Ofcom has published a summary of licence updates and changes for September 2025.

Ofcom September Updates

Changes on the Devon Local DAB ensemble:
HITS RADIO UK has been relabelled Hits Radio Devon.

 

Changes on the London 2 Local DAB ensemble:
Virgin 80s Plus has been relabelled Virgin 80s.

New Service on the Surrey-NSussex Local DAB ensemble:
Liberty Radio is broadcasting in DAB+ 32 kbit/s.

Changes on the Trial London SSDAB ensemble:

Liberty Radio has replaced Fun Kids.

Source: Wohnort 

At this point there are still multiple ensembles without updated "Hits Radio" details on the Wohnort website:

 

Berks & N Hants

Bournemouth (updated from DigitalBitrate 03/09/2025)

Cambridge

Cornwall

Devon

Lancashire

Liverpool

Manchester

Norfolk

North Cumbria

North Yorkshire

Northamptonshire

Nottinghamshire

Oxfordshire

Peterborough

Plymouth

Sheffield

Somerset

South Hampshire

Stoke & Stafford

Swansea SW Wales

Swindon

Tayside

Teesside

Tyne & Wear

West Wiltshire

 

Source: Wohnort

 

 

Filling in some of the gaps from other sources: 

 

 

UKCG Local Observations:

 

Changes on the North Yorkshire Local DAB ensemble:
HITS RADIO N YKS has been relabelled Hits Radio N Yks.
HITS RADIO PRIDE has been relabelled Hits Radio Pride.
 

Changes on the Sheffield Local DAB ensemble:
HITS RADIO S Yks has been relabelled Hits Radio S Yks.
HITS RADIO PRIDE has been relabelled Hits Radio Pride.

 

Source: UKCG 

 

Checked against DigitalBitrate:

 

Changes on the Cambridge Local DAB ensemble:
HITS RADIO CAMBS has been relabelled Hits Radio Cambs.

 

Changes on the Cornwall Local DAB ensemble:
HITS RADIO CRN has been relabelled Hits Radio Crn.

 

Changes on the Norfolk Local DAB ensemble: 

HITS RADIO NFLK has been relabelled Hits Radio Nflk.

 

Changes on the Nottinghamshire Local DAB ensemble:
HITS RADIO EMids has been relabelled Hits Radio EMids.

 

Changes on the Oxfordshire Local DAB ensemble: 

HITS RADIO OXF'D has been relabelled Hits Radio Oxfd.

 

Changes on the Somerset Local DAB ensemble:
HITS RADIO WEST has been relabelled Hits Radio West.

 

Changes on the South Hampshire Local DAB ensemble:
HITS RADIO S CST has been relabelled Hits Radio S Cst.

 

Changes on the Swansea SW Wales Local DAB ensemble:
HITS RADIO S Wls has been relabelled Hits Radio S Wls.

Changes on the Tayside Local DAB ensemble:
HITS RADIO UK has been relabelled Hits Radio UK.

HITS RADIO PRIDE has been relabelled Hits Radio Pride.  

 

Changes on the Teesside Local DAB ensemble:
HITS RADIO TEES has been relabelled Hits Radio Tees.

HITS RADIO PRIDE has been relabelled Hits Radio Pride.
  

Changes on the Tyne & Wear Local DAB ensemble:
HITS RADIO NE has been relabelled Hits Radio NE.

HITS RADIO PRIDE has been relabelled Hits Radio Pride.
  

Changes on the West Wiltshire Local DAB ensemble:
HITS RADIO WEST has been relabelled Hits Radio West.

 

Source: DigitalBitrate

 

At the moment we don't have any further information for services marked in red. 

Services marked in blue have been updated in subsequent posts. 

Changes on the Suffolk Local DAB ensemble:
HITS RADIO UK has been relabelled Hits Radio Suflk.

 

Source: Wohnort

Changes on the Wolv'ton & Shrop Local DAB ensemble:
HITS RADIO BC&Sh has been relabelled Hits Radio BC&Sh.

