On Saturday 17th January 2025, there were 140 stations broadcasting in DAB or DAB+ that were easily audible in Southborough.  This is a big increase on the 110 stations that could be received on the same equipment on 30th July 2021, when this page was first compiled.

A list of the 140 stations easily audible now in Southborough is given in the two tables immediately below.

A further 41 stations could be received on high ground in Southborough from more distant multiplexes (Essex, South Essex, Surrey and Sussex). The total number of stations audible in Southborough is therefore 181 stations. But reception was not reliable, so these extra 41 stations are included only in the complete rundown table which is at the end of this page.

One popular digital only national station is Boom Radio, which plays oldies from the 1960s and 1970s. The widest range of music pre-1970 is provided by Angel Vintage. Meanwhile, Times Radio provides a DAB alternative to the BBC’s news coverage.

A new West Kent SS-DAB Multiplex launched in mid-January 2026 with lower power transmitters and at lower cost for stations. It makes the band more accessible for a wider range of stations, including former local hospital radio stations such as West Kent Radio, plus newcomers like Weald Radio, which launched at the same time. However, the content is almost all familiar music, rather than local information or interviews.

In the tables below, the kbps value is listed for each station – the higher the kbps value, the better the quality. The original format DAB of MP2 is only as good as FM when 192kbps or more is used, although the difference is probably only obvious with good stereo speakers. In DAB+, 40 kbps is considered equal to FM quality. 

Back in 2021, the older DAB radios (not equipped for DAB+ coding) could receive 70 stations. But in 2025 only 38 stations were still transmitting in the original DAB format (MP2). 

On older (non DAB+) digital radios, all stations will be listed on the radio after rescanning the radio, but DAB+ coded stations will just be silence when selected.

A full list of FM stations audible in the area can be found here:
https://southborough-news.com/fm-radio/

Below are the BBC Network stations available from the BBC’s dedicated DAB multiplex.  Those stations in bold are in the original DAB format of MP2, while those not in bold are coded in DAB+.

Kbps	Station
64	BBC Asian Network (m)
112	BBC R1
32	BBC R1 Anthems
32	BBC R1 Dance
112	BBC R1 Xtra
112	BBC R2
160	BBC R3
32	BBC R3 Unwind
112	BBC R4
64	BBC R4 Extra (mono)
64	BBC R5 Live (mono)
64	BBC R5 Sports Extra (m)
112	BBC R6 Music
64	BBC World Service (m)

I have included in my DAB listings below the 7 easily audible multiplexes in West Kent. These are the two commercial national multiplexes (Digital One and Sounds Digital Network), the one Kent county-wide multiplex, the new West Kent multiplex and the 3 multiplexes for London that are audible (although the London ones are weaker signals).

Here is a full list of the 181 stations available on high ground in Southborough:

