The Bids Are In...
I am in radio anorak mode again for which I apologise, in the great scheme of things, its not important. But seeing that I do mention such matters from time to time(not being in the business)I am unable to find out the real juicy stuff and I have look at what I find by accident and guess where I think things are going.
Its obvious from recent articles Digital radio is not settled in the UK. I would suggest don't spend too much on your new radio if you purchase one because you'll probably require a new one quite soon or if you like to own the best and enjoy, do it but be ready to part with some more money at a future date because another system will be available which will eventually take over or though they'll cost more models are becoming available which will allow them to hear the present system and pick up the newer version.
The BBC are even experimenting with another digital format which I understand Virgin Radio has or will be. And that could even make use of the AM wavelength. For now, I believe the FM spectrum is being used.
The BBC is being used to promote and encourage take up of digital television even though it affects commercial broadcasters as much and in the next few years region by region analogue transmitters are being turned off and though FM and AM radio transmitters have not been turned off, the promotion of Digital Radio has to mean there is a plan at some point to switch them off too. However, many homes own many radio's and to replace all of them will be costly and transmitters that give an adequate signal or transmitters that are needed to fill in and boost the signal to the next main transmitter are not as many as are required to give the whole of the UK a decent signal. You know from an earlier post, my DAB radio works in one bedroom , in one location, anywhere else...failure.
The other problem is that though the BBC has been allowed to build and transmit the National stations, its local output has to be allocated space on the transmitters of commercial broadcasters so to some extent its at the mercy of commercial concern.
If you live in an area where you get DAB you'll have seen an increase in the number stations you can hear but already some stations have folded leaving gaps and requiring other stations to take over(Primetime last year)A news Station and a few days ago a country Music station serving Scotland, North East England also went off air. The news station has been taken over by the London FM service of LBC(which is OK for me as I am a fan)Other stations are being broadcast at a lower bitrate than listeners would like and actually can mean that with a good signal FM is better, the volume of stations that want to broadcast also means that some stations are sharing the space they have and altering the bit rates so depending on what is being broadcast, they borrow some from a sister station. Others are there but they are in mono which for a music station is not ideal.
And now we have a new development. The system in use is based on local radio as far as commercial radio goes so though you may get Real Radio across the country, it is geared to each region and though some out put is the same, you may get the play list in a different order or they may decide some music works better in one region to another and the news may be slanted towards the area its serving but the new bids to run the next stage will be more geared towards a series of national stations that I assume will sound the same wherever you go.
And as there is a limit of ten or twelve hopefully they will all be in stereo and a higher bitrate. Unfortunately, IMHO the choice is not much different to what we already have and I am afraid that both bids have existing broadcasters wanting to be involved...again. They also are mainly aiming for an audience of thirty five and younger and whilst you need to get people interested in radio so they'll make a lifetime habit of listening, many of the stations on air now are chasing that market and freezing older people out on the age factor or by neglecting a wider range of music.
BBC Radio 2 is said to be the most popular of all national networks but lots of its output is similar to commercial radio except its commercial free. Some types of music are being dropped or being put on so late its minimising the audience and there is nowhere else for this displaced audience to go. You kind of expect Radio 1 listeners to move to Radio 2 but they are pushing the traditional Radio 2 listeners away. And recently, though denied, there have been reports that BBC local radio has a similar policy so you cannot go there for your music but BBC Radio Ulster, BBC Radio Wales and my local BBC stations still have a couple of programmes filling this need but for how long?
Expect some links here in the next few hours to take you to a list of what stations are being planned depending on which company wins the bid from the Broadcaster regulator. One bidder even plans to bring back Radio Luxembourg who's English service disappeared many years ago(anyone of a certain age will have memories of what that station means to them)First it closed its AM frequency down and then after a brief flirtation with the Astra Satellite in the early 90's it left that medium too. Imagine what it was like that a company in England was in its early days recording material in England and selling commercial time and then shipping the programmes out to Luxembourg to be heard in the UK between 8pm-3am each night. With a signal renowned for fading and it was so important to get your fix of pop not available in the UK any other way(we'd put up with it)until the pirates. But those on the High Seas are very different to those that now exist on land and are usually based in cities interfering with legitimate broadcasters.
