The letters DRM may not mean a great deal to you just yet. A way of broadcasting digital radio on the medium wave, it is about to be trialled by the BBC and National Grid Wireless, and could turn the UK radio industry on its head.
If you own a digital radio in this country then you will be listening via DAB, or Digital Audio Broadcasting.
DRM stands for a rival transmission technology, Digital Radio Mondiale, which has been adopted overseas (in Germany and India, for example) but has been ignored in the UK. Until now.
The two big advantages of DRM is that it can be broadcast via existing AM transmitters, so no need for all that expensive investment. Second, and more important, DRM signals are stronger and can be broadcast for much longer distances than DAB.
Why is this important? At present only around 85% of the UK can receive DAB, with the BBC inching its way towards its target of 90%. But even those who can get it can only listen to the stations on the two national multiplexes (soon to be three) and their regional multiplex offerings. DRM could transform that.
But the adoption of DRM, as a replacement or as a rival to DAB, could be a huge spanner in the works of digital radio in the UK. DAB has only just got off the ground, and two rival systems could cause no end of consumer confusion, even with radios that can receive both.
The DRM trial comes at a tricky time for DAB, with listeners such as the Guardian's Jack Schofield complaining that the signal quality is not as good as analogue FM. One critic devastatingly branded it "the new medium wave". So much for the digital revolution.
"It is potentially very dangerous for the UK radio industry," says Trevor Dann, director of the Radio Academy.
"The UK radio industry has thrown its weight behind DAB but it is being sniped at from two directions, with one bunch of people saying the quality of your signal is not good enough. Now DRM comes along saying not only can we deliver the signal over a much bigger footprint, we can also beat you on price."
The limitations of digital radio in the UK will rapidly become apparent to anyone that has tried following Test Match Special on the BBC's digital station, 5 Live Sport Extra, on a personal digital radio player.
The DAB signal simply is not strong enough to be picked up in many parts of the country I travel through on train, and not even when I have reached my destination, albeit fairly remote parts of Scotland and south Devon. The irony is that you end up switching off your digital radio and dusting off the 20-year-old analogue set that still picks up Radio 4 long wave, which also broadcasts the cricket.
Is DRM the answer? South Devon is about to find out, with the BBC's year-long trial due to begin in Plymouth in March. The radio industry will be watching with great interest. And perhaps a little trepidation.
