[Peace100]

Originally Posted by gwrbristol

Craig Wright has a long day today 6-10 on Breeze Breakfast then 10-3 on Midwest.

Unless he has the ability to transfer himself from Bristol to Yeovil in a 3 minute news bulletin the networking must already be in place.

VT comes to mind!!!

[skandia]

Originally Posted by gwrbristol

Craig Wright has a long day today 6-10 on Breeze Breakfast then 10-3 on Midwest.

Unless he has the ability to transfer himself from Bristol to Yeovil in a 3 minute news bulletin the networking must already be in place.

Its all coming from Bristol now. Yeovil studios are now history. Check out http://www.midwestradio.co.uk/info/

Craig sounds to be VT'ed every time I have heard him. No interaction with the listeners, his links getting cut off mid sentence, no travel (even when the A303 Ilminster bypass was closed @ 1PM the other day) etc.

My previous comments re the sound quality were premature. They have fixed the top end and the obvious distortion.
The EQ & compression are now excessive to my ears, more than I like. Still sounds fatiguing, I cannot just leave Midwest on for hours like I used to. I now go often hop to radio 2 to give my ears a rest!

For listeners to the 106.6 frequency (Windwhistle Hill) the constant "birdy whistles" & back ground noise of frying eggs has gone.

Guess they are line feeding Windwhistle Hill now & not off air relaying 105.6 (Charlock Hill).
I wonder if they are now relaying Windwhistle Hill via Charlock Hill now?

[gwrbristol]

Originally Posted by skandia

Its all coming from Bristol now. Yeovil studios are now history. Check out http://www.midwestradio.co.uk/info/

Craig sounds to be VT'ed every time I have heard him. No interaction with the listeners, his links getting cut off mid sentence, no travel (even when the A303 Ilminster bypass was closed @ 1PM the other day) etc.

My previous comments re the sound quality were premature. They have fixed the top end and the obvious distortion.
The EQ & compression are now excessive to my ears, more than I like. Still sounds fatiguing, I cannot just leave Midwest on for hours like I used to. I now go often hop to radio 2 to give my ears a rest!

For listeners to the 106.6 frequency (Windwhistle Hill) the constant "birdy whistles" & back ground noise of frying eggs has gone.

Guess they are line feeding Windwhistle Hill now & not off air relaying 105.6 (Charlock Hill).
I wonder if they are now relaying Windwhistle Hill via Charlock Hill now?

I think you mean Coker Hill.

[-ajm-]

Originally Posted by gwrbristol

I think you mean Coker Hill.

Midwest Somerset has three TXs.

[skandia]

Originally Posted by gwrbristol

I think you mean Coker Hill.

Midwest stopped using Coker Hill some years ago.

See http://tx.mb21.co.uk/gallery/gallerypage.php?txid=1790

and the OFCOM Txparams spreadsheet:
http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/bro...ch_parameters/

[gwrbristol]

Originally Posted by skandia

Midwest stopped using Coker Hill some years ago.

See http://tx.mb21.co.uk/gallery/gallerypage.php?txid=1790

and the OFCOM Txparams spreadsheet:
http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/bro...ch_parameters/

Oops - my mistake.

[-ajm-]

Originally Posted by -ajm-

Midwest Somerset has three TXs.

Originally Posted by skandia

Midwest stopped using Coker Hill some years ago.

See http://tx.mb21.co.uk/gallery/gallerypage.php?txid=1790

and the OFCOM Txparams spreadsheet:
http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/bro...ch_parameters/

So is mb21 outdated?

[skandia]

Well the entry for Coker Hill on MB21 is incorrect re the use of 105.6 MHz.

Coker Hill & Charlock Hill are only a few miles apart, if they were both using 105.6 MHz then the interference would be considerable.

[Willum]

Originally Posted by -ajm-

Midwest Somerset has three TXs.

No, only two.

[jack846]

Originally Posted by Willum

No, only two.

According to the OFCOM parameter sheet, they still use 4 transmitters, at Shaftesbury, North Dorset Council, Windwhistle and Charlock Hill.

