Digital Radio in Ireland

Radio Nova

Dusty — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 18:04:53 +0000

The last big FM licence to be awarded to the Dublin market came on air today.

Radio Nova 100.3FM, named after a local legendary 80s pirate, is running a classic rock format.

The elaborate launch at 1pm involved a barge on the River Liffey, at the epicentre of the city, on which a Guns’n’Roses tribute band played live. Banner branding on the barge, the river quays and even a light aircraft above made a big splash. The on-air side of the launch was strangely muted though as you’ll hear from the clip below.

It reminds me of this day 21 years ago when we launched Atlantic 252 across the UK. The excitement of being properly “on air” was immense. Sadly launch excitement is short-lived and it took us a full six months to actually settle in and begin building an audience. Once we got rolling though the station turned into a juggernaut eventually hitting 5 million listeners within four years.

Even though Nova have entered a tough market they have a very experienced team and a killer niche format in their favour.

On the surface they appear to have a secured a derogation on the normally required 20% news & current affairs content allowing them to concentrate on the music and rock related talk as they should.

The day-time schedule kicks off with Pat Courtnay a Dublin morning show legend from the 80’s/90s. The remainder of the day is held by three DJs; Greg Gaughran, Marty Miller and Enda Murphy all holding longish music shifts from 10am through midnight. All three also work weekends. The station also carry Rick Wakemans syndicated show on Saturday teatime.

Carol Dooley, an Irish lady with major US market programming experience at KISM Seattle, is the station PD while David Tighe, former CEO with UTV’s Live 95FM in Limerick takes the same role at the helm of Nova.

It’s interesting to see the reaction from other stations in the market. 98FM are changing their breakfast and drive shifts plus have new imaging in place. FM104 are also making morning changes and Q102 which targets a similar 35+ adult audience today started a €5,000 Three-in-a-Row competition where the first song is the most classic of rock tunes “Bohemian Rhapsody”.

Great to have a bit of fun back in the market!

Radio Nova’s website is www.nova.ie and they’re running 128k mp3 and 32k aac live streams.

Also, if you missed it, their on-air launch is below.

FM with Visuals

Dusty — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 09:05:55 +0000

Take a glimpse of how it should be.

Above is a Nokia mobile with a built-in FM tuner and wi-fi … both fairly standard features on a mobile phone.

What happens is the radio can pick up certain information from the FM broadcast which points it to a webserver which then displays programme associated data on the phone. If you want to know more about any of the pictures displayed simple click on it to be brought to the stations website.

This works just as well with DAB radio as it does with FM which is demonstrated above.

It’s all thanks to RadioDNS.org which helps you link your audio FM/DAB content with your web-content. Check out their website for more.

Bargain!

Dusty — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 16:48:02 +0000

I love a bargain and I’ve got one for you right now.

This is Curry’s own-brand FM/DAB radio and on the shelf at Curry’s across Ireland for just €30. I’ve also seen some nice cheap sets at Tesco’s too.

At this price, I’m guessing these radio’s are surplus stock from the UK and most likely not capable/upgradable to DAB+. However, for €30 just to check out DAB here in Ireland, how can you go wrong?

DAB+ Podcast Trial

Dusty — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 11:20:06 +0000

Commercial Radio Australia are to trial sending Podcasts over-the-air via DAB+ to a listeners radio eliminating any need to connect to the internet.

Podcasts are great. You pick what programme you want and listen to it when it suits you best. The downside is you need to find them, download them, and transfer them to an mp3 player and so on. Broadcasting Podcasts direct to a radio receiver eliminates all that downside leaving listeners with just the benefits.

This is what we love about DAB radio. Lots more stations, Slideshow displaying graphical content relevant to the audio and, with this trial, we can add the benefit of on-demand programming.

Similar trials have been carried out in the UK by All-In-Media with great success. We expect the same from Australia who are rapidly becoming the most innovative country for digital broadcasting.

The press release from Commercial Radio Australia reads as follows;

Chief executive officer of Commercial Radio Australia (CRA), Ms Joan Warner, and Mr Xuegang Qin, managing director of Beijing Jolon Digital Media Broadcasting Co.,Ltd (affiliated to Radio Beijing Corporation), today announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between CRA and Jolon to develop a groundbreaking DAB+ digital radio application that will allow podcasts to be sent via the broadcast band directly to a listener’s radio without the need to connect to the internet.

