Switch Central Scotland DAB Mux

russellellyrussellelly Posts: 11,687
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Flicking through the Central Scotland mux, it's really close to empty. BBC Radio Nan Gaidheal (not too many Gaelic speakers in the central belt, although I'm not sure if it still acts as a way to get both services on digital when Radio Scotland does an AM/FM split?), Central FM (in clearly sub-FM quality) and TalkSport Scotland (a simulcast of what's on Digital1, just different adverts AFAIK?). It's not that long since it had Eklipse, Heart, Gold and XFM, but they've either moved to other muxes or ceased.

As UTV's radio assets are being bought by News Corp, will they want to hang on to this licence? Could it be handed back or sold on? As most of the regional multiplexes in England have gone, I'm not sure why it was decided to keep this one around.

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  • Sid LawSid Law Posts: 4,664
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    Flicking through the Central Scotland mux, it's really close to empty. BBC Radio Nan Gaidheal (not too many Gaelic speakers in the central belt, although I'm not sure if it still acts as a way to get both services on digital when Radio Scotland does an AM/FM split?), Central FM (in clearly sub-FM quality) and TalkSport Scotland (a simulcast of what's on Digital1, just different adverts AFAIK?). It's not that long since it had Eklipse, Heart, Gold and XFM, but they've either moved to other muxes or ceased.

    As UTV's radio assets are being bought by News Corp, will they want to hang on to this licence? Could it be handed back or sold on? As most of the regional multiplexes in England have gone, I'm not sure why it was decided to keep this one around.

    I was in Falkirk at the start of the month and Gold was still on that mux.
    Has Gold now left?
    Nan Gaidheal is a funny one in that it is on the local mux's like Radio Scotland everywhere except the Central belt. Is there/was there not enough space for two BBC services on the Edinburgh and Glasgow mux's?
  • mjdj1689mjdj1689 Posts: 3,303
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    That multiplex is like the Stoke one which is nearly empty as well . Both have the same owner
  • russellellyrussellelly Posts: 11,687
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    Sid Law wrote: »
    I was in Falkirk at the start of the month and Gold was still on that mux.
    Has Gold now left?
    Nan Gaidheal is a funny one in that it is on the local mux's like Radio Scotland everywhere except the Central belt. Is there/was there not enough space for two BBC services on the Edinburgh and Glasgow mux's?

    Gold was to have left on the 4th of July, but I've just checked and it's still going. I'm not sure why.

    http://licensing.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/radio/mux-variations/2016/20160613-Switchdigital-Scotland-Gold.pdf
    mjdj1689 wrote: »
    That multiplex is like the Stoke one which is nearly empty as well . Both have the same owner

    Stoke is a stranger case in a sense, since there are other stations which could go on. Central Scotland has almost all the major stations, albeit on the national and Glasgow/Edinburgh muxes.
  • CiderMonsterCiderMonster Posts: 1,221
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    Flicking through the Central Scotland mux, it's really close to empty. BBC Radio Nan Gaidheal (not too many Gaelic speakers in the central belt, although I'm not sure if it still acts as a way to get both services on digital when Radio Scotland does an AM/FM split?), Central FM (in clearly sub-FM quality) and TalkSport Scotland (a simulcast of what's on Digital1, just different adverts AFAIK?). It's not that long since it had Eklipse, Heart, Gold and XFM, but they've either moved to other muxes or ceased.

    Does seem a bit wasteful, and a bit of a shame

    RNG as a station isn't one I would have on air nationally, and Talk Sport ... I wouldn't let this irrelevance on the Scottish airwaves at all, let's be honest, the only thing Scottish about this will be the ads! :D
  • Sid LawSid Law Posts: 4,664
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    FKToo wrote: »
    Does seem a bit wasteful, and a bit of a shame

    RNG as a station isn't one I would have on air nationally, and Talk Sport ... I wouldn't let this irrelevance on the Scottish airwaves at all, let's be honest, the only thing Scottish about this will be the ads! :D

    Aye, it's ironic that the area where RNG is likely to have most listeners doesn't have a local MUX.

    I never listen to Talksport, but if I did, I think I'd be more likely to tune to the D1 version - certainly in the car.
    Then again, if you never venture much out of the central belt you're not likely to have to retune to the D1 version.
    Did the "Scottish" version used to carry programmes or commentary about Scottish football?
    Does anyone know what version is carried on the four Scottish mw transmitters?
    Is there encouragement to tune to Talksport Scotland on Talksport?
  • david16david16 Posts: 14,821
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    Flicking through the Central Scotland mux, it's really close to empty. BBC Radio Nan Gaidheal (not too many Gaelic speakers in the central belt, although I'm not sure if it still acts as a way to get both services on digital when Radio Scotland does an AM/FM split?), Central FM (in clearly sub-FM quality) and TalkSport Scotland (a simulcast of what's on Digital1, just different adverts AFAIK?). It's not that long since it had Eklipse, Heart, Gold and XFM, but they've either moved to other muxes or ceased.