Formats of some radio stations have changed...recently Choice decided to get rid of their presenters/dj's and go interactive with the audience depending on the audience texting what they wish to hear.
The Jazz has decided to introduce presenters and a couple of presenters from mainstream radio have joined the rota, best known of all has to be David "Kid" Jensen(once of Radio Luxembourg and Capital)Unless he's pre-recording some of his links, he's going to be very busy as he has a daily programme on Capital Gold(6 days)and now weekdays on The Jazz.
DAB radio has given a new lease of life(whether received on Digital radio or Satellite)to many dj's that have been let go by mainstream radio broadcasters and to be honest its both heartening that they still have access to an audience because many still have something to offer and many are still better than those they have been replaced by IMHO. Then again, that also makes me sad because the quality of some "personalities" has gone down.
DAB Radio may've increased choice but Satellite still offers more choice, more stations and so far less chance of the stations having to broadcast in mono so perhaps as in the States we may see as the next stage of radio a system where radio is delivered by satellite and that being seen as a normal way to get radio. As a customer you may pay £10 a month but you'll get access to radio stations that are themed to a particular format and another attraction is that subscribing can see some stations reducing or doing away with advertising which is one reason why it is proving popular in the States where the audience is growing tired of advert breaks. They've been used to commercial radio having had it for approx 80 years but the breaks are becoming more frequent and longer. And many listeners are saying enough already.
National Grid Bid:
Adult/Album - competitor to BBC Radio 2's younger listeners that will offer content "beyond the confines of the chart" that "better reflects their own record collections and the music they choose to play at home or on their portable music devices"
Channel 4 Radio 1 - music-based, general entertainment service targeting under-35s with a "wide range of strands and genres synonymous with Channel 4 including news, comedy and satire"
Channel 4 Radio 2 - talk-based service with news, views and documentaries designed to appeal to younger BBC Radio 4 listeners 50-plus - designed to provide strong competition for older BBC Radio 2 listeners playing easy listening music
Radio Luxembourg - will target under-30s with new music and "active rock" designed to appeal to the "iPod generation" and provide strong competition for BBC Radio One
Premier Christian Radio - the voice of the Christian community with news, views and "uplifting music"
Rolling - a 24-hour rolling news service on events in the UK and the wider world
Radio Play - a games, challenges and competitions station by Somethin' Else, the independent radio and cross-platform production company
Asian - a mainstream commercial service targeting the UK's 2.3m adult Asian population
FUN Radio - an under-10s station with content from the 50% joint venture between GCap and HIT Entertainment
Love Songs - love songs from the past four decades designed to appeal to a predominantly female audience.
Colourful - will target the UK's black, African and Caribbean communities, predominantly with talk, but also music such as reggae and soul
BBC Asian Network - the BBC's service will transfer from its own digital radio multiplex at higher audio quality
Channel 4 Bid
E4 Radio - interactive music and entertainment station for 15- to 29 year-olds, spin-off from E4 TV channel
Channel 4 Radio - contemporary speech-based station for 30- to 54-year-olds, offering comment, drama, comedy and documentary programming
Pure4 - knowledgeable, accessible radio station offering music and modern culture, from Channel 4
Talk Radio - from UTV
Closer - spin-off from Emap magazine title, targeting women 30+ with mix of current and classic chart music
Sky News Radio - 24-hour rolling radio news joint venture between BSkyB and Chrysalis
Sunrise Radio UK - station offering mix of Asian music and culture Virgin Radio Viva - aimed at women 15-30
Original - album-led music station for 40- to 59-year-olds, from Canadian company CanWest
Radio Disney - children's station offering music, entertainment and education
Guardian Link 1
Guardian Link 2
I do think some of the proposed services strange and are there to please political parties.
