So people who have no interest in listening to the commercial stations have to have the display on their radio cluttered up with a load of stations they are never going to listen to? Or will there be an option to hide stations as with TV though it can be a real pain getting rid of all the clutter there.
No, you put the stations you want into presets, on my Honda there are separate preset lists for DAB, FM, AM (MW) and LW. You only see all the stations on DAB if you select "All Ensembles" in the DAB menu.
Dutch radio media report that Bauer has switched off the FM transmissions for Kiss and Radio Rock in Norway. They have now become digital-only stations, well before the official DSO in 2017.
Although changes were expected, the timing was a bit sooner than many expected. It will probably be a cost saving measure they can get away with considering analogue radio listening now has a minority share.
Interestingly going DAB only allows them to drop local programming requirements (google translate of first link from above post)
"What also plays a role is that Bauer Media substantial money saved by stopping the broadcasts of Radio Rock and Kiss FM. Not only in transmission costs, but also to costs for programs. FM had two radio stations namely to broadcast local programs in each city. Via DAB + is broadcast just one national program."
Similar to The 'AM death watch' thread, which tracks the switching off of AM broadcasts across Europe, let’s have a thread about the gradual disappearance of FM. LW is almost gone in Europe, AM is following in its footsteps, FM -with its declining listenership- will be next.
Bjørgan points out that complaints relating to possible unlawful state aid can be passed on directly to the EFTA Court, even if the ESA does not consider the case to be sufficiently serious. Deputy Director at NRK Øyvind Vasaasen says to Dagens Næringsliv that he considers a ESA complaint as a serious issue, but that the plan to close the FM network still is in order.
April 29th
In Switzerland, the public-service broadcaster SRG/SSR will end the parallel broadcasting of the last remaining services to use both DAB+ and "original-flavour" DAB on November 15th. From that date, the released capacity will be used to make each language region's third radio network available in DAB+ throughout Switzerland - SRF 3, Couleur 3 and Rete Tre. The complete switch-over from DAB to DAB+ has taken ten years. According to the broadcaster, if all goes according to plan, Switzerland will begin, progressively, to decommission its FM networks beginning 2020.
Most car radios are still analogue, and you can still buy cheap analogue radios, so I can't see FM being wound down for several years. What will probably happen is the BBC will move a popular network like Radio 1 to DAB only in a bid to improve digital take up. I'd imagine once DAB's market share reaches 60 per cent, possibly by the end of the decade, the BBC will start moving its music stations across.
Google translate says he wants to switch national channels off FM two years after the 50% digital listening threshold is reached. Not clear about the plan for local and "rural" radios.
Does anyone agree with me, that the inability of the UK to take up DAB+ is the single biggest reason holding up a popular migration from FM to DAB?
I for one have no interest in DAB for car or serious portable listening on a personal DAB radio so long as so many key stations are in low bitrate mono. My favourite car/personal sources are now BBC iPlayer Radio downloads.
At the moment DAB's only fit for purpose for the kitchen and bedside radio alarm.
my problem with in car is that the coverage is not as good as fm and is patchy to say the least and not everyone can afford to just chuck 50 odd quid at a in car adapter and the sound quality is pretty poor.
admittedly i do have a dab radio at home but the only way i will go for in car is if its dab+ and the price comes down
my problem with in car is that the coverage is not as good as fm and is patchy to say the least and not everyone can afford to just chuck 50 odd quid at a in car adapter and the sound quality is pretty poor.
admittedly i do have a dab radio at home but the only way i will go for in car is if its dab+ and the price comes down
You have got to be joking! Around here FM is next to useless unless you want to listen to BBC 3CR or Heart all the time. DAB is perfect on all muxes which are receivable. Perhaps the problem is those adaptors & rubbish stick on aerials. A proper DAB radio with an external aerial is absolutely perfect when driving around.
Your profile there says you're near Peterborough, I've experienced no problems with DAB travelling around Cambridgeshire.
