On Saturday 30 July 2021, there were 70 digital radio stations audible in Southborough with decent reliability transmitting using the original DAB standard, which all digital radios can receive.  

One new station called “Boom Radio” started in 2021, which has been well received by many for reviving the careers of David Hamilton and Kid Jenson among others, while playing 60s and 70s hits.

The previous year, some listeners sought out the speech station “Times Radio” that is commercial free and launched on 29th June 2020. It has the rough format of Radio 4’s breakfast “Today” programme.

In addition there are 40 further stations that can be received in the DAB+ format, which is a new more efficient transmission DAB standard that gives better quality using the same bandwidth. That means 110 stations can be received on newer DAB/DAB+ equipped radios in West Kent.

Is this a good enough reason to invest in a new DAB/DAB+ radio?  It depends if any of the stations listed below appeal to your tastes.

For older radios, the full range of 110 stations will be listed, but the ones transmitting in DAB+ will generate only silence.

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

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

After that I have listed separately the stations on the Surrey, Sussex and Essex multiplexes that can be picked up in Southborough – but not very reliably.

The higher the kbps value, the better the quality. The original format DAB is only as good as FM when 192kbps or more is used, although the difference is probably only obvious with good stereo speakers.  The “s” means it is a stereo signal.

In DAB+, 40 kbps is considered equal to FM quality.

Speech stations in Bold; Classical Music stations in Bold italics

The first table gives details of the 13 BBC stations available:

DAB most Sets BBC	Mplex	kbps
BBC Radio Kent	Kent	128s
BBC Radio 1	BBC	128s
BBC Radio 1 Extra	BBC	128s
BBC Radio 2	BBC	128s
BBC Radio 3	BBC	192s
BBC Radio 4	BBC	80*
BBC Radio 4 Extra	BBC	80
BBC Radio 5 Live	BBC	64
BBC R5 Sport Extra	BBC	64
BBC 6 Music	BBC	128s
BBC World Service	BBC	64
BBC Asian Network	BBC	64
BBC Radio London	Ldn2	128s

*When BBC R5 Sport Extra and BBC Parliament and Daily Service are all off air, then Radio 4 is sent at the better quality 128kbps stereo. Often after 9am, Radio 3 is reduced in quality to 160kbps to allow Radio 4 to broadcast in 128 kbps stereo during 5 Live Sport Extra transmission times.

The following tables show the non-BBC stations in alphabetical order, starting with 5 tables of stations audible on all digital radios, followed by 3 more tables with the DAB+ stations.

DAB most sets A-C	Mplex	kbps
Absolute UK	D1	80
Absolute 00s	Ldn1	80
Absolute 80s	SDL	80
Absolute 90s	SDL	80
Absolute C Rock	Ldn3	64
Absolute Country	Ldn1	80
Adventist	Ldn2	80
Athavan Radio	Ldn3	64
Bloomberg	Ldn3	64
Boom (Oldies)	Ldn3	80
Capital London	Ldn1	128s
Capital UK	Kent	128s
Classic FM	D1	128s
Colourful (Music)	Ldn3	64

DAB most sets D-H	Mplex	kbps
DilSe Radio	Ldn3	64
Dubai Now	Ldn3	64
Fix Radio	Ldn2	64
Gaydio	Ldn3	80
Greatest Hits Mono	Kent	80
Greatest Hits	Ldn1	112s
Heart Kent	Kent	128s
Heart London	Ldn1	128s
Hits UK	Kent	80
Hits London	Ldn2	128s

DAB most sets I-L	Mplex	kbps
Jazz FM Mono	Ldn2	80
Kiss Mono	D1	80
Kiss Stereo	Ldn1	112s
Kisstory	D1	80
KMFM	Kent	128s
LBC Phone ins	D1	64
LBC London News	Ldn2	64
Lyca Radio 1458	Ldn3	64

