Absolute Radio on 1215 / 1197 to be switched off.

tinytobe

https://radiotoday.co.uk/2023/01/04/absolute-radio-to-switch-off-all-am-transmitters-across-the-uk/

Absolute Radio on 1215 and 1197 is to be switched off as the UK has very few AM listeners anyway and the choice on DAB is too good.

Irish listeners on 1215 will then have to turn to the internet.

I listen occasionally to Absolute 60s but the constant ads ruin it for me!

Declan A Walsh

Occasionally I listen to Absolute Radio on 1215 kh on the car radio but never for long. I used to listen to it slightly more when it was Virgin Radio.

tinytobe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120066445#Comment_120066445

Virgin seemed to have better choice in music back when they were on 1215.

There is a Virgin radio in the UK again as well, but on DAB.

Back in the early to mid 00s, a big fear of mine was losing the ability to listen to all these uk AM stations if they went DAB only, how things & times have changed, not only have mobile devices like smartphone solved that problem, I wouldn't even ever listen to those UK radio stations on a regular basis anymore as all

Just to add, considering how much the UK Radio industry were really pushing DAB as far back as 2001/2002 with very annoying ads during every ad break telling us how great dab is, AM has had a good run by managing to last until 2023.

RetroEncabulator

I can't really see AM having much life left in it anywhere. The listenership must be dwindling and the transmission costs are pretty high and also the audio quality's rather poor by modern standards anyway.

tinytobe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120066886#Comment_120066886

Me neither. Even in North America AM listening is dwindling. It seems only sports, sometimes news and religious programs have a bit of a longer life, - and then there is Canada with vast distances where AM is still a bit more in use. Sirius XM isn't even remotely as far in terms of audience than DAB is in the UK or in Switzerland.

One of the main problems with AM is the high cost of transmission together with not being able to reach an audience anymore with one single program. Absolute Radio same as Heart or Smooth have a lot of different choices on DAB+ but only one on AM or FM. And then there is the smartphone as an alternative choice.

I would expect that in Europe nearly all AM stations will be gone within a few years, if not faster.

Happening on January 23rd.

https://www.radioworld.com/global/absolute-bids-am-adieu

tinytobe

I think in the Republic of Ireland, BBC R4, R5, Talksport and Absolute Radio are an added benefit on AM. ( LW plus MW )

Sadly we would have to live with the idea that one day they all won't be there anymore, and that "one day" might come sooner than we can all imagine today.....

Infoanon

It's come around very quickly - tonight is the last evening of Absolute Radio on AM.

Apart from a rumoured 'special ' programme at 23.50 it's unclear when the audio will be pulled -midnight 12.15 or later , the TXs themselves will be switched off on Monday apparently.

The ad breaks on AM are announcing the switch off and an appropriate song eg Tom Robinson -Atmospherics,Shakespeare Sister - Hello Hello, Scritti Politti - Absolute

Declan A Walsh

I actually scanned through my stored medium wave stations in my car (yes - sad!) for a short period yesterday evening and I listened to Absolute on 1215 kh. I had forgotten what date it was due to shut down and thought I had found a new UK station!

dxhound2005

Greatest Hits is closing down on a few frequencies as well. The closedown loop is an Irish voice, maybe someone recognises who it is?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQ1stpvRfVk

rathfarnhamlad

Just listened to the last few minutes on my Tecsun R9012. A couple of clips from down through the decades, closing out with Absolute Beginners by David Bowie before switching over to the looped announcement.

Antenna

Absolute is (weakly) still audible in the background of the loop on 1197. Assume some low power 1197 transmitter is being fed by DAB or Freesat rather than the dedicated Absolute AM satellite link

marno21

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120132483#Comment_120132483

Clearly audible on this SDR in Bedfordshire. Possibly the Oxford TX?

http://remoteradio.changeip.org:8073/index.html

tinytobe

Yes there is a loop stating that Absolute on MW is history.

