Lincolnshire DAB mass station loss after July
CitySlicker
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When MXR closes their regional mux for Yorkshire this will also bring down the service for their Lincolnshire listeners as MuxCo is set to take over the service for Lincolnshire residents.
Current stations on MXR include XFM, Heart, Capital and Smooth.
As I sometimes drive about this neck of the woods I don't mind having these stations on as I'm going through, so I dropped MuxCo a line to ask particularly about Heart and Capital to see if they would carry these services. They've replied saying in so many words Global hasn't been in touch and suggested I ask Global direct.
I've sent Global an email but don't expect a reply, so I'd say it's a fair bet residents who tune into any of the MXR services currently will find they will be replaced by... wait for it... the only three published services at launch are Lincs FM, Compass FM and BBC Lincolnshire.
(In other words the only change from FM is residents in the south of the county will be able to hear a Grimsby focussed station).
Either the penny hasn't dropped with the locals or else we'd hear more about it on here, or people really don't care about losing these stations? I remember when the decision was made not to extend MXR's licences in favour of 'progress' but how is going from having 8 unique DAB stations not available on FM, over to just a replication of 3 local FM services progress?
Current stations on MXR include XFM, Heart, Capital and Smooth.
As I sometimes drive about this neck of the woods I don't mind having these stations on as I'm going through, so I dropped MuxCo a line to ask particularly about Heart and Capital to see if they would carry these services. They've replied saying in so many words Global hasn't been in touch and suggested I ask Global direct.
I've sent Global an email but don't expect a reply, so I'd say it's a fair bet residents who tune into any of the MXR services currently will find they will be replaced by... wait for it... the only three published services at launch are Lincs FM, Compass FM and BBC Lincolnshire.
(In other words the only change from FM is residents in the south of the county will be able to hear a Grimsby focussed station).
Either the penny hasn't dropped with the locals or else we'd hear more about it on here, or people really don't care about losing these stations? I remember when the decision was made not to extend MXR's licences in favour of 'progress' but how is going from having 8 unique DAB stations not available on FM, over to just a replication of 3 local FM services progress?
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Interesting that someone who lives inside the M25 would be so bothered about a regional service that covers less than half of Lincolnshire anyway - Lincoln isn't even served by service, never mind the coast, mid- and south Lincs. But anything to have a pop at Lincs FM, eh?
Perhaps let those in Lincolnshire decide, not occasional visitors from London.
Quite possibly.
Perhaps if you hadn't bent a few facts to suit your pro-Global agenda, I wouldn't have felt the need to stop 'jogging'. I wonder why someone from London cares what the people of Scunthorpe, Grimsby and Brigg think about losing Global stations, unless they have more than just a passing interest?
Yawn, not engaging.
Mmm, I think the same about Global's stations.
Interesting why you refuse to answer why you are so bothered about DAB radio in a small part of a county miles away you only visit occasionally.
It's likely Capital will move there, probably Smooth and Heart (I suspect the latter two will be the London version).
http://radiotoday.co.uk/2012/09/regional-mxr-digital-multiplexes-to-close/ They have added some of their stations to some Muxco muxes, but not all, still not confirmed what will happen when MXR Yorkshire closes, but guess Global will have existing Rajar figures for their DAB stations in the areas and if they can make money by ad revenue to pay to go on the local Yorkshire and Lincs muxes.
BBC Radio Lincolnshire
Lincs FM
Capital Yorkshire/London
Heart Yorkshire/Peterborough/London
Smooth East Midlands
Other possibilities include:
Compass FM
Lincs Country
XFM
KISSTORY
Heat
Well it would be a shame to lose XFM, but I couldn't give a flying monkey's toss about any of the other stations on MXR Yorkshire.
With an outdoor antenna in Louth, I can receive the Humberside MUX (from which Lincs FM was removed some time ago) but you can forget it on portables - the same goes for the excellent Compass FM on 96.4 FM which rapidly vanishes south of the A16 Roundabout.
It would be great to hear Compass and Lincs on a DAB ensemble from Belmont, but Compass isn't even on the Humberside MUX - it's FM only.
From the maps on http://www.thisisglobal.com/radio/
There are large areas they are not even terrestrially covering with Heart or Capital?
They are not saying if coverage will change?
Well Heart and Capital have no Lincolnshire coverage on FM and AM reception here is dreadful unless you're a fan of the Dutch stations.
XFM in Manchester has always been on the "local" DAB MUX from when it was CE Manchester only broadcast from Sunley tower - Perhaps these Global stations will be used to fill up any new MUX from Belmont.
I'd say that scenario was more probable than Compass - a station only really for Grimsby / Immingham - being made available to the entire county.
