The problem I have is that having no DAB in Ireland, it's a bit of a symbol if Irish small mindedness and Irish protectionism. The commercial FM stations in the Republic of Ireland don't want DAB or DAB+, they fear competition, whilst not accepting that younger and younger generations are abandoning FM and subsequently radio completely.
The RTE is only paritially to blame, they sould have invested in an Irish-wide DAB network with all the other stations, 2XM, RTE Gold, etc… and not pay the excessive high cost to keep longwave 252 alive.
Considering that there is a DAB+ radio in every new car ever since 2022, there are most likely more DAB+ radios in Ireland around than LW radios ever were.
Every station is on the web, what's the problem?
Internet Radio is great.
However, some people don't want to depend on Internet.
The young people abandoning radio - are doing it for reasons of choice not platform. They don't want to be listening to some oldy goldy mix channel or some drooling talking heads. They want to choose what they listen to in fine granular detail - they listen to podcasts and spotify or its alternatives. They were never ever going to be traditional radio users and increasingly they will make the rational for traditional radio of any kind redundant. investing in DAB would be wasted money given this basic reality.
Radio is dead - its just the old guys (such as myself) haven't died off yet.
Great Idea genius, RTE (who ran a deficit almost every year of the 2010s) should have borrowed more money to build another radio network to carry extra radio stations that no minster would ever allow carry advertising
The commercial FM stations in the Republic of Ireland don't want DAB or DAB+, they fear competition
I doubt it tbh, the existing providers would dominate the DAB channels as well. Most of the space would be taken up with Today FM 90s, 98fm Throwback, Nova Classic, etc etc - it's very unlikely that a whole lot of actual radio content would emerge, it will just be playlisted services.
it's more likely that the commercial providers just realised that streaming delivers the same benefits with little to no upfront cost or risk.
…and more effective targeted advertising oppurtunties.
No, they won't. Reason being that they are in financial difficulty, and can't afford to keep the automated cost-next-to-nothing stations on Saorview going, never mind fund the rollout of a whole new nationwide transmission network which almost nobody in Ireland has a compatible radio for (except maybe in their car).
The commercial stations just aren't interested, they have streaming.
The real question isn't so much DAB vs FM but how long broadcast radio can survive at all. Ten years time, RTE will probably still be on FM but commercial might not. Twenty years time…?
I'm very happy that BBC Radio 2 is playing on your Roberts R100, but it doesn't play on a Roberts Stream200 anymore. Furthermore, I never said that I thought the BBC radio stations would ever be on an Irish DAB+ service, nor would I expect them to be. You seem to be making up an argument that I never made.
And it is factually incorrect to say that 'everyone' has broadband and mobile internet, but disregarding that, the point I was making is that you already pay for the electricity to power your radio, but with internet radio you are paying an additional cost for the data.
As it happens, I love internet radio and I really appreciate having such a huge choice of stations, but I'm not an internet radio evangelist and I think that broadcast radio still has an important role to play in delivering choice ans ease of access.
I agree that broadcast radio is hugely important. My only beef with this argument is that most of the benefits of DAB can be delivered just as well and better by the internet.
it doesn't play on a Roberts Stream200 anymore
The Stream 200 is quite an old model AFAIK. This is always the problem with developing tech, that the hardware becomes obsolete. A lot of radios of that vintage would be DAB, not DAB+, so your radio might also be bricked for DAB reception if it ever became available again.
And it is factually incorrect to say that 'everyone' has broadband and mobile internet
Right - but the people who do not will not adopt any new tech like DAB. These are the same people who kept LW going for much longer than it should have, they are no target market for anything.
realistically to be fair there is no evidence no minister would allow the stations to carry advertising.
yes previous ministers haven't allowed them to do so (i disagreee with that decision by the way all be it's mute now they are closing) but it doesn't mean other ministers wouldn't have going forward, we can't know for sure because not only was a full national network not rolled out but the stations are now closing.
anyway, rte would have recooped the money they paid back for what they borrowed via eventual savings via a hypothetical fm switch off whenever it would have been scheduled to happen, if it even would have.
