015 target] trying to find assorted pieces of sticking plaster to cover over the cracks of a flawed piece of policy. Half baked proposals like this are clearly designed to respond to the ever increasing reality that the present strategic policy and direction is being exposed as a tarnished and inappropriate route to take".

Over ten million digital radio sets - ie radios that pick up the digital audio broadcasting network - have now been sold in the UK. The DAB industry is rather pleased with this news, because in 2007 only five million had been sold. At that point DAB had been on the market for eight years, so the fact the figure has now doubled in just over two seems to show an increasing appetite for digital radio, even though some commercial radio firms have shut down their digital-only services due to disappointing listening figures and ad revenues.

As previously reported, some in the radio industry have all but given up on DAB, arguing the conventional AM and FM networks will be around much longer than originally assumed, and that in the meantime internet and satellite radio is likely to overtake DAB as the medium of choice for radio fans. Leading the criticism of digital audio broadcasting has been UTV Radio, who recently quit commercial radio trade body RadioCentre partly in a dispute over the speed with which some of their rivals - mainly Global Radio - are pushing for the conventional radio networks to be switched off.

Responding to the news that ten million DAB sets have been sold, UTV Radio MD Scott Taunton told Radio Today: "If there are still 120 million analogue radios in circulation, which industry RAJAR figures show, it means that after ten years of DAB less than ten per cent of UK radios have been converted to digital".

And that's assuming all ten million DAB radio sets are still in use. Some early-adopting gadget junkies have no doubt bought multiple units, and I know for a fact there's an unused DAB radio gathering dust here at CreativeBusiness HQ.

Taunton continued: "Radio listeners have spoken. Today's disappointing DAB sales announcement is a resounding 'no' vote for the government's proposal to switch off analogue signals in 2015. Whilst cumulative sales of ten million digital sets prove that DAB is here to stay, there are 120 million analogue radios currently in circulation in the UK. At this rate of sales, it would take up to 60 years to convert them all to digital. DAB is an important platform for radio, but I hope these figures will act as an wake up call for policy makers and parliamentarians who have yet to realise that its best role is as a complementary platform for FM and AM, not a replacement".

But the Digital Radio Development Bureau have hit back at those claims. Asked to comment on Taunton's remarks by Radio Today, a spokesman said: "Scott quotes figures of 120 million analogue radios in circulation. Ofcom figures put in-home analogue radios at 46 million and in-car at 22 million used at least once a week, which makes a total of 68 million analogue radios in use. The fact remains that analogue sales have been in decline for the past year. Sales to September 2009 are nearly two million down for the same period in 2008. DAB digital radio sales, meanwhile, continue to hold steady as noted above".