[hanssolo]

Interesting looking at at the Muxco application from 2008, which may now get the go ahead from Ofcom this Summer and launch 2013 from Mendip and Taunton, with Hutton and Yeovil Coker Hill and about 10 other sites to follow, so the whole county is almost covered with indoor reception?
http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/bin...DAB_V1_0_A.pdf

http://www.muxco.com/applications/somerset/

The services, at the time proposed were are as follows:

Orchard FM
Star 107.7
Ivel FM
Quaywest
Easy Radio
UCB UK
Traffic Radio
BBC Radio Somerset

Orchard is now Heart
Star is now Nova and become county wide
Ivel became Midwest and will become Breeze countywide (with Quaywest)
Easy, UCB and Traffic will not make the lineup, but it's possible Kiss, Capital, Fire and Jack may now join the mux?

[Willum]

Originally Posted by jack846

According to the OFCOM parameter sheet, they still use 4 transmitters, at Shaftesbury, North Dorset Council, Windwhistle and Charlock Hill.

Yes, but two of those are for MidWest Dorset.

I was referring to a claim that MidWest Somerset had more than two transmitters. But I realise the whole operation is now effectively one station, and has been for a couple of years.

[Willum]

Wouldn't it be a safer option to rebrand MidWest as Jack, though?

Based on the RAJARs hitherto, in Celador's shoes, I'd be seriously wavering on rolling out The Breeze in any more areas than those it serves already.

[hanssolo]

I think Celador are looking to emulate the success of Magic in London, they may loose some listeners short term, but in the long term they hope by targetting the over 40's they will attract a good advertising income, something the "sallies" Celador took over never quite achieved.
Jack may be good, but most advertisers prefer reaching female listeners who hold the household budget, also as there is no franchise fee Breeze might be a better option to roll out in some places. However there is a risk it may not work, but so far looks like it might!
I would not be surprised if Celador eventual rolls out Jack alongside Breeze on DAB in places like Somerset.

[skandia]

To be honest I think the changes I am hearing will alienate the over 40's.
Midwest have now started playing some tracks out "speeded up", something the yoof orientated stations used to do. It always sounds bad

I cannot understand Celladors game plan yet.

Why close the Yeovil studios without re branding to The Breeze? They had plenty of time to re brand @ Yeovil with the then current presenting team and after that cut over to Bristol / Southampton based presenters.

Now they employ a Midwest presentation team at Bristol rather than Yeovil. Cannot be much of a cost saving.

I wonder they are going to slowly drop the Midwest presenters after a Breeze re-brand or perhaps keep a separate set of presenters for an enlarged Somerset Breeze covering the old Midwest & Bridgwater / Minehead areas?

[hanssolo]

Perhaps they saved money in giving up rented studios when they had the chance?
Whereas the format for Breeze Bristol is

AN EASY LISTENING MUSIC-BASED SERVICE WITH LOCAL NEWS AND INFORMATION FOR LISTENERS AGED 40+ IN BRISTOL AND THE SURROUNDING AREA.

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/radio...fm/al247-2.htm
And similar to Magic, Midwest and the other stations still show a broad music service! Perhaps they are applying for a change?

[radiodad]

Getting rid of a building would have saved them alot of money, i saw recently they had a position for a daytime network presenter, Andy Henley would be a good choice in my eyes. He certainly knows how to work a network well from his One Network days.

[gwrbristol]

If Midwest's team are now broadcasting from Bristol how come OFCOM let them get away with broadcasting to Dorset on the old Vale FM frequencies. My understanding is that Midwest is still 2 licences ie Vale & Ivel. Dorset is in the Solent OFCOM region, not the west country like Somerset.

[Mapperley Ridge]

Originally Posted by gwrbristol

If Midwest's team are now broadcasting from Bristol how come OFCOM let them get away with broadcasting to Dorset on the old Vale FM frequencies. My understanding is that Midwest is still 2 licences ie Vale & Ivel. Dorset is in the Solent OFCOM region, not the west country like Somerset.

Quite possibly overwhelming financial reasons. All Celador would have to do is say they're not viable stand alone businesses, and co locating the lot in Bristol is the only way of keeping the licences viable.

[gwrbristol]

Originally Posted by hanssolo

Interesting looking at at the Muxco application from 2008, which may now get the go ahead from Ofcom this Summer and launch 2013 from Mendip and Taunton, with Hutton and Yeovil Coker Hill and about 10 other sites to follow, so the whole county is almost covered with indoor reception?
http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/bin...DAB_V1_0_A.pdf

http://www.muxco.com/applications/somerset/

Orchard is now Heart
Star is now Nova and become county wide
Ivel became Midwest and will become Breeze countywide (with Quaywest)
Easy, UCB and Traffic will not make the lineup, but it's possible Kiss, Capital, Fire and Jack may now join the mux?

