Digital radio is on trial in Darwin, according to Commercial Radio Australia (CRA) and Grant Broadcasters.

The channels included in the trial are Hot 100 and Mix 104.9 and a digital only service called Top Country NT. The signal has started at low power for the trial and will be broadcast from Broadcast Australia’s Deloraine Road transmission tower.

CRA CEO, Joan Warner said that the trial in Darwin indicated that regional commercial broadcasters are enthusiastic to provide digital radio services to their clients and listeners.

Grant Cameron, director of Grant Broadcasters agreed with Warner’s comments: “We also want to demonstrate to Canberra that people and broadcasters in regional Australia are just as interested in digital radio as those in the five capital cities that have already been given the right to have permanent digital radio services.”

Permanent full power digital radio services were introduced in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth in August 2009, with Canberra beginning their trial in July 2010. Recently released figures indicate that 523,000 people are listening to digital radio across the five markets.