I am afraid we don’t have any immediate plans to broadcast Capital or Heart on the Lincolnshire DAB multiplex when it launches.
We will be launching Capital on the Humberside, South Yorkshire and Leeds local multiplexes when MXR Yorkshire ceases transmission as these are the areas in which Capital is available on FM. Please note that Heart Yorkshire is owned by Communicorp UK and not by Global. Communicorp operate the station under a brand licence agreement with us.
The MXR Yorkshire multiplex does extend further south into parts of Lincolnshire than the Humberside multiplex so you are correct that there will be some parts of Lincolnshire that will lose DAB reception of Capital (and Heart). We do appreciate that this will disappoint some listeners so I thought it would be worthwhile explaining our reasons.
Along with the rest of the radio industry and the BBC, Global are investing substantial sums to improve the coverage of local DAB to bring local DAB coverage into line with local stations on FM. The industry is coming together to make this investment, and that is why the decision was made to close the MXR regional multiplexes and focus on the local DAB layer.
The coverage build out is going to cost many millions of pounds and we have had to choose where best to focus that investment. Our first priority is to ensure that listeners can get good DAB reception of our stations in areas where they are used to getting FM reception. Without this, it is very hard for us to promote digital radio effectively on our stations. So we have chosen at this point in time not to launch stations on local DAB multiplexes in areas where we do not have local FM stations. Because neither Capital nor Heart broadcast on FM across Lincolnshire, we have decided not to launch these stations on the Lincolnshire multiplex for the time being. However, we're not ruling doing so at some point in the future.
I am sorry we won't be able to offer Capital or Heart on DAB in Lincolnshire for the time being – but both stations are available on Sky, Virgin Media, Freeview and of course online.
Cheers for that.
Perhaps XFM on the Humberside MUX then too? There should be enough space at 112kbps JStereo.
Only my kitchen DAB radio is not connected to the rooftop dipole.
The MXR regional multiplex falls silent in late June this year and in place of that we will be broadcasting our Heart Yorkshire service on local DABs across Leeds, Sheffield and Bradford matching our current FM coverage in those areas. However as you may be aware our FM coverage doesn’t extend into Lincolnshire and so we have decided at this point not to put our Heart Yorkshire service on the new Lincolnshire DAB straight away. Our overall expectation is that DAB listenership will expand significantly over the next couple of years across the country driven by improved local DAB coverage and a new National DAB network in circa March 2016 providing 16 new stations and so whilst we will not be on your local DAB straight away we will continue to evaluate the opportunities in Lincolnshire.
Absolute rubbish once again, as there is plenty of overlap FM signal in large parts of Lincolnshire for Heart.
People in south Lincolnshire (Stamford, Spalding, Boston) can easily receive Heart on 102.7. The area around Lincoln, Gainsborough and Scunthorpe can tune in to 106.2.
I doubt some of these London media people even know where Lincolnshire is, never mind what is actually already out there on the radio. Realistically only Grimsby, Grantham, Skegness and Sleaford are towns of any size that cannot get Heart.
You can get Heart 106.2 in Grantham as I have managed to pick it up before.
I was in Skeggy last year & found Lincs Fm.
I didnt miss Heart or Smooth.
What I missed was a decent late night phone in!
The flat Fenlands in the south of the county allows neighbouring signals to travel for miles, meaning the powerful signal for Heart Peterborough can get quite far north into Lincolnshire. Smooth Radio from Waltham is also pretty strong in those parts too.
The Heart 106.2 Emley Moor signal blasts in to the north-west and middle parts of the county and is a solid signal as far as the Wolds by Belmont itself.
This idea that the county has no commercial radio choice on FM just isn't true!
What the Communicorp statement is saying when DAB listening increases Plus as you say Heart extra will probably launch on D1 sometime, then when the local DAB listening is increased, Communicorp and Global might find it cost effective to put local versions of Heart, Capital, Smooth and perhaps XFM on local mixes in areas such as Lincolnshire, Mid Wales, Noryh and East Yorks, North Scotland and Northern Ireland, and maybe Southern Ireland?
Currently does seem strange as Lincolnshire has some limited coverage of stations like Heart as overspill of MXR Yorkshire on the Belmont transmitter which will soon be lost, or on FM overspill?.
What the Communicorp statement is saying when DAB listening figures increase they may add stations to the new local DAB mux? Plus as you say Heart extra will probably launch on D1 sometime, and D2 might be on Belmont?, then when the local DAB listening figure is increased, Communicorp and Global might find it cost effective to put local versions of Heart, Capital, Smooth and perhaps XFM on local mixes in areas such as Lincolnshire, Mid Wales, North and East Yorks, North Scotland and Northern Ireland, and maybe Southern Ireland?