Digital audio broadcasting (DAB) is a digital radio standard for broadcasting digital audio radio services in many countries around the world but not in North America where HD Radio is the standard for digital radio. The DAB standard was initiated as a European research project in the 1980s. The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) launched the first DAB channel in the world on 1 June 1995 (NRK Klassisk), and the BBC and Swedish Radio (SR) launched their first DAB digital radio broadcasts in 27 September 1995. DAB receivers have been available in many countries since the end of the 1990s.