ABC flicks the switch to digital radio

After almost 20 years of planning, the ABC has flicked the switch for its first three radio stations to hit the digital airwaves.

The national broadcaster officially turned on ABC Country, ABC Jazz and contemporary music station ABC Dig Music on Wednesday.

A fourth station, ABC Grandstand, will provide ball-by-ball coverage of the Ashes Test cricket series from England next week.

The new stations can only be picked up with a digital radio in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide, but ABC director of radio Kate Dundas says there are plans to roll out the technology nationwide.

"We're hopeful that there will be a rollout to regional areas," she said at the digital radio launch in Sydney.

"As an industry, we're talking to government about it."

Digital radio services offer higher quality sound and reception, more radio stations, pause and rewind options and on-screen information in text and graphics.

Other radio providers began rolling out digital services in May.

However, the technology has been available for years, with some countries already having digital radio for a decade.

Ms Dundas said the digital radio rollout in Australia had taken almost two decades of planning.

She said holdups in government policy were the main hurdles the technology had faced in Australia.

"I think the holdup originally was around government commitment to it," Ms Dundas said.

She said the ABC's analogue stations would continue to broadcast as normal on the AM and FM frequencies.

"As the public broadcaster, we don't want to disenfranchise anybody," Ms Dundas told AAP.

ABC managing director Mark Scott said Wednesday's switch on was a milestone in Australian broadcasting history.

"It is going to provide more content and more diverse content than we've ever been able to provide before," he said.

Ms Dundas said she expected Australians to embrace the new technology, "once the availability of sets gets wider and the price comes down a little bit".

"I think it will take a while but I have been amazed by the interest," she said.

Digital radio receivers retail for upwards of $150.