    As UTV's radio assets are being bought by News Corp, will they want to hang on to this licence? Could it be handed back or sold on? As most of the regional multiplexes in England have gone, I'm not sure why it was decided to keep this one around.

    Will Central FM ever be upgraded to stereo on DAB?

    And what chances of Kingdom FM, Radio Royal and or a central belt equivalent of the Shared Access station on the Tayside mux appearing on DAB in Central Scotland?
  • hanssolohanssolo Posts: 22,561
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    From January will start to look fuller with Scottish Sun Hits, Scottish Sun 80s and Scottish Sun Greatest Hits added (at 128k each?) with Go, Rocksport, Talksport, RNG and Central, with Rock Radio to come?
  • Radio RuderhamRadio Ruderham Posts: 13,776
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    edited 02/01/18 - 11:16 #9
    How does someone get in touch with this mux provider/gate keeper? @radioruderham
  • omnidirectionalomnidirectional Posts: 18,797
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    www.switchdigital.com would be a good place to start. Click Central Scotland then Get in Touch.
  • Radio_GeekRadio_Geek Posts: 2,866
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    edited 02/01/18 - 12:21 #11
    I despise Newscorp.. But their muxes are pretty decent. Switch Central being the equivalent to a regional fm license.
  • stv viewerstv viewer Posts: 17,475
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    Do we think any of the new stations on Switch will also end up on the Ayr mux
  • philenglandphilengland Posts: 8,176
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    edited 02/01/18 - 12:28 #13
    Stoke has been boosted with the 2 new stations, 5 on there now, 7 on Swansea (think Radio Cymru 2 will be added at some point), 10 on Bradford & Huddersfield (I guess some stations on there are in mono)

    Their London mux has 16 and Central Scotland 8 with Aberdeen 10

  • TonyCurrieTonyCurrie Posts: 829
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    FKToo wrote: »
    Flicking through the Central Scotland mux, it's really close to empty. BBC Radio Nan Gaidheal (not too many Gaelic speakers in the central belt, although I'm not sure if it still acts as a way to get both services on digital when Radio Scotland does an AM/FM split?), Central FM (in clearly sub-FM quality) and TalkSport Scotland (a simulcast of what's on Digital1, just different adverts AFAIK?). It's not that long since it had Eklipse, Heart, Gold and XFM, but they've either moved to other muxes or ceased.

    Does seem a bit wasteful, and a bit of a shame

    RNG as a station isn't one I would have on air nationally, and Talk Sport ... I wouldn't let this irrelevance on the Scottish airwaves at all, let's be honest, the only thing Scottish about this will be the ads! :D

    The place with the highest concentration of Gaelic speakers in Scotland is Glasgow, where 10% of all Gaelic speakers live.
  • Mr PringleMr Pringle Posts: 6,469
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    Stoke has been boosted with the 2 new stations, 5 on there now, 7 on Swansea (think Radio Cymru 2 will be added at some point), 10 on Bradford & Huddersfield (I guess some stations on there are in mono)

    Their London mux has 16 and Central Scotland 8 with Aberdeen 10
    I think Radio Cyrmu 2 will only be on the Cardiff mux, like during the trial?
  • chimpanzeechimpanzee Posts: 121
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    edited 03/01/18 - 18:23 #16
    david16 wrote: »
    Flicking through the Central Scotland mux, it's really close to empty. BBC Radio Nan Gaidheal (not too many Gaelic speakers in the central belt, although I'm not sure if it still acts as a way to get both services on digital when Radio Scotland does an AM/FM split?), Central FM (in clearly sub-FM quality) and TalkSport Scotland (a simulcast of what's on Digital1, just different adverts AFAIK?). It's not that long since it had Eklipse, Heart, Gold and XFM, but they've either moved to other muxes or ceased.

    As UTV's radio assets are being bought by News Corp, will they want to hang on to this licence? Could it be handed back or sold on? As most of the regional multiplexes in England have gone, I'm not sure why it was decided to keep this one around.

    Will Central FM ever be upgraded to stereo on DAB?

    And what chances of Kingdom FM, Radio Royal and or a central belt equivalent of the Shared Access station on the Tayside mux appearing on DAB in Central Scotland?

    DAB is cripplingly expensive for small stations to be on - I'm surprised Central are on it, but they must be seeing results in rajar from DAB or they'd have quickly ditched it I'd have thought.

    I think the shared access channel in tayside is given cheap/free access though as the stations on it are non profit services
  • Craig KellyCraig Kelly Posts: 2,653
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    chimpanzee wrote: »
    DAB is cripplingly expensive for small stations to be on - I'm surprised Central are on it, but they must be seeing results in rajar from DAB or they'd have quickly ditched it I'd have thought. I think the shared access channel in tayside is given cheap/free access though as the stations on it are non profit services

    Central FM is on DAB due to the licence renewal agreement in that carriage on DAB means automatic licence renewal rather than having the licence advertised.

