tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9078262770562171996.post7444458779205427204..comments2023-07-08T13:44:21.625+01:00Comments on Grant Goddard : radio blog: Radio in Digital Britain - sense and sensiblenessGrant Goddardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13171054298318119431noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9078262770562171996.post-58534878513692266832009-07-23T16:18:17.785+01:002009-07-23T16:18:17.785+01:00Have only just come across your blog via some arti...Have only just come across your blog via some article... Will have to devote some time to read other posts, however for now, a few brief points:<br /><br />1) If vehicles are to be fitted with these DRM-compatible radios, it will surely 'push' the figures towards that magic 50% threshold, not from listener choice, but lack of it!<br /><br />2) I'm not against digital in principle, but why on earth, with 99% (OK, 90+%) of countries on <b>DAB+</b> has that not been considered as a better option - I heard an argument about upsetting 9m DAB radio owners, but there are some 50m to 150m FM capable sets which might be affected, and we will be left with DAB while mass market products will all be going to DAB+<br /><br /><br />3) while we're at it, how soon does one expect the likes of Nokia, Motorola, etc to make mobiles with FM _and_ DAB - pretty much every phone I own has FM built it, and this will render them obsolete (for my needs) if national channels like R4 go off FM. <br /><br />Some of my phones have been used for 7+ years - eg Nokia 8310, same numbers for 12+, and we're not all changing phone every 9 months like teenagers.<br /><br /><br />4) From the gist of your post, I've the feeling that commercial stations will be very unhappy if forced to switch, because of their analogue audience being a good 50% and them struggling to stay afloat, but going back to (1) they could find they have no choice once the magic 50% is achieved...NetworkGuyhttp://www.fasterbb.info/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9078262770562171996.post-91830180631644180682009-07-01T13:02:54.007+01:002009-07-01T13:02:54.007+01:00I am still getting asked why I persist in writing ...I am still getting asked why I persist in writing that Digital Britain is not planning to switch off FM radio.<br /><br />I offer the words of Tony Moretta, CEO of the Digital Radio Development Bureau, interviewed on BBC Radio 4's 'You & Yours' show on 23 June 2009:<br /><br />"Analogue radio isn’t going to vanish. There is still going to be some local services on FM, there is going to be a new tier of community radio running on FM as well. …. By having the national and larger local services migrate to digital, that creates more room for those sort of local radio services. And so analogue radios will still work."<br /><br />Hope that clarifies,<br />Grant.Grant Goddardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13171054298318119431noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9078262770562171996.post-27147062778730458032009-06-26T10:28:14.966+01:002009-06-26T10:28:14.966+01:00Thanks, Anonymous (25 June), for your comment.
Of...Thanks, Anonymous (25 June), for your comment.<br /><br />Of course, you are right that the report said "all services carried on the national and local DAB multiplexes will cease broadcasting on analogue." Does this not mean that stations SIMULCASTING on analogue and FM will be expected to cease broadcasting on analogue? But it still leaves a quantity of local analogue stations that are not simulcasting on DAB because the cost of DAB is prohibitive and/or there is no space on their local DAB multiplex and/or their 'local' multiplex will now be far too large geographically following the proposed merger of DAB multiplexes into larger units. Those analogue stations cannot be expected to switch off analogue transmission simply because they are not "carried on the national and local DAB multiplexes". They will have to be incorporated into Digital Britain's plan "to create a new tier of ultra-local radio which will occupy the FM spectrum", the most categoric statement that FM radio is certainly not going to disappear.<br /><br />Your caveat is that "all the stations people currently expect to find on FM" will migrate. My original comment remains - any station owner (BBC or commercial) that is prepared to turn off a legacy platform still used for 50% of its listening is either incredibly brave or prepared to commit commercial suicide.<br /><br />Check what happened in 1992 when the BBC threatened to turn off Long Wave simulcasting of Radio Four, at a time when FM radios had already been on sale for 40 years.<br />http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/bbc-will-not-bow-to-campaign-over-radio-4-change-1556848.html<br /><br />Seventeen years later, switchoff has still not happened. If Long Wave (with only one UK station) is still with us, what's the chance that FM will still be with us a long while. FM is cheap, it works well, and it's as close to 'universal' coverage and set penetration as we will ever get. It makes no sense to replace it with something that is worse in all those departments.