The areas that are left with poor AM coverage after these closures (NE France and SW of Toulouse) seem to have good FM coverage, so looks like a well planned move.

The problem in the majority of France is that, unlike Britain, their national stations have to rely on a network of low power FM transmitters with large gaps in between. A legacy that means it is difficult to just switch off AM until a new nationwide platform is available.

Pity that they cannot just get on and do the same here, switch off Medium Wave and Long Wave and invest the savings in DAB coverage.

I think when more DAB sets are in cars and vans (in a year or 2) Bauer will switch off Absolute AM, Also the transmission contracts for Gold and Smooth AM will finish 2015-2017 and may not be renewed.

The BBC has given notice R4 LW and local wave MW will close under the DFQ cuts. but no confirmed date, maybe waiting DAB rollout, a survey and Trust approval?
http://radiotoday.co.uk/2012/10/mw-s...c-local-radio/

After a lot of time and money has been spent on maintenance work on the Droitwich 198 and 693 aerials I don't see the BBC in any rush to close these services.

That's a health & safety requirement, not an 'investment'.

Settlement of Dynamically Switched Meters, Elexon, 30 April 2014, Page 9

"Suppliers and LDSOs have previously raised concerns about continuity of service, given a previous announcement by the BBC that it planned to discontinue long wave broadcasting.
However, the BBC and ENA have recently reached an agreement to keep the RTS infrastructure working until March 2020."

http://www.elexon.co.uk/wp-content/u...ation-v0_3.pdf

What makes you think that there will be a lot more in car DAB in a year or two?

Car makers have not, and are still not embracing DAB. Despite the publicity (or more accurately marketing spin) put out, most new cars - and I'm talking about the ones that most people buy, not high end makes or models - come with an AM/FM/CD built in to the dash.

I'm currently looking at a new car and none of the ones I've test driven offer DAB. Only one had a USB slot, and none had a 3.5 jack for an mp3 or external /DAB receiver.

All had the option available but at a considerable price premium which is something that most buyers won't pay.

Personally, I build in to my budgeting the price of an after market head unit and better speakers to replace the crap that comes with a new car, but I am a radio geek. Most buyers are not, and as long as the car stereo can receive Radio 2/Heart etc. etc. and play a CD they are satisfied.

Why do people want to see the end of AM broadcasting? If it wasn't for Am then the pirate stations of the 60s would have had no audience, so the resulting opening up of radio in the UK wouldn't have happened?

The main problem with AM is interference from digital devices. I used to be CRT tv that caused the whistles, but now it's modern circuitry.

Get a valve AM set (plenty in junk shops etc), a decent long wire aerial and listen to the quality of the signal.

The majority of new cars are sold with DAB radios nowadays. I expect about a million cars with DAB radios to be sold in the UK this year, about 2 million next year and over 2 million each year thereafter.

With a couple of brands you don't even have a choice anymore because all (or nearly all) their models come with a DAB radio as standard. BMW fits 100% of their cars with DAB, VW 89%, Audi 88%, Ford 77%, Vauxhall and Mercedes around 60%.

That's a bit like saying they should keep System 4 Radiophones and ETACS mobile phones going because without them you would have never had the present day 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G .... mobile phones.

No choice with Kia or Mazda: their rubbish is FM/MW only.

The main problem for broadcasters is that AM transmission costs are more than FM or digital platforms.
Some broadcasters, like France Info, BBC world service 648 and the Russians, decided the costs are too much, CRI have decided to keep AM 1440 and 558 but low power,

As Colin London said Europe 1 and RTL decided to keep LW as rural parts of France do not get the stations on FM if they could extend FM (which they can't) they would switch LW off.
Lagardère who run Europe 1 were hoping a digital satellite radio service would be up and running to maybe replace Europe 1 on LW,
http://www.onde-numerique.fr/on/?p=2098
but seems delayed, or cancelled, leaving DAB+ to finally start in France (much to the annoyance of Lagardère and RTL), but will take time to roll out to rural areas..
http://www.onde-numerique.fr/on/?p=2098

Based on AutoExpress top 5 selling UK Cars:

#1 Ford Fiesta (Feb 2014)
DAB: Standard on 5/9 variants, Option on 3/9
FM: Standard on 3/9 variants

#2 Ford Focus (Nov 2013)
DAB: Standard on 8/10 variants, Option on 1/10
FM: Standard on 2/10 variants

#3 Vauxhall Corsa (2014)
DAB: Standard on 2/10 variants, Option on 8/10
FM: Standard on 8/10 variants

#4 VW Golf (2014)
DAB: Standard on 7/7 variants

#5 Vauxhall Astra
DAB: Standard on 2/9 variants, Option on 6/9
FM: Standard on 7/9 variants

So Ford is pretty good actually, and VW have fully taken the plunge. It is only Vauxhall that has catching up to do.

