Will RTÉ Gold ever move to FM

Maz2016

I like RTÉ Gold. Some good shows on it. I listen via my phone in the car. What are the odds it’d ever move to FM? I know it’s probably Bob hope no hope

L1011

Another station would need to go to allow it to do so, at least nationally. There is no room for another national station.

TallGlass

L1011 wrote: »

Another station would need to go to allow it to do so, at least nationally. There is no room for another national station.

Still room for a few more Spirit FM TX's :pac:

Ursus Horribilis

And christmas FM

Former Former

This must be some sort of record for the most threads on a single topic.

flaneur

I doubt it. Is it even generating any commercial revenue on DAB?
If it's not, why is it even on a air? It's impossible to justify that station as a public service. You could make some argument for 2XM and the rest, but a it's effectively just a generic 'classic hits and memories' station that could be provided commercially.

Mickey Mike

RTE have no interest in launching another FM service, even if there is space on the FM band. Digital is the way forward for them. RTE's FM low power txs operates at very low power compared to Today FM, which is booming out loud and clear. RTE could get rid of Radio na Gealtacta and Lyric FM and boast up Radio1 and 2fm. We can forget about RTE GOLD on FM.

end of the road

Mickey Mike wrote: »

RTE could get rid of Radio na Gealtacta and Lyric FM and boast up Radio1 and 2fm. We can forget about RTE GOLD on FM.

they couldn't as those stations are public service stations. they won't be going anywhere.

dense

Mickey Mike wrote: »

RTE's FM low power txs operates at very low power compared to Today FM, which is booming out loud and clear. RTE could get rid of Radio na Gealtacta and Lyric FM and boast up Radio1 and 2fm. We can forget about RTE GOLD on FM.

It's getting almost impossible to receive RTE 1 clearly in my house on various radios, yet ok in the car.

It never used to be like that. Is that down to the low power?

Mickey Mike

dense wrote: »

It's getting almost impossible to receive RTE 1 clearly in my house on various radios, yet ok in the car.

It never used to be like that. Is that down to the low power?

I feel RTE want to in time switch off FM, like they did with MW and LW in 2019. I reckon FM will be gone in 10 years. Its gone to the stage where they don't want to pay the electricity bill.

dense

Mickey Mike wrote: »

I feel RTE want to in time switch off FM, like they did with MW and LW in 2019. I reckon FM will be gone in 10 years. Its gone to the stage where they don't want to pay the electricity bill.

So I hear, FM radio is on the way out over the next few years according to a mate who does consultancy work for one of the big ones.

vicwatson

Can someone tell me why Will Leahy is a "DJ" on RTE GOLD, he plays 20 mins of music, comes on and talks about tv programmes coming up and then disappears for another 20 mins, no point to this, this should just be ad free 24/7 music

prunudo

dense wrote: »

So I hear, FM radio is on the way out over the next few years according to a mate who does consultancy work for one of the big ones.

As somebody who listens to fm radio daily can i ask what the reasoning behind this is.
Is there any jusifaction for removing a perfectly good broadcasting medium. Not everyone has access to good broadband or 4g for streaming radio apps or Spotify.

end of the road

jvan wrote: »

As somebody who listens to fm radio daily can i ask what the reasoning behind this is.
Is there any jusifaction for removing a perfectly good broadcasting medium. Not everyone has access to good broadband or 4g for streaming radio apps or Spotify.

i don't believe that fm will be removed any time soon, so you have nothing to worry about.

Mickey Mike

I hear a lot of the "any time soon", when is the question! FM is the best platform out there and I hope it stays, just ramp up the power to where it was used to. We pay our TV licence for the service.
Love to see RTE Gold on FM but won't happen.
Will Leay and Rick O Shea can take it handy now, play the hits and relax.

ford fiesta

Mickey Mike wrote: »

Will Leay and Rick O Shea can take it handy now, play the hits and relax.

These 2 are obviously permanent RTE staffers.
If they were on contract, they would have been let go from RTE when their weekend shows on 2FM were axed.

I love RTE Gold it is the best station in Ireland today!!

dense

end of the road wrote: »

i don't believe that fm will be removed any time soon, so you have nothing to worry about.

At the power its broadcasting at RTE 1 on FM might as well not exist.

I can get Spirit FM blowing out of the radio but not the one that I cough up the licence fee for.

MikeyTaylor

Who knows?

Mickey Mike

I'll just say this, when Radio1 was transmitting from Tullamore MW it had a power output of 500kw, it was amazing, then they started reducing the power over time down to 100kw, it was awful. Now you have the same thing with LW 252, and I'm afraid the same thing will happen to FM. I would even like if RTE put RTE Gold on MW 567kHz but again RTE will not spend any money this way, shame really. Digital is the way forward for RTE.

kneemos

Careful what you wish for. Could turn into another 2FM train crash.

marno21

FM is going nowhere soon. There is no appetite amongst anyone with a hand in the pie to change the current broadcasting status quo. The BAI can burn money on reports and other nonsense but DAB/DAB+ is a poor replacement for FM at best.

