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Articles by Nick Schollar
Bauer switching stations on D1 to DAB+
From the Kiss thread... Just heard on the Works' radio that the station is converting to DAB+ from the 31st March. An ad is also being run on Absolute Radio boasting that you'll be able to listen to the station where Real Music Matters in "higher quality" on DAB+ from 31st March too. Nothing on RadioToday or https://www.bauermedia.co.uk/news/ yet but no doubt we'll see something soon. 0
RAJAR Q4 2024 (Released 6th February 2025)
RAJAR Q4 2024 data was made available to subscribers today while the key reach/share numbers will be made public at midnight tonight. Centreforce, Nation 80s and the clusters of recently launched station from Global and Bauer report for the first time. 2
Diamond Groove
I discovered this when it appeared on South Glos SSDAB and I'm quite impressed so far. It's a "jazz" station but it's really much broader than that with a lot of disco and other related genres, so it's a bit different to Jazz FM. It has quite a packed schedule with a mix of their own (presumably pre-recorded) shows and some syndicated shows. Apparently, it first appeared on DAB in April and it's now on a few muxes but it's still not carrying any advertising.
PPL and PRS fees for small stations
In another thread, I posted: I had hoped he might keep it going online-only, as an anorak vanity project. But hey ho. If my understanding of PPL fees is correct, then assuming that the station plays (365 days * 24 hours * 60 minutes / 3 minutes per song) = 175200 songs per year, and that it maintains an average of just 10 listeners over the whole year, then that amounts to £1838 per year in fees just for PPL. Then £2598 for PRS on top of that.
What countries still use analogue TV in 2024?
10 years ago, this thread was posted. Here we are now and Lyngsat still claims that there's a number of analogue channels at 70 degrees west . Other than that, is analogue TV still in use anywhere, be it on satellite, terrestrial or cable? Not counting "in-house" channels in homes, hotels, etc.
Cool Old Skool vs Kisstory
On Rayo there is this station from Ireland that plays a similar format to Kisstory but it's all dance and no RnB like Kisstory does. Added it as a favourite there. I know where some people here will be on about through that it's just another station with a continuous limited playlist.
Multiple LNBs vs separate small dish
There's dozens of threads on the idea of having multiple LNBs on one dish, but none seem to compare the difference between doing this on one larger dish or adding a small dish. In my case, I have a 90cm dish on 28E feeding a multiswitch and I'm thinking of adding 19E and 13E. I also have a disused Sky Minidish (zone 1) on my house with a Sky Q LNB on it.
AI news future?
We've just recently seen the launch of the first station with AI presenters on SSDAB in the UK (DanceLand) so it's only as matter of time before it's used for more things. Overnight shows on smaller stations that currently have presenters around the clock (albeit sometimes voice tracked) will probably be the next to go. 0
Radio stations with excessive audio processing
I think we all know that commercial stations tend to use more processing than the BBC, and even the BBC's usage of processing can be contentious at times, but some stations aren't satisfied with even Global levels of processing... I'm listening to NRG on The HitMix 107.5 (via online) right now and I don't think I've ever heard anything as processed as this. Certainly "balls to the wall" as someone else on here once described it.
"Enjoy Groadcasting" £20 Chinese pocket DAB+ radio with built in FM transmitter
Normally, I wouldn't bother with something like that when you consider that you can get a Majority pocket DAB+ radio for not much more than that, and that will come with proper support and a warranty, but when looking at DAB+ radios on Aliexpress, one caught my eye. And that radio is the HanRongDa HRD-100, which comes with the unusual feature of a built-in FM transmitter. Every part of the UI is identical to that of the common Frontier-based radios.
Looking for a DAB+ radio for a family friends birthday.
Have noticed B&M sell cheap Goodman branded DAB radios but they dont say if they are DAB+. This particular topic has come up a few times. Assume that any of these cheap radios are not DAB+ unless explicitly stated, because (scandalously) many radios are still being sold which aren't. Would be looking for a DAB+ radio under £100. As dont want to spend over the for a radio they may only use a few times a week. If you buy a quality brand like Roberts (plenty in your price range) then it will have DAB+.
Lite Radio
Never listened before so thought I would give it a go based on some of the music they show as playing on their website. 29 minutes in and still no presenter despite this being a presented show (Matt Cadmen). Mainly track into track with seemingly imagining every third track. Imaging which would sound great on a “gold” station but not an AC station like this. No app either. All very strange. Does anyone listen to this and can shed more light? 0
FM Omnidirectional Antenna
I have been looking to boost my FM reception and to do some DXing.