I think you are mistaking quality for nostalgia. It's still 9kHz bandwidth. And the broadcasters are using digital distribution technology to get the (pre-processed, compressed) audio signal to the transmitter in the first place.

If you want a 'valve-sound' might be better to run a DAB radio PCM output into an upconverting valve/hybrid DAC Although a 128kbps AAC internet radio stream might be even better.

I can't understand why Absolute still run the 1260khz fill in for Guildford on AM- the 105.8FM signal throughout the area is rock solid.

Don't they run a music schedule on 105.8 whilst AM is broadcasting football commentary?

Maybe on sensitive FM sets but from the offical MCA map the 105.8 signal level is too low in Guildford?
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/radio...amaps/MCAs.htm
If Absolute AM is switched off within a couple of years if DAB and internet radio listening in cars increases, they will probabily give the AM licence, maintenance contract and switch off all AM sites at the same time, rather than phased?
http://www.mediaweek.co.uk/article/1...-am-switch-off

It is not a case of wanting to see the end of AM broadcasting, but in the not too distant future it will be a case of HAVING to see the end of AM broadcasting.
With the increase of broadband internet usage and wireless routers becoming more popular, the interference it is causing on AM is intolerable nowadays. Here at home the AM bands on all my radios (including a very old valve set like you mentioned) are saturated with beeps, buzzes and indescribable noises coming from the aforementioned sources. I can just about hear Absolute Radio and BBC Radio 5 "LIVE" but can not put up with the interference. BBC Radio 4 on LW suffers very badly too.This is coming from me who listened to R.N.I throughout the time when it was being jammed and when Radio Caroline had that awful hetrodyne whistle on 963 kHz during the 1980s.

It may become very expensive for AM broadcasters to keep their transmitters on the air when fewer and fewer people are able to listen to it. Indeed, why should they put up with all the interference on AM when those stations and more are available on DAB, FM and online?
Last edited by LaurelandHardy : 16-07-2014 at 08:54

If transmitting AM is so expensive, I can't understand why we haven't seen any progress with the switching off of the needless BBC Local Radio AM transmissions. Some stations do split away for sports coverage on AM, but with most stations now on digital they can just split between FM and DAB instead, which BBC London do already. It's now some time since the switch-off trials finished, and I can't see why they haven't at least started with the less controversial areas, where FM and DAB reception is good and that don't use AM for alternative programmes, prime example being BBC Surrey which is still booming away in this area on 1368kHz for no reason that I can see.

That's good info! You should also post that in the Car Manufacturers' attitudes to DAB thread.

http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2012-...-by-8m-not-15m

The detailed work has been going on for 2 years now so presumably not a priority for savings?

One factor being that expensive masts are needed for the antenna but, unlike the ones used for VHF radio and TV, it is difficult to get revenue back from renting space on the mast / tower to telecom companies. Lower power Medium Wave does occasionally use existing structures but the majority have dedicated ones of their own which might only be carrying a handful of services.

That 1368 kHz Surrey transmission should really go off air as both AM and FM will be picked up clearly throughout the whole of the Surrey area.

It should have done so a long time ago as well as many other BBC local stations that could be heard conpletely throughout the intended area on AM and FM with no split programming

Celtic Music Radio 1530AM shutdown its medium wave transmitter on 1st July after six and half years on 1530AM broadcasting across the Glasgow area with 100W emrp.

Celtic Music Radio switched over to 95.0 FM across Glasgow and after a few days of test transmissions, Celtic Music Radio 95 FM launched at 12 noon on 1st July 2014.

Sad to have lost 1530AM, but reception in Glasgow city centre was very poor due to the building clutter and during winter months, 1530AM suffered from interference including the Gold station in Huddersfield!

The Celtic Music Radio programme service is more appropriate to FM transmission. Visit www.celticmusicradio.net

In the US Radio Disney is leaving AM (but will still be online and Satellite) and the 23 AM stations are up for sale.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/new...digital/133166