RTE Gold discussion thread

ford fiesta

splinter65 wrote: »

I know exactly where you are. Irish country and western ****e too. Hours and hours and hours of that ****e punctuated by that insanely grinning voice.
Nightmare.

Country on RTE Gold. So what???

there's no harm in the state broadcaster having a random station that plays a mix of any genre ....that is what is missing in stations these days.
I guess 2FM used to be like that for its first 15 years, trad, country, irish country (as recent as 1999), irish, metal, pop, dance...no format no pre-selected playlist.

Infoanon

ford fiesta wrote: »

Country on RTE Gold. So what???

there's no harm in the state broadcaster having a random station that plays a mix of any genre ....that is what is missing in stations these days.
I guess 2FM used to be like that for its first 15 years, trad, country, irish country (as recent as 1999), irish, metal, pop, dance...no format no pre-selected playlist.

Re your guess above - Simple answer - No

Country music on gold - no thank you imho

Ursus Horribilis

ford fiesta wrote: »

Country on RTE Gold. So what???

I think you may have taken the comment out of context It was in reference to a local radio station which seems to broadcast hours of country & Irish music.

There's no harm in the state broadcaster having a random station that plays a mix of any genre ....that is what is missing in stations these days.
I guess 2FM used to be like that for its first 15 years, trad, country, irish country (as recent as 1999), irish, metal, pop, dance...no format no pre-selected playlist.

That's bringing back bad memories of that Up ya boy ya Alan Corcoran show on 2fm back in the 1980s. It stuck out like a sore thumb on what was a decent pop music station at the time. It had no business being on 2fm and was probably there only because there was no room for it on Radio 1.

An Ciarraioch

Presumably the station bosses will already notice if the new schedule is working, given that unlike FM, stream volumes are the principal audience measurements.

Phat Dick

Heard a bit of O Shea today, doesn't sound like he has many listeners and he has a producer. Christ on a bike

byte

Phat Dick wrote: »

Heard a bit of O Shea today, doesn't sound like he has many listeners and he has a producer. Christ on a bike

Well, it's early days yet.

Andy From Sligo

sorry to sound like a stuck record but they might get more listeners if they go nationwide on DAB ...

Andy From Sligo

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

sorry to sound like a stuck record but they might get more listeners if they go nationwide on DAB ...

....or FM!

Phat Dick

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

sorry to sound like a stuck record but they might get more listeners if they go nationwide on DAB ...

Rolling out dab across the country right now would literally bankrupt rte

Andy From Sligo

Phat Dick wrote: »

Rolling out dab across the country right now would literally bankrupt rte

This is where I fail to see how it could, after all RTE must own the main transmitters and relays dont they so they mostly have that on their side. Is it the DAB broadcasting transmitting equipment that they would have to put on the relay towers that would bankrupt them?

Ursus Horribilis

Norway, which has a population of 5.2 million, has nationwide DAB coverage.

Former Former

Ursus Horribilis wrote: »

Norway, which has a population of 5.2 million, has nationwide DAB coverage.

And a lot more money than us.

RTE can't do it. It would be politicial suicide for the government to fund it because of the way politics works here.

So it's nothing to do with population, it's just the way it is.

Andy From Sligo

Former Former wrote: »

And a lot more money than us.

RTE can't do it. It would be politicial suicide for the government to fund it because of the way politics works here.

So it's nothing to do with population, it's just the way it is.

the government to run it? - RTE takes licence fee and advertising doesnt it?

Ursus Horribilis

They managed to roll out Saorview and turn off analogue TV, did they not?

More Music

Ursus Horribilis wrote: »

Norway, which has a population of 5.2 million, has nationwide DAB coverage.

That doesn’t make them right.

Norway still has a local FM network.

Some countries have postponed or halted plans for DAB roll out.

Others have stopped in the middle of roll out with only partially built networks.

We’re probably 10 years late to the party.

Ursus Horribilis

So some parts of the country are getting RTE radio stations the rest of us don't, even though we're all paying the same taxes and TV licence fee?

More Music

Phat Dick wrote: »

Heard a bit of O Shea today, doesn't sound like he has many listeners and he has a producer. Christ on a bike

It’s the national broadcaster, a producer or broadcast assistant isn’t much to ask.

You might as well put some effort into attracting and retaining listeners if you’re going to the bother.

Andy From Sligo

from an advertising perspective , advertiser want as much of an audience as possible listening to radio ads - so if RTE rolled out nationwide DAB radio signal it could mean more listeners to the advertisers ads. I know RTE Gold dont run adverts (at the moment) but with the other RTE radio stations that do rely on advertising as the licence fee income I would say thats a pretty good selling point to Irish advertisers - FM is old hat now, old technology , bad reception a lot of the time , out of date - Digital clear stereo is where it is at now which for the masses DAB radio's can be really picked up cheap across Ireland in the shops now, however the whole of Ireland cannot receive DAB signal (so thank goodness a lot of the time they include FM on radios and hifi equipment) but you watch not too long off now I reckon manufacturers will drop FM off their audio products soon (as analog TV has been dropped) presuming that everyone can receive a DAB signal nationwide in their country - then we will all be stuffed .

Sure you can tune in by wi-fi radio's (they are still expensive to buy, not as cheap as DAB Radios) you can listen on on your laptop I suppose, but then you got to have a laptop to hand, you can listen on your phone , but has everyone got enough data in their package to listen to it constantly.

