Digital broadcast radio in Australia uses the DAB+ standard and is available in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Canberra, Darwin and Hobart. However, after 11 years, regional large cities such as Townsville and Ballarat still do not have DAB.Canberra digital radio trial update , 14 July 2010, Digital Radio Plus The national government owned television/radio networks, the ABC and SBS, and the commercial radio stations in each market provide many of their services and a few digital-only services on the digital platform. All but a few DAB+ services use the AAC+ codec, with a limited number using standard AAC.Commercial Radio Australia: The Future
History Despite testing in Sydney and Melbourne from as early as 1999, the first genuine plan for digital broadcast radio was released in October 2005, as Helen Coonan, the then Australian Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, announced that Australia would adopt the Eureka 147 system. The Australian Government had set a launch date for digital broadcast radio in the six state capital cities, originally 1 January 2009, but this launch date was subsequently shifted back to no later than 1 July 2009 - redirects to http://www.communications.gov.au/, the home page of the Department of Communications. and the list of cities starting digital broadcast radio excluded Hobart. The peak industry body, Commercial Radio Australia, began coordinating the tests as well as organising the commercial multiplexes. The Australian Film Television and Radio School supported the development of digital radio by holding training seminars and test broadcasts in various cities, organised by then Head of Radio Steve Ahern.
The major radio networks commenced a staged roll-out of commercial DAB+ services during May 2009, with Perth launching on 4 May 2009; Melbourne on 11 May 2009; Adelaide on 20 May 2009; Brisbane on 25 May 2009; and Sydney on 30 May 2009 (later delayed to 15 June due to weather conditions and kept on low power until 30 June). The roll-out of DAB+ services by the Government-owned ABC and SBS networks was delayed until 1 July 2009 due to funding delays and management issues.Tech review with Peter Marks: digital radio, 14 May 2009, ABC Radio National Testing has been planned for other major cities, with a trial multiplex in Canberra commencing broadcasting on 14 July 2010, and a trial multiplex running in Darwin since 13 August 2010. Similar trials are being considered for Townsville and Hobart, and, as of December 2010, commercial broadcasters in regional markets have begun planning to introduce digital broadcast radio into regional population centres, possibly as soon as 2011 or 2012. However, it is expected that it will be some years before digital broadcast radio is extended to the bulk of the Australian continent. Australia's vast distances and low population density are not well suited to the propagation characteristics of DAB+ and it is therefore likely that a standard other than DAB+ will be adopted for serving areas outside the major cities (leading to customer acceptance issues with receivers that can only receive one of the likely two standards).
Community digital broadcast radio services were rolled out to capital cities in late 2010 to May 2011 and were formally launched in May 2011. The roll out of community digital broadcast radio services represents the largest ever infrastructure project conducted by the community broadcasting sector in Australia. The project was managed by the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia.
On 14 December 2017, the ABC and SBS services in Canberra moved to a separate multiplex (both on 9C, 206.352 MHz) providing the same services as in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. Services in Hobart began in 2019, as a national multiplex for ABC and SBS stations launched on 19 March 2018 and commercial multiplex launched on 3 April 2019.
On 23 December 2019, two commercial stations in Mandurah launched its digital service on a new multiplex 8C (199.360 MHz), becoming the first market in regional Australia to have DAB services. This was followed by the launch of digital radio in Gold Coast on multiplex 9D (208.064 MHz) on 4 April 2022.
Current services
National broadcasters The ABC and SBS operate digital broadcast radio services in all current DAB+ broadcasting markets on frequency block 9C (206.352 MHz).List of licensed broadcasting transmitters , Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) While most services are national, the ABC provides local ABC Local Radio stations for their respective locations.
The local radio services are mostly a simulcast of their AM radio equivalents (FM in the case of Darwin); however, alternate programming is aired pre-empting most sports coverage (which is moved to digital-only station ABC Sport). This programming is also on the ABC's online streams, where sporting rights may prevent international coverage. The ABC also has a number of digital-only radio stations, The Australian, 1 July 2009 including ABC Jazz,Home page, ABC Jazz Double J,Home page, ABC Dig Music ABC Country, triple j Unearthed, and ABC Kids listen.
Because the Australian Government chose to give the number of DAB channels (and hence revenue) priority over technical and quality factors, the bitrates available per channel are very low by international standards. The audio quality of Australian DAB is correspondingly low and most channels have much lower bitrates than this. So DAB is in general well below the 128 kbps traditionally accepted as CD quality, and an interference-free FM broadcast will almost certainly provide better audio.
