Is any one else having problems with the station since 9.45 it's been quiet on dab mobile and online

DAB is OK here, the IDs are just as shouty and irritating as ever.

Oops, spoke too soon, it's just crashed into the weather followed by silence, back to the original track and then crashed into Pat Sharp.

I'm totally surprised that Tony hasn't had a home studio for years, the amount of travelling he does back and forth to KMFM every week to record his Sunday show and his Thames show, he must spend hours on the road each week.

I think Tony loves the "buzz" of going into the radio stations but I would think the "buzz" today is very different from what it once was.

I see that Pat Sharp's 10-1 weekday show, Jive Bunny and all weekend shows apart from the Best Disco in Town are now shared with Dragon Radio.

Apart from the name, I'm not sure they're really offering much more bespoke localness than any of the "London stations [that] have moved to become UK-wide services", which Thames supposedly launched to offer a local alternative to.

That said, their output is sounding pretty slick and they do have a great mix of music. I was listening at lunchtime and heard Adele, the Monkees, the Dandy Warhols and Bowie in a short space of time.

But it isn't that typical Capital FM vibe.

Sound quality is still very poor on their stream. It sounds nearby AM-ish. Worthless!

I can forgive the sharing of Pat's show, and Jive Bunny etc, but the weekend daytime shows sound pretty thin in terms of London content. In the early days they didn't sound too bad, but now Neil on Sat and Pat on Sun just have a couple of split links that refer to Thames/Dragon.

However... on their modest budgets, they're having to stretch out the talent and content available as far as they can. It does sound much better now than it did when it launched - I gather the generic links are now gone so overall it delivers a decent sound with a good presenter line-up. Fair play to them now, if the line up brings daily shows from Foxy at breakfast and then Pat Sharp, Dean Martin and Neil Francis during the week then they've done well. Their limited budget means these are all voicetracked/automated but hey, I think it comes across well - and music mix is prety good too.

No it doesn't - and you know it doesn't!

I think it sounds 'AM-ish' so it's my opinion. It seems clear..

From 5th December between 1.4pm Tony Blackburn will be coming live from Barbados for one week only. Just remember the days when Chris Tarrant used to come live from remote places as the holiday companies. Where does Tony record or pre record his soul show from?

It sounds worse than AM!

kmfm in kent

Question is......why???

Probably because he is on holiday there and can do!

or--- to commemorate 50 years since the independence of Barbados.
Regards

If you watch Tony Blackburn periscope live this week from 1-4pm in Barbados then you can see how it's all done. They do all the music etc in wales and Tony can speak to whoever it is between the music playing. I guess that's how it's all done from London. No actual purpose built studio.

Some other stations (Metro are one) also have some shows from Barbados. It's all organised by Tim Jibson's company 'Adventures in Radio'.

I'm surprised these jollies still exist. Why would a listener sitting in traffic in the rain want to hear Dave Doubledecks having a free holiday?

It's sponsored so they don't have to pay and yes free holiday l guess.

I find it all rather odd.

Thames/Dragon running stations on a shoestring budget yet giving away holidays to Barbados and sending Tony there for a week to broadcast live.

The thing is it's all paid for by the Barbados tourist board but I'm bemused how they convinced them to do it on station with next to no listeners

Any ideas what equipment they use? We now know Thames presenters broadcast from somewhere and everything else is played out in the studio in wales? With the amount of money they must have why isn't a studio built in London? What transmitter do they use in London?

As there are no Rajar figures how do you know they have few listeners?
Agree the station could do with more promotion.

Presumably the company use their own portable desk and internet link?
http://www.adventuresinradio.co.uk/how-it-works/

Exactly my point. No way of telling. Come back to me when they are in Rajar

While there's no way of knowing how many people are listening, they appear to be attracting more advertisers (including some big brands) - and the breakfast show now has a sponsor. So upping their game has clearly had a positive effect on ad revenue.

I'm determined to give this station a go so Ive had it on from around 09.15 sporadically listening.
it is good to hear Tony Blackburn and I'm thrilled he's going back to the beeb as well but this is a somewhat mundane programme from Barbados. Does every link have to refer to it as from my office window the view and weather is somewhat different.