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RTÉ to cease DAB broadcasting

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Comments

  • #92
    plodder
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 8,113 ✭✭✭plodder


    rogue-entity wrote: »
    As things stand at the moment, I would respectfully disagree that "internet radio is better" regardless of where you're listening to it, because it does not scale.


    For the same reason that Satellite and Terrestrial broadcasting is necessary - it scales with a fixed cost for the broadcaster irrespective of the amount of listeners.
    Multicast IP will eventually fix that problem, I believe.

    The BBC has done some good research in this area, but quite a lot of work is needed to develop all the required technical standards, particularly on the client side.

    Long term, I wonder, if it's the case we are abandoning DAB, could the frequency spectrum be allocated to mobile ISPs on preferential terms if they agree to support this type of multicast service.

    “Fanaticism is always a sign of repressed doubt” - Carl Jung



  • #93
    Zird
    Closed Accounts Posts: 70 ✭✭Zird


    This is a bit random but something I've noticed is people in Ireland when talking about DAB radio always say the word Dab, as in a dab of lipstick but in the UK everyone says the letters Dee A Bee


  • #94
    Former Former
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,728 ✭✭✭Former Former


    rogue-entity wrote: »
    As things stand at the moment, I would respectfully disagree that "internet radio is better" regardless of where you're listening to it, because it does not scale.

    That's a fair point. However, by the time any DAB network is up and running in Ireland, the bandwidth and speed of mobile networks here will be many multiples of what it is now.


  • #95
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 4,236 ✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    I'm really going to miss the digital channels particularly Gold and Radio 1 Extra.Hope there is a backlash like the one in the UK when the BBC were going to shut down BBC 6 Music!


  • #96
    JDxtra
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,090 ✭✭✭JDxtra


    Zird wrote: »
    This is a bit random but something I've noticed is people in Ireland when talking about DAB radio always say the word Dab, as in a dab of lipstick but in the UK everyone says the letters Dee A Bee
    That's because we're not used to it! :)


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  • #97
    tv3tg4
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 545 ✭✭✭tv3tg4


    DAB should have been nationwide and open to commercial broadcasters.

    It is a disgrace RTE shutting it down.

    Typical RTE


  • #98
    JDxtra
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,090 ✭✭✭JDxtra


    tv3tg4 wrote: »
    DAB should have been nationwide and open to commercial broadcasters.

    It is a disgrace RTE shutting it down.

    Typical RTE
    Commercial broadcasters had no interest in the platform - so when things got tight, it left RTE with no other option other than to say they will pull it. They rightly should not fund it on their own. Their needs to be proper government direction on the platform and the future of FM - not endless and pointless "trials".


  • #99
    tv3tg4
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 545 ✭✭✭tv3tg4


    JDxtra wrote: »
    Commercial broadcasters had no interest in the platform - so when things got tight, it left RTE with no other option other than to say they will pull it. They rightly should not fund it on their own. Their needs to be proper government direction on the platform and the future of FM - not endless and pointless "trials".

    I agree. Complete lack of leadership on part of the government on this.


  • #100
    Ready4Boarding
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 143 ✭✭Ready4Boarding


    Una Mullally today chides RTE for backing DAB instead of podcasting, as though they are alternatives. According to her, it would seem, RTE's current fortunes can be attributed partly to its failure to properly podcast.


  • #101
    Former Former
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,728 ✭✭✭Former Former


    tv3tg4 wrote: »
    DAB should have been nationwide and open to commercial broadcasters.

    It is a disgrace RTE shutting it down.

    Typical RTE

    As pointed out, it wasn't RTE's job to build a national network and they had no legal power to either put commercial broadcasters on the air or prevent them from doing so. They kept going with DAB long after everyone else had given up.

    Typical of the very badly informed people who are always critical of RTÉ yet are the ones most in desperate need of RTE's services.


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  • #102
    Montage of Feck
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,076 ✭✭✭Montage of Feck


    Replace 2fm with gold would be the logical solution. Would save a fortune and probably gain listenership.

