Daily Mail version here:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2173491/Dont-throw-away-old-radio-just-B...

Mike

Regards Article entitled "BBC's Tim Davie: Listeners Should Not Be Forced to Switch to Digital"

Tim Davie, the BBC director of audio and music, is quoted in The Telegraph as saying "I do support - and I know this isn't everyone's view - pressure now to say that if we are selling consumers new radios they should have both digital and FM receivers in them. My view is that's the right thing to do. We should be selling radios with DAB and FM so they are future proof."

Further, Davie said "If there is a clear chance of digital switchover in the future... then it makes sense for people buying new radios to create sets that contain FM but also benefit from DAB. I don't think switchover is about forcing people to do what they do not want to do. It has to be earned... However, the case for digital switchover has become clearer over the last year."

The UK government has said a decision about the switching over to DAB can't come until at least 50 percent of radio listening there is to digital sources. Currently that level of listenership is at 29.2 percent - up 11 percent year over year.

Personally, I'm not so sure that the case for digital switchover has become any clearer over the last year, and I'd be interested if anyone else has a justification of this statement. Otherwise, such statements tend to be regarded as universal truths, but have no evidence to back them up.
However, I do agree that there ought to be many more radio sets that incorporate both technologies, or at least one which could ultimately allow the UK to proceed to the much improved DAB+ option - rather than the now-ancient DAB spec (which is akin to the Baird TV system when compared to the EMI version - or FreeView as against FreeView+HD).