Should RTE Gold replace RnaG on FM ?

Cork_chick_94

RnaG would be fine on AM imo.

Expunge

No, it should replace Lyric Fm. R Na G largely does what it is supposed to do in a public service broadcasting context. Lyric FM is largely a joke of a station which does not do what was set up to do with approx. 4 million Euro worth of public money. RTE could be honest about it for once and get rid of it. Replace with something that will be successful. RTE won't have to tell lies about it each year in their annual report.

CountyHurler

How about a compromise ... RTE Ór

Infoanon

Expunge wrote: »

No, it should replace Lyric Fm. R Na G largely does what it is supposed to do in a public service broadcasting context. Lyric FM is largely a joke of a station which does not do what was set up to do with approx. 4 million Euro worth of public money. RTE could be honest about it for once and get rid of it. Replace with something that will be successful. RTE won't have to tell lies about it each year in their annual report.

RTE RnaG is exceptionally expensive to run and has very low audience figures.

Lyric has a goog audience and meets a public service broadcasting remit.

FYI RTE cannot 'tell lies' in their annual report.

Chances of RTE Gold replacing RTE R na G - Nil

Five Lamps

Infoanon wrote: »

RTE RnaG is exceptionally expensive to run and has very low audience figures.

Lyric has a goog audience and meets a public service broadcasting remit.

FYI RTE cannot 'tell lies' in their annual report.

Chances of RTE Gold replacing RTE R na G - Nil

RnaG is public service broadcasting in it's purest form - niche and expensive to produce.

On the other hand RTE Gold could be done by anybody and really should be run by the private sector.

Expunge

Describing Lyric in its 2013 Annual Report as " a unique alternative listening choice for an audience of classical, world music and arts lovers" sure seems like a big fat lie when that clown Whelan is on doing unfunny schtick and playing Val Doonican, Red Hurley and the same four opera arias over and over again- 15 hours a week of it!
Then there's John Kelly doing his pretentious version of what Whelan is doing later in the day and now Lyric has acquired Donal Dineen, who's at the same self-indulgent thing.
It would be more honest of the goons who run public service broadcasting in this country to put Lyric out of its 4 per cent reach misery and stick on Gold which will do much better seeing these goons have no interest in running an arts and classical/specialist music radio service anyway.

stephenireland

RNaG should transfer to AM - give the 4,550 listeners in the Gaeltacht an AM radio - and offer branded RNaG AM Radios to the 5650 listeners in non-gaeltacht areas by request.... in this way over 10,000 listeners would have their niche and excellent radio station 'as gaelige' - and a full network of FM would be available for RTE GOLD....this would be public service broadcasting at its best.

If this happened RTE Gold - I listened last Sunday would become a serious player in Irish Radio - and a big lesson to the mistakes make by 4FM....

twinklerunner

Cork_chick_94 wrote: »

RnaG would be fine on AM imo.

Surely it must be possible that FM frequencies could be re-configured so that more stations can fit on to the FM band between 88 - 94 MHz. It's crazy that there are only 3 RTE stations in this section thoughout most of the country. So, instead of replacing RnaG with Gold, RTE could add a number of their digital stations to FM.

ford fiesta

As long as John Clarke is behind GOLD and it doesn't get too formatted - it will be a success. Just mix up the oldies is the way to go with this....'what will I hear next'

end of the road

Five Lamps wrote: »

RnaG is public service broadcasting in it's purest form - niche and expensive to produce.

On the other hand RTE Gold could be done by anybody and really should be run by the private sector.

no, it shouldn't, the private sector aren't interested in such a station. and frankly we don't need another commercial station with the same 10 tracks over and over again.

Infoanon

end of the road wrote: »

no, it shouldn't, the private sector aren't interested in such a station. and frankly we don't need another commercial station with the same 10 tracks over and over again.

Gold formats have been highly successful around the globe, New Yorks WCBS 101, in a very competitive market, is consistently #1 or #2 in the ratings.

98FM were very successful until they decided to go CHR and RTE Gold is the most popular RTE Digital service.

RTE Gold on FM would easily be the 3rd most popular RTE network(possibly even #2), but a gold service run by the private sector would struggle due to the content restrictions imposed by Irish legislation.

However the notion that the private sector would not be interested is incorrect.

bbability

Gold is the way forward. Love the format.

The Spare Bowler

The simple solution is DAB should be available nationwide, every house holder pays the TV licence and so everybody should get the same service. Here in Dublin the DAB and DAB+ signal is very good, it should be the same in every town in the country.

