Radio listening in-car is extremely popular accounting for around 24% of all listening.
Cars usually have a number of speakers creating a natural stereo listening experience. Broadcasters decide how to broadcast their stations based on a number of factors including cost, the type of content being broadcast, available broadcast space and the need to offer a wide choice of stations for listeners.
Local and national digital stations are broadcast in a range of different ways with differences in bit-rates and in choosing either mono or stereo. Please see table below.
Although a station being broadcast in mono may be more apparent in the car due to the presence of multiple speakers than in the home, the sound quality of DAB remains the most popular benefit of digital radio in the car.
Digital radio is continuing to grow in popularity across the UK and particularly in-car, where the additional choice of stations and availability of DAB either as standard or as a conversion option has helped to grow digital listening in-car from 1% to 20% in the last 5 years.
For further information please contact us here.
Table showing stereo and mono variations by station:
Genre | Stereo/Mono | Station name | Region |
Culture | Stereo | BBC Radio 3 | National |
Easy Listening | Stereo | Gold Manchester | Manchester |
Stereo | Smooth Radio | Manchester | |
Mono | Magic UK | National | |
Mono | Smooth Extra | National | |
News | Mono | BBC Radio 5 Live | National |
Other Music | Stereo | BBC Radio 1Xtra | National |
Mono | Asian Sound | Manchester | |
Pop Music | Stereo | BBC Radio 1 | National |
Stereo | BBC Radio 2 | National | |
Stereo | Capital | Manchester | |
Stereo | Capital XTRA | National | |
Stereo | Heart North West | Manchester | |
Stereo | Key 103 | Manchester | |
Stereo | Key 2 | Manchester | |
Mono | Absolute R 80s | National | |
Mono | Absolute Rad 90s | Manchester | |
Mono | BFBS Radio | National | |
Mono | heat radio | Manchester | |
Mono | Key 3 | Manchester | |
Mono | KISS | National | |
Religion | Mono | UCB UK Christian | National |
Rock Music | Stereo | BBC Radio 6Music | National |
Mono | Absolute Radio | National | |
Mono | Planet Rock | National | |
Mono | Radio X | National | |
Classical | Stereo | Classic FM | National |
Sport | Mono | BBC R5LiveSportX | National |
Mono | talkSPORT | National | |
Varied Speech | Stereo | BBC R.Manchester | Manchester |
Mono | BBC AsianNetwork | National | |
Mono | BBC Radio 4 | National | |
Mono | BBC Radio 4Extra | National | |
Mono | LBC | National |