Birdsong is back on DAB

What a treat. The Birdsong channel is back on DAB after a two and a half year hiatus. Following the closure of the spoken word channel Oneword listeners will instead be treated to a 18 hours of rural background noise a day.

The DAB operator Digital One gives the history of Birdsong here on their site UKDigitalRadio.com:

"The audio was originally recorded for the test transmission of Classic FM prior to its launch in 1992. It was last used three years ago for the imaginatively named station "D1_temp" and won plaudits from listeners who complained when it was taken off air in June 2005. Listeners and Birdsong enthusiasts should note the transmission could cease at any time and that the recording is not commercially available. Birdsong will be broadcast between 0600 and midnight each day."

Nick Packham has posted a sample here (MP3). Very calming (except for the crows). Almost drowns out the calls for DAB broadcasters to sort out their business models.

Comments

[Matt]

This is a great channel to simply fall asleep to each night. Plus as it ceases to transmit at Midnight but then starts again at 6am the radio can be left on over night so that it wakes you up gently the next morning too.

All we need now is Radio babbling Brook, Radio Waves lashing the shore or Radio crackling log fire!

Matt

[Rental John]

Or - how about a radio station with decent music (with lyrics!), proper news and decent chat (say mix of radio4 and radio2.....crap just shown my age...

[Duncan Tribute, Truro]

Birdsong is wonderful as a background whilst one is surfing, and as mentioned above, very relaxing, aside from the odd crow's call, but at least there are no seagulls! Perhaps the crows could be edited out sometime for a truly enjoyable unwind. So much for Oneword's demise, Birdsong more than makes up for a channel that you really had to listen to, rather than use it as a support background filler. Long may it continue!