 On 24 March 1998 , the Radio Authority advertised for the first ( and at the time , the only one planned ) national ensemble to be broadcast on DAB . The three national commercial services on FM and mediumwave had to be included as part of the ensemble , Classic FM , talkSPORT and Virgin Radio . The licence was awarded to the sole applicant , GWR Group and NTL Broadcast to form Digital One . The original licence application included the following stations : 
