Is RTE Gold about to go FM?

Strange times when RTE Gold play ads and news! Took me a while to realise what was different...

Will Leahy always promotes RTE Gold and he is a true radio man. I can tell he longs for the old days of 2FM..like many of us do.

His playlist was very safe today, as RTE Gold normally plays more obscure stuff.

Dipole Keith wrote: »

What’s the big deal in RTE Gold all of a sudden, The only reason it was on RTE Radio 1 today is because there was no sport

Promoting RTE Gold to a larger mainstream audience. Also, they might as well simulcast the same music output from 2 to 6 while no sport is on, rather than having it on 2 different stations.

Is the high cost of RTE digtal radio the actual DAB platform?
I doubt many people listen on DAB radios anyway at home or in new/UK imported cars.

Surely RTE should just take the 6 or so digital stations off DAB only (BAI already seeking interested parties for this licence?) and keep all of the stations on Saorview, Virgin, RTE and other streaming Apps, RTE Radio player...would not cost much?

ford fiesta wrote: »

Is the high cost of RTE digtal radio the actual DAB platform?
I doubt many people listen on DAB radios anyway at home or in new/UK imported cars.

Surely RTE should just take the 6 or so digital stations off DAB only (BAI already seeking interested parties for this licence?) and keep all of the stations on Saorview, Virgin, RTE and other streaming Apps, RTE Radio player...would not cost much?

dab is the only actual transmission cost i would expect as saorview exists anyway and will continue to do so, and online would cost butttons, a pc in a rack room and whatever music licensing, they already have the hosting as they host all station streams on 2 servers anyway.
any paid presenters would likely be redeployed within the organisation, pulse's presenters are non-paid i believe.
radio 1 extra might be a cost if any unique programming is procured for it, i presume rtejr radio is just a relay of the audio from the television station.

We're in the middle of a pandemic so any talk of RTE's restructuring is gone out the window. Will keeping Gold on the air for a while longer really make much difference? Arguably it is providing a public service by giving people something else to listen to apart from Covid 19 misery on Radio 1. I don't have an issue with the station being used on Radio 1 either. Is it not a better use of resources than to bring in another presenter to do a different show on Saturdays? It's simply benefiting from being in the right place at the right time and it's nice to have for now. I've no doubt that Gold ill still be axed when all this is over. RTE's future hinges on a lot more than whether it keeps Gold on air though. Its budget is probably a fraction of 2FM's, for example.

Tork wrote: »

We're in the middle of a pandemic so any talk of RTE's restructuring is gone out the window. Will keeping Gold on the air for a while longer really make much difference? Arguably it is providing a public service by giving people something else to listen to apart from Covid 19 misery on Radio 1. I don't have an issue with the station being used on Radio 1 either. Is it not a better use of resources than to bring in another presenter to do a different show on Saturdays? It's simply benefiting from being in the right place at the right time and it's nice to have for now. I've no doubt that Gold ill still be axed when all this is over. RTE's future hinges on a lot more than whether it keeps Gold on air though. Its budget is probably a fraction of 2FM's, for example.

I've no issue with RTÉ Gold being more widely available especially during the current emergency.

Just not sure RTÉ senior management has the luxury of mothballing it's entire restructuring plan even in the current climate as the sh1t will still hit the fan if it makes poor choices in the weeks/months ahead after all this is over unless; it is strictly used for essential public service broadcasting such as additional news/current affairs coverage to alert the public on the latest developments as they arise.

Loss of commercial advertising, less prospect of a TV Licence Fee increase do not bode well for RTÉ as the country will have to make very hard unpopular choices in the time ahead. One of the main political parties, Fianna Fáil who are in negotiations with the outgoing Fine Gael led administration have made it known that the country needs a government with a strong majority as they have said the next government formed will need to make some tough decisions and it cannot do this if it is looking over it's shoulder all the time. Sinn Féin has gone very quiet so perhaps they no longer feel the momentum is with them.

As for RTÉ Gold, I am now of the view that it will be given a reprieve even when the current Covid-19 emergency is over. I believe that the younger audience demographic that tunes into 2FM would be well able to access it via digital, online, smartphone methods if this cohort supports such a move whereas; RTÉ Gold would have a much older audience (closer to RTÉ Radio 1) and would probably gain a lot more listeners if it was made available full time on FM. None of the digital-only stations had much (if any) of a marketing budget as they cannot generate commercial advertising revenue.

Gold is the one worth saving, maybe Radio 1 Extra. They could keep these going online, on Saorview and Virgin Media.

marno21 wrote: »

Gold would be fantastic on FM. Especially given that the future of Classic Hits/4FM is always up in the air given their inability to get off the ground.

It would be far better on FM than the rudderless mess that is 2FM. I'm slap bang in the middle of 2FM's target market, I often listen to similar stations (Spin/Beat/RedFM/BBC R1/Capital) but rarely listen to 2FM. There was a fantastic opportunity to reinvent 2FM in 2014 to perfectly fit its target market but that failed. Game On has no place on 2FM. Dave Fanning has no place on 2FM. Colm Hayes had no place on 2FM. The morning show with Jennifer is very questionable on 2FM. BBC Radio 1 has some excellent mainstream and niche dance music shows and really made the most of the resurgance of dance and house music over the last few years but 2FM failed here. BBC Radio 1 on Fridays at 6pm has Scott Mills playing dance anthems leading into Annie Mac. 2FM has a sports show. Big contrast right there.

