Better use of FM network: RTE Gold or RTE RnaG

marno21

Given that RTE Gold is going from strength to strength, which would you say is a better use of the 92-94MHz FM nationwide network?

Gaeltacht areas have sufficient spare frequencies so as to allow RTE RnaG have low powered transmitters in west Kerry, west Galway, the Rosses, south west Waterford, Muskerry and the small Gaeltacht in Meath. The listenership in the rest of the country is minute and could be catered for with DAB/Saorview/online.

RTE Gold on FM could prove to be a major success especially given that high profile names such as Will Leahy, Rick O'Shea and Larry Gogan are regulars on the station.

BBC have done something similar (although not on such a scale) by removing minority station BBC Radio 3 from FM in parts of Wales in favour of BBC Radio Wales.

MikeyTaylor

I think RTÉ Gold would be a great addition to the nationwide FM band.

737max

You can never get enough Sean Nós of a dark winter night.

I assume everyone on the Islands tunes in to listen at their firesides with the gales howling outside.

Went for a quick view of the programmes on RnaG tonight in the player and found Sean Nós within a few seconds.

LordSutch

MikeyTaylor wrote: »

I think RTÉ Gold would be a great addition to the nationwide FM band.

Surely the while idea of moving anything back from DAB to FM would be a backwards/retrograde step!

I say, move more FM stations to DAB while slowly fazing out the old FM frequencies.

...of course all I've said presumes that DAB is the future of high quality digital radio, but if DAB is not the future, then Yes, by all means move RTE Gold across to FM, and maybe slowly start winding down the DAB network as more stations leave DAB (in favour of FM)?

What's the future? DAB of FM?

MikeyTaylor

LordSutch wrote: »

Surely the while idea of moving anything back from DAB to FM would be a backwards/retrograde step!

I say, move more FM stations to DAB while slowly fazing out the old FM frequencies.

...of course all I've said presumes that DAB is the future of high quality digital radio, but if DAB is not the future, then Yes, by all means move RTE Gold across to FM, and maybe slowly start winding down the DAB network as more stations leave DAB (in favour of FM)?

What's the future? DAB of FM?

I think yes, DAB could eventually replace FM.

lottpaul

I would be sorry to see Raidio na G restricted to a few local transmitters and saorview/DAB. We listen to it at home for much of the day and it provides a great service for what are very isolated Gaeltacht areas and a national Irish speaking community. My first question would be whether or not it has to be a case of either one or the other? Is there room/scope for another national FM service or is it a matter of finance? Don't know much about the rest of the country but in Kerry the FM band from 101 Today FM to 107 Newstalk seems pretty empty. (Spin South West is the only resident). In Dublin the FM band seems cluttered beyond belief, so is space a matter purely for the larger urban areas?

Former Former

It's never going to happen.

marno21 wrote: »

BBC have done something similar (although not on such a scale) by removing minority station BBC Radio 3 from FM in parts of Wales in favour of BBC Radio Wales.

BBC Radio 3 would be very similar to Lyric. RnaG is a whole other situation.

marno21

lottpaul wrote: »

I would be sorry to see Raidio na G restricted to a few local transmitters and saorview/DAB. We listen to it at home for much of the day and it provides a great service for what are very isolated Gaeltacht areas and a national Irish speaking community. My first question would be whether or not it has to be a case of either one or the other? Is there room/scope for another national FM service or is it a matter of finance? Don't know much about the rest of the country but in Kerry the FM band from 101 Today FM to 107 Newstalk seems pretty empty. (Spin South West is the only resident). In Dublin the FM band seems cluttered beyond belief, so is space a matter purely for the larger urban areas?

The thing is - in all Gaeltachts, there is a lot of spare frequency space due to as you say; geographical isolation.

The band is full to bursting in Cork and Dublin, and in places like Limerick and Galway, there is limited space remaining for high power transmissions.