Its obvious from recent articles Digital radio is not settled in the UK. I would suggest don't spend too much on your new radio if you purchase one because you'll probably require a new one quite soon or if you like to own the best and enjoy, do it but be ready to part with some more money at a future date because another system will be available which will eventually take over or though they'll cost more models are becoming available which will allow them to hear the present system and pick up the newer version.
The BBC are even experimenting with another digital format which I understand Virgin Radio has or will be. And that could even make use of the AM wavelength. For now, I believe the FM spectrum is being used.
The BBC is being used to promote and encourage take up of digital television even though it affects commercial broadcasters as much and in the next few years region by region analogue transmitters are being turned off and though FM and AM radio transmitters have not been turned off, the promotion of Digital Radio has to mean there is a plan at some point to switch them off too. However, many homes own many radio's and to replace all of them will be costly and transmitters that give an adequate signal or transmitters that are needed to fill in and boost the signal to the next main transmitter are not as many as are required to give the whole of the UK a decent signal. You know from an earlier post, my DAB radio works in one bedroom , in one location, anywhere else...failure.
The other problem is that though the BBC has been allowed to build and transmit the National stations, its local output has to be allocated space on the transmitters of commercial broadcasters so to some extent its at the mercy of commercial concern.
If you live in an area where you get DAB you'll have seen an increase in the number stations you can hear but already some stations have folded leaving gaps and requiring other stations to take over(Primetime last year)A news Station and a few days ago a country Music station serving Scotland, North East England also went off air. The news station has been taken over by the London FM service of LBC(which is OK for me as I am a fan)Other stations are being broadcast at a lower bitrate than listeners would like and actually can mean that with a good signal FM is better, the volume of stations that want to broadcast also means that some stations are sharing the space they have and altering the bit rates so depending on what is being broadcast, they borrow some from a sister station. Others are there but they are in mono which for a music station is not ideal.
And now we have a new development. The system in use is based on local radio as far as commercial radio goes so though you may get Real Radio across the country, it is geared to each region and though some out put is the same, you may get the play list in a different order or they may decide some music works better in one region to another and the news may be slanted towards the area its serving but the new bids to run the next stage will be more geared towards a series of national stations that I assume will sound the same wherever you go.
And as there is a limit of ten or twelve hopefully they will all be in stereo and a higher bitrate. Unfortunately, IMHO the choice is not much different to what we already have and I am afraid that both bids have existing broadcasters wanting to be involved...again. They also are mainly aiming for an audience of thirty five and younger and whilst you need to get people interested in radio so they'll make a lifetime habit of listening, many of the stations on air now are chasing that market and freezing older people out on the age factor or by neglecting a wider range of music.
BBC Radio 2 is said to be the most popular of all national networks but lots of its output is similar to commercial radio except its commercial free. Some types of music are being dropped or being put on so late its minimising the audience and there is nowhere else for this displaced audience to go. You kind of expect Radio 1 listeners to move to Radio 2 but they are pushing the traditional Radio 2 listeners away. And recently, though denied, there have been reports that BBC local radio has a similar policy so you cannot go there for your music but BBC Radio Ulster, BBC Radio Wales and my local BBC stations still have a couple of programmes filling this need but for how long?
Expect some links here in the next few hours to take you to a list of what stations are being planned depending on which company wins the bid from the Broadcaster regulator. One bidder even plans to bring back Radio Luxembourg who's English service disappeared many years ago(anyone of a certain age will have memories of what that station means to them)First it closed its AM frequency down and then after a brief flirtation with the Astra Satellite in the early 90's it left that medium too. Imagine what it was like that a company in England was in its early days recording material in England and selling commercial time and then shipping the programmes out to Luxembourg to be heard in the UK between 8pm-3am each night. With a signal renowned for fading and it was so important to get your fix of pop not available in the UK any other way(we'd put up with it)until the pirates. But those on the High Seas are very different to those that now exist on land and are usually based in cities interfering with legitimate broadcasters.
Formats of some radio stations have changed...recently Choice decided to get rid of their presenters/dj's and go interactive with the audience depending on the audience texting what they wish to hear.