<br /><br />Cheers,<br />GrantGrant Goddardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13171054298318119431noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9078262770562171996.post-9253275283326499132009-06-25T16:12:42.219+01:002009-06-25T16:12:42.219+01:00The report may not have used words like "swit...The report may not have used words like "switchover", but it did seem to imply that result with "all services carried on the national and local DAB multiplexes will cease broadcasting on analogue." (#10)<br /><br />If all the stations people currently expect to find on FM can only be received using DAB in the future, is that not effectively a switchover?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9078262770562171996.post-10373741644590817462009-06-20T21:05:45.236+01:002009-06-20T21:05:45.236+01:00FM just works. It doesnt always work well, but it ...FM just works. It doesnt always work well, but it degrades gracefully. Also, it is inexpensive to receive and involves a lot less complexity to transmit and receive. Not to mention all the FM receivers around and the ease of use in an emergency. FM needs to be maintained. The idea of more local stations is good though.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9078262770562171996.post-43298498600854026072009-06-19T14:52:30.437+01:002009-06-19T14:52:30.437+01:00I count myself lucky to live in a part of the worl...I count myself lucky to live in a part of the world where DAB doesn't exist - the Channel Islands. If it sounds as bad as the music on Sky box radio channels, I simply won't listen. Thank God for mp3 players and decent bitrate files!<br /><br />However, I will tolerate a certain slight amount of slushy swishy sound quality to listen to the news on the hour, and comedy on R4.<br /><br />I refuse to listen to annoying adverts, the same old boring wishy washy ancient hits on commercial radio, and distorted ultra-compressed music on R1.<br /><br />There's no way commercial radio is going to make a listener out of me - thank God for the BBC :)Radio Can Be Annoyingnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9078262770562171996.post-90162512375107188172009-06-19T13:15:46.033+01:002009-06-19T13:15:46.033+01:00I've had some informal, follow-up queries aski...I've had some informal, follow-up queries asking me if the government really intends to take away the promised analogue licence renewals from national commercial radio stations if digital radio take-up does not proceed fast enough. This quote appeared in The Telegraph yesterday:<br /><br />A spokesman from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, said: "Under the proposals in the Digital Britain report the national licences will not go to auction. However, we have been clear that if the digital radio upgrade timetable were to be delayed significantly we would revisit this decision and if appropriate licences would be re-advertised." <br /><br />http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/5561380/Kelvin-MacKenzie-threatens-legal-action-over-Digital-Britain-move-to-upgrade-radio-stations.html<br /><br />Hope that helps,<br />GrantGrant Goddardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13171054298318119431noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9078262770562171996.post-74478729740527783232009-06-19T10:12:24.059+01:002009-06-19T10:12:24.059+01:00On the technical options things seem as muddy as e...On the technical options things seem as muddy as ever, with digital radio standards multiplying (DAB, DAB+, T-DMB), and an unresolved chicken/egg problem with too little exctra content & too few receivers.<br /><br />For the twitterati, the very idea of broadcast transmission may seem quite quaint, and it's not too hard to imagine a world where everyone is connected with an always-on, broadband-ish feed, whether in car, home or train, giving access to 'unlimited' streamed content.<br /><br />Sadly, I can't imagine such a network being sufficiently ubiquitous or cheap for a decade or so to be a replacement for FM coverage, so an interim solution is required. <br /><br />Despite the anguish of audiophile purists, DAB is pretty good and could be better if more spectrum was found. Listening in the car is a joy in areas where FM is badly distorted due to multipath and fading, but coverage needs a significant boost. <br /><br />As for local radio, does the new-ish DRM standard offer a digital migration path? This would free operators from the tyranny of the multiplex structure, and there's no reason why transmission costs should be greater than FM. The obvious wee drawback is that there are no receivers out there...but perhaps this will change with a new generation of DAB/DAB+/DRM chipsets. <br /><br />All in all, an interesting & complex situation, but scary times for commercial operators, and increasingly bland ones for listeners!Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15330098532468600349noreply@blogger.com