    🙈🙉🙊



  • #103
    ford fiesta
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,984 ✭✭✭ford fiesta


    Montage of Feck wrote: »
    Replace 2fm with gold would be the logical solution. Would save a fortune and probably gain listenership.

    There's something great about RTE Gold - simply a great variety of music that 4FM, Sunshine just never have gotten right.

    When you think about it most of the songs played on RTE Gold were played first time round as new/current hits on Raidio Eireann/Radio 1 and 2FM, from the same building they are being played from now - the RTE Radio Centre!! (which may be demolished in order to free up more land to be sold at RTE).

    If Gold closes, most of those songs will probably never be heard on RTE radio ever again.


  • #104
    Ready4Boarding
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 143 ✭✭Ready4Boarding


    Why, exactly, are they keeping 2FM? Anyone any ideas? Ten years ago it was self-funding but now they allocate about 6m in license fee funding to cover the commercial revenue shortfall. I rarely listen but it seems identical to Today, 104, etc. Is it so as to retain their reach?


  • #105
    Eric Cartman
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 26,247 ✭✭✭✭Eric Cartman


    Ready4Boarding wrote: »
    Una Mullally today chides RTE for backing DAB instead of podcasting, as though they are alternatives. According to her, it would seem, RTE's current fortunes can be attributed partly to its failure to properly podcast.

    so Una Mullally berates RTE for not giving her another platform to spit bile at men. got it.


  • #106
    absolutegroove
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 750 ✭✭✭absolutegroove


    I’m really going to miss RTE 2XM :-(


  • #107
    radioguru02
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,224 ✭✭✭radioguru02


    Ready4Boarding wrote: »
    Why, exactly, are they keeping 2FM? Anyone any ideas? Ten years ago it was self-funding but now they allocate about 6m in license fee funding to cover the commercial revenue shortfall. I rarely listen but it seems identical to Today, 104, etc. Is it so as to retain their reach?

    Probably to say they have a pop station etc


  • #108
    Zird
    Closed Accounts Posts: 70 ✭✭Zird


    zorro2566 wrote: »
    I'm really going to miss the digital channels particularly Gold and Radio 1 Extra.Hope there is a backlash like the one in the UK when the BBC were going to shut down BBC 6 Music!
    The only way the whole country can pick up the RTE digital stations offline is via television and I doubt many people listen to the radio on the television, If people are listening online, then they have a whole world of radio and music at their fingertips and don't have to relay on the mostly automated RTE Gold. Dab is completely untenable as it's only available in 3 cities.


  • #109
    Zird
    Closed Accounts Posts: 70 ✭✭Zird


    tv3tg4 wrote: »
    DAB should have been nationwide and open to commercial broadcasters.

    It is a disgrace RTE shutting it down.

    Typical RTE

    :rolleyes:


  • #110
    Ready4Boarding
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 143 ✭✭Ready4Boarding


    Zird wrote: »
    The only way the whole country can pick up the RTE digital stations offline is via television and I doubt many people listen to the radio on the television, If people are listening online, then they have a whole world of radio and music at their fingertips and don't have to relay on the mostly automated RTE Gold. Dab is completely untenable as it's only available in 3 cities.

    According to wikipedia, it covers over half the population.


  • #111
    Ursus Horribilis
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,168 ✭✭✭Ursus Horribilis


    Ready4Boarding wrote: »
    According to wikipedia, it covers over half the population.

    That'd be the most densely populated parts of the county. Just like when you see mobile phone or broadband stats. It's easy to get your percentages up when you include the Eastern seaboard


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  • #112
    AwaitYourReply
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,735 ✭✭✭AwaitYourReply


    ford fiesta wrote: »
    There's something great about RTE Gold - simply a great variety of music that 4FM, Sunshine just never have gotten right.

    When you think about it most of the songs played on RTE Gold were played first time round as new/current hits on Raidio Eireann/Radio 1 and 2FM, from the same building they are being played from now - the RTE Radio Centre!! (which may be demolished in order to free up more land to be sold at RTE).