You have got to be joking! Around here FM is next to useless unless you want to listen to BBC 3CR or Heart all the time. DAB is perfect on all muxes which are receivable. Perhaps the problem is those adaptors & rubbish stick on aerials. A proper DAB radio with an external aerial is absolutely perfect when driving around.
Your profile there says you're near Peterborough, I've experienced no problems with DAB travelling around Cambridgeshire.
around my area its not too bad but i do travel alot and thats when fm comes into its own when dab fails.
i maybe wrong but their aint much else apart from 3cr and heart as well as a few ultra local stations in hearts?
not sure where in hearts you are but when i travel to and from london i never seem to have any probs with fm at all, maybe i have a good fm system and decent antenna in my car then? no probs with 3cr, bob or vibe. dont care about heart as tbh i cant stand it.
around my area its not too bad but i do travel alot and thats when fm comes into its own when dab fails.
i maybe wrong but their aint much else apart from 3cr and heart as well as a few ultra local stations in hearts?
not sure where in hearts you are but when i travel to and from london i never seem to have any probs with fm at all, maybe i have a good fm system and decent antenna in my car then? no probs with 3cr, bob or vibe. dont care about heart as tbh i cant stand it.
Parts of Hertfordshire have issues with FM due to the hills. There are parts where you can get the BBC Nationals from Wrotham, Crystal Palace, Oxford & Bow Brickhall. All receivable but none good enough for consistent interference free reception for more than a few seconds.
Does anyone agree with me, that the inability of the UK to take up DAB+ is the single biggest reason holding up a popular migration from FM to DAB?
I for one have no interest in DAB for car or serious portable listening on a personal DAB radio so long as so many key stations are in low bitrate mono.
But most FM transmissions R1,2,3 and 4, Classic FM, Heart, Capital, Smooth and Bauer's City network are also on Stereo DAB at 128k (192k r3) and sounding good. DAB listening is growing and FM declining, going DAB+ is currently not important for these stations.
But most FM transmissions R1,2,3 and 4, Classic FM, Heart, Capital, Smooth and Bauer's City network are also on Stereo DAB at 128k (192k r3) and sounding good. DAB listening is growing and FM declining, going DAB+ is currently not important for these stations.
I suspect that a large proportion of listeners have never heard of DAB+.
I suspect that a large proportion of listeners have never heard of DAB+.
At least now the UK has 3 national DAB+ stations, Jazz FM now has over a million listeners which will help DAB+ take-up.
Magic Chilled and Fun Kids, (plus Chris Country in some places) will grow by word of mouth.
i think they should just set a date and tell the stations (apart from local community stations) that they got until this date (example 01/01/2020) to switch all your services over to dab. if any of your stations are receivable on FM after this date you will be fined and have your broadcast license revoked.
put a bit of pressure on the stations and their owners and they will no doubt follow suit.
i think they should just set a date and tell the stations (apart from local community stations) that they got until this date (example 01/01/2020) to switch all your services over to dab. if any of your stations are receivable on FM after this date you will be fined and have your broadcast license revoked.
put a bit of pressure on the stations and their owners and they will no doubt follow suit.
The Government has said it must be listener lead so until digital listening goes over 50% no dates can be set, they could follow Norway to get warning labels put on new analogue only radio sets (and there are a lot on sale) to say they may not get all stations in the future.
The Government has said it must be listener lead so until digital listening goes over 50% no dates can be set, they could follow Norway to get warning labels put on new analogue only radio sets (and there are a lot on sale) to say they may not get all stations in the future.
so global and the rest can just drag their heels over it and it could take years. better to get a date in now so everyone in the radio industry has a date to work to and the public know they got untill a set date to replace all their audio radio equipment thats analogue
The Government has said it must be listener lead so until digital listening goes over 50% no dates can be set, they could follow Norway to get warning labels put on new analogue only radio sets (and there are a lot on sale) to say they may not get all stations in the future.