Kiss would have to join as its part of the remit that allowed them to merge 100, 101 and 105-108 together. I assume they would re-broadcast 101 on a Somerset MUX?

Celador appear to be pro-dab with both Jack and The Breeze appearing on digital here in Bristol pretty soon after they took over the licence so expect them to be on the MUX. They can just relay Jack Bristol as it is the same Ofcom area.

So there 8 slots - 4 of which are dead certs in my book. BBC Somerset, Kiss, Jackfm & The Breeze. I think Heart would also be a safe bet. Leaving 3.... I hope Gold is one of them if only to save my mothers internet bandwidth! Capital/LBC and Nova would be my other guesses.

[skandia]

Originally Posted by radiodad

Getting rid of a building would have saved them alot of money,

I will check the Midwest offices out next time I am in Yeovil.
They are keeping the news & sales teams local so the offices may still be rented.
Any savings in bulding rental would have to be offset aginst the increased programme distribution costs.

[skandia]

Originally Posted by hanssolo

Perhaps they saved money in giving up rented studios when they had the chance?

Celador would have known the studio rental break dates in advance, so could have rebranded before closing the Yeovil studios etc.

I applaud them for keeping a seperate Midwest presentation team, just cannot fathom why they have.

[Willum]

Originally Posted by gwrbristol

Kiss would have to join as its part of the remit that allowed them to merge 100, 101 and 105-108 together. I assume they would re-broadcast 101 on a Somerset MUX?

Celador appear to be pro-dab with both Jack and The Breeze appearing on digital here in Bristol pretty soon after they took over the licence so expect them to be on the MUX. They can just relay Jack Bristol as it is the same Ofcom area.

So there 8 slots - 4 of which are dead certs in my book. BBC Somerset, Kiss, Jackfm & The Breeze. I think Heart would also be a safe bet. Leaving 3.... I hope Gold is one of them if only to save my mothers internet bandwidth! Capital/LBC and Nova would be my other guesses.

Kiss is already transmitted on the MXR Wales & West multiplex. That already uses Mendip, and is one of the sites which the Somerset multiplex would use. However, I thought the plan now was to merge the Somerset multiplex with the existing Bristol one, but a delay in the change of legislation that would allow this has therefore delayed the launch of a number of MUXCo's services.

Originally Posted by hanssolo

I think Celador are looking to emulate the success of Magic in London, they may loose some listeners short term, but in the long term they hope by targetting the over 40's they will attract a good advertising income, something the "sallies" Celador took over never quite achieved.
Jack may be good, but most advertisers prefer reaching female listeners who hold the household budget, also as there is no franchise fee Breeze might be a better option to roll out in some places. However there is a risk it may not work, but so far looks like it might!
I would not be surprised if Celador eventual rolls out Jack alongside Breeze on DAB in places like Somerset.

Then why did they launch Jack FM in Swindon to replace More Radio instead of turning it into another Breeze?

I'd say that Heart already has the 30+ female advertising market already sewn up, both in Swindon and Somerset. Jack FM, however, is tapping into a different market for which there is no competition in either area.

[SouthCity]

Originally Posted by Willum

However, I thought the plan now was to merge the Somerset multiplex with the existing Bristol one, but a delay in the change of legislation that would allow this has therefore delayed the launch of a number of MUXCo's services.

The Somerset mux won't be merging with the Bristol mux, they have different owners. Global & Celador will want to sell local advertising for Somerset so it will stay separate from Bristol.

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/radio...s/Somerset.pdf

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/radio...and%20Bath.pdf

[hanssolo]

Originally Posted by Willum

Then why did they launch Jack FM in Swindon to replace More Radio instead of turning it into another Breeze?

Notice on http://mim.io/ed26a2

As always, we took a long hard look at the business and decided to launch with the service that we felt would have the best chance of success in this particular market. It’s fair to say that there was some robust debate before we reached this decision. Our understanding of the Jack brand was obviously pivotal in our decision to launch in Swindon.

Shame they don't go into detail as it would be interesting to find out, with the mention of "robust debate" sounds like it was not straightforward?
I would not be surprised if Jack appears on the new DAB Somerset mux and other muxes?