Lack of closures / mergers / consolidation / automation in Irish Radio

Can anyone confirm if Mid West Radio (MWR) in Mayo, are the only Irish radio station with fully live presenter-led programmes (no documentaries or repeat shows) 7 days per week, from 7am to 2am the following morning?
19 Hours per day of live radio.

Maybe a comparison with countries like New Zealand and Norway would be fairer. Some UK stations serve urban areas with more people than the whole of Ireland.

leoXX wrote: »

When you see the way that Uk independent local radio has been absolutely gutted in recent years with massive job losses, it really is amazing that apart from some small exceptions, Irish radio has very much managed to stay untouched. Perhaps it proves that The BAI have been right about not going ahead with further licences/deregulation and have actually saved jobs in doing so?

Saved who's job......robojock sitting on a shelf in the corner? Might be better for us all if some of them did fail and present the opportunity to inject some new blood into the radio scene.

Infoanon wrote: »

Phantom / TX is an example of a station failing - licence was not put up for new applicants and no new licence for any type of FM services has been advertised .

The BAI will maintain the status quo even if that means stations abandon conditions of their licence application.

There are barriers of entry for any new stations - no licences being issued ,temporary services - restrictions on playlist / advertising and high cost of entries , DAB - there are no licences for a full time service and a temporary service is only allowed host BAI S.77 (iirc ) service licences which iirc carry a 5 year upfront payment. Stand to be corrected on the finer details of the DAB licence but in summary the cost is prohibitive

Yes indeed, a five year content licence has to be paid for up front in respect of DAB. Seems pretty irrelevant as there are no licensed multiplexes at present to put your content on so just stick your licence in a drawer to gather dust?! As far as I can recall, the trial multiplexes were licensed for three years so once again why pay for a five year content licence? The IRTC/BAI have been kicking the DAB can down the road for years with assurances that they are "looking into it". How long does it take to look. While there is still good mileage left in FM, we run the risk of having digital imposed on us by Brussels with no domestic plan of action.
It's actually quite depressing to look across the water where there has been an explosion of small scale DAB servicing anything from large cities to country villages. Some of the smaller multiplexes are actually offering free carriage for micro stations that only serve a very small area on a voluntary basis.
Unfortunately in Ireland it's all about protecting the existing players and by extension denying real diversity.
The 1988 Act is now 32 years old and in my view is no longer fit for purpose as it was written in an analogue age which has long since disappeared. That however is a completely separate discussion.
Rant over, I'm off to the pub.........oh wait!!

ford fiesta wrote: »

Can anyone confirm if Mid West Radio (MWR) in Mayo, are the only Irish radio station with fully live presenter-led programmes (no documentaries or repeat shows) 7 days per week, from 7am to 2am the following morning?
19 Hours per day of live radio.

You'd be right. It'll take more than a bit of Covid to make MWR give up their schedule!

KReid wrote: »

The DAB discussion is bonkers too. Im (or was) in the UK a lot with work, I never saw the appeal of DAB, it was always a bit difficult and awkward, and also extremely costly. Radios.

41% of radio listenership in the UK is via DAB with 70% of Digital listenership via DAB with DAB ownership being circa 70% according to the latest figures

Infoanon wrote: »

41% of radio listenership in the UK is via DAB with 70% of Digital listenership via DAB with DAB ownership being circa 70% according to the latest figures

Sorry ye, I don't doubt its not doing well in the UK, theu made it work, we missed the boat with it, the privately owned stations didn't invest in it.

Investing in a DAB infrastructure now when we have other far more flexible and accessible means of connectivity would be waste of money. The vast majority of this country has a smartphone and Internet access (yes, yes I know your Granny in Castletown can't get moren than 2mb) how many people are going to invest in another piece of technology like a DAB radio when you can ask Alexa to play the station you want, or use your phone.

Let the UK use DAB, we can move ahead and use the Internet.

Infoanon wrote: »

DAB allowed the addition of many radio stations - it's not obsolete - the figures are there - 41% of all listenership is DAB and it dominates (70%) digital listenership.

If anything the figures are going to grow with the requirement that all new cars have DAB.

Regarding additional value - 10 FM transmitters get replaced by 1 DAB transmitter - that's a big saving.

