The future of RTE Radio 1 LW

L1011 · 08-11-2019 09:04PM

Mickey Mike wrote: »

Sorry, but I have to say this and I'll say no more
Norway have switched off FM but the transmission gear are still intacted, its only turned off with the option of switching FM back on again, it was definitely a bold move by Norway. Now back to LW 252.

FM aerial stacks sitting unused in Norwegian weather won't be operable within months. Transmitters also don't like being left off in the cold, neither does any device using electrolytic caps

08-11-2019 09:29PM

galtee boy wrote: »

Any new technology will be a slow burner in the early days, but DAB is huge in the UK now. At my brothers house in South West London area, a DAB scan on the radio brings up over 100 channels. Before anyone says it, yes, an awful lot of them are sh**e and I'm sure many of them will fail etc, but that's business/commerce at work. On another note, hasn't Norway switched off its FM and gone digital radio only, or am I mistaken ? And a country like Norway, must be a nightmare to cover geographically with DAB transmitters.

Norway , I thought it was Sweden earlier, it was only the national broadcaster that shut of FM as far as I'm aware but they seemingly suffered a big loss as a result.

FSO_Polonez · 08-11-2019 10:03PM

Deleted User wrote: »

Norway , I thought it was Sweden earlier, it was only the national broadcaster that shut of FM as far as I'm aware but they seemingly suffered a big loss as a result.

That's right. Yet NRK Radio 1 is still broadcast on long-wave (until the end of this year) in the north of the country and on medium wave in Svalbard (new Tx to be commissioned soon). Nearly a year after they same station ceased broadcasting on FM.

silver2020 · 08-11-2019 10:53PM

decor58 wrote: »

The 4 stations, radio 1, 2fm, Lyric and RnaG are on freesat and Sky but its argued that some listeners may not have the equipment or knowhow to receive them.

are they on the UK freesat & sky platform? (its the UK listeners that the "keep lw" crew go on about)

FSO_Polonez · 08-11-2019 11:03PM

silver2020 wrote: »
are they on the UK freesat & sky platform? (its the UK listeners that the "keep lw" crew go on about)

Yes, they are available on my Freesat, as is Newstalk. Any community station could easily re-broadcast it on low-power FM allocation. Whether or not Ofcom would do anything about it is another matter though.

kazoo106 · 09-11-2019 12:55AM

How are they getting on with DAB in the UK (RTÉ) - Last I heard there was too much red tape

Long after time Clarkestown was brought into service on 612kHz - mast is correct size and all !

Zird · 09-11-2019 11:48AM

kazoo106 wrote: »

How are they getting on with DAB in the UK (RTÉ) - Last I heard there was too much red tape

Long after time Clarkestown was brought into service on 612kHz - mast is correct size and all !

From what I heard, dispiite what RTE say publicly, the idea of going on dab in the UK is dead and RTE on longwave 252 will be around for at least another decade. The save 252 campaigns won.

09-11-2019 08:36PM

I'd have no real objection to DAB if it wasn't about going Digital for the sake of going Digital and because Digital is automatically perceived better than FM or offer something better.

If DAB offered the real benefits that digital TV offered I'd say sure go ahead but there's no point building a new DAB network for little to no benefit.

The other issue is that FM is full of rubbish stations and needs to be cleaned up.

2FM should be closed and Gold take it's place , it's a no brainier because the DJs are not good and are annoying and they play ultra modern crap that is just noise to most people I know even lads in their 20's in work say it's crap.

Just kill 2fm and play Gold Nationwide, in my opinion 2FM offers nothing for the Public.

Mickey Mike · 09-11-2019 10:25PM

I would agree RTE Gold should take over the 2fm slot, they are enough modern pop stations on the FM band, or at least share it between Gold and 2fm.

galtee boy · 09-11-2019 11:31PM

Mickey Mike wrote: »

I would agree RTE Gold should take over the 2fm slot, they are enough modern pop stations on the FM band, or at least share it between Gold and 2fm.

Don't we already have a Gold type station in Classic Hits/4FM ?

Mickey Mike · 09-11-2019 11:45PM

galtee boy wrote: »

Don't we already have a Gold type station in Classic Hits/4FM ?

Lucky for you, where I live I can't receive it on FM, I need to travel over the hill 2 km to get it on 104.6 (Clare).

Zird · 09-11-2019 11:51PM

galtee boy wrote: »

Don't we already have a Gold type station in Classic Hits/4FM ?

I must say, I don't get the fanboyism for RTE Gold here on boards, you'd swear that it was the only outlet in Ireland to hear Whitney Houston, Madonna and Bruce Springsteen the way people rave about it

galtee boy · 09-11-2019 11:53PM

Mickey Mike wrote: »

Lucky for you, where I live I can't receive it on FM, I need to travel over the hill 2 km to get it on 104.6 (Clare).

According to their frequency list, County Clare should be covered by either Woodcock Hill on 104.2 or Maghera on 104.6 ?

10-11-2019 12:38AM

galtee boy wrote: »

Don't we already have a Gold type station in Classic Hits/4FM ?

4FM isn't a nationwide station, can't get it here in Carlow.