Named “Push Radio”, the technology, developed by Jolon, will send an audio file directly to a DAB+ digital radio receiver instead of requiring the listener to connect their iPod or mp3 player to the internet to receive programming.

“Commercial Radio Australia is very pleased to announce we will be working collaboratively over the next 12 months with one of the most influential Chinese public broadcasters, Jolon, the market leader in digital broadcasting in China, to further develop and test Push Radio,” said Ms Warner.

Mr Xuegang Qin, managing director of Beijing said Jolon is delighted to be working with Commercial Radio Australia. “Jolon and CRA will harmoniously work together to promote the application of DAB+ Push Radio and explore its many practical applications,” said Mr Qin.

The MoU outlines a framework for a strategic partnership to identify, define and manage all stages of technical co-operation to develop and jointly promote technical specifications of DAB+ Push Radio.

The two organisations will set up a task force to operationally test the current technical standards for DAB+ and DAB+ Push Radio and hope to have a trial of the system in Australia late in 2010.

Podcasts are another example of how the radio industry has adapted new technology to extend its audience. There are more than 4,661,046 podcasts downloaded each month in Australia. (Source = CastMetrix, February 2010)

“To free listeners from the necessity to connect to the internet to receive podcasts and other specific information and targeted programming is a major step forward for DAB+ digital radio,” Ms Warner said. “Push Radio will make a podcast even more accessible for all digital radio listeners.”

UK Full Steam Ahead

Dusty — Mon, 24 May 2010 06:47:55 +0000

To the annoyance of DAB detractors digital radio continues to grow in the UK.

The latest RAJAR results for digital radio are stunning.

In Reach, that is how many people use it however briefly, digital radio is heard by 38.5% of the population at some stage during an average week.

Most importantly in Share, that is out of all listening to all radio how much is shared by digital, the amazing result is 24%. Wow! Just on a quarter of ALL radio listening in the UK is now done using a digital receiver of some description.

DAB is by far the most popular digital platform with radio via digital tv or the internet lagging far behind.

Looking at the big picture digital radios share of listening has doubled in just three years (from 12.8% in 2007). If it doubles again in the next three years, the UK will easily exceed it’s target of 50% share by 2015, and begin the final process of moving entirely from FM on to DAB.

To aid the growth, the industry started an interesting campaign this week, fronted by comedian Stephen Fry. In commercials and promo announcements on commercial and BBC radio, listeners are encouraged to take part in a kind of radio scrappage scheme. Anyone trading in an old analogue set for a brand spanking new digital one will get a nice 10% discount off the price. The old radios will be reconditioned and given to the Children’s Radio Foundation in Southern Africa.

I don’t imagine a stampede of listeners crowding the doors of Currys for this offer but it will work wonders highlighting digital radio and keeping that growth curve upwardly mobile.

DTT Dead?

Dusty — Thu, 20 May 2010 09:55:27 +0000

This week the Broadcasting Authority (BAI) announced their contract negotiations with all three potential operators of digital terrestrial television (DTT) have now failed.

The process started over two years ago with the award of the licence in principal to Boxer, the combined Denis O’Brien Communicorp and Swedish Boxer group. After a year they withdrew from the process citing the economy and breakdown of negotiations with RTÉ as reasons.

The licence was then offered to the runners-up, OneVision, the Eircom/TV3 consortium. After another year they too withdrew also citing breakdown of negotiations with RTÉ as reasons.

Last month the licence was then offered to the sole remaining candidate Easy TV, the RTÉ/UPC consortium, who decided not to pursue negotiations at all.

Is this the end of DTT in Ireland? We think not.

RTÉ, as the public service broadcaster, are obliged under legislation to provide Ireland with one basic digital television multiplex carrying the four existing free-to-air “must carry” Irish channels; RTÉ One, RTÉ Two, TV3 and TG4.

Currently they are rolling out the new transmission network and Ireland will be well placed to meet the EU deadline of 2012 for Analogue Switch-Off.

What happens on the commercial front remains to be seen. The issue will be discussed at the next BAI board meeting at the end of the month and a statement will issue thereafter.

New DAB Trial

Dusty — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 15:41:05 +0000

A new DAB trial has begun in the South-East of Ireland serving Wexford, Waterford, Tipperary, Carlow and Kilkenny.