HITS RADIO PRIDE has been relabelled Hits Radio Pride.

 

Changes on the Inverclyde Coast SSDAB ensemble:

Rock.Scot and Wild Country have been added since the previous observation.

 

Source: Wohnort

 

 

Service Removals on the Hereford-Worcs Local DAB ensemble: 

Capital UK

Heart UK

Smooth UK

Services last seen 10/09/2025 

 

Source: DigitalBitrate

Changes on the Inverness Local DAB ensemble:
HITS RADIO UK has been relabelled Hits Radio UK.

 

Source: Wohnort

 

 

SSDAB Licensing - Round 8: 

Ofcom has advertised 40 additional areas in the eighth and final round of small scale DAB licences.

 

The following new areas are included:

• Aberystwyth
• Andover
• Armagh
• Ballymena
• Barnsley
• Barnstaple & Bideford
• Brecon
• Burton-on-Trent & Lichfield
• Bury St Edmunds, Thetford & Mildenhall
• Cheltenham & Tewkesbury
• Chesterfield
• Chippenham & Malmesbury
• Coleraine
• Cookstown & Dungannon
• East Cornwall
• East Edinburgh & South Forth coast
• Falmouth, Penzance & Redruth
• Gairloch
• Girvan & Cumnock
• Grantham & Sleaford
• Grimsby
• Kilmarnock
• Leamington Spa & Stratford-upon-Avon
• Mansfield & Worksop
• Monmouth
• Newbury
• Newquay, St Austell & Truro
• North Powys
• Omagh
• Perth
• Peterlee
• Pitlochry & Aberfeldy
• Scunthorpe
• Skye & Lochalsh
• South Hams
• South Powys
• Stroud
• Telford & Shrewsbury
• Tiverton
• Ullapool

 

With an additional 10 areas being re-advertised from previous rounds:

• Berwickshire & Roxburgh
• Chester
• Derby
• Dundee & North East Fife
• Guildford & Woking
• Lincoln
• Kintyre, Islay & Jura
• South West Fife
• South West Sussex
• Weymouth & Dorchester

 

The closing-date for applications is 5pm on 10 December 2025.

 

Source: Ofcom

New Services on the BBC National DAB ensemble:

BBC Radio1Anthms

BBC Radio1Dance

BBC Radio3Unwind

These new services have been added to the BBC ensemble, all of the new additions are DAB+ 32 kbit/s (Stereo HE-AAC v2).

Although the bitrates of existing services have been reduced to allow the extra services to be added, this is not a change to the current status of the ensemble. It was noted on Wohnort that TEST 1, TEST 2 and TEST 3 had been added to the ensemble on 25/04/2025, which is when the bitrates of existing services will have been reduced. The new services have replaced these tests.

 

Changes on the Bradfrd&Huddersf Local DAB ensemble:

HITS RADIO W Yks has been relabelled Hits Radio W Yks.

HITS RADIO PRIDE has been relabelled Hits Radio Pride.

Changes on the Humberside Local DAB ensemble:
HITS RADIO E Yks has been relabelled Hits Radio E Yks.
HITS RADIO PRIDE has been relabelled Hits Radio Pride.

 

Changes on the Leeds Local DAB ensemble:
HITS RADIO W Yks has been relabelled Hits Radio W Yks.
HITS RADIO PRIDE has been relabelled Hits Radio Pride.

  

Changes on the Leicestershire Local DAB ensemble:
HITS RADIO EMids has been relabelled Hits Radio EMids.

 

Changes on the Lincolnshire Local DAB ensemble:
HITS RADIO Lincs has been relabelled Hits Radio Lincs.

Changes on the N. Ireland Local DAB ensemble:

HITS RADIO NI has been relabelled Hits Radio NI.

 

Changes on the South Hampshire Local DAB ensemble:

Nation Radio has been relabelled Nation South since the previous observation. 

 

Changes on the Wolverhampton SSDAB ensemble:

Blue Dot Radio has been removed since the previous observation.

 

Source: Wohnort