L1011

twinklerunner wrote: »

Surely it must be possible that FM frequencies could be re-configured so that more stations can fit on to the FM band between 88 - 94 MHz. It's crazy that there are only 3 RTE stations in this section thoughout most of the country. So, instead of replacing RnaG with Gold, RTE could add a number of their digital stations to FM.

The cost of adding a fifth FM transmitter to each site as well as the reconfiguration would far exceed the cost of one core and maybe two or three fillin AM transmitters. Its also unlikely that you could obtain national coverage for 4 stations in 6Mhz.

A compromise situation might be to have RnaG on a single AM frequency nationally, on FM in the remaining actual gaeltachts, and Gold on their FM frequencies everywhere else. It was only ever intended to be a gaeltacht station at the off.

BarryD

I like RnaG and often find myself tuning in, partic when driving - wouldn't have the greatest grasp of the Irish but I'd rather listen to this than some of the rubbish pedaled on other stations. Curiously I wouldn't look at TG4 that often at all and would prefer RnaG as an Irish language portal.

Lu Tze

Would prefer if it replaced 2fm

Infoanon

MYOB wrote: »

The cost of adding a fifth FM transmitter to each site as well as the reconfiguration would far exceed the cost of one core and maybe two or three fillin AM transmitters. Its also unlikely that you could obtain national coverage for 4 stations in 6Mhz.

A compromise situation might be to have RnaG on a single AM frequency nationally, on FM in the remaining actual gaeltachts, and Gold on their FM frequencies everywhere else. It was only ever intended to be a gaeltacht station at the off.

2.2Mhz gap would cause an issue making 4 stations on 6Mhz difficult !

would AM be cheaper - probably not when you consider the installation and electricity costs etc.

As an aside imho .6mhz gap is excessive and there could be better frequency management but if that would facilitate an extra national channel is open to question.

BarryD

I'd never actually heard of RTE Gold until this thread - I see now it's a greatest hits station. Whilst I've nothing against a few old classics, the thoughts of replacing RnaG as a nationwide FM station with that sort of generic content would drive one to despair. Have you no sense of national identity at all - not even a tiny bit?????? Would you really prefer to listen to an endless stream of Bruce Springsteen, Beatles and Madonna at the expense of the hearing a bit of chat & music 'as Gaeilge'. I'm no Gaeilgeoir but the station does have a uniqueness and reflection of real Irish culture that is well worth broadcasting as widely as possible.

Infoanon

BarryD wrote: »

I'd never actually heard of RTE Gold until this thread - I see now it's a greatest hits station. Whilst I've nothing against a few old classics, the thoughts of replacing RnaG as a nationwide FM station with that sort of generic content would drive one to despair. Have you no sense of national identity at all - not even a tiny bit?????? Would you really prefer to listen to an endless stream of Bruce Springsteen, Beatles and Madonna at the expense of the hearing a bit of chat & music 'as Gaeilge'. I'm no Gaeilgeoir but the station does have a uniqueness and reflection of real Irish culture that is well worth broadcasting as widely as possible.

The suggestion is to put RnaG on AM and put Gold on FM in its place.

RnaG has a very low listenership and exceptionally high running costs - its speech conent would be more suited to AM which after all was the only medium for RnaG up to the mid 80s.

AM would give the station a wider reach as well.

L1011

RnaG was never intended to be a national FM station in the first place, so I don't see how national identity comes in to it.

BarryD

Infoanon wrote: »

The suggestion is to put RnaG on AM and put Gold on FM in its place.

RnaG has a very low listenership and exceptionally high running costs - its speech conent would be more suited to AM which after all was the only medium for RnaG up to the mid 80s.

AM would give the station a wider reach as well.

Well, I'm not sure about that - if I look at various receivers I have, FM is universal whereas the AM band is missing on some. Quality & clarity differs as well - there's a good bit of music on RnaG as well, it's not all speech.

whisky_galore

Think many local stations have filled that 'playing the classics' void a long time ago.

Fuzzy Clam

Infoanon wrote: »

The suggestion is to put RnaG on AM and put Gold on FM in its place.

RnaG has a very low listenership and exceptionally high running costs - its speech conent would be more suited to AM which after all was the only medium for RnaG up to the mid 80s.

AM would give the station a wider reach as well.

If we're being serious about putting Gold on FM, we can forget about RnaG on AM. Well on MW anyway. The Tullamore mast is there but it's extremely unlikely that actual transmitter will ever be used again. Even the newest Athlone transmitter is too old.
The only option is a new transmitter and i doubt that would ever be considered.
RnaG on LW could work OR even Gold on LW. I wouldn't rule out the viability of such a format in AM quality. I would listen.