    If Gold closes, most of those songs will probably never be heard on RTE radio ever again.

    If RTÉ is serious about becoming more sustainable they need to think more outside the box. Selling off plots of land at a very valuable location makes little sense when they should probably move the entire H.Q. to a much cheaper green field site.

    They should also be prepared to listen and explore further an offer extended to RTÉ from the President of the University of Limerick (UL) who indicated they were willing to give RTÉ Lyric fm a new home on favourable terms due to RTÉ's lease on it's Limerick Studios coming to an end by the end of next year which has prompted Lyric FM's departure from it's Limerick base after 20 years. One gets the impression that no alternative will be considered even if it saves money and allows the service to continue to broadcast from the Mid-West Region. RTÉ will always opt to close regional studios but it forgets that it is there to serve the whole nation and should reflect it.

    2FM was once relevant for the youth audience when there was no legal national alternative however; this has no longer been the case for quite some time and it beggars belief if millions are being pumped into it when it does nothing unique and it's audience demographic is choosing alternative sources for their music & entertainment. In the meantime, one of the RTÉ digital-only stations earmarked for closure, RTÉ Gold would have a more loyal audience as it's listener demographic is aimed primarily at older generations which would tend to be much slower at adopting to newer technologies. RTÉ Gold should replace RTÉ 2fm on 90-92 Mhz on FM. I am convinced that if RTÉ Gold had been on FM from it's inception it would have built up a more significant audience by now.


  • #113
    Zird
    Closed Accounts Posts: 70 ✭✭Zird


    The Gombeenism about Limerick is pathetic.What difference does it make, where the person playing classical music from a computer is sitting? The most listened to show on lyric, the breakfast show has been broadcasting from D4 for the last decade with the grossly inefficient practice of the Limerick based producer having to travel to D4 regularly for meetings. It makes zero business sense in this day in age having stand alone radio studios. Every independent station in Dublin is now sharing with their sister station (s)


  • #114
    AwaitYourReply
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,735 ✭✭✭AwaitYourReply


    Even the commercial independent stations like Newstalk 106-108 still see benefits of broadcasting regularly direct from the regions as if they did not they would not have bothered to make the effort to maintain a presence in areas outside of the capital. I know in Cork they used to have a radio studio on Opera Lane for a number of years but when that facility was closed Newstalk/Today fm (Communicorp) sought a new partnership with the Republic of Work on South Mall to ensure a presence from the regions.

    If a station is broadcasting beyond the pale it needs to reach out if it expects more listeners to tune in as they are also up against local/regionally based stations reading out items like the death notices on air. More listeners used to result in higher advertising revenue although now it's not guaranteed so they also need to stabilise what they've got and hope to grow it through other methods. I gather our major national stations (i.e.) RTÉ and private commercial station, Newstalk want to be seen in local areas like the National Ploughing Championships as it gives them more credibility to be there engaging with their target audience. If it did not make a difference, they would not bother to go there.

    I think that if UL is calling RTÉ's bluff by offering them facilities at UL concert hall and RTÉ is not willing to avail of same it suggests there is more to this than merely a lease expiring especially if Lyric FM is to continue broadcasting from Dublin & Cork once the RTÉ Limerick studios close down next year.

    Sources:
    https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/radio/offer-to-house-lyric-fm-in-ul-by-the-universitys-president-still-stands-38680388.html

    https://www.newstalk.com/news/newstalk-and-today-fm-announce-launch-of-new-broadcast-studio-in-cork-487411


  • #115
    Zird
    Closed Accounts Posts: 70 ✭✭Zird


    AwaitYourReply wrote: »
    Even the commercial independent stations like Newstalk 106-108 still see benefits of broadcasting regularly direct from the regions as if they did not they would not have bothered to make the effort to maintain a presence in areas outside of the capital. I know in Cork they used to have a radio studio on Opera Lane for a number of years but when that facility was closed Newstalk/Today fm (Communicorp) sought a new partnership with the Republic of Work on South Mall to ensure a presence from the regions.

