FáilteDAB: Coverage, Tests and Services

OK, so Energy Dance has been on now for a few weeks. It’s a welcome addition to the DAB+ platform and a further recognition that there’s an audience out there for dance music. 👌

I’ve been involved with many dance radio stations since the '90s and I am a (somewhat obsessive) dance music collector. I may not represent the normal listener, but nevertheless - here are a few suggestions:

• Consider excluding the more commercial tracks from the playlist - for example tracks from artists like Dua Lipa & Ariana Grande.
• Play some more longer club tunes - for example one at top and bottom of the hour. Make it a feature maybe? Keep the real dance fans happy.
• Add more music - there's a huge potential library of quality dance tunes to choose from. I’d much rather hear more tracks less frequently than hearing the same tracks regularly.
• Some, not all, of the older '90s tunes can sound a bit flat or warbly. Check the source is the best possible.
• Consider specialist shows in the evenings - DJ mixes, club classics, trance music etc.

Other comments:

• As mentioned above, some of tags are not quite right. It has improved but a small number have the artist and track names reversed or contain a typo.
• The online audio steam is MPEG audio - newer codecs (like HE-AAC v2) would be a better choice for audio quality in 2025 (now widely supported).

Best of luck the Energy team and their continued efforts. 😎

It seems you lack the basic understanding of the purpose of HE-AAC v2.

I'd be surprised if there's much revenue. I don't hear any ads on most stations

It's very much possible that they shut it down again.

I'd say it's more a question of willingness or not if DAB+ is successful.

Other small countries have implemented it, like Slovenia or Norway with more challenging geography. So in Ireland it's probably more a question of lack of willingness, lack of funding, and lack of attitude and fear of something new with fear of losing revenue. The famous "now it's too late" and "ship has sailed" kind of talk we read so often here.

Rewind have been running ads since shortly after the DAB launch….

2.5mbps FLAC is also pointless, as the PCM that FLAC decompresses to is only 1411kbps!

Onic Alternative needs some urgent playlist widening

The odds of hearing Karma Police every single time I'm in the car are ridiculous at this point

This is, and always was going to be, a trial with specific coverage.

Comreg and CnaM have to actually decide to licence DAB, and the put the system out for bids. Other multiplex operators might bid.

Comreg are unlikely to do or say anything until the end of the trial.

Are you inviting Irish Times articles in your head, or are you adding a + to the title of a 4 year old article from when RTÉ turned off their DABv1 setup?

Best thing to do is to let the broadcasters of the channels you're listening to know that you are listening - if they know they have a viable audience, they are going to want to stay on air.

Tried to tune in new car radio to Dab, only channel found was 8radio, Dublin based, scanned a number of times, just one channel found. Any ideas?

Even if failtedab pull out couldn't Bauer onic and bay set up their own and let independent broadcasters i

The new year will tell if they do put a tender out for a multiplex I can't see why not considering the multiplex is full at the moment