+9C National MultiplexStation nameFormatDetailsOwnerService IDBitrateABC Classic Classical music FM Simulcast ABC0x3007 120kbit/sABC Country Country music DAB+, DTV, Online ABC0x3003 72kbit/sABC Sport Live sports coverage Digital Only ABC0x3008 40kbit/sABC Jazz Jazz music DAB+, DTV, Online ABC0x3002 88kbit/sABC Kids Listen Children's radio Digital Only, OnlineABC0x300464kbit/s ABC Local Radio Talk, news, music and more. Labelled as the name of the local station, e.g., ABC Radio Sydney or ABC Radio Adelaide ABC0x3005 64kbit/sABC NEWS News and parliamentary broadcasts AM Simulcast ABC0x3000 40kbit/s ABC Radio National National talk and arts radio AM Simulcast ABC0x3006 64kbit/s Double J Adult contemporary music station DAB+, DTV, Online ABC0x3001 72kbit/sTriple J Youth-focused music station FM Simulcast ABC0x3009 72kbit/s Triple J Unearthed Australian independent music station Digital Only ABC0x300A 72kbit/sSBS Arabic News and information in Arabic Digital Only SBS0x3804 48kbit/sSBS Chill World chillout music Digital Only SBS0x3802 72kbit/sSBS PopAsia Asian pop music Digital Only SBS0x3803 72kbit/sSBS South Asian South Asian pop music Digital Only SBS0x3805 64kbit/s SBS Radio 1 Multilingual radio SBS AM Service (Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra), AM 1485 (Wollongong), DAB+, DTV SBS0x3800 40kbit/s SBS Radio 2 Multilingual radio SBS FM Service (Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra), AM 1035 (Wollongong), DAB+, DTV SBS0x3801 40kbit/s SBS Radio 3 BBC World Service simulcast DAB+, DTV SBS0x3806 48kbit/s
Commercial and community radio
Each region with access to digital broadcast radio has a number of multiplexes set aside for commercial and community radio services. In these multiplexes, two-ninths of the bandwidth are reserved for community broadcasters, while the rest is used for commercial broadcasters. Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane have been provided with two such multiplexes, which broadcast on frequency blocks 9A (202.928 MHz) and 9B (204.640 MHz), allowing a greater number of stations, while other cities only use a single multiplex: 8C (199.360 MHz) in Mandurah, 8D (201.072 MHz) in Canberra, 9A (202.928 MHz) in Darwin and Hobart, 9B (204.640 MHz) in Adelaide and Perth, and 9D (208.064 MHz) in Gold Coast.
Commercial services on digital broadcast radio include simulcasts of both AM and FM stations, as well as new digital-only services. While most commercial radio services in Australia are provided by a small number of companies, there are no truly national commercial stations. However, since these commercial broadcasters have been given extra bandwidth on the digital platform, digital-only stations launched, including Triple M Classic Rock (Southern Cross Austereo) The Edge Digital (ARN) and NovaNation (formerly DMG),
Community Radio stations with a citywide licence have reserved spectrum, equalling 2/9s of the capacity on each commercial multiplex. The Federal Government promised $10.1 million in funding to help community broadcasters with the costs of beginning digital broadcasts. During late 2010 and early 2011 most of the eligible community stations in Melbourne and several in Sydney and Brisbane began test transmissions. Melbourne's community radio stations officially launched their digital services on 14 April 2011, followed by Adelaide's community radio stations on 15 April 2011, Brisbane's on 14 May 2011, and Sydney's on 24 May 2011. Services in Perth are broadcasting in digital. Community Digital Broadcast Radio services were formally launched by Senator Stephen Conroy, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy on 13 May 2011 in Melbourne.
Adelaide Listing current at 2 October 2026 +9B Adelaide MultiplexStation nameFormatDetailsOwnerService IDBitrateGOLD 1323Classic HitsSimulcast of 1323 AM ARN0x106248kbit/sKIIS 102.3Top 40 / Classic hits radio Simulcast of 102.3 FMARN0x106148kbit/sGOLD 80s'80s musicDigital onlyARN0x106032kbit/sKIIS 90s'90s musicDigital onlyARN0x106432kbit/sChemist Warehouse RemixClassic hits / Hot adult contemporary Digital onlyARN0x106A32kbit/sGold AdelaideAdult contemporary, like Mix 102.3's format before rebrandingDigital onlyARN0x106332kbit/sTikTok TrendingMusic popular on TikTokDigital onlyARN0x106532kbit/siHeartCountryCountry MusicDigital onlyARN0x106632kbit/sFIVEaaTalk radioSimulcast of 1395 AMNova0x108964kbit/sNova 91.9Top 40 / Classic hits radioSimulcast of 91.9 FMNova0x108864kbit/sColes RadioPop musicDigital and Coles storesNova0x108B40kbit/sNova All StarsArtist MarathonsDigital onlyNova0x108D24kbit/sNova JamzRnB and UrbanDigital onlyNova0x108E40kbit/sSmoothfmSoft Adult Contemporary / Middle of the RoadDigital onlyNova0x108A40kbit/sSmooth 80's'80s musicDigital onlyNova0x108C40kbit/sTriple MActive rockSimulcast of 104.7 FMSouthern Cross Austereo0x107532kbit/sSAFMTop 40 / Classic hits radioSimulcast of 107.1 FMSouthern Cross Austereo0x107432kbit/sBlender BeatsRemixesDigital onlySouthern Cross Austereo0x107932kbit/sMMM 90's90's Rock musicDigital onlySouthern Cross Austereo0x107832kbit/sMMM 2000'sNoughties Rock musicDigital onlySouthern Cross Austereo0x108032kbit/sMMM Classic RockClassic rockDigital only0x107B32kbit/sOldskool 80's Hits'80s musicDigital onlySouthern Cross Austereo0x107632kbit/sOldskool 90's Hits'90s musicDigital onlySouthern Cross Austereo0x107D32kbit/sRnB FridaysRnB and UrbanDigital onlySouthern Cross Austereo0x107E32kbit/sDance HitsDanceDigital onlySouthern Cross Austereo0x107F32kbit/sHeartAdult contemporaryDigital onlySouthern Cross Austereo0x107732kbit/sHeart HitsClassic HitsDigital onlySouthern Cross Austereo0x107A32kbit/sIRISRadio reading serviceDigital onlyCommunity0x10AC32kbit/sRPH AdelaideRadio reading serviceSimulcast of 1197 AMCommunity0x10A732kbit/sEBI Digital WorldMulticulturalSimulcast of 103.1 FMCommunity0x10AB64kbit/sFresh DigitalDance musicSimulcast of 92.7 FMCommunity0x10A864kbit/sThree D RadioProgressiveSimulcast of 93.7 FMCommunity0x10AA64kbit/sRadio AdelaideVariedSimulcast of 101.5 FMCommunity0x10A664kbit/s1079 LifeAdult contemporary / ChristianSimulcast of 107.9 FMCommunity0x10A964kbit/s
Brisbane