Nation Radio South
Thought it might be a good idea to split this off. Nation South are also dropping suggestions in their sponsored post comments today pointing towards something happening with 106 in the coming weeks. Probably a better chance of success with the 106 licence than SSDAB which hasn’t yet launched in Southampton. The playlist is too oldies skewed at the moment. Too close to GHR.
Specialist dance music programming on Gaydio - alternative to Kiss
I thought it would be worth creating a new thread on this since the only threads about Gaydio are very old and scathing about the station, so why not have a more positive one... In particular, I thought I'd highlight the specialist programming, which was a very unexpected discovery made whilst going through all the stations available to me on SSDAB.
Make me a Winner and Cash Register
The truth of the radio competitions is just for billionaire owners to make a profit across the country and is best avoided
How to kill off a radio station
1) Take a successful radio station, then dump it to one platform 2) Slowly remove anything of personality from the station 3) Change the music to make sure it repeats of repeats every half a hour 4) Include a competition that you must say about every 5 minutes 5) Reduce anything of value to a minute or two at the top of hour 6) Replace talk about anything of value with dull chat about celebrities 7) Get rid of presenters and replace them with presenters from your other stations on your so...
Sunkiss Radio
Came across this and am liking it. Play lot of songs sung by alternative singers rather than original and all seem good.
Smooth Relax, new station from Global for 2024
Going to put this in a new thread because it's not on topic in the Classic FM thread. A new station, Smooth Relax, briefly appeared on D1 National when Classic FM was switched to DAB+. http://media-ice.musicradio.com/SmoothRelax Looks like the new station is going to be a pop music format closer to Magic Chilled rather than electronic music like Smooth Chill, but how are they going to differentiate it from Smooth itself?
Oldest Songs Youth Stations Are Allowed To Play
Just recently I've heard Capital playing songs from the 2000s about 15 years ago when it was top 40 only. It's not uncommon to hear some 1990s music on Radio 1 now and again. Kiss goes back to the late 1980s during what is the Kisstory hour sometimes too. Then I'm sure that Radio 1Xtra has played a Reggae song from 1970s such a Uptown Top Ranking before. I can remember some time ago Radio 1 did mention that they couldn't play anything prior to 1996 during a 10 hour take over. 0
Ever thought About Spends on Radio Advertising?
I'm staggered by the sums being spent, especially Camelot, who should be raising money not spending obscene amounts on advertising. (my view) It's not really surprising that they're number 1 really and it reinforces how lotteries in general (including Make Me A Winner) are so lucrative. They must spend staggering amounts elsewhere too since there's no getting away from their ads.
Old Christmas songs completely dominate the official chart this week
Last Christmas from 1984 has just topped a chart filled with a load of old Christmas songs which all get very heavy airplay on the likes of Heart, Magic, Capital, etc. Christmas songs have been becoming increasingly common on the chart in recent years, but this year, almost every song on the chart is a Christmas song. It's only a matter of time before the chart is 100% Christmas. 1. Wham - Last Christmas (1984) 2. Sam Ryder - You're Christmas To Me (2023) 3.
Aerial installation questions
After years of having mediorcre equipment and performance I have decided to install radio aerials in the loft. I just want to clarify some things. I have bought two aerials, a 3 element band III and a 3 element band II. I had intended to combine this in to a single coax feed which I would then like to split in to two with one going to my Denon and another going to my SDR (not fixed in position.) Is it wise to combine the two aerials in to a single coax run?
Wenvoe BBC nationals down
Quick, do some DXing! The Wenvoe BBC nationals have suddenly disappeared. No signal at all. Repeaters including Ridge Hill and Ilchester Crescent transmitted silence and no RDS for a few minutes before turning off. Churchdown Hill is still on, presumably using Sutton Coldfield. Nation Radio is still up so no one has to miss out on that! 0
ChatGPT Radio
It's quite fascinating to see how much ChatGPT could be used as a time-saving measure to generate material for show. I experimented in a similar way for a recent local radio show I did exploring Artificial Intelligence and used it to pick out a selection of songs to play.
Heart Christmas 2023
I know it's still only August, but we've already had the date for Great Movies Christmas ( 8th September ) and last year Heart Xmas started on the 23 September ( only 4 weeks away ) on the SDL mux last year. The Station does actually seem to be currently running on various online platforms ( Tune in for example, and UK Radio Live ) but not the Global Player. Wonder what they'll do this year, since the SDL mux is full ? Will they flip one of their current stations ( Capital Extra Reloaded maybe ?
