IRN News finishes

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  • bobbles69bobbles69 Posts: 74
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    Can anyone confirm if the delivery from the Sirius satellite will remain and on the same frequencys? I was under the impression that it was however a colleague says otherwise...:rolleyes::rolleyes:
  • lbc417lbc417 Posts: 654
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    Radio Vet wrote: »
    The really sad thing is that there is now no longer any competition in the provision of world and national news in UK commercial radio. So - allowing for the fact that the recession is hardly a good time to start such a venture - there could be an opportunity for the likes of Reuters, CNN or even the BBC (!) to step in and provide a new alternative to IRN.

    You might remember there was Network News (or was it called News Network??), provided by Chiltern Radio Group, until GWR took over. Really, until a few years ago, IRN was the only provider of national and international news for ILR/commercial radio, so we're only going back to the old days again, by having just one provider, not that it's a good thing (i.e. a monopoly).

    I doubt the BBC themselves could provide such a service, but their commercial arm (BBC Worldwide) could! ;)

    As far as I know FSN and CNN do provide such a news service, but very few, if any, take it. Perhaps Arqiva could provide a news service, considering they seem to be buying everything up at the moment... :rolleyes:

    AFAIK, Sirius will continue, as some of the IRN feeds carry Hit 40 UK, Obit alerts, data, etc.
  • bobbles69bobbles69 Posts: 74
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    bobbles69 wrote: »
    Can anyone confirm if the delivery from the Sirius satellite will remain and on the same frequencys? I was under the impression that it was however a colleague says otherwise...:rolleyes::rolleyes:

    I have had it confimed by IRN Enginerring that the Sirus service will remain as is.:)
  • Tim PageTim Page Posts: 29
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    lbc417 wrote: »
    You might remember there was Network News (or was it called News Network??), provided by Chiltern Radio Group, until GWR took over.

    Yup.. Network News, of which I was proud to be part despite it being a fairly humble effort in the corner of Chiltern's newsroom distributing cues by fax :)

    And (in response to Radio Vet's point further up) Reuters have already been there and got the T-shirt too - Reuters Radio News was of a similar vintage to Network News.

    Given the co-operation the BBC's negotiating with ITV Regional News right now to share resources, I'd imagine the BBC could play a part at some point. The thing is finding a model which (a) helps rather than hinders commercial companies, (b) does so without damaging the BBC's non-commercial credibility and (c) doesn't reduce "plurality" (ie making the BBC the only voice of broadcast news).

    Two things stymied the competition in the past, the first of which remains powerful, the second less so:

    1 - IRN made a smart move switching to funding by Newslink while it was a monopoly, and rebating revenues to stations. That always trumped any editorial consideration for the group decision makers.. even (eek) 18 years ago. Anyone who thinks they can take on IRN had better find a very cheap business model which leaves plenty of profit for subscribers.. because that's the key driver.

    2 - Technology. IRN's size allowed it to invest heavily in its infrastructure and dish it out at reasonable cost to subscribers. In the days of fax machines, that made them so much more powerful. In the days of the internet (and decent connections to it), it's virtually irrelevant if you do it right.

    I think.. and I've heard people at IRN admit.. that it's tended to be better when it's had competition for contracts - things like a choice of bulletin, entertainment news feeds etc came about when IRN had to future-proof itself against competition. What's the situation on that score now? Is Sky still selling the service or parts of it with an alternative funding stream?
  • bobbles69bobbles69 Posts: 74
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    Tim Page wrote: »
    Yup.. Network News, of which I was proud to be part despite it being a fairly humble effort in the corner of Chiltern's newsroom distributing cues by fax :)

    We used to use Network News at my Hospital station as well as Supergold (ahh the memories!)

    And Tim and Angus being the 2 names I remember well - it was a fab service and a sad day when it went off :(
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 361
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    Hi i am shure i have heard a irn/sky news reader called ben piddle .Or then i may be wrong.Back in the 70/s douglasss cameron was a good newsreader .
  • philenglandphilengland Posts: 8,176
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    we moved our dish at the weekend to Astra 28.2 - i have to say that Sky News seems more professional that IRN, they don't trip up over words every other line they read
  • EnnerjeeEnnerjee Posts: 5,131
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    astrop wrote: »
    Back in the 70s douglas cameron was a good newsreader.

    They all were - David Geary, Alan Clarke, Dicky Arbiter, Alan King, etc.
  • tomhourigantomhourigan Posts: 776
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    astrop wrote: »
    i am shure i have heard a irn/sky news reader called ben piddle .
    Ben Biddulph, Simon.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 26
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    What will be on the Sirius audio channels from Tuesday seeing IRN will be no more?

    Leigh...
  • belleville1belleville1 Posts: 2,674
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    What will be on the Sirius audio channels from Tuesday seeing IRN will be no more?

    Leigh...