The Jazz has decided to introduce presenters and a couple of presenters from mainstream radio have joined the rota, best known of all has to be David "Kid" Jensen(once of Radio Luxembourg and Capital)Unless he's pre-recording some of his links, he's going to be very busy as he has a daily programme on Capital Gold(6 days)and now weekdays on The Jazz.
DAB radio has given a new lease of life(whether received on Digital radio or Satellite)to many dj's that have been let go by mainstream radio broadcasters and to be honest its both heartening that they still have access to an audience because many still have something to offer and many are still better than those they have been replaced by IMHO. Then again, that also makes me sad because the quality of some "personalities" has gone down.
DAB Radio may've increased choice but Satellite still offers more choice, more stations and so far less chance of the stations having to broadcast in mono so perhaps as in the States we may see as the next stage of radio a system where radio is delivered by satellite and that being seen as a normal way to get radio. As a customer you may pay £10 a month but you'll get access to radio stations that are themed to a particular format and another attraction is that subscribing can see some stations reducing or doing away with advertising which is one reason why it is proving popular in the States where the audience is growing tired of advert breaks. They've been used to commercial radio having had it for approx 80 years but the breaks are becoming more frequent and longer. And many listeners are saying enough already.
National Grid Bid:
Adult/Album - competitor to BBC Radio 2's younger listeners that will offer content "beyond the confines of the chart" that "better reflects their own record collections and the music they choose to play at home or on their portable music devices"
Channel 4 Radio 1 - music-based, general entertainment service targeting under-35s with a "wide range of strands and genres synonymous with Channel 4 including news, comedy and satire"
Channel 4 Radio 2 - talk-based service with news, views and documentaries designed to appeal to younger BBC Radio 4 listeners 50-plus - designed to provide strong competition for older BBC Radio 2 listeners playing easy listening music
Radio Luxembourg - will target under-30s with new music and "active rock" designed to appeal to the "iPod generation" and provide strong competition for BBC Radio One
Premier Christian Radio - the voice of the Christian community with news, views and "uplifting music"
Rolling - a 24-hour rolling news service on events in the UK and the wider world
Radio Play - a games, challenges and competitions station by Somethin' Else, the independent radio and cross-platform production company
Asian - a mainstream commercial service targeting the UK's 2.3m adult Asian population
FUN Radio - an under-10s station with content from the 50% joint venture between GCap and HIT Entertainment
Love Songs - love songs from the past four decades designed to appeal to a predominantly female audience.
Colourful - will target the UK's black, African and Caribbean communities, predominantly with talk, but also music such as reggae and soul
BBC Asian Network - the BBC's service will transfer from its own digital radio multiplex at higher audio quality
Channel 4 Bid
E4 Radio - interactive music and entertainment station for 15- to 29 year-olds, spin-off from E4 TV channel
Channel 4 Radio - contemporary speech-based station for 30- to 54-year-olds, offering comment, drama, comedy and documentary programming
Pure4 - knowledgeable, accessible radio station offering music and modern culture, from Channel 4
Talk Radio - from UTV
Closer - spin-off from Emap magazine title, targeting women 30+ with mix of current and classic chart music
Sky News Radio - 24-hour rolling radio news joint venture between BSkyB and Chrysalis
Sunrise Radio UK - station offering mix of Asian music and culture Virgin Radio Viva - aimed at women 15-30
Original - album-led music station for 40- to 59-year-olds, from Canadian company CanWest
Radio Disney - children's station offering music, entertainment and education
Guardian Link 1
Guardian Link 2
I do think some of the proposed services strange and are there to please political parties.
posted by The Great Gildersleeve | 3:20 am
3 Comments:
All I know is that we can't get DAB here. SOmething to do with the French not letting us. Bastards.
Must just add - when typing in the word verification for previous post - the first three letters were...D A B !!
Ahhh, ze French, they probably have a plan that you'll listen to their radio rather than our own...I assume from what you say, you are able to listen to stations from mainland Europe which could be interesting...
If the plan is to eventually switch off FM and AM wavelengths they'll have to offer DAB otherwise what would you do?
And why pay the BBC licence fee if the services cannot be received?
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