So with all the this technological advancement I got to wonder whether good old fashioned FM (Frequency Modulation) radio was going to be phased out totally.

Digital television broadcasting is becoming the norm very fast but the wireless, as it used to be called, is a bit slower in delivery.

Certainly here in the UK all the major broadcasters have launched on the DAB digital radio platform rather than continuing to enhance the FM, MW and LW band listening experiences.

People are finding that the clarity of sound on the music radio stations is somewhat lacking whilst on the talk and news stations it is of a very good quality. This has led to lots of the more dedicated listeners preferring to listen by the old method.

Nevertheless the quality is being improved all the time and with more satellite and HD channels becoming available it is certain that FM will be phased out some day.

It will also become more widely used as the price of the DAB radio products falls as it is already starting to do.

It can work out quite expensive to do a complete changeover if you have a few radios in your home as well as a portable DAB radio and, of course, another in the car. The mainstream auto manufactures have still not got around to fitting DAB as the standard in their vehicles yet. I feel that once they make that move, it could speed it all up.

There are still large areas where the digital signal is not too strong yet which makes using a personal DAB radio of little use there.

All in all my estimate is that it will not be until at least 2020 that the full switch over from analog to digital will be completed.

There are so many different organisations involved that it is bound to take a long time. Major radio manufacturers such as Sony, Pure and Roberts are leading the way.

The message I have is that FM will still be around for a long time yet. By all means invest in a DAB radios as soon as you can but there is no great hurry.

DAB Radio operates in all weather conditions so it doesn’t matter if it is sunny, snowing, raining or whatever you’ll always receive a crystal clear reception with none of the crackle, hiss and fading found in normal radios. This is because the digital signal is produced from land based technology rather than satellite as in television. As there are now a lot of transmitters you will rarely be far away from one.

These DAB radios today are lightweight and compact for you to take with you but they are absolutely stylish enough to keep on any surface in your home. Standing upright you can easily see what program is on when looking at the large LCD display. Also there are lots more programs than are available on an analogue radio.

Tuning into the stations is very easily done most of the time they do it automatically. There is no fiddling with dials to get a good reception, as soon as it finds a station that is it. It is also a lot simpler to ensure that you are on the right channel as they are sorted by name rather than frequency so a name will appear rather than a number. The display usually shows details about the artist and title when you are listening to a music channel.

You can normally change a portable DAB radio into a personal one as most of them have a jack socket where you can plug in an ear-piece. This means that you can comfortably listen whereever you are and not bother anyone else near you.

The main makers of radios have all brought out a DAB version but leading the way seem to be PURE, Roberts and Sony. Let’s take a peep at some of the main ones.

Firstly, the PURE One DAB FM portable radio black which, right now, sells for less than 50 pounds, yet has an brilliant specification. This prize winning PURE ONE Classic is a FM and DAB radio which looks great, sounds fantastic and is very simple to use. There is even a cooking timer to make life easier in the kitchen.

It offers as much as 40 hours of listening for each charge of a rechargeable battery, lowering the amount you have to pay and saves a bit of the environment. If you prefer six standard C size normal batteries will give you up to 80 hours of listening time.

It seems that Sony sell more for the micro system market. The CMT-BX70DBi includes a built in iPod dock. Just plug it in to get a choice of the whole range of digital pleasure as it also has a cd player, an mp3 player and the DAB radio has thirty stations preset. It is also charging the iPod as you listen.

Roberts leading radio is the Ecologic-5 which is really a radio alarm clock and has the ability to switch to a low power state when on standby and the radio is off and the time shows, it then spring into action again if the alarm kicks in. It offers a dual alarm so you can set two different wake up times, one for during the week and one for weekends. You can also select whether you are woken by the buzzer or radio. The big screen on the ECO-5 is very clear, showing the time and radio station against a blue back light which can be dimmed. There are also ten station presets are available to set up as your pick of radio programs.

As money is tight with the economy today, we have only talked about the cheaper models that you can buy at present. Needless to say, there are much more expensive ones available. Good luck while surfing for your portable DAB radio.

I will preface this by saying that I am not a lawyer or in the legal profession in any way but I did a bit of digging around and came up with some aspects of the law in the UK but I recommend that you get some real legal advice.

Firstly the listener who rings in and contributes probably has no idea of the law of defamation, libel, slander or contempt in any respect whatsoever and probably does not even care.  So it must come down to the radio station to make sure that the producer and the presenter of any show where the general public is invited to take part, need to have an excellent knowledge of those aspects of the law.

The producer needs to screen the people coming on and stop them appearing if they are sure that they are going to say defamatory things.  The presenter needs to be ready at all times to interrupt a conversation or cut it off completely if the danger line is being crossed.

Libel really seems to have no exact defintion and the court often has to decide whether a comment is libellous or not.  Having said that a general description might be that is something is said that harms the reputation of someone either in a personal or business area it could be libellous.  If it is true and the person has sufficient evidence to stand up in court and prove prove that, it is not libellous.

One particular tricky area is in the consumer programs that I love to listem to.  Someone has been sold something that does not work and the shop will not replace it or give the money back.  The person comes on and says something like “that shop is useless, it should be shut down”.

It would appear that, in these circumstances, as long as the program offer the shop the opportunity to come on and state their case, nothing is likely to follow from the call.