As Matt Deegan writes in response to the latest RAJARs:
But that 44.1% is still yet to included any digital audience boost from the addition of the new D2 stations and Heart Extra – we’ll find out about those in the next quarter. Suddenly that 50% digital listening mark doesn’t seem that far away!
Hitting that target kicks off a load of discussion for the plans to transition off analogue radio. Indeed, in the BBC White Paper the Government have mandated that the BBC will help lead that process.
digital radio listening has jumped quite a bit to 44.1% in the first quarter of 2016 and that doesn't include the expected increase in digital listening since the launch of Digital 2.
I would be very surprised if analogue listening in the UK is still above 50% by the end of the year. As soon as it has dropped to a minority we'll see more movement towards moving away from FM.
As I've said before, I expect a "soft DSO" to happen irrespective of any "hard DSO". Stations will simply do the sums and notice that it becomes less interesting to keep spending the bulk of their distribution budget on a method that attracts less than half of their listeners. This could mean some stations decide to go digital-only with a relatively small impact on their audience figures.
...Stations will simply do the sums and notice that it becomes less interesting to keep spending the bulk of their distribution budget on a method that attracts less than half of their listeners. This could mean some stations decide to go digital-only with a relatively small impact on their audience figures.
The equation is probably more favourable to DAB than 50%, which is the DCMS DSO announcement threshold. You're assuming that a station switching off FM means the OPEX is saved, but the revenue-per-pop in the FM listening area is lost. In reality many FM listeners will be in the joint coverage area and able to switch to listening on digital, at a higher revenue-per-pop due to DAB's lower distribution costs.
i think they should just set a date and tell the stations (apart from local community stations) that they got until this date (example 01/01/2020) to switch all your services over to dab. if any of your stations are receivable on FM after this date you will be fined and have your broadcast license revoked.
put a bit of pressure on the stations and their owners and they will no doubt follow suit.
Harsh but I do agree. AM should go a year earlier. There is an incredible waste of resources in the duplication of platforms in the UK. Some BBC stations are on AM, FM, DAB, Freeview, Freesat, Sky, Virgin and on line and some commercials almost as bad. Surely this is not necessary? There should be a ban on marketing radios not carrying DAB+ as we need to improve DAB quality as soon as possible by going DAB+.
Harsh but I do agree. AM should go a year earlier. There is an incredible waste of resources in the duplication of platforms in the UK. Some BBC stations are on AM, FM, DAB, Freeview, Freesat, Sky, Virgin and on line and some commercials almost as bad. Surely this is not necessary? There should be a ban on marketing radios not carrying DAB+ as we need to improve DAB quality as soon as possible by going DAB+.
the selling of radios with AM and FM should be fazed out along with DAB only radios. the selling of DAB+ radios should be pushed as they can also receive original DAB as well as in the end more stations can be pushed onto a mux on DAB+ so the mux operaters will see pound signs in moving to DAB+ as if they get more stations on their mux they get more money.
to be honest i cant see the point of having radio on freesat, sky and virgin but freeview should be just left to have the bbc nationals on there to pick up the slack where DAB and DAB+ still cannot reach.
The equation is probably more favourable to DAB than 50%, which is the DCMS DSO announcement threshold. You're assuming that a station switching off FM means the OPEX is saved, but the revenue-per-pop in the FM listening area is lost. In reality many FM listeners will be in the joint coverage area and able to switch to listening on digital, at a higher revenue-per-pop due to DAB's lower distribution costs.
Fair point. There are likely a fair amount of listeners who currently listen to FM who could just as easily switch to another form of listening to the same station with a simple press of a button.
Don't forget, for the whole abandoning FM discussion (whether it's an individual station leaving FM because it's lost its economic viability for them or any industry-wide concerted action) it doesn't matter what people are leaving FM for.