When Saorview replaced the analogue television system, there were a number of benefits:

1. More efficient spectrum usage, the ability to broadcast 10 SD/4 HD channels on the space occupied by 1 analogue station. Vastly cut down on the amount of frequencies being used.
2. Better quality. No more noise, no more multipath effects, better quality with RTE1/2 in HD.
3. Less power needed at transmitters compared with analogue services. Analogue at Cairn Hill required 800kW ERP vs 160kW after switchover. That adds up overtime (yes the actual transmitter power is less than the ERP but I don't have figures for the actual transmitter power, just the ERP).
4. Less relays required. A number of relays could be shut down due to enhanced coverage and an opportunity to rejig the network, 188 transmitters pre DSO vs 64 post DSO. The overall reception for many people also improved.

Compare this with FM vs DAB using the above points:

1. DAB offers more efficient spectrum usage indeed, but given that there is no demand for the 88-108 spectrum as opposed to a requirement to reduce UHF spectrum for mobile service, how much of a benefit is this?
2. DAB offers similar quality to FM and less quality when accountants at radio stations start reducing bitrate to save costs and reduce qualuty
3. DAB would require less power compared to FM but would require more relays due to the higher frequency penetrating terrain more poorly and the cap on transmitter power due to SFN requirements. Many parts of Ireland would require new relays as the higher frequency DAB would provide poorer footprint. In terms of driving in poorly served areas, DAB would cut out completely as opposed to "going fuzzy" so would hurt the user listening experience.

There is also the massive capital investment required for a DAB rollout, for little benefit. In addition, DAB receivers are a lot heavier on power and less portable, before you take into the account the amount of functional FM receivers in Ireland and the cost to the end user of replacing them all.

Mickey Mike

RTE could be in the process of closing Lyric FM because of its financial position, I thought an idea would be to move RTE Gold into the Lyric FM slot. Not going to happen I'd say.
With RTE's management and wasteful of money, I don't think they will be able to keep the FM transmittion system going, they have tried so many times to close Long Wave, now its to close in 2022.

Mickey Mike

Mickey Mike wrote: »

RTE could be in the process of closing Lyric FM because of its financial position, I thought an idea would be to move RTE Gold into the Lyric FM slot. Not going to happen I'd say.
With RTE's management and wasteful of money, I don't think they will be able to keep the FM transmittion system going, they have tried so many times to close Long Wave, now its to close in 2022.

In time we'll be listening to radio on digital platforms of some kind.

Expunge

Mickey Mike wrote: »

RTE could be in the process of closing Lyric FM because of its financial position, I thought an idea would be to move RTE Gold into the Lyric FM slot. Not going to happen I'd say.
With RTE's management and wasteful of money, I don't think they will be able to keep the FM transmittion system going, they have tried so many times to close Long Wave, now its to close in 2022.

A merger of the 2 could be a runner - 7am-7pm Gold and after 7, Lyric with Classical and concerts etc.
They can then shoehorn in the likes of Marty Whelan, Lorcan Murray and John Kelly alongside Will and Rick. RTE can then say they have not shut Lyric etc.

ford fiesta

Gold and Lyric are 2 stations that could be scaled down and merged.

Maz2016

Expunge wrote: »

A merger of the 2 could be a runner - 7am-7pm Gold and after 7, Lyric with Classical and concerts etc.
They can then shoehorn in the likes of Marty Whelan, Lorcan Murray and John Kelly alongside Will and Rick. RTE can then say they have not shut Lyric etc.

I actually love this idea

Expunge

Maz2016 wrote: »

I actually love this idea

Except, I presume the privately owned stations such as Q102 and Classic Hits and the locals would loose their S**t over it and would lobbly the BAI heavily to block it.

Also the Classical/Arts crowd would be enraged that the music that RTE has been mandated to present would no longer be available daytime.

RTE have been chipping away at that for a decade with Marty Whelan and John Kelly playing whatever the hell they want so a lot of the classical crowd have abandoned Lyric anyway.

end of the road

Expunge wrote: »

Except, I presume the privately owned stations such as Q102 and Classic Hits and the locals would loose their S**t over it and would lobbly the BAI heavily to block it.

Also the Classical/Arts crowd would be enraged that the music that RTE has been mandated to present would no longer be available daytime.

RTE have been chipping away at that for a decade with Marty Whelan and John Kelly playing whatever the hell they want so a lot of the classical crowd have abandoned Lyric anyway.

we can be guaranteed that they would lobby, but a proper regulator would simply tell them to go away and actually compete.
i suspect you are absolutely correct that the BAI would probably do whatever to block it to protect the stations, as keeping the existing commercials on air at any cost is the most important outcome. not the listeners, not divercity, nothing.
on a personal level i think keeping the 2 stations separate is the better option. swap rte gold on to 2fm's transmission network and take lyric back to it's original output style and heavily promote it to get the audience who have left to come back, or at least some of it.

ford fiesta

re-brand 2FM as 2FM Gold on the existing 2FM frequencies.

scrap 2FM as we know it

certain to generate more income than 2FM

coylemj

ford fiesta wrote: »

Gold and Lyric are 2 stations that could be scaled down and merged.

