[Inkblot]

Originally Posted by timo_w2s

Are you sure these aren't just the legal FM transmissions from across the water?

It's well known that some enterprising types have set up pirate relays for FIP in Brighton - the frequencies don't correspond to the official ones. Reception of FIP in Brighton is very good, it's on in lots of shops, but as you drive along the coast the signal fades. Also I believe there are "FIP" nights in Brighton clubs where DJs play the same kind of music that's on FIP, and these are completely unoffical and nothing to do with Radio France.

[timo_w2s]

Originally Posted by Inkblot

It's well known that some enterprising types have set up pirate relays for FIP in Brighton

Except by me. Thanks for the info, interesting.

[Inkblot]

Originally Posted by timo_w2s

Except by me.

Sorry, it did sound a bit snotty.

[smorris]

Originally Posted by Inkblot

Absolutely. I really wish someone would set up a London relay for FIP, I'm fed up of having to plug the laptop into the stereo to listen to it at less-than-DAB quality. Great station, great atmosphere with the female presenters and the unpredictable yet reliable mix of music.

Do FIP still have local versions?

As I understand it, FIP was originally a network of city-based local stations. There certainly used to be an FIP Lille on 91.0, but it's now been replaced by Le Mouv' (another very good, but rather different station). I'm not sure if this has happened to all except Paris now.

[smorris]

Originally Posted by Inkblot

Also, Kink gets a 0.3% share of the audience. It would take a cataclysmic revolution in UK radio to free up enough frequencies to allow a national commercial station to survive on that kind of share, wouldn't it?

It's not on FM in the Netherlands. Kink FM is available via cable and internet only. Nearly every home in the Netherlands has cable, hence the 0.3% audience share despite having no terrestrial transmitters.

I believe they applied for an FM licence, but lost out.

IMO they should have gone for an AM licence anyway (no-one's using 1224 or 828 right now, which together would offer national-ish coverage) - it would at least promote the cable and net broadcast, even if it didn't exactly set the ratings charts alight due to the sound quality. And they would then also have the option of going to DRM if that technology takes off.

But yes, the UK's FM band is extraordinarily badly organised, which is a pity... but I wouldn't write off a replan yet. France did it back in the 1990s, with just as many (in fact, far more) transmitters on air as the UK has now. Denmark has a replan in the pipeline. And we are stuck with FM for some years (decades?) yet...

[kev]

I listen to Arrow Classic Rock in the car when i'm bored of the CD (hmm, must install that DAB aerial sat in me boot!) and Kerrang 105.2 is being splatted by Galaxy , much better music than any other station round here (and better signal quality than Five Live most of the time too)

As for FIP, the Guardian likes running stories about the station every so often, http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/sto...521570,00.html for one example.

[Fall Out Boy]

Does anyone know if the Brighton FIP is still running?

I've got one - but it only works in the few streets round this house!

[Masteriser]

Fall Out Boy,

I was in Brighton about three weeks ago, it was still on, on 98.5 & 91 FM as usual. Interestingly these frequencies are the ones used for the Crystal Palace South London fill ins for Radios 1 & 3 respectively. I guess these frequencies were chosen for the low power pirate Fip relay so as to cause minimal interferance and thus not incurr the wrath of the authorities. All in all a very professional approach for a pirate.

I am really grateful to whoever it was who set these relays up, as I discovered Fip in Brighton and listen whenever I can at home via Satellite. I have discovered loads of music I would otherwise have missed thanks to Fip.

Masteriser

[giuseppe.dm]

Originally Posted by smorris

It's not on FM in the Netherlands. Kink FM is available via cable and internet only. Nearly every home in the Netherlands has cable, hence the 0.3% audience share despite having no terrestrial transmitters.

Classic FM also has a 1.9% audience share in the Netherlands, despite only being on cable and the net.

[giuseppe.dm]

Fip still has some local versions for other French cities. Same music, different announcers. I used to listen to it on Hotbird years ago, and it was the "network" version with just the music and the hourly news, whereas on the net there also were the Paris announcers. I don't know if that's changed in the meantime, now I listen to it on Astra and it has the Paris announcers.
In the past years, many (most?) of their frequencies have been axed to make way for Radio France's attempt at a yoof station, called Le Mouv and playing wall to wall chart rock (vive la différence ). Recently, though, they've been given a new FM frequency in Montpellier, in the south of France, and of course they will be available nationwide when their digital radio system (whatever standard they will choose) will be up and running.

Recently, Radio France has upped the bitrate of their net streaming to 64kb/s WMA instead of the 20kb/s or so they were using previously; while not as good as the 192kb/s MP2 available on satellite, it's still pretty decent. This is the direct link to their WMA stream: mms://vipradiofrance.yacast.net/encoderfip

[Inkblot]

According to Radio France's web site FIP (along with other stations) is still on DAB. Are they wrong?

[giuseppe.dm]

Yes, they're supposed to be on DAB muxes, but that system is still only in a test phase and is only receivable a in a few cities. France's media regulator (the CSA) still hasn't decided what digital radio system to adopt, and the major broadcasters (including Radio France) are against using DAB.

[Masteriser]

Originally Posted by giuseppe.dm

Fip still has some local versions for other French cities. Same music, different announcers. I used to listen to it on Hotbird years ago, and it was the "network" version with just the music and the hourly news, whereas on the net there also were the Paris announcers. I don't know if that's changed in the meantime, now I listen to it on Astra and it has the Paris announcers.

