What does 'quasi-national' mean?

Genghis

Some time back the BCI mentioned it was considering a 'quasi-national' licence for radio. Nobody really asked what this sexy new phrase might mean, and now journalists just repeat it as an accepted term, without ever explaining what it might mean.

Is it a series of FM frequencies in different parts of the country that operate seperately and cover most of the country, without guaranteeing national coverage?

Or is it selected catchment areas like the main urban centres and their surrounds meaning that most of the population will receive it, but not most of the country?

Or is it one of the two above, along with an AM licence which means that it is effectively national, but not available everywhere on FM?

Or is it that there is not enough spectrum left for a national station to be technically national, but kinda like 1. above, the BCI can cobble together enough resources to make what is an effective national station?

On a final point: If Dublin is already has the most congested spectrum for radio, and if Dublin must form part of any "quasi-national" station, then doesn't Newstalk 106 enjoy an advantage over other bidders (in that it requires no further licence for Dublin)?

Elmo

I guess they mean a Station like BEAT FM 102-103 which covers the south east.

News Talk want a National Service. I guess that News Talk 106 might end up being News Talk 98 or something in the rest of the country.

Charles Slane

Genghis wrote:

Is it a series of FM frequencies in different parts of the country that operate seperately and cover most of the country, without guaranteeing national coverage?

Or is it selected catchment areas like the main urban centres and their surrounds meaning that most of the population will receive it, but not most of the country?

Or is it one of the two above, along with an AM licence which means that it is effectively national, but not available everywhere on FM?

Or is it that there is not enough spectrum left for a national station to be technically national, but kinda like 1. above, the BCI can cobble together enough resources to make what is an effective national station?

On a final point: If Dublin is already has the most congested spectrum for radio, and if Dublin must form part of any "quasi-national" station, then doesn't Newstalk 106 enjoy an advantage over other bidders (in that it requires no further licence for Dublin)?

All of the above ! I'm not trying to be funny but I reckon that there would be
a series of FM frequencies in different parts of the country that operate seperately (which is how "national" stations operate anyway). They would be with a selected band (106 to 108 as an example). They would logically try to have the best coverage in the most densely populated areas, so more rural areas are less likely to be served. Also in some areas it may not be possible to broadcast within the given range due to interference with other stations.

So a possible scenario is something like - Newstalk gets the licence and promotes itself as Newstalk 106 - 108. It's available on 106 in Dublin, 107 in Cork, and 107.5 in Limerick (just for example), and on similar frequencies in Galway, Waterford, Athlone, Sligo etc. It gets a bigger slice of the national advertising cake, more people get to be irritated by Eamon Dunphy (much as I enjoy him sometimes), and everyone goes home happy.

I'm not sure about a national AM frequency, although there's the option for a religious station on AM nationally with one or more local FMs. I reckon that it would be up to the station themselves whether or not they wanted to broadcast on AM.

And I agreee about your final point. Newstalk already has several advantages and would seem to me to be by far the most likely winner of the license.

Ulsterman 1690

"Quasi national" presumably means a radio service with a roughly equivalent level of coverage to TV3 :rolleyes:

I hope they give newstalk an AM freuency rather than blocking up a load of FM frequencies with speech leaving no FM channels for new music stations

icdg

Ah yes. The BCI have never quite specified what they mean by quasi-national. I would suspect option one is the closest.

Apparently a AM-FM combo licence is under consideration, but that's not the quasi-national station, but for a religous station.

Ulsterman 1690

An AM/FM combo licence is pure madness even RTE have stopped the wasteful practice of simulcasting Rna G and 2FM on AM (well having a station called Two "FM" on AM was a bit silly)

Mossy Monk

icdg wrote:

Apparently a AM-FM combo licence is under consideration, but that's not the quasi-national station, but for a religous station.

a religious channel on FM?

what good would that be except for enhanced bell ringing sounds

murray sparkle

Quasi National will allow Newstalk or whoever the incumbent is to cherry pick where they want to broadcast to - they will naturally pick all the main population centres, but don't expect them to cover the west of Ireland that well or North Tipp and places like that. Beat was earlier referred to as Quasi National. That's wrong -Beat is a regional operator. Other regional licences are being offered soon.

WRT to the AM FM debate. I don't agree with the poster who proposed putting Newstalk on AM to free up the spectrum for new music stations. There is plenty of room for all the services on FM. Take NYC as an example 51 FM stations and there is still room for the odd pirate. If COMREG were a bit more militant they would keep the FM dial clear for licenced operators ( my preferred solution). AM is a dying frequency. The majority of people wouldn't listen to a broadcast about the end of the world if it was on AM. In an age where radio is fighting a battle with MP3's and mobile phones and other forms of on the go entertainment putting an intelligent mix of news and discussion on AM would be crazy. Saying that this is the BCi -the organisation that insists that all independent stations have to subject us to 20% of Irish music every day. I believe in meritocracy. If the stuff was good enough it would be played anyway. Instead programme controllers around the country have to play Ronan, Paddy Casey and Mary Black incessantly regardless of what their listeners actually want. At the same time the state owned 2FM is not hamstrung by this preposterous regulation brought in by Niall Stokes to grow the Irish music industry - all it achieved was more airplay for safe Irish acts like Van Morrison and Westlife -WELL DONE NIALL!).

Mossy Monk

if they are going to make NewsTalk "Quasi National" could they do it as quickly as possible. it is a very good channel