    If vinnielo stumbles across this, he'll be able to give a fuller answer, but the channels are also used for things like Hit 40 UK and various groups' network programmes (TLRC springs to mind).
  • sparrysparry Posts: 2,053
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    What will be on the Sirius audio channels from Tuesday seeing IRN will be no more?

    Leigh...

    IRN will still be on there (or the IRN service provided by Sky News will be) as that channel is not changing.

    The only service that is closing altogether is the current Hotbird service. All current users of this have been advised to switch to Astra or Sirius.

    In addition, from Tuesday there will be a 3 second delay on the Astra service.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 329
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    sparry wrote: »
    In addition, from Tuesday there will be a 3 second delay on the Astra service.

    For existing stations taking the existing Sky News Radio feed - groups like UKRD who were existing SNR clients.

    If you take the feed via the existing IRN satelites, then there's zero delay - it's just as it is now.
  • philenglandphilengland Posts: 8,176
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    its annoying for stations who were taking irn from 13e, a delay there, moved to astra2 for sky and find no delay (moved our dish last weekend), and from tuesday delay is back!

    had to re-time the start of the news jingle!
  • Mark CMark C Posts: 20,724
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    Ennerjee wrote: »
    They all were - David Geary, Alan Clarke, Dicky Arbiter, Alan King, etc.


    ....Robin Houston, Peter Deely, Greg Bance, Steve Crozier, Bill Bingham, and even Steve Allen.
  • Toxteth O'GradyToxteth O'Grady Posts: 8,476
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    Radio Vet wrote: »
    The really sad thing is that there is now no longer any competition in the provision of world and national news in UK commercial radio. So - allowing for the fact that the recession is hardly a good time to start such a venture - there could be an opportunity for the likes of Reuters, CNN or even the BBC (!) to step in and provide a new alternative to IRN.

    IRN was a monopoly for years and is again, it's had no competition for most of it's life - Chiltern's Network News closed, Reuters Radio News closed and now Sky has come under the umbrella of IRN.

    CNN don't have enough resources over here and an American-centric news service wouldn't be popular. Apart from the BBC the only other organisations that would or could set up an alternative are ITN and PA
  • JamSirJamSir Posts: 1,053
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    Birmingham community station Aston FM has switched to Sky News Radio already.

    Be interested to hear from other forum members come Tuesday evening how many news bulletins don't appear or how many bulletins are followed by 60 seconds of silence, especially once overnight automation kicks in.

    I reckon the amount of stations that get it wrong could number in the hundreds!!
  • sparrysparry Posts: 2,053
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    JamSir wrote: »
    Birmingham community station Aston FM has switched to Sky News Radio already.

    Be interested to hear from other forum members come Tuesday evening how many news bulletins don't appear or how many bulletins are followed by 60 seconds of silence, especially once overnight automation kicks in.

    I reckon the amount of stations that get it wrong could number in the hundreds!!

    We (102.3 HFM - Market Harborough) switched last Monday, and as I said above, the only comment I would have is that it sounds rushed, compared to what we are used to.

    As for the delay, it is interesting to note that this wasn't mentioned in the original letter that was sent out to subscribers.

    We are in the slightly fortunate position in that we don't use IRN during the day, as we produce our own news, but the introduction of the delay means that our Programme Controller has had to reprogram the overnight automation twice in the space of a week!
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 26
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    sparry wrote: »
    IRN will still be on there (or the IRN service provided by Sky News will be) as that channel is not changing.

    The only service that is closing altogether is the current Hotbird service. All current users of this have been advised to switch to Astra or Sirius.

    In addition, from Tuesday there will be a 3 second delay on the Astra service.

    Thanks for this - we've very quickly, at Focal, got the Astra 28.2E feed in place and factored the delay into automation.

    Will be sorting the Sirius out this week.

    Leigh.....
  • omnidirectionalomnidirectional Posts: 18,796
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    With the final ITN produced bulletin today at 13:00, which (if any) stations will it be broadcast on?
  • tomhourigantomhourigan Posts: 776
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    Jazz FM? They were still taking IRN bulletins late last night.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 667
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    Why all the fuss? Who cares where national and international news on local radio comes from?

    Are you telling me that even if there was competition stations would go with the best over the cheapest?

    Thought not.

    What are community stations doing banging out IRN or Sky News anyway? Surely the whole point of a community licence is community-orientated content? Get your own news! Do a deal with the local paper or something. I'm sure they'd be glad of a few extra quid a week.
  • radiobloke2004radiobloke2004 Posts: 689
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    Well, that was the last bulletin. Liked the out cue... "From ITN, this is Independent Radio News."

    Good luck to all those who worked for IRN.
  • wilson500wilson500 Posts: 1,096
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    "From ITN this is Independent Radio News" was the out cue of the 1pm news. Unfortunately, in true IRN style, the newsreader over ran, and it got cut off on the station I was listening to.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 498
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    We had it on our station it was with Moira Alderson
    and at the end she said "from ITN this is Independent Radio News"
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