Thanks for all of this information Giuseppe, when I first discovered Fip around three years ago there were indeed no announcers (except for the Jazz show which starts at around 6:30 UK time and also to introduce the news). I had no idea there were local announcers, I had just assumed the announcers were on strike (a bit stereotypical of me I know). I can confirm both the Astra 1 and Hot Bird feeds are identical.

I should say to anyone thinking of checking out Fip, it is probably best avoided between 6:30 and 9pm UK time. That is their Jazz show. My dad is a big Jazzer (old and new) and I was brought up on the stuff, it does not scare me in the least. However at times "Le Jazz Fip" can be a pretty tough listen. If you're a Fip virgin, daytimes and overnights are a good place to start. The media Guardian artical that Kev gave a link to above http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/st...1521570,00.html sums Fip up pretty well.

Masteriser

[Eric Richardson]

I have listened to FIP for as long as I have had my motorised dish. This is a fantastic station with the most eclectic mix you will find on radio.

[hanssolo]

Might be good for some of the Brighton fans to apply for a community licence to legalise the Fip relays?

Originally Posted by giuseppe.dm

Yes, they're supposed to be on DAB muxes, but that system is still only in a test phase and is only receivable a in a few cities. France's media regulator (the CSA) still hasn't decided what digital radio system to adopt, and the major broadcasters (including Radio France) are against using DAB.

The DAB tests wre on L band and RRC-06 has now allowed france to setup band3 transmissions which might be more popular, there are also DRM and DMB/DVB-H mobile TV tests in France which might allow radio to be used with more modern codecs.

I see the Dutch also has band3 DAB,
http://www.wohnort.demon.co.uk/DAB/h-t.html#Netherlands
does anyone know if this have been succesful?

[Powerplay]

Think I should of re-named this thread Who Listens To Overseas Radio Stations?, as opposed to just Dutch!

When I had my satallite set-up for Astra 19.2 I often used to flick through and had my favourites, although I prefered the Dutch & German radio to the French. HR3 and RTL Rdaio being examples. Radio Veronica was my favourite due to the obscure 80's & 90's classics no other stations play!

I had Hotbird set-up for a time but found the radio stations not as interesting as Astra, apart from Radio Sweden and Swiss Radio. I spent over £100 on having an 80cm dish installed to get Hotbird, then went back to Astra. Oh well.

[Inkblot]

Originally Posted by Masteriser

I had just assumed the announcers were on strike

Did you hear FIP when the announcers really were on strike? They played some of the most hardcore opera nonstop for hours - I'm used to the occasional aria popping up in between a bit of blues and some chanson but this was intense.

By the way I love their jazz shows, but the way they integrate jazz into daytime programming is brilliant and I wish UK radio would give it a try.

[Powerplay]

It is interesting to hear about this FIP realy in Brighton? Didn't think their was a high French speaking population in Brighton, but at least it's something different and people tuning in probably think it's coming from over the Channel!

Why two frequencies though?

Think I might get a small TX and re-broadcast Radio Veronica!

[Masteriser]

Originally Posted by Inkblot

Did you hear FIP when the announcers really were on strike? They played some of the most hardcore opera nonstop for hours - I'm used to the occasional aria popping up in between a bit of blues and some chanson but this was intense.

Yes I did hear that, intense is certainly how I would have described it too. They seemed to be sharing a lot of programming with Hector. The announcements that remained were sterile beyond belief.

Originally Posted by Inkblot

By the way I love their jazz shows, but the way they integrate jazz into daytime programming is brilliant and I wish UK radio would give it a try.

I absolutely agree with you, Fip seem to be very keen on Wayne Shorter and Quincy Jones, this is all good in my book. My comments regarding the evening Jazz show were really aimed at some of the freeform stuff that can creep in sometimes, it can be as intense as the opera mentioned above. I did not want people to be put off what is probably the most interesting and ecletic music radio ststion in Europe. If I had my way I would get the BBC to scrap 6Music and copy the format, no-one could then accuse the Beeb of duplicating services the commercial sector could provide!

Masteriser

[giuseppe.dm]

Originally Posted by Inkblot

Did you hear FIP when the announcers really were on strike? They played some of the most hardcore opera nonstop for hours - I'm used to the occasional aria popping up in between a bit of blues and some chanson but this was intense.

They were probably just relaying Hector (now called France Vivace), which is an automated service that plays classical and opera pieces in their entirety with minimal spoken content (just the name of the piece, the composer and who performed it). Radio France's personnel has been on strike pretty often in the past years, which has had the unintended result of making Fip and Hector available on FM nationwide for days or even weeks on end, as the main Radio France networks were relaying those programmes. At some times even Fip seemed to shut down, though, which only left on air that automated classical service.

[Radiomaniac]

Maybe it's just me, but I actually enjoy the sound of the Dutch accent, as well as the type of music they tend to play. Somehow they always sound like they're running a pirate station to me, which is half the attraction.

[Nick_G]

I haven't heard FIP but my favourite European station is Spain's third national network RNE 3. It has a huge variety of music from rock, blues, pop, jazz, world, folk, hip hop, electronica etc. etc. Lots of obscure things as well as some of the more well known alternative rock bands are played.

Nick, Whitchurch, Hampshire.

[mill9]

Radio 538 by satellite but only Saturday nights

[smorris]

Originally Posted by Masteriser

Yes I did hear that, intense is certainly how I would have described it too. They seemed to be sharing a lot of programming with Hector.

Is that some sort of euphemism?

If it's not, it should be.

[mikeinworthing]

Originally Posted by timo_w2s

Are you sure these aren't just the legal FM transmissions from across the water?

No, at least one low-powered pirate transmitter is acting as a relay for FIP in Brighton - I was only talking about it earlier in a meeting with former JuiceFM staff