They could switch to satellite, DAB/DAB+, FreeView, online, two cans on a string or who knows which other technology and it has no bearing on the discussion. All that matters is that these people have stopped listening to FM and so FM becomes less valuable as a distribution technology.
That is also why the DSO criteria talk about "digital radio" and not DAB. If everyone were to abandon DAB tomorrow and switch en masse to online radio the debate remains the same since they've stopped listening to FM.
It's not a discussion about "abandoning FM", whatever the thread title may say. Instead it's musings out loud about network radio's migration to DAB or more likely DAB+ by the time we get to it, leaving FM for locals.
Growing up and acquiring a love for radio of all sorts in the late 70s and early 80s, 1996 and the full availability of all 20 MHz of Band II for WBFM broadcasting seemed aaaaaaages away. In the 20 years since other users cleared it, Band II has been a faithful and ever-improving servant to the radio broadcaster and really the last thing we should be doing is giving gubbermint any indication that it's now not needed.
Sure, minimux DAB may eventually come to rule the roost but getting one of those up and running involves mastery of the ball-ache of putting together a mux and herding the cats onto it. So there's still a huge cost, except in the time and hassle of managing the thing, rather than the up-front hit in the wallet of a couple of Raspberry Pis and a laptop.
Conversely, under a grand buys you all the kit you need for a local FM service, add a spare laptop and some free mixing software and you're a broadcaster. So what should actually be happening at the same time is a campaign to raise this awareness with DCMS and Ofcom, and maybe also get it mentioned more often in emails to radio manufacturers and online fora that there's absolutely no technical reason why an FM/DAB+ set can't have a unified program guide of all services, whether FM community/local or DAB+ national.
Comments
No, you put the stations you want into presets, on my Honda there are separate preset lists for DAB, FM, AM (MW) and LW. You only see all the stations on DAB if you select "All Ensembles" in the DAB menu.
Although changes were expected, the timing was a bit sooner than many expected. It will probably be a cost saving measure they can get away with considering analogue radio listening now has a minority share.
"What also plays a role is that Bauer Media substantial money saved by stopping the broadcasts of Radio Rock and Kiss FM. Not only in transmission costs, but also to costs for programs. FM had two radio stations namely to broadcast local programs in each city. Via DAB + is broadcast just one national program."
http://digitalradioinsider.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/efta-might-force-norway-to-close-dab.html http://radio.no/2015/04/norway-to-switch-off-fm-in-2017/
noticed an update on Wohnort
http://www.telecompaper.com/news/flanders-targets-fm-shutdown-within-5-years--1143530
This is the original report
http://www.standaard.be/cnt/dmf20160513_02287697
Google translate says he wants to switch national channels off FM two years after the 50% digital listening threshold is reached. Not clear about the plan for local and "rural" radios.
I for one have no interest in DAB for car or serious portable listening on a personal DAB radio so long as so many key stations are in low bitrate mono. My favourite car/personal sources are now BBC iPlayer Radio downloads.
At the moment DAB's only fit for purpose for the kitchen and bedside radio alarm.
admittedly i do have a dab radio at home but the only way i will go for in car is if its dab+ and the price comes down
You have got to be joking! Around here FM is next to useless unless you want to listen to BBC 3CR or Heart all the time. DAB is perfect on all muxes which are receivable. Perhaps the problem is those adaptors & rubbish stick on aerials. A proper DAB radio with an external aerial is absolutely perfect when driving around.
Your profile there says you're near Peterborough, I've experienced no problems with DAB travelling around Cambridgeshire.
around my area its not too bad but i do travel alot and thats when fm comes into its own when dab fails.
i maybe wrong but their aint much else apart from 3cr and heart as well as a few ultra local stations in hearts?
not sure where in hearts you are but when i travel to and from london i never seem to have any probs with fm at all, maybe i have a good fm system and decent antenna in my car then? no probs with 3cr, bob or vibe. dont care about heart as tbh i cant stand it.
