More AM closures

[agardiner]

Sadly due to the frozen licence fee, the BBC has had to decide on some more difficult cuts.

Among them is an end to Radio 4 LW, and 5 Live closing its MW transmitter network. Oh dear. A sad day for the media and certainly for AM listeners.

https://radiotoday.co.uk/2022/05/bbc...-wave-service/

[Station X]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-61591674

[Station X]

Plans to stop scheduling separate content for Radio 4 Long Wave, consulting with partners, including the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, ahead of the closure of the Long Wave platform itself;

Suggests they're planning to stop broadcasting The Shipping Bulletin.

[Boulevardier]

The words in the link in post #1 are telling and sinister -

"Plans to accelerate digital growth in audio and drive listeners to BBC Sounds..."

Sounds a bit like herding cattle to somewhere they don't want to go!

Mike

[Keith956]

Stop Radio 4 on LW? It's the only AM station I listen to these days!

[agardiner]

I listen to Five live on MW. Will only be Caroline left now!

[deliverance]

Inevitable sadly .

[paulsherwin]

There is going to be a huge political row about this. It isn't simply a matter of AM transmitters, there are lots of other proposed changes which are going to have a negative impact on an awful lot of licence payers. This is all happening at a time when the Beeb really doesn't want to alienate supporters.

[eddie_ce]

In an earlier life I was involved in emergency planning and always regarded the closure of high power MW or LW transmitters as rather short sighted. The argument for closure always given was "nowadays we have the internet and satellite to warn people in times of emergency or heaven forbid conflict" - OK fine, but what happens when a cyber attack closes down parts of the interweb and satellites are put out of action?

Of course I realise that maintaining these transmitters, even when mothballed is not cheap, but in the scheme of things in my opinion would be money well spent. Of course this argument falls down if there are no receivers left capable of receiving MW/LW.

What is the consensus amongst members?

[Doghouse Riley]

Originally Posted by Boulevardier

The words in the link in post #1 are telling and sinister -

"Plans to accelerate digital growth in audio and drive listeners to BBC Sounds..."

Sounds a bit like herding cattle to somewhere they don't want to go!

Mike

The BBC are also fond of using the term "Navigate" when encouraging viewers to move from one of their channels to another of theirs, or to i Player.
They might as well say "herd" as they think we have the intelligence of sheep.

They've also announced BBC 4 (about the only channel of theirs worth watching) is going to moved to on-line and no longer on a broadcast channel.

Same with CBBC, but I won't miss "The One Show."

Eh?

[agardiner]

Originally Posted by eddie_ce

In an earlier life I was involved in emergency planning and always regarded the closure of high power MW or LW transmitters as rather short sighted. The argument for closure always given was "nowadays we have the internet and satellite to warn people in times of emergency or heaven forbid conflict" - OK fine, but what happens when a cyber attack closes down parts of the interweb and satellites are put out of action?

Of course I realise that maintaining these transmitters, even when mothballed is not cheap, but in the scheme of things in my opinion would be money well spent. Of course this argument falls down if there are no receivers left capable of receiving MW/LW.

What is the consensus amongst members?

Agree 100%. And as someone who currently works for the BBC, (and is probably going to be cut, stay on topic, no sympathy notes please) I know colleagues in Five Live who also agree with this. Discounting the net itself, most of the modern digital feeds are delivered via IP links and vulnerable to attack. Given the conflict elsewhere, the possibility of escalation, maintaining MW I would say is essential. Not forgetting the 5M weekly listeners!

[paulsherwin]

The guys at TalkSport will certainly be rubbing their hands at this news.

[stevehertz]

And with that news I dig my pantry transmitter out of the cupboard. After 80 years, my vintage radios will no longer feed on their natural food. A very sad day..

[Aub]

It says nothing on the BBC website about closing down radio 4 and 5 terrestrial broadcast, only that radio 4 won't have separate programs anymore. Also CBBC and BBC4 are going internet only.

Aub

[GMB]

I have always thought that R4LW was a strategic resource which needs to be maintained in case of a national emergency. With such wide coverage you can get a message out by going to the transmitter itself if all else fails.

But doesn't it also carry some digital extras encoded into the carrier?
I think our electric meter listens to R4LW.

[Boulevardier]

Originally Posted by Aub

It says nothing on the BBC website about closing down radio 4 and 5 terrestrial broadcast, only that radio 4 won't have separate programs anymore. Also CBBC and BBC4 are going internet only.Aub

On one of the releases it says that at first they will remove different programming on R4 and R4 LW, with the eventual removal of the LW service altogether. I think 200kc/s was always seen as the emergency broadcast service, but presumably 95% of domestic radios these days don't have LW anyway so that wouldn't work. Perhaps the BBC could employ traditional town-criers for use in emergencies.
Mike

[lightning]

Well, l guess l could use my collection of pocket MW radios as door stops if they will no longer tune in to anything.

According to my brother MW has disappeared in the Netherlands where he lives, l did buy a couple of radios from a seller there and he said they "didn't pick up any stations" but they worked when l tried them here.

[Nickthedentist]

There was much talk of things like "CBBC will go digital-only" on Radio 4 earlier this evening. I assume they meant it would be online/internet only, but what a poor choice of words.

[Pfraser]

Originally Posted by lightning

Well, l guess l could use my collection of pocket MW radios as door stops if they will no longer tune in to anything.

According to my brother MW has disappeared in the Netherlands where he lives, l did buy a couple of radios from a seller there and he said they "didn't pick up any stations" but they worked when l tried them here.

Hmm. Perhaps it's going to be down to Talksport, Absolute and Caroline to keep us informed if emergency strikes. I'm only partly joking here!

shango066 on YouTube did a repair job on one of the 5-transistor Chinese, or Hong Kong(?) MW pocket radios which were ubiquitous in the '70s. He advised keeping one handy for emergency use.

The overall weakest link does seem to be the programme distribution system. I would not necessarily advocate cable links throughout, but something independent of the Internet and satellites would be good! Time for a resurgence of through-air STLs?

[high_vacuum_house]

Originally Posted by Station X

Suggests they're planning to stop broadcasting The Shipping Bulletin.

My best guess on the meaning of "stop scheduling separate content for R4 LW" would be stopping the daily service and maybe the Test Match Special programming. I just wander on the audience numbers who would be actively listening to TMS for hours on end on Roberts Radios in the garden shed.

I cannot see the BBC killing off of the main Droitwich LW transmitter. At least for a few more years anyway.

Christopher Capener