14	29	31	9	3	Number of Stations on Multiplex	17	16	21	10	15	10	6
225	222	216	220	197	Frequency	227	223	218	211	213	204	229
BBC	D1	SDL	Kent	W Kent		Ln1	Ln2	Ln3	Ssx	Sry	S Esx	Esx
					All Hit Radio						48
					1037 Digital City Radio						128
					88.3 Centreforce		32
					93 Fresh Soundz						32
					Absolute 00s	40
					Absolute 10s	40
		32			Absolute 80s
					Absolute 80s (mono)	64
		32			Absolute 90s
		32			Absolute Country
	40				Absolute Radio
					Absolute Radio	40
		40			Absolute Rock
					Actual Radio						32
					Adventist Radio		32
			56		Angel Vintage (mono)
					Athavan (Tamil)			32
				48	Atomix UK (Dance)
64					BBC Asian Network (m)
					BBC Essex							128
			128		BBC R Kent
					BBC R London		128
					BBC R Surrey					128
					BBC R Sussex				128
112					BBC R1
32					BBC R1 Anthems
32					BBC R1 Dance
112					BBC R1 Xtra
112					BBC R2
160					BBC R3
32					BBC R3 Unwind
112					BBC R4
64					BBC R4 Extra (mono)
64					BBC R5 Live (mono)
64					BBC R5 Sports Extra (m)
112					BBC R6 Music
64					BBC World Service (m)
		24			BFBS UK (mono)
					Bloomberg			64
					Boom Light (mono)		24
		24			Boom Radio UK (mono)
					BritAsia Radio					32
		32			Capital Anthems
					Capital Brighton				128
					Capital Chill			40
	40				Capital Dance
					Capital London	128
			128		Capital UK Kent
	40				Capital UK
	40				Capital Xtra
		32			Capital Xtra Reloaded
	64				Classic FM
					Classic FM Calm			56
					Classic FM Movies	48
					Colourful (Soul)		24
					Congregation 22 (House)						48
					Countryline Radio		32
				48	CPR FM (Oldies)
					Cyndicut Radio						32
					DarbarSahib Radio					24
					DCR – Beats (Rave)						64
					Energy Radio (Hits)					32
		64			Fix Radio (mono)
					Fun Kids					32
					Fun Kids Junior					32
					Gateway 97.8						32
					Gaydio			32
	24				GB News Radio (mono)
					Gold Radio London	40
	40				Gold Radio UK
					Gt Hits Essex							112
			112		Gt Hits Kent
					Gt Hits London	112
		32			Gt Hits Radio 60s
	32				Gt Hits Radio 70s
	32				Gt Hits Radio 80s
					Gt Hits Surrey					112
					Gt Hits Sussex				112
	32				Heart 70s
	40				Heart 80s
	40				Heart 90s
	40				Heart 00s
					Heart 10s			40
	40				Heart Dance
					Heart Essex							128
			128		Heart Kent
					Heart London	128
					Heart Love			40
					Heart Musicals			40
					Heart Surrey					112
					Heart Sussex				128
	40				Heart UK
					Heat Radio (Bauer)	32
	40				Hits Radio 00s
	40				Hits Radio 90s
		32			Hits Radio Chil
					Hits Radio Essex							112
			112		Hits Radio Kent
					Hits Radio London	112
					Hits Radio Pride	32
					Hits Radio Surrey					112
					Hits Radio Sussex				112
		32			Jazz FM
		32			Kerrang! (Rock)
	40				Kiss
					Kiss Dance	32
					Kiss Ldn	40
					Kiss Xtra	32
	40				Kisstory
		32			Kisstory R&B
			128		KMFM Kent
	64				LBC (mono)
					LBC News London (m)			32
	32				LBC News (mono)
					Liberty Radio (religion)					32
					Lyca Gold (Asian)			32
					Lyca Radio 1458 (Asian)			32
		40			Magic Classical
		32			Magic Musicals
	40				Magic Radio
					Magic Radio London	40
		32			Magic Soul
					Matryoshka R (Russian)			24
		32			Mellow Magic
					Mi-Soul		32
					More Radio (mono)				56
					More R Retro (mono)				56
					Nation 70s		32
					Nation 80s		32
					Nation 90s		32
					Nation Radio (London)		32
					Nation Sussex (mono)				80
					Nation Classic Hits		32
					Panjab Radio (mono)			24
					Phoenix FM (Brentwood)						32
		32			Planet Rock
					Pointblank R (Techno)					32
					Polish Radio Ldn					32
					Premier Gospel (mono)			80
		64			Premier Praise (mono)
		64			Premier Christian (mono)
					Radio Essex							112
					Radio Maria Eng (mono)		24
	40				Radio X (rock)
					Radio X 00s			40
					Radio X 90s			40
					Radio X Chilled			40
		32			Radio X Class Rock
					Radio Xtra						48
					Sami Swoi R (Polish)					32
					Shine 879 (dance)					32
					Smooth 70s			40
		32			Smooth 80s
	32				Smooth Chill
			128		Smooth Country
					Smooth Essex							128
			128		Smooth Kent
					Smooth London	128
	32				Smooth Relax
					Smooth Soul			40
					Smooth Sussex				128
	40				Smooth UK
					Sout Al Khaleej (mono)			64
		24			Sunrise Hits UK
		32			Sunrise Radio UK
					Sunrise Retro (mono)		24
		32			Talk Radio
	64				talkSport (mono)
		32			talkSport 2
					TFS Radio (for Surrey)					32
		64			Times Radio (mono)
	24				UBB 1 (religion)
	32				UCB 2 (religion)
					V2 Radio Sussex (mono)				80
					Virgin 80s		32
					Virgin Britpop		32
		32			Virgin Chilled
		32			Virgin Legends
		80			Virgin Radio (mono)
					Voice of Islam (mono)			64
				48	Weald Radio
1136	1144	1160	1048	144		1088	576	896	1008	808	496	720