The question I'm asking is - does Dublin require three high powered RTE RnaG transmissions with less than 1% listenership, or could the bandwidth be better utilised, especially with more competition.

Take Tralee for example.

RTE Radio 1 - general service, mainly chat and current affairs
RTE 2FM - music station aimed at 15-34 year olds; alternative programming after 7pm
RTE Lyric FM - minority PSB arts/classical service
RTE RnaG - Irish language service
Today FM - middle of the road service aimed at 15-44 year olds; alternative programming after 7pm
Newstalk - current affairs/chat
Radio Kerry - general local service with talk, music, sport and specialist programming from 7-10pm
Spin South West - youth service aimed at 15-29/34 year olds

There are 2 music stations targetting 15-34 year olds, one targeting that group and 10 years older; 2 mainly talk based stations; one local catch all varied service and two minority stations. The radiowaves badly lack a service to target that audience that has outgrown 2FM/Spin.

marno21

Former Former wrote: »

It's never going to happen.




BBC Radio 3 would be very similar to Lyric. RnaG is a whole other situation.

I am aware of that - but the BBC have one nationwide minority service, RTE have two.

end of the road

rte have an obligation to provide a country wide service catering to our national/native language.
yes of course it would be nice to have rte gold on fm and it would be a better use of the frequencies used by rnag but the reality is the broadcaster has a PSO obligation to provide the service, country-wide on an easily accessible medium.
if anything more services at least from the state broadcaster is a reason that dab would ideally be rolled out across the country (fat chance i know)

wnolan1992

It depends how you define "better use of the FM band" to be honest.

As services, RnaG, Radio 1 and Lyric are catering to RTE's obligations as the state broadcaster to provide a news service and minority programming. 2FM on the other hand no longer caters to a market that isn't served by the private sector. As such, logically, Gold should replace 2FM.

That said, 2FM is growing its listenership, so if that's what the majority of the people want from RTE, is that the better use of the bandwidth than catering to an audience which is largely served by local stations as is?

I don't have an answer obviously. I thought we'd be much further down the line towards DAB by now which would solve a lot of problems. Or could we free up space on FM by moving RnaG over to AM?


However, I disagree with the point being made in this thread that RnaG should only really be piped into na Gaeltachtai. As the public broadcaster I think RTE has an obligation to provide an Irish language service across the country. No private sector organisation will do so.

Ursus Horribilis

Across the water the BBC has 6 national radio stations, all of which have their own clear remit. RTE is trying to be all things to all men, with mixed results. It's a real shame that DAB was never rolled out properly. That is something that would work over time, I think. You can buy DAB radios cheaply now. In time it'd be in more cars. I would sooner axe 2fm because the market they cater for is saturated.

Infoanon

Agreed - it will not happen - no minister will agree to it for fear of facing the backlash from the commercial operators.

As has been pointed out already Dublin is already covered by 2 high power transmitters for every RTE service.
Back in the 80s RTE used to split 2FM into a Dublin service 90.7FM and separate national service 91.3FM.
As for the old chestnut that there is no spare capacity - that excuse is always trotted out - remember that excuse before frequencies were found for NEWSTALK,4FM,Spirit etc... or back in 2003 when suddenly 4 frequencies where found for the Dublin area.....

I am also old enough to remember Radio1/RnaG sharing a FM frequency and then FM3/RnaG sharing a frequency.

You could argue that Radio1/RTE Gold now share a frequency over night....and that is probably as good as its going to get.

end of the road

Infoanon wrote: »

Agreed - it will not happen - no minister will agree to it for fear of facing the backlash from the commercial operators.

very true. if only we had a minister who wouldn't be afraid to tell the commercial broadcasters to suck it up, that the listener is more important. ah well, one can dream i suppose. at least the monopoly of the commercial broadcasters is slowly declining (not hugely) but eventually it might to an extent where government might actually be willing to start insuring the listener matters for once.