However - Ireland has missed the boat on DAB

I don't think that figure really tallies up with Ireland though, just because something works in one country doesn't mean it would work in another. It took us years to implement Saorview. Don't forget the UK has local stations the broadcast to a population greater than ours as a country, there was a much greater demand for increased listening opportunities.

How much would be saved though? And who's saving it? You would have to build new infrastructure for a DAB network, even if it meant you could remove traditional FM transmission, the actual transmitters would stay because they often serve other purposes with mobile masts and satellites housed on them and would continue to be serviced.

I get the arguments that all new cars will have DAB compatability, but that's only new cars, it would be nearly 5 or 6 years before the majority of country has a car made post 2019. What kind of advances will be made in wireless communications and satellites by then.


DAB could have worked here but it didn't, not enough investment, not enough interest from private stations. Personally I would rather see that money spent on improving our broadband and Internet services, which offer more value.

Simply put, why would I buy a DAB radio for 60 euro when I can listen on my phone or laptop, devices which serve several other purposes?

The figures from the UK shows the potential that does / did exist for DAB - however the current stations did not want the competition and with the BAI operating rules bordering on monopolistic DAB has been effectively shut down in Ireland. Which all ties in nicely with the thread .

Why buy a DAB radio - superior sound quality compared to phones and most laptops.
Infrastructure - already exists and switching off and removing FM TXS would safe money and not affect other services.

Earlier this year a proposal was put forward for a legal full time DAB service - arguably an expression of interest as no such licence exists - the service was fully subscribed to

Thus there are individuals/stations who are willing to invest in DAB because they do see a future and a demand for DAB in Ireland.

Infoanon wrote: »

.

Why buy a DAB radio - superior sound quality compared to phones and most laptops.
Infrastructure - already exists and switching off and removing FM TXS would safe money and not affect other services.

Earlier this year a proposal was put forward for a legal full time DAB service - arguably an expression of interest as no such licence exists - the service was fully subscribed to
.

Actually, ye sound quality on DAB would be superior assuming the stations broadcast it correctly. Although people are more than happy to listen to Spotify on their phone, and sound quality is enhanced with headphones so I'm not sure it's a major issue for people. It would only be limited to people in their house.

Genuinely though, who's saving money by turning off FM transmission? There would need to be a big campaign to drive people away from it and to DAB. If it could be done to supplement FM originally it might work, and we could gradually phase out FM over the next ten years.

Would it be feasible for the BAI to request that all FM stations broadcast on DAB by 2023 say, keep the FM band alive until 2030? Or would stations just point towards their online platforms and say there's no need for DAB

Tork wrote: »

When did this rule come in? There is no DAB in my car.

Q3 2019 iirc

KReid wrote: »

Genuinely though, who's saving money by turning off FM transmission?

The stations themselves would save money.

Would it be feasible for the BAI to request that all FM stations broadcast on DAB by 2023 say, keep the FM band alive until 2030? Or would stations just point towards their online platforms and say there's no need for DAB

The point is mute as the FM stations don't want to go on DAB as it would mean more competition - online does not give the penetration required to replace either FM or DAB in the short / medium term

The one thing that you aren't allowing for here is that the UK radio broadcasting scene has largely moved away from local stand alone stations and more towards larger networked stations. Obviously I am not suggesting that they have gone this way purely for DAB's benefit but decades of tolerance of cross ownership and acceptance of centrally programmed has rolled in nicely as DAB moves to replaces AM.

While fans of DAB will rightfully claim that regional areas now have more choice, these listening options are actually "niche" stations from the Bauer's of this realm. Perhaps a Kisstory or Absolute 80's or UCB 2 works and consumers are glad of it but the community loses out on what was meant to be a local station. One of the chief benefits of our local radio stations in Ireland is that our airwaves are indeed populated with locally run stations. The BAI need to be careful to not lose this whatever about expanding operations.

As regards the TX end, well yeah the audio is great and the bean counter in me can't argue with about 300 TX sites replacing 3,000 FM/AM sites. Unless you happen to live in the many nooks and crannies that DAB can't reach

Infoanon wrote: »

The figures from the UK shows the potential that does / did exist for DAB - however the current stations did not want the competition and with the BAI operating rules bordering on monopolistic DAB has been effectively shut down in Ireland. Which all ties in nicely with the thread ..