These shows have their merits but on a market driven youth oriented radio station they have no place. 2FM has no real identity and at this stage it never really will.

A BBC Radio 2 type station with Will Leahy and other similar radio personalities playing music aimed at the older generation, that actually listen to radio en masse still would be a success imo. A sort of a blend between Heart and BBC Radio 2 if you will.

Yeah I've noticed that Classic Hits (formerly 4FM) has had it's financial problems but they are definitely not alone in the radio sector. Not sure if Classic Hits is still in a dire situation following it's last re-brand although; I gather things were still tight.

Incidentally, Colm Hayes is gone quite a while from 2FM as I seem to recall he has been with Radio NOVA in recent years and he currently presents The Colm & Lucy Breakfast Show with Lucy Kennedy. Below is an article from The Irish Times on Colm Hayes departure from 2FM in 2016. Hayes had previously worked at 2FM during the 1980's but moved on in 1989 when Ireland's legal commercial independent radio sector first began although; he returned to 2FM in 2006 to host the Colm and JimJim Breakfast Show, alongside Jim Nugent, before moving to a mid-morning slot in 2010.

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/media-and-marketing/colm-hayes-leaves-2fm-after-a-decade-on-air-1.2734894

I'm outside 2FM's target demographic for a good few years and nowadays I find I rarely bother to tune in to Today fm either as I feel it has embraced the younger demographic a bit more in the way it pitches it's marketing - The Last Word has almost dumbed down into bullet points for those who have a shorter attention span. And yes, I was a Friday Night 80's fan and was sorry to see Jim O'Neill depart as he was almost like Today fm's version of 2FM's late great Larry Gogan in a sense.

Yes, Dave Fanning just seems to be lost - he should have been given a movie review programme and a rock series. In fact, after Gerry Ryan's sudden passing in April 2010, I think Fanning could have carried the slot as he had filled in for Gerry on a regular basis. The numbers were always gonna go down as radio was changing for 2FM anyway.

Most traditional media has had a tough time during the last recession and many never fully recovered due to the explosion in social media outlets and the migration of commercial advertising finding new spaces. Newspapers/magazine publications also badly affected with falling hard copy sales along with advertising etc; and then TV/Radio in general is trying to compete with all the streaming services with attractive content now as well. We will probably enter another recession due to the necessary extended shutdown and some businesses will never reopen while others may struggle for a while.

RTÉ Gold would probably thrive and grow more listeners on FM as opposed to 2FM in my view. If it had a bit more structure, was able to generate a revenue stream in terms of advertising/paid product placements and had a marketing budget to promote itself to it's core audience. FM is very versatile and most radio equipment includes the FM band, no need for internet connection if you are unlucky enough in some parts and no need to have DAB on car radio as it has only worked in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and parts of the north-east. Once RTÉ does not do something completely stupid and extend it by putting RTÉ Gold on LW 252kHZ as this would be nuts for a music station but nothing would surprise me at all. A BBC Radio 2 style station at RTÉ has merit although; they will be keen to avoid the mistakes made by the original 4FM schedule in 2009 which had to be aborted as it cost too much to run. The original 4FM was sometimes compared to BBC Radio 2.

Sources:

http://radiowaves.fm/ire/database/stations-on-air/classic-hits-4fm-stations-on-air/

https://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/veterans-back-on-the-airwaves-as-4fm-launches-85562.html

https://www.independent.ie/business/irish/radio-boss-still-upbeat-about-launch-of-4fm-26511362.html

Unfortunately the licence originally granted for the former 4FM now known as: "Classic Hits" is sometimes described as Ireland's only "multi-city radio station" whatever that means!
The station is said to extend across Greater Dublin: which not only takes into Dublin city & county (and it can also reach Meath, Kildare, and Wicklow) in addition to County Cork, County Limerick, County Clare and Galway. Apparently the station was originally aimed at Ireland's four main commuter belts of: Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway. I gather the signal reaches County Clare and parts of County Kerry and County Mayo but this has probably more to do with the topography of the areas in question.

Put RnaG on 252 and give Gold the 3rd FM slot - or expand the DAB network to all TX sites - would actually cost very little to do this. On this thread there seems to sonme strange notion that it is very expensive to run DAB - its not. A 400w DAB transmitter (probably more power than what they are using right now) costs just shy of €3000 - and to run it, the Multiplex stream requires only about 1.4Mb/s of bandwidth. It would even work to feed it over the Internet, as was demonstated by FreeDAB recently !

kazoo106 wrote: »

Put RnaG on 252 and give Gold the 3rd FM slot - or expand the DAB network to all TX sites - would actually cost very little to do this. On this thread there seems to sonme strange notion that it is very expensive to run DAB - its not. A 400w DAB transmitter (probably more power than what they are using right now) costs just shy of €3000 - and to run it, the Multiplex stream requires only about 1.4Mb/s of bandwidth. It would even work to feed it over the Internet, as was demonstated by FreeDAB recently !

i remember reading somewhere that apparently a dab network is actually much cheaper to run then an fm network, even if just carrying 1 station, especially if ran as dab+.

Tork wrote: »

Where are you seeing these stats?

from the status pages of their streaming servers.