Broadcast radio via the internet is awfully inefficient. You have to route N packets for N listeners, so power consumptions and networking requirements scale with listeners
Proper broadcast radio via LW, FM or DAB is a true 1 to all with same power consumption and no extra infrastructure needed other than broadcast towers.
That's before you look at emergency and other scenarios
This is a ridiculous argument. The internet infrastructure is there and doing it's data delivery with or without radio on it. It makes zero difference to the internet if it's carry gigabytes of radio data.
Look at TV - traditional terrestrial and satellite broadcasts are in decline. On demand (Netflix, Prime) as well as live streaming (Sky Stream, Eir TV, Now TV, IPTV) are growing and will be dominant. TV uses vastly more bandwidth than radio. Radio streaming is practically negligible in comparison.
Give people half a signal and they will listen ! - Real time heatmap from DTS Autostage (present in all new cars from around 2021+) of where people are listening to the country station on the Newry SSDAB MUX
So you can't tune into a radio station in your car now without it phoning home and revealing your location? F that.
I wonder what user or car info would be revealed in the exchange?
FM too - why do you think all the stations now displaying track info?
the record companies love that data
DTS AutoStage is an in-car infotainment platform by Xperi, designed to provide broadcasters and media content providers with enhanced visibility into how their content is consumed in vehicles. One of its key features is generating a heatmap for broadcasters. This heatmap is used to visualize audience engagement and content consumption patterns across different geographic locations.
Here’s how DTS AutoStage creates heatmaps and what data is exchanged in the process:
The heatmap helps broadcasters understand where their audience is located and how they engage with their content across various regions and times.
The heatmaps and analytics provided by DTS AutoStage allow broadcasters to optimize content delivery, tailor programming to specific regions, and better understand their audience's preferences across different locations.
How is that legal in the EU under GDPR?
People do not understand GDPR. Its perfectly legal
Internet radio is as good as the software you run it through. Buying a proprietary system has early adopter risks.
Fairly much anyone can buy a high quality SBC, such as the Raspberry pi, and program it to receive just about any internet radio service that isn't burdened with digital rights watermarking. A system that is robust and resilient for less than a €100.
I used to be an audio fanatic with valve amps and high quality separated. I now use a single SBC to deal with all my media from streaming services to my catalogue of digitised music and movies. Quality is ensured by using an offboard DAC and a digital amplifier. Three boxes and a NAS to do everything and it will adapt to any changes in media formats, and all for less than one dedicated HIFI source.
No personally identifiable data is transmitted. And presumably you have to agree to the privacy policy when you initialize it.
Not to drift away from the point being made - give people a (any) signal and they will listen, as outlined by a weakish signal from Newry evident in Dundalk - once they want to consume the content.
So clearly pepole are using these "connected" radios on legacy bands like FM and DAB
Yes, but DAB would offer more choice FM does not. FM can't offer much choice as it's way too costly.
The rest is most likely correct, radio in general is in decline, in most countries. The internet, the mobile smart phone would offer the most choice.
It's not only a generational thing. I am used to DAB, thus I am used to more choice, FM doesn't offer this, thus I hardly ever listen to radio in Ireland. And I don't exactly belong to the younger generation.
@tinytobe my point exactly
Is the Newry Mux still on or on reduced power. I used to be able to pick up up on the M1 towards Dungannon but seems to have got harder or non existent closer to Dungannon for about a week now.
I use the DTS maps also. They don't give you actual mumbers. That could be just be 2 or 3 cars.
I am looking for better sound quality music and looking at DAB. Using Windows 10 pc and Soundblaster and DTS 5-1 speakers. Quality is important but also English .
Just installed Mini Radio Player but only a few DAB channels all foreign.
Anybody suggest where to look to get better and more choice please.
Depends very much on which location you're at in the Republic of Ireland?
Since the Republic of Ireland has no DAB, everything you're receiving would be foreign, mostly from the UK nor NI for that matter.
Based in Dublin and know we lost DAB which i might have used on my Roberts I Stream.
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