The trial, operating under a one year ComReg licence on Band III 9B, is being run by Total Broadcast Ltd in Waterford. Initially the trial is simulcasting local radio services.

The trial will encompass tests on station bitrates, transmission power and location in addition to a planned trial of DAB+.

The multiplexer itself was constructed by the team at Total Broadcast. Knowing the system from the ground up will allow the company to experiment greatly with DAB and we expect some very interesting tests over the coming months.

If you are living in the area simply re-scan your DAB radio to receive the broadcasts.

Radio Around the World

Dusty — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 10:06:24 +0000

I like James Cridland. He’s a UK based radio guy who just “gets it”. Not just about radio but how radio and media and the internet are all converging.

Last year he did a very brave thing many of us would love to do but don’t have the balls to. He packed in a big job at the BBC to travel the world for six months learning about radio around the globe.

The results are a nice escape from the inward looking boxes we find ourselves in sometimes and you can hear/see them in the video below.

Outwardly a quiet reserved gentleman, James is actually quite incisive, humourous and to the point. So grab a coffee, click play below and enjoy a presentation of his trip around the radio globe. The audio is from his appearance at RadioDays Copenhagen, where people wandered in a little late (you’ll spot this), and where they laughed in most of the right places (you’ll spot this too).

James’ blog is well worth subscribing to if you are in any way interested in radio. james.cridland.net/blog/

Online v FM

Dusty — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 06:26:29 +0000

Last week a general email discussion has been going on talking about the costs of broadcasting online versus one-to-many broadcasting with FM or DAB.

JP Coakley, Director of Operations at RTÉ Radio made some very good points which I’m sharing with his permission. Please note these are JP’s personal thoughts and not necessarily those of RTÉ.

First things first. Let’s not demonise either side. This is neither a question of New Media refuseniks who are unable to see the tidal wave of the web coming toward them as they hold to a dying past, nor is it a question of New Media fanatics who are incapable of understanding the value of FM as a universally available and free to air platform. This is purely and simply a strategic dilemma that requires thought, discussion and critically, decisive positioning.

Costs of transmission.

Right now, we estimate the relative costs per listener per hour of the web versus FM is 2000 to 1. The web is 2,000 times more expensive per listener per hour than FM. Part of this is explained by the fact that the FM network is expensive to build but, once built, is very efficient at serving large audiences. The web is not. The unit cost to serve the millionth web user is exactly the same as the first. If we had a situation where 50% of our audience was on the web, we would be forced to reduce other activities to pay for it. Also, there would be a punitive charge to popularity, i.e. if a programme gained more listeners than it was expected to, the cost of transmitting that programme would rise.

We are in the very early days of internet traffic. What we can see is, in the UK, there are very real threats from ISPs to “throttle” the BBC iPlayer on the basis that it now constitutes nearly 10% of total online traffic. It is highly likely that the BBC will be obliged eventually to pay for the distribution of the iPlayer. Of course you will hear a lot about next generation networks but there is a real question over who will pay for them.

The problem with the web business model is that the people who make the networks are not the people profiting. There are five main businesses in net use, shopping, gaming, pornography, gambling and media. None of these returns money to the people who build networks, and of these, media (including social media) consumes most bandwidth yet delivers least return, both to the ISPs and, critically, to the businesses themselves. I really don’t see how this model will work in the future without businesses being charged by ISPs, according to use, or governments deciding to build the network. If the charge for the new networks is to be passed to the broadband subscriber we will see a very significant jump in tariffs.

Costs of content.

The web favours aggregators over originators. The most successful business model on the web, is Google. Ironically that’s our business model; charging advertisers for access to audiences rather than charging audiences for access to content (telco model). Google do this by aggregating content – they do not create anything – and bringing it to a single place where advertisers may also live. Where there are propositions that involve a mixture of aggregation and origination, such as YouTube and Twitter, money is not being made. Why? Because good stuff – veracity, reliability, creativity – costs money. So we see YouTube acknowledging that it will pay or share revenue to get the “good stuff” from established media. At the same time we see Rupert Murdoch, and many other papers, testing the idea of pay walls around their business. Why? Because as things stand they will have no business if they don’t. It is reasonable to suggest that they should adapt to this new reality but a “crowd in the cloud” remains an elusive way to ensure revenue.