Future Round SSDAB That Have A Local Station Which Could Make Them Work
This is about the future round SSDAB multiplexes and what local radio stations there are in the areas that could possibly make them materialise. Halifax does have a local community station. Also I'm surprised that BFBS hasn't done anything about one for Catterick, Ripon and Thirsk.
Am i missing something here?
https://myradionetwork.co.uk/ has various radio names from years gone by plastered all over the website with web streams playing tracks with large gaps between. The occasional Ads are played with a jingle, but what is this radio owners USP? Far too many presenterless jukeboxes on air as it is and I'm sure streaming services provide more incentive to listen to them instead.
Ad free listening on GHR premium
OK - what am I missing here? If GHR programmes are live and you’re listening on Premium, ad-free, what do you get during the ad breaks?
Steve Allen Has Left LBC
It hasn't been quite 44 years, he was got rid of when they lost their license in 1994 but returned a year later doing a panel show before going back into regular programmes A good run though, I wonder what happened, his ratings were supposedly very good for the slot. A few years ago they were celebrating his long service 1
Bauer and Global radio
Are they lazy radio stations profiteering out of the BBC’s, the original stations who held the frequency and mainstream artists hard work? The poached radio presenters are all from elsewhere (apart from the token local ones but they never have opportunities to progress) and it’s the BBC that would have got the music well known. 0
Has any one ever had a Phillips radio receiver like this?
I would think that some green 12V LED tape (widely available on eBay) mounted across the reflectors would produce a much more even and purer green backlight than the original incandescent lamps and would be well worth trying. A single white LED + resistor could be glued to the pointer for enhanced illumination of it. 0
I have a MP3 player FM transmitter it puts out a good stereo signal to my radios is 128KPS audio OK?
I don't think you'll notice the difference, but you may wish to read about downloading the audio in the best possible quality: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/49804874/download-the-best-quality-audio-file-with-youtube-dl In my own experience, some music uploads on YouTube (especially older ones) are rather poor quality.
The most "Digitalspy" radio station ever
Just thought I'd share the latest station to join to RadioFeeds' sponsored listings scheme for internet-only stations. It's not something I'd normally do, but this really is a special one that I think might appeal to many of you. Run by Andy Henly who's probably best known to be on the GWR network, it's a station playing instrumentals, but with a huge bias on British TV-related nostalgia. Check out Radio Groovy at http://www.groovyradiouk.com Listen live on your device: http://lsn.to/GBY
Bauer Premium streams on internet radios
Is there any way to get the Bauer Premium streams on internet radios - exclusive streams as well as the ad-free versions of the main stations? N.B. The intention is not to bypass having to pay for them! I extracted a URL for Kiss Premium. It's completely different from the standard stream URL and includes a bunch of random letters which might be an account ID so I won't share it here.
BBC Radio 3 RDS fault
There is currently a problem with the RDS on BBC Radio 3. This is happening on Wenvoe and Ridge Hill at least, and possibly many more. The audio is normal. These four packets are being transmitted over and over from both transmitters: C316F93CC316F93C C316F939C316F939 C316F93AC316F93A C316F93FC316F93F No other packets are being transmitted. Note the incorrect PI codes.
Bush Internet Radio - £25 at Argos
I was hunting around for a small internet radio and noticed that Argos have put their own-brand internet radio on clearance for a very cheap £25. I decided to get one. The build quality is pretty good. The sound quality is obviously laughable compared to a component hifi but it's better than any of the budget DAB radios around that price range that I've heard, and I would describe the sound quality as similar to a low-end boombox.
Plusnet Mobile Shutdown
Plusnet Mobile is sending out emails to their customers advising that they will be shutting down in the future on an unspecified date in the "coming months." Customers are invited to call a number to get special EE deals and it looks like you have to phone, you can't see it online, so they may be negotiable. It will be interesting to see what people get offered as the SIM only tariffs offered by EE online are very expensive by comparison.
Anorak stations on Shortwave
For those who find the convenience of a station being on the same frequency 24 hours a day too easy or Radio Caroline on 648AM too mainstream... Shortwave Gold, also known as shortwaveradio.de, broadcasts on 6160kHz and 3975kHz. The playlist is probably more aligned with GHR than Gold. I can pick up the former in anorak quality but not the latter.
DAB Protection Levels
DAB supports five levels of error protection (1 to 5, where lower is better) but in the UK, services must be broadcast with a protection level of 3 or better. Do any services in the UK use protection levels 1 and 2, or do they all use level 3? It would seem like a no brainer to use a better protection level on the half-empty local multiplexes and SSDAB muxes which have patchy coverage that could be improved for 'free'.
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