It might be Gold type but they're playing more modern music as far as I can see. From what U can hear when in Dublin.

10-11-2019 12:46AM

Zird wrote: »

I must say, I don't get the fanboyism for RTE Gold here on boards, you'd swear that it was the only outlet in Ireland to hear Whitney Houston, Madonna and Bruce Springsteen the way people rave about it

They play good music in general, last weekend Gold gave the Beatles a good blast. Nothing wrong with that.

kazoo106 · 10-11-2019 03:03AM

Seeing as RTÉ seem to be unable to afford a new RDS encoder for 87.8, Im sure car radios in NI are loving having 252

Digifriendly · 11-11-2019 11:53PM

kazoo106 wrote: »

Seeing as RTÉ seem to be unable to afford a new RDS encoder for 87.8, Im sure car radios in NI are loving having 252

Can you explain this as I can pick up 87.8 FM fine here in N. Ireland?

kazoo106 · 12-11-2019 12:17AM

They are not transmitting any RDS info on that frequency - so, if you have RTE radio one tuned in from another frequency - eg 88.2 Truskmore or 88.9 Monaghan, the preset will not know to jump to 87.8, as that frequency does not have any PI code transmitted. Its a shame and disgrace that this has been the case for over a week.

lertsnim · 12-11-2019 02:23AM

galtee boy wrote: »

Don't we already have a Gold type station in Classic Hits/4FM ?

South East doesn't have it.

Mortelaro · 12-11-2019 11:24AM

lertsnim wrote: »

South East doesn't have it.

Correct, cant get 4fm in Arklow unless on a wifi radio
Or in wexford
Why is that?
Xmas fm broadcasts out of Arklow, cant they add 4fm there to hit wexford and south Wicklow?

Their online buffers a lot,often unusable

Johnboy1951 · 12-11-2019 11:28AM

Mortelaro wrote: »

Correct, cant get 4fm in Arklow unless on a wifi radio
Or in wexford
Why is that?
Xmas fm broadcasts out of Arklow, cant they add 4fm there to hit wexford and south Wicklow?

Their online buffers a lot,often unusable

What is a 'wifi radio'?

marno21 · 12-11-2019 11:33AM

Mortelaro wrote: »

Correct, cant get 4fm in Arklow unless on a wifi radio
Or in wexford
Why is that?
Xmas fm broadcasts out of Arklow, cant they add 4fm there to hit wexford and south Wicklow?

Their online buffers a lot,often unusable

4FM are only licenced for Dublin + commuter belt, Cork, Limerick, Clare and Galway

Mortelaro · 12-11-2019 11:43AM

marno21 wrote: »

4FM are only licenced for Dublin + commuter belt, Cork, Limerick, Clare and Galway

I think about half Gorey and Arklow probably commute to Dublin...

12-11-2019 11:53AM

4fm arent really a gold station they play all sorts of rubbish though they do have some decent music at times , I've heard a lot of modern crap on 4fm. Maybe they changed.

The niall boylan show for 2.5 hrs is absolutely shocking unless they cleaned the show up but I remember coming home from Germany a few years back and Niall Boylan was on in the spar shop and the language was shocking people were even commenting on irish radio in the shop , non irish, it was actually an embarrassment. Is the show still as bad ?

Nothing wrong having a few oldies stations , I'm a big fan of oldies. Much better than the likes of the crap played on 2fm most of the time, the audience that 2fm are seeking to attract are listening to spotify and not listening to radio and rubbish djs talking pure rubbish.

12-11-2019 12:07PM

lertsnim wrote: »

South East doesn't have it.

Or the North West!

12-11-2019 12:12PM

As much as I'd love to see Gold on FM,it probably wouldn't be as good as it is now.They would have to run hourly news and adverts would have to be run on it to gain revenue so all that may dilute the goodness of it!

12-11-2019 12:22PM

The licencing needs to change, nobody wants to listen to the same news and weather 20 times a day or more some stations have headlines every 30 mins , to me and a lot of people I know this is a massive, massive turn off.

News at 8am 1pm 6pm and 9pm is just plenty. All you hear nowadays anyway is climate change this and climate change that, if the cows don't line up for milking tomorrow it will be related to climate change its tiring, the liberalism in irish news and media today is a huge turn off also so is the brainwashing.

This constant news and weather reporting every 30 minute 1 hr has got to stop.

Stations should be allowed to do what they want anyway , too many restrictions.

Mortelaro · 12-11-2019 12:28PM

Tried 4FM on the wifi radio here for a while again
Buffering every song
So went back to rte gold
No buffering

12-11-2019 01:34PM

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

What is a 'wifi radio'?

Internet radio through a set in your house such as a Roberts Stream 93i.

12-11-2019 01:39PM

Mortelaro wrote: »

Tried 4FM on the wifi radio here for a while again
Buffering every song
So went back to rte gold
No buffering

4FM/Classic Hits have a limited playlist compared to RTE Gold!It's very rare to hear the same song played twice within a short period of time on Gold and they play songs from the 1950s to the 2000s whereas 4FM/Classic Hits are mostly from the 80s/90s.

The future of RTE Radio 1 LW

Comments