Gli uccellini della radio, grande successo DAB

Forse ricordate che nel mio recente bandscan digitale da Londra avevo trovato, al posto del canale OneWord, ormai spento, il riempitivo di un sound costituito dal canto degli uccelli in un bosco. Beh, secondo il Telegraph sembra che gli ascoltatori inglesi stiano impazzendo per questo rilassante format e stanno chiedendo a gran voce che gli uccellini del DAB continuino a cinguettare! C'è chi li trova migliori delle stazioni di musica pop. Persino i birdwatcher fanno a gara per identificare i volatili (qualcuno ne ha riconosciuti dodici). La traccia audio, di 18 ore, era stata registrata nel 1992 nella tenuta di Quentin Howard, presidente di Digital One, il bouquet DAB che ospitava OneWord, e da allora è andata in onda già diverse volte. Scherzando Howard ha fatto sapere di essere pronto a cedere il canale ai birdwatcher, se costoro hanno in tasca il milione di sterline necessario per coprire i costi di trasmissione. Ma prima o poi, il chip-chip dovrà finire.

Birdsong proves popular on radio

A radio station has an unexpected hit on its hands after broadcasting birdsong for 18 hours every day.

The relaxing, rural recording is proving particularly popular with urbanites hankering after a taste of the countryside and is attracting tens of thousands of listeners. It has also sparked a flood of internet chatter as twitchers try to identify the birds on the tape.
One listener, Steve Jones, claims to have identified 12 types including great-tits, greenfinches, wrens, swallows and flycatchers. "I'm sure there must be more. It's one hell of a garden," he said. Another listener said: "It is a lot more enjoyable than some of the rubbish on air these days - and definitely better than debate or phone-in shows full of 'oiks' shouting at each other. The uninterrupted recording is being played by Digital One, which runs Britain's commercial digital radio network, on the frequency that used to be OneWord, a spoken word commercial channel which shut down last month.
It was originally made in the Wiltshire garden of Digital One's chairman Quentin Howard in the spring of 1992 and has been broadcast several times previously when it also picked up a loyal fan base. It was first heard as a "filler" on Classic FM's frequency in the weeks before the station launched 16 years ago. The twittering noises were last played three years ago. Listeners complained when they were taken off air in June 2005.
(continua)