FáilteDAB: Coverage, Tests and Services

Thank you. .

Different station run by Bauer. Was called Greatest Hits Radio until Classic Hits injuncted them

They sound similar as the format is the same and the chances of playing the same track is quite high!

They were playing the exact same corrs song at the exact same time. Maybe a coincidence, maybe a tuning issue.

I've been listening to GHR since it launched. At first I thought it was going to be another DAB+ radio stations that would have a repetitive playlist. How wrong was i. For me one of the best if not the best DAB+ radio out there if you like 70's 80's and 90's hits.

GHR is your only man

A lot of the DAB stations in the UK are with a high element of automation. They are like internet streams only via terrestrial broadcast.

I guess the difference between traditional FM and DAB is stronger and more pronounced in Ireland where DAB isn't much established.

Yeh but isn’t it great to have a choice above the national FMs that we normally receive, particularly in the Mux 2 areas. I’m in Sligo and could never receive Classic Hits or Nova on a terrestrial basis. I’m not complaining about samey stations and it’s all free lads! Thanks again to the failtedab team for bringing it to us especially in areas where you could count the Fm station availability on the fingers of one hand!

The other thing to bear in mind is that it's only a trial service. It should get better with more variation and less jukeboxes in time

I am loving Gravity Hits, very little repetition, the audio processing is very heavy but sounds fantastic given the low bitrate it has to work with, much less poppy than Energy, and no dodgy R&B tracks which so many dance music stations seem drawn towards.

Only negative - some of the songs are sourced from mix compilations, so one song begins beat matching into another and then abruptly cuts off to whatever is the actual next track to be played on the playout. Ruins the flow.

And more generally, the bitrate used across FailteDAB - I really wish they tried to stick to higher bitrates than trying to cram lots of stations into <48Kbps. Many tracks across all of the stations on the muxes are absolutely shredded to bits at that low of a bitrate.

What type of audience is GoLoud targeting? One minute there is music the next talk radio. Anytime I tune in I hear Mario Rosen Stock.

Velvet was renamed Velvet Sounds on Mux 1 over the weekend

Hopefully Classic Hits makes it to Mux 1 at some stage.

Just another thing to add to this - Raidió Na Life on Mux 1 has some very distinct programming. I turned it on this morning and heard a jazz programme, followed by a classical programme. Looking at their website, their music programming ranges from electronica to world music to classical to trad and indie. And of course there are talk programmes which are unsurprisingly in Irish. Unfortunately they don't seem to provide track information or even the name of the programme you're listening to, but it's certainly worth switching to occasionally if you want a break from the classic hits formats.

Classic Hits are already on FM in the majority of key areas covered by Mux1.