More Music

Ursus Horribilis wrote: »

So some parts of the country are getting RTE radio stations the rest of us don't, even though we're all paying the same taxes and TV licence fee?

I known broadband isn’t great in some parts of Ireland. I’m confident though that anybody who’s heard of RTÉ Gold and wants to listen could manage a 96kbps stream.

Andy From Sligo

More Music wrote: »

I known broadband isn’t great in some parts of Ireland. I’m confident though that anybody who’s heard of RTÉ Gold and wants to listen could manage a 96kbps stream.

could it eat into your data plan streaming it by broadband or on your phone?

More Music

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

could it eat into your data plan streaming it by broadband or on your phone?

Watch one less HD cat video on YouTube. You’ll get a lot of RTE Gold for that.

Seriously. People watch Netflix, YouTube, Amazon Prime, stream IPTV, download content to their Sky box, use BBC and RTE Players, message videos and photos, watch videos on social media platforms.

Don’t forget Tunein, Spotify, Apple Music et al.

We consume so much content now, the list is endless.

A 96kbps audio stream is pretty insignificant in real terms.

It’s only an issue for the folks who want to give out about RTE.

Former Former

More Music wrote: »

Watch one less HD cat video on YouTube. You’ll get a lot of RTE Gold for that.

Seriously. People watch Netflix, YouTube, Amazon Prime, stream IPTV, download content to their Sky box, use BBC and RTE Players, message videos and photos, watch videos on social media platforms.

Don’t forget Tunein, Spotify, Apple Music et al.

We consume so much content now, the list is endless.

A 96kbps audio stream is pretty insignificant in real terms.

It’s only an issue for the folks who want to give out about RTE.

Yep. If you're unwilling to stream it on your phone, then you won't be falling over yourself to go out and buy a DAB radio.

Andy From Sligo

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

from an advertising perspective , advertiser want as much of an audience as possible listening to radio ads - so if RTE rolled out nationwide DAB radio signal it could mean more listeners to the advertisers ads. I know RTE Gold dont run adverts (at the moment) but with the other RTE radio stations that do rely on advertising as the licence fee income I would say thats a pretty good selling point to Irish advertisers - FM is old hat now, old technology , bad reception a lot of the time , out of date - Digital clear stereo is where it is at now which for the masses DAB radio's can be really picked up cheap across Ireland in the shops now, however the whole of Ireland cannot receive DAB signal (so thank goodness a lot of the time they include FM on radios and hifi equipment) but you watch not too long off now I reckon manufacturers will drop FM off their audio products soon (as analog TV has been dropped) presuming that everyone can receive a DAB signal nationwide in their country - then we will all be stuffed .

Sure you can tune in by wi-fi radio's (they are still expensive to buy, not as cheap as DAB Radios) you can listen on on your laptop I suppose, but then you got to have a laptop to hand, you can listen on your phone , but has everyone got enough data in their package to listen to it constantly.

Adding to that,a lot of people spend most of their time in cars so it would be nice to have it there!

Ursus Horribilis

Believe it or not, there are parts of the country where people would dearly love to be able to watch cat videos on YouTube. I was in a relative's house last night and the only Internet signal they have is a snail slow Vodafone one.

Former Former

Ursus Horribilis wrote: »

Believe it or not, there are parts of the country where people would dearly love to be able to watch cat videos on YouTube. I was in a relative's house last night and the only Internet signal they have is a snail slow Vodafone one.

No doubt, but if the government started rolling out DAB, the first thing you'd hear would be "why are they wasting time and money on DAB when they can't even get rural broadband rolled out?"

Then you'd have;
"We can't house the homeless and they're wasting money on DAB"
"They're killing old people by shutting down LW 252. How is my 90-year old mother going to work a DAB radio?"
"That's not much use to the diaspora, is it?"
"I live between two mountains and reception is patchy. I bet it's crystal clear in Dublin though".
"This will be the death of local radio, not that anyone in Dublin 4 cares about that"

The list is endless.

No one really wants DAB and spending more public money on it is opening a wasp's nest and sticking your honey-covered face right in.

Ursus Horribilis

It's not just rural areas where broadband is poor or non existent. I'd much rather see that be sorted. RTE already has the masts though.

Phat Dick

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

could it eat into your data plan streaming it by broadband or on your phone?

Yes, if you haven't updated your data plan since about 2006

Ursus Horribilis

Try being on Vodafone in an area where you can't get more than Edge on other networks.

Phat Dick

Former Former wrote: »

No doubt, but if the government started rolling out DAB, the first thing you'd hear would be "why are they wasting time and money on DAB when they can't even get rural broadband rolled out?"

Then you'd have;
"We can't house the homeless and they're wasting money on DAB"
"They're killing old people by shutting down LW 252. How is my 90-year old mother going to work a DAB radio?"
"That's not much use to the diaspora, is it?"
"I live between two mountains and reception is patchy. I bet it's crystal clear in Dublin though".
"This will be the death of local radio, not that anyone in Dublin 4 cares about that"
Further
The list is endless.

No one really wants DAB and spending more public money on it is opening a wasp's nest and sticking your honey-covered face right in.

In fairness it would be a waste of tax payers money if the government rolled out Dab so that a few housewives down the country could hear rte gold.... if they'd even buy a dab radio

Phat Dick

Ursus Horribilis wrote: »

Try being on Vodafone in an area where you can't get more than Edge on other networks.

Vodafone were always the most expensive but they are are currently doing 5gb for €15 a month, more than enough for a few hours a day of internet radio