There's consensus among many industry observers that digital radio's global rollout to date has generally fallen short of expectations. Online forums and blogs regularly devote untold space to hashing technology and policy issues of a new medium that consumers have been notoriously slow to warm up to.

Even so, UK radio analyst Grant Goddard appears to have turned fresh earth with the publication of his new 314-page book that takes Great Britain's digital radio transition to task in very definite terms.

Tellingly titled "DAB Digital Radio: Licensed to Fail", Goddard's book reportedly seeks to expose some unflattering aspects of how the British government has handled DAB's rollout in the UK and advanced a planned digital radio transition there.

The book, published by Radio Books, London, launched Oct. 1, 2010.