that means talksport on there should be much better now than.

Looks like soon most of Europe will be without MW,except for Spain,any idea when they will close down?

I think Spain are planning to keep MW for the foreseeable, unless anyone here knows different?

Soon before long the only thing you'll hear on the MW band will be those Arabic stations with the strange singing like 864khz.

The Spanish commercial stations are slowly closing down their mediumwave outlets. RNE, the public broadcaster, is retaining them, think insufficient FM coverage is one factor in this.

What will take the place of the AM/MW band then when all the stations have closed?
Are there plans for different uses?
Will there be a need to regulate frequency allocations or could enterprising stations emerge? Would interference be a problem?
Will AM dx improve?
Will we miss something that was fun to explore?

From
http://mediumwave.info/news.html


Assuming digital listening reaches 50% in UK next year the date for closing many analogue broadcasts will be confirmed.
In Spain they have DAB in some places and there is talk they might start rolling out DAB+
http://www.gorkazumeta.com/2016/10/l...ab-al-dab.html
Which together with more internet use could mean the end of AM in Spain?

AM masts can be large and expensive to maintain and domestic interfernce is getting worse. Few table sets have AM and DRM has not worked in Europe. So its most likely MW and LW will be silent and just used for dxing out of Europe stations.
It could be small stations like Caroline and Seagull will stay on AM for nostaligic (and fun) reasons.

It would be interesting to know how far the British stations are going into Europe these days.

There might be a future for the MW band as a community radio band, given that at least some receivers are still being manufactured that are AM capable.

High levels of domestic and continental interference would be less of an issue for community stations than 'mainstream' high power broadcasters, as FM community stations already have to accept far greater incoming interference than national and commercial stations. The added fun for a MW/AM CR would be a smaller night-time coverage area which, depending on the transmitted power level allowed, might correspond to a much larger than needed daytime coverage.

As for regulation, it's difficult to imagine a scenario where Ofcom, or whatever it has morphed into by the time all national broadcasting has quit MW, allows more than a few milliwatts to be radiated on broadcasting bands without their say-so.

Well we already have one deregulated waveband in terms of CB. That's rather different to broadcast radio of course but it does point towards one possible future.

During the day they are suppoed to keep to the MCA but at night skywaves can travel a diatance such as Golds 95kw London transmitter which must be expensive and hard to understand why it is still on?
The recent Rajars do not give digital and analogue breakdowns so wedont know how many listeners still use AM? Also might be waiting for the transmission contract to finish?

I don't know if Gold London is at full power but if it is it does have a very large area to cover, and and area with a lot of electrical interference and a lot of steel re in forced buildings.

NO analogue switch off will be confirmed, let alone a date !

It wasn't even a commitment made by the previous government - they merely stated that that they would consider a decision on whether to set a date for digital radio switchover when 50% of all radio listening is via some sort of digital platform and when national DAB 1 coverage is comparable to FM, and local DAB reaches 90% of the population and all major roads.

Theresa May will be well aware of what can happen when a party takes a path it is not obliged to follow. David Cameron bet the farm that a referendum would decide to stay in the EU, and he soon ended up as toast. Most cars currently on the road don't have DAB and never will, and 14% of new cars still don't have DAB.

Theresa certainly won't make a similar mistake by alienating millions of listeners just when an election is looming.

If we are talking about total analogue radio switch off, yes that is still ages away. But this thread is about AM switchoff. I can definitely see that happening fairly soon, starting with 198 and 1215.

Quite likely, but it still won't be mandated by the DCMS.

Instead, it will be individual broadcasters deciding that they will no longer support individual MW/LW services.

The point remains, Theresa won't alienate White Man Van by switching off his access to 5 Live and talkSPORT.

Still not sure why the Absolute, City 2, Gold, Smooth and BBC local radio AM switchoffs have not yet been announced? (With a few exceptions)

Presumably the commercial stations have decided it's more cost effective to keep them on the air for the time being.

Some BBC local transmitters have already been switched off, but others remain for coverage of sports and outdoor events (airshows, etc). Don't expect much change there until the BBC wakes up and discovers DAB+ and that local muxes can be dynamically reconfigured and split.

Yes, Gold London really does get out. I've had it loud and clear on an online receiver in Italy at night.

Another factor could be the maintenance agreements they have, that delayed the closure of some German stations because it would have cost them money to break the agreement early.

All the legislation says is that the Government will consider switchover when the criteria met, the minimum period of time in which that can happen is two years and they do not have to decide to progress with a switchover.

The Government policy on digital radio was stated in a speech by Matt Hancock this September which concluded:

"Decisions on switchover are not simple or straightforward.

This issue will need careful consideration when the 50% listening criteria is reached.

Rushing this risks getting it wrong - for the industry, listeners and for the future of radio.

I want to stress the importance of us all: Government, BBC and industry, of taking time and care in how we approach these decisions."

https://www.gov.uk/government/speech...-festival-2016

Assuming Absolute"s or Gold's AM maintance contract runs out in 2017 and their digital listening is say 75%, do they have to give 2 years notice or can they shut AM in less time?
The Reading and Bristol closures did not give much notice to listeners?

Just for accuracy, the Reading and Bristol closures were Smooth, not Gold...

The Reading and Bristol closures were because of the sites were in the hands of private landlords, not a decision by the broadcasters.

Just found this, haven't had a chance to fully read it but there is a section on the position of Absolute Radio transmitter sites and its licence as well as other AM licences/maintenance contracts though I'm not sure of the basis for the claim that Ofcom would allow power reductions by Absolute.

http://www.frequencyfinder.org.uk/Opinion_AM.pdf

what about talksport can you see them doing the same. also then dose they AM maintance contract run out

There are certain 'core' transmitters that Absolute have to use to maintain their licence, then there are other smaller transmitters that Virgin added to improve coverage that could be turned off tomorrow without consequence (but obviously they wouldn't do that unless Arqiva gave them money off their carriage contract).

I am sure in most of the cases it would be possible to come to an agreement to end maintenance contracts early if the whole site was closing because it would be possible to sell off the land.