The most successful media website in the country, RTÉ.ie makes approximately one twentieth of the total commercial revenue made by Radio (RTÉ Annual Report 2008). What all “traditional” media are facing is a situation where they cannot afford to be on the web on a free model and still, they cannot afford not to be there. Literally thousands of businesses have tried to find alternative methods to fund their activities online. Very few have survived without subscription models. Yet, as Liam O’Brien has pointed out, RTÉ is rightly obliged to avoid charging the domestic user on the basis that they pay a licence fee.

Rights – Intellectual Property.

Pandora, Last FM and Spotify are examples of organisations that started brightly but tripped badly on rights. All of them have had to confine and/or charge for their services in the past two years. Anyone who works in a web business that involves IP will tell you that this is the most troublesome and expensive element of their business. This is and was true also of “traditional” media, the difference being that they have learned to deal with it and have business models that incorporate these costs. Typically also, their rights are for limited territories, not the worldwide audience that the web offers. This time last year, Last FM were in negotiation with literally hundreds of separate rights organisations to try to secure rights for their service worldwide. They have not succeeded. Colleagues involved in internet only radio stations will tell you that the new cost models proposed by the record industry will simply close them down. However in tune or out of tune we are with the prevailing zeitgeist, if no one pays, then no one gets paid. Simple.

Overall

The theme is of money, investment and control re-asserting itself – to a certain extent. If the story of the web from 2004 to 2010 was real expansion post the dotcom bubble, it is likely that the next five years will see retrenchment as an unlikely combination of authors, artists, record labels, press companies, broadcasters and others try to make people pay for their content. For example, few musicians have the courage to publicly disapprove of file sharing but a Swedish 2008 poll of musicians (when Pirate Bay was at its height) found that 38% wanted to legalise file sharing – or to put it another way, 62% don’t. Ironically 59% admitted to using file sharing.

The good news is that RTÉ can provide the best of both. We are obliged, where possible, to avoid subscription and we can also provide quality content and access on the web. The warning is that, like many others, we don’t yet have a way to make this pay to the scale needed to sustain quality and diverse output.

In the meantime it’s about trial and error to a certain extent. Pre-rolls, mid rolls, dynamic ads (multiplatform) and yes, subscription for value add services, are things we should look at, try and learn from.

FM is still a strong proposition. However, it needs a face lift. This is why many broadcasters advocate digital radio. It is mobile, simple and free yet offers additional content and services more akin to the net. Of course there are huge obstacles and many problems associated with making digital radio as attractive, popular and ubiquitous as FM, but Dusty comments, and figures from other digital radio countries show, that if you get it right people like it – and not only that, they actually favour it over web radio.

One thing, unfortunately, we can say with certainty. If our audience is largely online in 5 years, based on current trends, we will be compelled to be a drastically smaller industry than we are today.

Key to our future (as we said in 2004) are digital radio and the internet. We will now live on two platforms, whether FM or digital radio is the first. We are actually not doing a bad job so far, but our next decisions on new web services must take into account that we are funded and paid to be RTÉ Radio, not RTÉ “Lost” FM.

All 80s Closed

Dusty — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 12:13:45 +0000

It is with profound regret we’ve had to remove our online All 80s service as we have been unable to renegotiate an equitable music royalty rate with the main music copyright agencies.

The online rate quoted by both the PPI and MCPS/IMRO is 0.001 cent per song per listener. Though it sounds miniscule collectively it equates to € 260 per listener per year. If we have just 1,000 listeners it’s plain to see that a royalty in excess of a quarter of a million euro becomes an unworkable sum.

We very much support the principle of music copyright. We feel it’s important that composers, performers and record labels can charge for their work allowing them to continue to do so as a profession and for the betterment of society.

However for the principal to work there needs to be a reasonable balance between the interests of the copyright owner and user which is not the case in this situation.

Unfortunately Ireland is one of the most expensive countries in the world to operate an internet radio station from. Rather than join the widespread violation of the law in this area, as a professional company, we have chosen to cease operation for the time being online as we are unable to bear the cost of music royalty.

We will continue though to develop All 80s and other digital radio projects as we work towards our trial of DAB+.

We wish to thank our many listeners for your support and kind comments.