Fuzzy Clam

BarryD wrote: »

Well, I'm not sure about that - if I look at various receivers I have, FM is universal whereas the AM band is missing on some. Quality & clarity differs as well - there's a good bit of music on RnaG as well, it's not all speech.

Perhaps....but you do have an AM radio. Most people would.

Harry Palmr

Lu Tze wrote: »

Would prefer if it replaced 2fm

is the correct answer! Tubbers playing thin tie crooners, Fanning spinning the disks of proto garage bands from the 60s etc.

end of the road

Fuzzy Clam wrote: »

If we're being serious about putting Gold on FM, we can forget about RnaG on AM. Well on MW anyway. The Tullamore mast is there but it's extremely unlikely that actual transmitter will ever be used again. Even the newest Athlone transmitter is too old.
The only option is a new transmitter and i doubt that would ever be considered.
RnaG on LW could work OR even Gold on LW. I wouldn't rule out the viability of such a format in AM quality. I would listen.

yeah. The Tullamore set up won't fire again sadly. thing is where are we going to put RNAG or gold on LW? we only have 252 but i can't see radio one being replaced. if anything 252 may eventually be shut down in the far future.

end of the road

frankly there is no need to replace RNAG on fm. it maybe expensive to run and have a low audience but so be it. its the definition of public service broadcasting. its not for me either but it has a right to be there on fm.

SPDUB

Infoanon wrote: »

The suggestion is to put RnaG on AM and put Gold on FM in its place.

its speech conent would be more suited to AM which after all was the only medium for RnaG up to the mid 80s.

Not on the east coast at least it wasn't .

It was on FM from at least the late 70's since RNG shared it's network with Radio 1 after 2FM was given Radio 1's FM network when it commenced broadcasting

stephenireland

RTE GOLD is the only station on RTE Radio that does what is is supposed to do - play good oldies from the sixties seventies and eighties.
I like the idea of bringing in Presenters who know what they are talking about..........
Look at 2FM still does not know what it is - a music station having sports commentaries...embarassing!!.......Lyric a classical station playing Val Doonican - emabarrassing!! RTE Radio one playing music almost 25% of the time...

In fairness to RnaG it does what it says on the tin .....an excellent public service broadcasting radio.......perhaps it might drop the some of its late night music .....not required....

Irish Radio needs to follow BBC format..

RTE Radio 1 - to become a mix of Radio 4 and BBC Five live
2FM - Indemand and breaking new music like BBC Radio 1
GOLD - BBC Radio 2 format
Lyric FM - Classic FM meets BBC radio 3

I can tell you that if this strategy was followed - RTE radio stations would become unbeatable - and just like the Beeb have over 65% of all listeners - ah but that wont happen because ' ah well we would have to change people - and I know him so well - and I will be paid anyway
- and I have 7 weeks holidays built up - and I want to get promoted.....and I want to make sure I have a massive pension"

IN THE MEANTIME RTE RADIO CONTINUES TO COLLAPSE AND LOOSE AUDIENCE - IT IS VERY SERIOUS

Infoanon

SPDUB wrote: »

Not on the east coast at least it wasn't .

It was on FM from at least the late 70's since RNG shared it's network with Radio 1 after 2FM was given Radio 1's FM network when it commenced broadcasting

No recollection of RnaG sharing FM with radio 1 in Dublin, what hours ? I do recall radio 1 closing mid afternoon !.

As an aside the FM coverage was fairly poor in Dublin up until the mid 80s.

Cork_chick_94

stephenireland wrote: »

IN THE MEANTIME RTE RADIO CONTINUES TO COLLAPSE AND LOOSE AUDIENCE - IT IS VERY SERIOUS

2fm is the only RTE radio service that it's audience has collapsed. RTE Radio 1 has stronger figures now than it had before Newstalk went national.

StreetLight

RnaG used to share with FM3, which was the forerunner to Lyric FM.

Fuzzy Clam

StreetLight wrote: »

RnaG used to share with FM3, which was the forerunner to Lyric FM.

Before FM3 it shared with R1.

Infoanon

Cork_chick_94 wrote: »

2fm is the only RTE radio service that it's audience has collapsed. RTE Radio 1 has stronger figures now than it had before Newstalk went national.

There in lies the contradiction of public service broadcasting, while its ok for RnaG to have an extremely low audience and cost many millions to operate it is not acceptable for 2FM to have a fall off in audience.