They're effectively merged every time Marty is on.

Mickey Mike

I understand RTE Gold and the rest of the digital radio channels are to close next month. There is a pitition to save R Gold but has fallen on deaf ears, maybe Radio 1 could merge with Gold.

ford fiesta

Mickey Mike wrote: »

I understand RTE Gold and the rest of the digital radio channels are to close next month. There is a pitition to save R Gold but has fallen on deaf ears, maybe Radio 1 could merge with Gold.

That was the plan...may be not the plan now.

Lovenova

ford fiesta wrote: »

That was the plan...may be not the plan now.

No

ford fiesta

The RTE GOLD relay on Radio 1 this morning is a strange mix of seldom oldies and 90s/00s/10s dance classics, current dance/Urban tracks played on top of each other or cut after a few seconds or one minute ..with mostly RTE PULSE and some RTE GOLD jingles / idents!!!

Also this output was played during the 3am news with Noel Fogarty

Sounds messy and entertaining!

PacMan

ford fiesta wrote: »

The RTE GOLD relay on Radio 1 this morning is a strange mix of seldom oldies and 90s/00s/10s dance classics, current dance/Urban tracks played on top of each other or cut after a few seconds or one minute ..with mostly RTE PULSE and some RTE GOLD jingles / idents!!!

Also this output was played during the 3am news with Noel Fogarty

Sounds messy and entertaining!

I was also up early, tuned to radio One for the 4 O Clock news and it was the same. Really bad. Do they not listen to their own radio station ?

end of the road

ford fiesta wrote: »

The RTE GOLD relay on Radio 1 this morning is a strange mix of seldom oldies and 90s/00s/10s dance classics, current dance/Urban tracks played on top of each other or cut after a few seconds or one minute ..with mostly RTE PULSE and some RTE GOLD jingles / idents!!!

Also this output was played during the 3am news with Noel Fogarty

Sounds messy and entertaining!

as far as i know that is just material taken from the stations with the jingles, rather then a relay of any particular station.
i have heard for example music from rte pulse featured overnight on 2fm, sometimes having rte pulse jingles and others not.
that was many years ago though.

ford fiesta

I referred to it as RTE GOLD "relay" as this is what the 3 to 6am timeslot usually is.

rogue-entity

L1011 wrote: »

Another station would need to go to allow it to do so, at least nationally. There is no room for another national station.

Of course, and I'd nominate 2FM.

flaneur wrote: »

I doubt it. Is it even generating any commercial revenue on DAB?
If it's not, why is it even on a air? It's impossible to justify that station as a public service. You could make some argument for 2XM and the rest, but a it's effectively just a generic 'classic hits and memories' station that could be provided commercially.

As far as I know, the DAB service is operating as a perpetual trial, and rules in place prevent RTE from running adverts on those stations.
RTE Gold shifting to FM would remove that restriction and allow it to generate some advertising income.

4FM started out as a "classic hits and memories" station targeting the over-45s but that idea was abandoned even before rebranding to Classic Hits. I don't know how commercially viable it would be, but being an RTE operation and having national coverage, would extend it into areas excluded from 4FM/Classic Hits coverage.

Mickey Mike wrote: »

RTE have no interest in launching another FM service, even if there is space on the FM band. Digital is the way forward for them. RTE's FM low power txs operates at very low power compared to Today FM, which is booming out loud and clear. RTE could get rid of Radio na Gealtacta and Lyric FM and boast up Radio1 and 2fm. We can forget about RTE GOLD on FM.

Alternatively, RTE could drop 2FM.

prunudo wrote: »

Not everyone has access to good broadband or 4g for streaming radio apps or Spotify.

And even if they did, streaming radio apps are nothing more than a marketing gimmick.

Lovenova

rogue-entity wrote: »

Of course, and I'd nominate 2FM.


As far as I know, the DAB service is operating as a perpetual trial, and rules in place prevent RTE from running adverts on those stations.
RTE Gold shifting to FM would remove that restriction and allow it to generate some advertising income.

4FM started out as a "classic hits and memories" station targeting the over-45s but that idea was abandoned even before rebranding to Classic Hits. I don't know how commercially viable it would be, but being an RTE operation and having national coverage, would extend it into areas excluded from 4FM/Classic Hits coverage.


Alternatively, RTE could drop 2FM.


And even if they did, streaming radio apps are nothing more than a marketing gimmick.

Folks , it aint going to happen - RTE has a trial DAB licence . In order for it to go on FM, BAI would need to have a competition and Gold would have to win, that's assuming they met spec and RTE were interested . Listened to quite a bit of Gold in past couple of months and way too much talk on it -i find its style increasingly irritating .

Radio is Ireland will wither and die eventually because a lot of it is of such poor quality