"Don Pearce" wrote in message
news:4a449ded.1078166234@localhost...
On Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:53:53 +0100, "Keith G"
wrote:


"Don Pearce" wrote in message
news:4a4394d0.1075833718@localhost...
On Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:07:16 +0100, "Keith G"
wrote:


"tony sayer" wrote in message
...
In article , Brian
Gaff
scribeth thus
Although I feel most of the report including this proposal comes from
cloud
cuckoo land, I've signed anyway as there are a lot of stupid people
about
and the colour of the Government is almost certain to alter next year.

I simply cannot imagine the commercial interests wanting to lose the
fm
outlets at the moment with such a muddled and maybe if idea of what
is
to
be in its place. I know a lot of people still listen to AM due to poor
reception of both dab and fm in cars and for news and sport who needs
either?

What they do not want, despite some industry spokesman who like most
government advisers know sod all about the subject, is that they don't
want to have to carry on transmitting on FM and DAB as its bloody
expensive especially with a monopoly transmission provider (Arqiva)
who
have them by the short and curlies, let alone any other issues...

Horses for courses. I mean who will the government sell such
relatively
small frequency ranges to for goodness sake?


God alone knows ....


What stops them farming it out entirely to the private sector (like
everything else) - would that be doable? Would there be any takers?


The problem is finding the right application for it. Stuff around
100MHz is absolutely ideal for broadcasting. It gets in and out of
nooks and crannies nicely, it is dead easy to produce huge amounts of
power, and the horizon shuts it off very cleanly, allowing regional
broadcasting.

Anything less than that would really be to waste a huge asset.

In fact an ideal use would be a National FM service. I wonder if they
have thought of that?


I was thinking more of privatised and licenced regional services along the
lines of the early American broadcasting stations - run by 'locals' with
more 'local flavour' and relevancy for the inevitable advertising.

There's some interesting observations here, if nothing really new:

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/s...d.php?t=994279

Interesting to see the early mention of pirate stations; it's been in my
mind for a while that they would be in clover if/when the 'switch off'
happened - to mop up some of the 'newly-redundant FM hardware', if nothing
else!



I wonder if they can survive in anything other than legacy mode once
the mainstream is entirely digital. At first there will be plenty of
old FM radios to give them an audience (although you might argue that
the typical current FM radio owner won't be their target audience),
but they will die out as they are no longer made. I'm not sure I would
want to start a new service based on obsolete technology.


I wasn't thinking so much of the receivers - although there'll be mountains
of them in the landfill come the day, especially when you factor in all the
car radios, but also of the transmitting gear. I don't know what's involved
to broadcast 'to the horizon' as you say, but what with local businesses
trying to compete with the Internet and the 'ethnic diversity' of certain
regions, I still see at least decades of usefulness in a network of truly
'local FM' stations.

Or am I just whistling in the breeze?

Reminds me that I bought a block of Chiltern Radio shares when they were
floated (we had an office in Luton at the time) but sold them at a small
profit a year later when I realised I didn't want to get into all that. I
wonder what they would be worth now? - A fraction of, I suspect, as I gather
the station has been ruined!