    If a station is broadcasting beyond the pale it needs to reach out if it expects more listeners to tune in as they are also up against local/regionally based stations reading out items like the death notices on air. More listeners used to result in higher advertising revenue although now it's not guaranteed so they also need to stabilise what they've got and hope to grow it through other methods. I gather our major national stations (i.e.) RTÉ and private commercial station, Newstalk want to be seen in local areas like the National Ploughing Championships as it gives them more credibility to be there engaging with their target audience. If it did not make a difference, they would not bother to go there.

    I think that if UL is calling RTÉ's bluff by offering them facilities at UL concert hall and RTÉ is not willing to avail of same it suggests there is more to this than merely a lease expiring especially if Lyric FM is to continue broadcasting from Dublin & Cork once the RTÉ Limerick studios close down next year.

    Sources:
    https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/radio/offer-to-house-lyric-fm-in-ul-by-the-universitys-president-still-stands-38680388.html

    https://www.newstalk.com/news/newstalk-and-today-fm-announce-launch-of-new-broadcast-studio-in-cork-487411

    Of course there's more to it, they want the surplus to requirement Limerick staff as well as will leahy to take redundancy.


  • #116
    marno21
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 14,748 Mod ✭✭✭✭marno21


    To me it would make far more sense to dump 2FM and launch RTÉ Gold on 90-92

    Gap in the market
    More radio friendly demographic
    Foundations of station in place


  • #117
    AwaitYourReply
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,735 ✭✭✭AwaitYourReply


    Zird wrote: »
    Of course there's more to it, they want the surplus to requirement Limerick staff as well as will leahy to take redundancy.

    The irony is that RTÉ should probably have approached UL when they originally went about establishing RTÉ Lyric FM back in 1999 as it would have been more cost efficient anyway particularly on a service that was targeting such a niche audience demographic. Long time presenters transferring from one station to another will usually come with strings attached/legacy terms whether they are based in the regions or D4 I suspect and I can also think of others on Lyric FM, RTÉ Gold, RTÉ 2fm etc;


  • #118
    ford fiesta
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,984 ✭✭✭ford fiesta


    by moving Lyric to Cork, RTE hope some staff based in Limerick will take up redundancy


  • #119
    Jonathan1990
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 115 ✭✭Jonathan1990


    I think RTÉ Gold should broadcast on 252 LW now the transmitter has been upgraded and postponed to switching off numerous times.


  • #120
    Lovenova
    Closed Accounts Posts: 30 ✭Lovenova


    Ready4Boarding wrote: »
    Una Mullally today chides RTE for backing DAB instead of podcasting, as though they are alternatives. According to her, it would seem, RTE's current fortunes can be attributed partly to its failure to properly podcast.

    She’s got it very wrong for 3 reasons 1. I’m not aware of any great expertise she has in the business 2. Radio and podcasts are not complimentary, they’re often competing against each other and the podcast generation is turning its back on radio. Even if it were true RTÉ radio has a massive digital archive available on podcast. Reminds me of some minnenial I read recently who claimed RTÉ is not employing enough talented newbies - Jesus wept - 2fm and the like are full of those google broadcasters ps young audience under about 25 has switched off radio and tv so pointless that they’re target audience


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  • #121
    Lovenova
    Closed Accounts Posts: 30 ✭Lovenova


    AwaitYourReply wrote: »
    The irony is that RTÉ should probably have approached UL when they originally went about establishing RTÉ Lyric FM back in 1999 as it would have been more cost efficient anyway particularly on a service that was targeting such a niche audience demographic. Long time presenters transferring from one station to another will usually come with strings attached/legacy terms whether they are based in the regions or D4 I suspect and I can also think of others on Lyric FM, RTÉ Gold, RTÉ 2fm etc;

    Closing limerick is a red herring


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