Finally, if it is decided that a defamatory statement has been made, it is the radio station that is liable.  They are the entity which actually published the words.

It must be a very challenging situation to do an interview with someone that you have never met before.  It does not matter how much research you have done on the life story, it is rarely easy to find out what their personality is like.  We all know that there are people that we hit it off with straight away and others we just do not seem to be able to get on with.

I have heard stories that the people who seem to have the most colourful lives are sometimes the most boring to interview whilst the ones who seem more mundane on the outside have the most fantastic stories to tell.

Now, these challenges may not all be down to the normal personality of the interviewer or interviewee, other factors can often come into play.  If either had an argument with their partner or boss earlier in the day, if there was a major traffic jam on the way to the recording studio or many other things will affect the mood of the person.

I imagine that every presenter when they start out wants to interview the top politicians, film stars, their music heros and all the influential people.  In reality though they have to start at the bottom rung of the ladder.  An interview with the ordinary members of the public about issues of the day, then perhaps the local church leader or policemen.

I like to listen to an interviewer who is flexible and can change the flow of the conversation depending on the responses he is getting.  I am sure that, before it starts, they all write down a list of the questions that they are going to ask.  However, I often hear them continuing with the obvious questions when I am shouting at the radio for them to pick up on a comment made.

It must be a completely different proposition to carry out an interview with the man in the street who you have not had any chance to do any research on.  Yet, strangely enough, these sometimes can be the most exciting to listen to.  Sometimes I enjoy the fact that the interviewer is struggling but more often than not, I find out that a lot of ordinary people really do have extraordinary lives.

First of all though, wireless in the UK did indeed start out in the early 1920s as local radio with the first areas being Newcastle, Manchester and Birmingham.  Lots of cities opened up stations but in a fairly short time they were closed and the BBC was set up as a national broadcasting station broadcasting from London.

In the 1960s Frank Gillard, who had been a well known war correspondent, started a movement to get local radio back onto the airwaves in the UK.  He had been to the USA and was impressed with some of the ideas that he had seen there although his vision was more to provide a topical local news and sport variety rather than the music stations which were profligate there.

Around the same time, partly because of the technological advances which allowed for a larger range of frequencies to be available, there were a number of pirate radio stations operating from ships off the shores of the UK.  These were more local by their very nature but the BBC did see them as a major threat.  Although there was a great deal of reluctance from the BBC hierarchy, BBC local radio started with Radio Leicester on November 8th 1967.

It was not a full on station and only broadcast for a few hours each day.  Very early on  there were floods in the city centre and the local radio station provided a tremendous service in keeping the local inhabitants up to date with what was happening.

DAB Radio is almost totally weather resistant so it does not matter if it is raining, sunny, snowing or whatever you will always get a crystal clear reception without the hiss, fading and crackle found in analogue radios. This is because it produces a digital signal from technology based on land instead of satellite as in television and as there are now a lot of transmitters around you will rarely be a long way away from one.

These DAB radios today are lightweight and compact for you to take around at the same time they are also stylish enough to put on any surface inside your home. Standing upright it is easy to read which channel is on when looking at the clear LCD display. Also there are a lot more programs than you can get on an ordinary radio.

Tuning into stations is not a problem usually they do it automatically. There is no twiddling with dials to find a good reception, as soon as it picks up a signal that’s it. its also a lot simpler to make sure that you are on the right channel as they are sorted by name rather than frequency so you will be able to see a name instead of a number and the display normally provides details about the title and artist when you are listening to music.

You can normally covert a portable DAB radio into a personal one as you’ll find a jack socket where you can plug in an ear-piece. This means that you can comfortably listen whereever you are without bothering anyone near you.

Most of the main radio manufacturers make different models of digital radio but leading the way seem to be PURE, Roberts and Sony. Let us take a look at some of the popular ones.

Firstly, the PURE One FM black portable DAB radio which, as I write, sells for less than 50 pounds and its spec is excellent. The award-winning PURE ONE Classic is a FM and DAB radio that sounds great, looks great and is very simple to use. There is also a timer for cooking to make life easier in the kitchen.

It offers as much as forty hours of listening for each time you charge a rechargeable battery, lowering the cost to you and saves a bit of the environment. If you prefer 6 standard C size normal batteries will provide up to 80 hours play time.

It seems that Sony sell more for the micro system market. The CMT-BX70DBi includes a built in iPod dock. Just plug it in to get a selection of the total range of digital entertainment as it also has a cd player, an mp3 player and the DAB radio has thirty stations preset. It is also charging the iPod as you listen.

The main model sold by Roberts is the Ecologic-5 which is basically an alarm radio clock and it switches to a low power standby when the radio is not on and it just tells the time, then power up again if the alarm kicks in. It offers a dual alarm so you can set two different wake up times, one for during the week and the other for the weekend. You will also pick whether the radio or buzzer awakens you. The big screen on the ECO-5 is very readable, displaying what time it is and radio station against a dimmable blue backlight. 10 station presets are on hand to set up as your favourite radio programs.

As money is tight in the economy as it is now, we decided to just talk about the cheaper radios that you can buy at present. Of course, there are a lot pricier ones on the market. Good luck checking out for your portable DAB radio.