DAB most sets M-R	Mplex	kbps
Magic Soul	Ldn1	64
Magic UK	D1	80
Magic London	Ldn1	80
Matryoshka	Ldn3	80
Mellow Magic	SDL	80
Mi-Soul	Ldn2	64
Punjab Radio	Ldn3	56
Planet Rock	SDL	80
Polish Radio Ldn	Ldn3	96
Premier Christian	SDL	64
Premier Praise	SDL	64
Premier Gospel	Ldn3	80

DAB most sets  S-Z	Mplex	kbps
Scala Classical	SDL	112s
Smooth Kent	Kent	128s
Smooth London	Ldn1	128s
Smooth Country	Kent	128s
Smooth Country	Ldn2	128s
Sout Al Khaleej	Ldn3	80
Sunrise Radio	SDL	64
Talk Sport	D1	64
Times Radio	SDL	64
UCB 1 Christian	D1	64
UCB 2 Christian	SDL	64
Virgin Radio	SDL	80
Voice of Islam	Ldn3	64

Here are the stations available only on newer DAB+ digital radio sets:

DAB+ new sets A-F	Mplex	kbps
88.3 Centreforce	Ldn2	32s
Absolute 10s	Ldn1	32s
Absolute 70s	Ldn2	32s
Asian FX	Ldn2	32s
BFBS Forces	SDL	24s
Boom UK (Oldies)	SDL	24
Capital Dance	D1	40s
Capital UK	D1	40s
Capital Xtra	D1	40s
Cap Xtra Reloaded	D1	32s
Chris Country	Ldn2	32s
Fun Kids UK	SDL	24s

DAB+ new sets G-L	Mplex	kbps
GB News	D1	24
Gold London	Ldn1	40s
Gold UK	D1	32s
Heart 70s	D1	32s
Heart 80s	D1	40s
Heart 90s	D1	40s
Heart UK	D1	32s
Heart Dance	D1	40s
Hits Radio Pride	D1	32s
Jazz FM Stereo	SDL	32s
LBC News	D1	24s

DAB+ new sets M-Z	Mplex	kbps
Magic Chilled	Ldn1	32s
Magic Musicals	Ldn1	32s
Nation Radio	Ldn2	32s
Radio Maria Eng	Ldn2	32s
Smooth Chill UK	D1	32s
Smooth Chill Ldn	Ldn1	40s
Smooth UK	D1	40s
Talk Radio	SDL	32s
Talk Sport 2	SDL	32s
THC (Dance)	Ldn2	32s
Union Jack	SDL	32s
Union Jack Dance	SDL	32s
Union Jack Rock	SDL	32s
Virgin Anthems	SDL	32s
Virgin Chilled	SDL	32s
Virgin Groove	Ldn2	64s
Virgin Pride	Ldn2	32s

For people living in certain parts of Southborough (e.g. on high ground) stations on the following 3 multiplexes are also audible:

SURREY MULTIPLEX  (11 stations inc 4 DAB and 7 DAB+)
Heart Surrey	DAB	112s
Eagle	DAB	128s
BBC R Surrey	DAB	128s
Premier Gospel	DAB	80
Atlantis (60s)	DAB+	32s
Fun Kids Jnr	DAB+	32s
Podcast Radio	DAB+	32s
Point Blank (Dance)
Release Radio	DAB+	32s
Sami Swoi Polska
Unity (Dance & R&B)

SUSSEX MULTIPLEX  (11 DAB stations)
Heart South	DAB	128s
Smooth Radio	DAB	128s
More Radio	DAB	56
More Retro
BBC R Sussex	DAB	128s
Hits Radio	DAB	80
Greatest Hits	DAB	80
Smooth Country	DAB	128s
Capital South Coast	DAB	128s
Trickstar (Dance)
V2 Radio (Oldies)

ESSEX MULTIPLEX  (12 DAB stations)
Heart East	DAB	128s
Smooth Radio	DAB	128s
Smooth Country
Essex Radio	DAB	128s
BBC Essex	DAB	128s
Hits Radio	DAB	80
Actual (Oldies)
Greatest Hits	DAB	80
Blitzkids (Dance)
Streetsounds
Capital UK
Unity (Dance & R&B)