Just wondering is the shutdown happening all at once, or does a technician have to drive from transmitter to transmitter to shut each frequency down? I think they have 21 transmitters across the UK.

mrunsure

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120132230#Comment_120132230

That's Simon Ross (Rossie)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Ross

mrunsure

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120132496#Comment_120132496

That is now on a loop as well.

tinytobe

I suppose the 1215 / 1197 network will remain silent, or will the frequencies be used by some other broadcaster in the future? Is anything known on this?

end of the road

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120137485#Comment_120137485

they will remain silent, unless LPAM is licensed over there or the odd community service is licensed (they seem to be changing to DAB or FM where possible)

maybe the odd pirate from wherever might appear but who knows.

tinytobe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120141888#Comment_120141888

I am surprised how long they remained on AM considering the cost of the transmission and the ultra low listenership figures on AM. They may have had more listeners in Ireland than in the UK, I suppose.

Incidentally on DAB, Virgin Radio is back on air in the UK, has been for a couple of years. They have 3 channels on DAB running 3 different programms.

marno21

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120144764#Comment_120144764

They apparently got a good deal from Arqiva to keep the AM outlet going.

Many of the sites 1215 used are shared, now that one operator is gone that may potentially increase the costs for Talksport/BBC

Apparently TalkSport want to remain on AM for as long as the BBC do to prevent 5 Live cannibalising their audience

Glaceon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120132884#Comment_120132884

Most of the transmitters (there was obviously at least one exception) would be receiving the same feed so it would be simple to cut the feed to the closedown loop. The actual switching off of the transmitters would probably be done by Arqiva since they own them. I don't know for sure but I imagine it would be possible to switch them on and off remotely these days. I wonder if they were still using Harris DX50s?

tinytobe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120145039#Comment_120145039

Talksport and Radio 5 do still have a bit of an AM listenership in the UK. I would suppose that Talksport makes a good profit out of sports coverage, thus the cost of transmitting on AM is not so much of a burden as it was for Absolute Radio.

Also the Talksport AM listenership figures are mainly down to older cars not having DAB in their cars. Talksport being the stronger signal than BBC Radio 5 and Absolute Radio also makes for decent reception in Ireland as well. With Absolute Radio you always had that echo in Ireland as well.

Around 10 years ago DAB was really taking over in the UK, and Absolute Radio's AM listenership dwindled continuously.

I am wondering how long Capital Gold or Smooth radio will last on AM. I don't know anybody in the UK listening to these stations on AM anymore.

Infoanon

The AM listenership figures put forward by Absolute as part of the 'good' reasons to cease AM are slightly misleading.

Listenership of 2% is overall AM listenership of the ALL radio stations ,including FM and DAB.

Absolutes true AM figure is closer to 25%.

Since dropping the coveted London FM frequency it's been obvious for a while that Absolute was going in a different direction.

Ofcom could advertise for a new national AM service but ,when compared to the costs of DAB, would there be any interest .

As an aside Spirit are still off AM and 252 must be the best maintained TX and mast given the amount of downtime for essential servicing (of a relatively new TX)

Spirit radio and the Bai are apparently in the tricky situation that as the licence is officially for an national AM service (with some FM relays) there isn't officially a way for them to quit AM but keep the licence. So we have this farce of their AM tx getting switched on for a a week or two every 6 months.

tinytobe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120146354#Comment_120146354

Ever since the 2010s I haven't known anybody in the UK who listened to Absolute Radio on MW. Anybody, except a couple of DX mined radio enthusiasts. I don't think the listenership was anywhere near 25% at all. At some point over the last couple of years Absolute Radio reduced power of their MW transmitters.

Even at night time the signal was abysmal in the 1990ies especially in the South East of the UK, mainly due to Kaliningrad Russia which was also using the 1215.

Glaceon

1215 (or 1214 as it was back then) was never a good frequency, hence BBC Radio 1 being moved off it in 1978.

tinytobe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120148523#Comment_120148523

Later on they put Radio 3 on that frequency. Imagine classical music on AM and Kaliningrad constantly disturbing the signal. I believe also Spain is on 1215 as well. Possibly COPE? Must have been some classical concert on Radio 3.

dxhound2005

Absolute appears to be completely gone now. Last closedown loop from Lisnagarvey off air at 14:16 26 January. It was a lovely clear signal when on its own, unlike the echos and mush when there were multiple transmitters. Which is what makes Talk Sport and 5 Live unlistenable where I am much of the time.