Parts of Hertfordshire have issues with FM due to the hills. There are parts where you can get the BBC Nationals from Wrotham, Crystal Palace, Oxford & Bow Brickhall. All receivable but none good enough for consistent interference free reception for more than a few seconds.
https://www.worlddab.org/news/6218/belgium-pledges-5-4-million-for-digital-radio
I suspect that a large proportion of listeners have never heard of DAB+.
Magic Chilled and Fun Kids, (plus Chris Country in some places) will grow by word of mouth.
http://radiotoday.co.uk/2016/05/rajar-q1-2016-infographic/
Digital listening is now 44.1% with DAB 70% of the total, so the UK is getting close to the 50% figure when a radio FM/AM switchoff date for main stations can be announced.
put a bit of pressure on the stations and their owners and they will no doubt follow suit.
so global and the rest can just drag their heels over it and it could take years. better to get a date in now so everyone in the radio industry has a date to work to and the public know they got untill a set date to replace all their audio radio equipment thats analogue
As Matt Deegan writes in response to the latest RAJARs: digital radio listening has jumped quite a bit to 44.1% in the first quarter of 2016 and that doesn't include the expected increase in digital listening since the launch of Digital 2.
I would be very surprised if analogue listening in the UK is still above 50% by the end of the year. As soon as it has dropped to a minority we'll see more movement towards moving away from FM.
As I've said before, I expect a "soft DSO" to happen irrespective of any "hard DSO". Stations will simply do the sums and notice that it becomes less interesting to keep spending the bulk of their distribution budget on a method that attracts less than half of their listeners. This could mean some stations decide to go digital-only with a relatively small impact on their audience figures.
Harsh but I do agree. AM should go a year earlier. There is an incredible waste of resources in the duplication of platforms in the UK. Some BBC stations are on AM, FM, DAB, Freeview, Freesat, Sky, Virgin and on line and some commercials almost as bad. Surely this is not necessary? There should be a ban on marketing radios not carrying DAB+ as we need to improve DAB quality as soon as possible by going DAB+.
the selling of radios with AM and FM should be fazed out along with DAB only radios. the selling of DAB+ radios should be pushed as they can also receive original DAB as well as in the end more stations can be pushed onto a mux on DAB+ so the mux operaters will see pound signs in moving to DAB+ as if they get more stations on their mux they get more money.
to be honest i cant see the point of having radio on freesat, sky and virgin but freeview should be just left to have the bbc nationals on there to pick up the slack where DAB and DAB+ still cannot reach.
They could switch to satellite, DAB/DAB+, FreeView, online, two cans on a string or who knows which other technology and it has no bearing on the discussion. All that matters is that these people have stopped listening to FM and so FM becomes less valuable as a distribution technology.
That is also why the DSO criteria talk about "digital radio" and not DAB. If everyone were to abandon DAB tomorrow and switch en masse to online radio the debate remains the same since they've stopped listening to FM.
Growing up and acquiring a love for radio of all sorts in the late 70s and early 80s, 1996 and the full availability of all 20 MHz of Band II for WBFM broadcasting seemed aaaaaaages away. In the 20 years since other users cleared it, Band II has been a faithful and ever-improving servant to the radio broadcaster and really the last thing we should be doing is giving gubbermint any indication that it's now not needed.
Sure, minimux DAB may eventually come to rule the roost but getting one of those up and running involves mastery of the ball-ache of putting together a mux and herding the cats onto it. So there's still a huge cost, except in the time and hassle of managing the thing, rather than the up-front hit in the wallet of a couple of Raspberry Pis and a laptop.
Conversely, under a grand buys you all the kit you need for a local FM service, add a spare laptop and some free mixing software and you're a broadcaster. So what should actually be happening at the same time is a campaign to raise this awareness with DCMS and Ofcom, and maybe also get it mentioned more often in emails to radio manufacturers and online fora that there's absolutely no technical reason why an FM/DAB+ set can't have a unified program guide of all services, whether FM community/local or DAB+ national.