Declan A Walsh

It was mentioned on this thread that RnaG used to share airtime with FM3 and Radio 1 in the past. Therein lies a possible compromise. If the cost is too prohibitive to set up more transmitters, could it be a viable proposition for RnaG and RTE Gold to share the airwaves?

Some FM airtime for RTE Gold would be better than none at all.

Antenna

Fuzzy Clam wrote: »

Before FM3 it shared with R1.

after RTE radio 2 had launched apparently, RTE R2 took over the FM network of what then became RTE R1, and R1 was only carried on FM outside of RnaG hours on the RnaG network for a number of years before a third FM network was introduced.

seemed to have caused a lot of controversy in areas of country where despite improvement in MW coverage in the 1970s continued to have poor R1 MW reception, see here:

http://debates.oireachtas.ie/dail/1980/06/11/00023.asp

and part of this:
http://debates.oireachtas.ie/dail/1980/11/25/00008.asp

end of the road

StreetLight wrote: »

RnaG used to share with FM3, which was the forerunner to Lyric FM.

correct. RNAG from 8 AM to 8 PM . fm3 from 8 PM to 8 AM

Mr. Rabbit

At least I can get RTE Gold on my telly now

Radio is for life

Mr. Rabbit wrote: »

At least I can get RTE Gold on my telly now

A gallon of petrol and a match will sort those two stations out, to be honest.

Mr. Rabbit

OR even Gold on LW

Or even on 567 kHz, but I suppose that's been dismantled now.

1278 kHz was also a good signal up here, but I think that was taken down long ago.

Gold formats do seem to work quite well on AM.

Elmo

No RTÉ Gold is too cheap for FM and besides if were to drive Digital???

IMO RnaG should be merged with TG4, and Raidio RíRá should replace TRTÉ Radio/RTÉ Chill and be part of the RnaG/TG4 family.

Even if RTÉ did propose such a change it would have to get government approval and we all know how long that takes, sometimes they don't bother to even disapprove of schedule changes they just let things sit and sit....

Infoanon

Elmo wrote: »

No RTÉ Gold is too cheap for FM ..

Not to sure what you mean ? Can you explain ?

Elmo

Infoanon wrote: »

Not to sure what you mean ? Can you explain ?

It's a playlist on a loop, no news or current affairs or any other type of programming.

Red Fred

Elmo wrote: »

It's a playlist on a loop, no news or current affairs or any other type of programming.

They have shows (admittedly prerecorded) on Sat and Sun mornings/early afternoons.

end of the road

RNAG and TG4 provide good services. they are public service at its best. i like chill also. rira can't replace anything as its not a RTE station.

Elmo

Red Fred wrote: »

They have shows (admittedly prerecorded) on Sat and Sun mornings/early afternoons.

I thought that was just a new addition, I heard the were planning some big announcement later in the year alright.

end of the road wrote: »

RNAG and TG4 provide good services. they are public service at its best. i like chill also. rira can't replace anything as its not a RTE station.

I though Chill had been slowly becoming TRTÉ. My point is that RnaG shouldn't be an RTÉ radio station it should be part of a different Public service broadcaster for the Irish Language along with TG4 and Raidio RíRá.

Red Fred

Elmo wrote: »

I thought that was just a new addition, I heard the were planning some big announcement later in the year alright.

They have been adding to the weekend schedule over the past few months. They had a "soft launch" on the last bank holiday monday (I assume mainly introducing their new jiingle package) but apparently are planning something more official later in the year.

end of the road

Elmo wrote: »

I though Chill had been slowly becoming TRTÉ.

i think TRTE is a rebranded junior? or something in the middle? chill shares the radio channel with junior. junior from 7 AM to 7 PM . chill from 7 PM to 7 AM.

Elmo wrote: »

My point is that RnaG shouldn't be an RTÉ radio station it should be part of a different Public service broadcaster for the Irish Language along with TG4 and Raidio RíRá.

i can't see the point myself. probably best leaving the public service broadcasting to RTE.

Elmo

end of the road wrote: »

i can't see the point myself. probably best leaving the public service broadcasting to RTE.

TG4 is a separate company independent of RTÉ.

Infoanon

Elmo wrote: »

It's a playlist on a loop, no news or current affairs or any other type of programming.

Thats no reason for it not to be on FM , it is providing a public service to older listeners and is attracting good listnership figures.

Not to sure where RiRa fits in - did RnaG not intoduce similar style programming in the evenings?, perhaps Radio na Life should morph into RiRa?.

Infoanon

Elmo wrote: »

TG4 is a separate company independent of RTÉ.

Yes but it is reliant on RTE for programming and funding albeit through a share of the licence fee.