    The Bauer Tayside Dundee/Perth DAB mux carriage for community services was part of the original application by SRH in the day. The Access Channel is shared between Heartland FM (Highland Perthshire), Radio North Angus and Bridge HBS (Dundee).

  • neyney Posts: 12,516
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    I'm going back a few years when I emailed Kingdom FM about them going on DAB and they said that although they would like to go on DAB at that time they could not afford to. Don't know if that is still the case.

    Darren
  • omnidirectionalomnidirectional Posts: 18,797
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    chimpanzee wrote: »
    david16 wrote: »
    Flicking through the Central Scotland mux, it's really close to empty. BBC Radio Nan Gaidheal (not too many Gaelic speakers in the central belt, although I'm not sure if it still acts as a way to get both services on digital when Radio Scotland does an AM/FM split?), Central FM (in clearly sub-FM quality) and TalkSport Scotland (a simulcast of what's on Digital1, just different adverts AFAIK?). It's not that long since it had Eklipse, Heart, Gold and XFM, but they've either moved to other muxes or ceased.

    As UTV's radio assets are being bought by News Corp, will they want to hang on to this licence? Could it be handed back or sold on? As most of the regional multiplexes in England have gone, I'm not sure why it was decided to keep this one around.

    Will Central FM ever be upgraded to stereo on DAB?

    And what chances of Kingdom FM, Radio Royal and or a central belt equivalent of the Shared Access station on the Tayside mux appearing on DAB in Central Scotland?

    DAB is cripplingly expensive for small stations to be on - I'm surprised Central are on it, but they must be seeing results in rajar from DAB or they'd have quickly ditched it I'd have thought.

    This isn't Central Scotland related, but in Peterborough Connect FM have just come off DAB due to a "very substantial" increase in the cost. Apparently RAJAR figures show that only 6000 of their 51,000 listeners were listening via DAB.

    https://radiotoday.co.uk/2018/01/connect-fm-leaves-dab-due-to-price-increase/
  • hanssolohanssolo Posts: 22,561
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    chimpanzee wrote: »
    david16 wrote: »
    Flicking through the Central Scotland mux, it's really close to empty. BBC Radio Nan Gaidheal (not too many Gaelic speakers in the central belt, although I'm not sure if it still acts as a way to get both services on digital when Radio Scotland does an AM/FM split?), Central FM (in clearly sub-FM quality) and TalkSport Scotland (a simulcast of what's on Digital1, just different adverts AFAIK?). It's not that long since it had Eklipse, Heart, Gold and XFM, but they've either moved to other muxes or ceased.

    As UTV's radio assets are being bought by News Corp, will they want to hang on to this licence? Could it be handed back or sold on? As most of the regional multiplexes in England have gone, I'm not sure why it was decided to keep this one around.

    Will Central FM ever be upgraded to stereo on DAB?

    And what chances of Kingdom FM, Radio Royal and or a central belt equivalent of the Shared Access station on the Tayside mux appearing on DAB in Central Scotland?

    DAB is cripplingly expensive for small stations to be on - I'm surprised Central are on it, but they must be seeing results in rajar from DAB or they'd have quickly ditched it I'd have thought.

    This isn't Central Scotland related, but in Peterborough Connect FM have just come off DAB due to a "very substantial" increase in the cost. Apparently RAJAR figures show that only 6000 of their 51,000 listeners were listening via DAB.

    https://radiotoday.co.uk/2018/01/connect-fm-leaves-dab-due-to-price-increase/
    From radiotoday
    In response, Arqiva told RadioToday: “We are always disappointed when a radio station comes off digital radio, generally when a contract comes to its agreed end date and there isn’t a renewal. We can’t comment further on confidential details of the contract and renewal negotiations. As is always the case, we work hard to treat all our customers fairly.”
    It could have been Arqiva gave Connect a discounted contract and now they have to pay the full ratecard price. So Adventure (and maybe Communicorp who manage the station) have decided to just go back to the small FM areas (looks like they did not do much promotion in the DAB only areas) and risk others bidding when FM licences come to renew?

    New Wave media did have intentions on Glasgow with it's 96.3 Original bid. Strange they went with the Original name rather than Central?
    From the bid
    Our successful family of radio station’s Original 106, Central FM and Wave 102 are great
    examples of local radio produced and run extremely well
    And now sold Wave 102.

    It could be TWG is offering discounted contracts to Central, Go and Rocksport with the hope they will be successful and renew at the full ratecard price?
    It must suit Central with FM licence auto renewal, but are they being properly promoted in Central Scotland to gain audiences?
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