For community organisations
You don't need to be a radio company to start a community station.
Small-scale DAB was created specifically to give community groups, charities, faith communities and cultural organisations a realistic route onto digital radio. If you have something to say to your community, we can help you say it on DAB.
This is for organisations like yours
For decades, getting a station onto DAB digital radio meant owning expensive transmitter infrastructure or paying large carriage fees to national multiplex operators. That put DAB out of reach for almost everyone except well-funded commercial broadcasters.
Small-scale DAB changes that. Suffolk SSDAB East CIC will operate local multiplexes covering Ipswich, Felixstowe, Bury St Edmunds, Thetford and Mildenhall. Capacity on those multiplexes will be available to community organisations at a fraction of the cost of traditional DAB — making it genuinely viable for a Romanian community group, a mosque, a youth project or a school to run a real DAB station.
Who this is for
A DAB station for your community
Romanian community groups
Suffolk has one of the largest Romanian communities in the UK. A Romanian-language station on DAB could serve news, music, cultural programming and community information to thousands of listeners across the county — in their own language, on their radio at home.
Polish community groups
Polish is one of the most widely spoken languages in Suffolk. A Polish-language community station on SSDAB could reach listeners who currently rely on online streams or national Polish radio services that don't reflect local Suffolk life.
Ukrainian groups
Suffolk's Ukrainian community has grown significantly in recent years. A community station could provide a trusted local voice — news, support information, cultural programming — for Ukrainian families settling in the county.
Faith communities
Churches, mosques, temples, gurdwaras and other faith organisations could run a station serving their congregation and the wider community. Faith radio has a long tradition in the UK — SSDAB makes it affordable for Suffolk congregations of any size.
Youth projects and young people
A youth-led station gives young people real broadcast experience — presenting, producing, interviewing, running a schedule. It's a genuine career pathway into media, not just a school exercise.
Charities and voluntary organisations
A charity or voluntary organisation could use a DAB station to raise awareness of its work, reach people who need its services, and build a stronger presence in the community — without relying on social media algorithms.
Arts organisations
Theatre companies, arts centres, music venues and cultural organisations could run a station that reflects Suffolk's creative life — live recordings, artist interviews, event listings, local music.
Local sports clubs
A sports club with a passionate local following could run a station covering matches, interviews, community news and club information. DAB reaches listeners in cars, kitchens and workplaces — not just on phones.
Schools and colleges
An educational institution could run a student-led station as a real broadcast service on DAB. Students gain hands-on experience of professional radio — presenting, producing, scheduling — with a real audience.
Minority language communities
Any community with a shared language — Portuguese, Lithuanian, Latvian, Punjabi, Arabic, or any other — could run a station in that language. SSDAB makes minority-language broadcasting in Suffolk genuinely affordable for the first time.
What's involved
What you need to get started
You don't need to own any transmitter equipment. Suffolk SSDAB East CIC handles the broadcast infrastructure. Here's what you would need to provide:
A programme idea
What will your station broadcast? Music, speech, a mix of both? Who is your audience? You don't need a fully formed schedule on day one — but you do need a clear sense of what your station is for and who it serves.
A studio or recording space
You need somewhere to make your programmes. This doesn't have to be a professional broadcast studio — many community stations start with a converted room, a laptop and a USB microphone. We can point you towards resources and organisations that support new community broadcasters.
An Ofcom licence
To broadcast on DAB, your station needs its own Ofcom licence — either a Community Radio licence or a Small-Scale Radio licence. Ofcom regulates who can broadcast and what they can broadcast. We can explain what's involved, but the licence application is your responsibility.
A carriage agreement with us
Once you have a licence, you agree terms with Suffolk SSDAB East CIC to carry your station on our multiplex. We handle the technical side — encoding, transmission, monitoring. You focus on making programmes.
A note on Ofcom licensing
Every station that broadcasts on DAB needs its own Ofcom licence. For community organisations, the most relevant licence type is a Community Radio licence, which is designed for non-profit stations serving a specific community of interest or geographic area. Ofcom's licensing process is open, transparent and free to apply for. We are not Ofcom and we cannot grant broadcast licences — but we can help you understand the process and point you in the right direction.
Ready to find out more?
Register your interest now. Tell us about your organisation and what kind of station you have in mind. There's no commitment at this stage — we just want to hear from you.