After a hurricane here in the US our electricity was out for almost a week. Then, cellular towers started going down as their generators ran out of fuel. I could still get news on AM using a Kaito radio and two AA batteries from a station about 70 miles away in NYC.
When shtf in England almost everyone in England will be caught with their pants down and be in big trouble. They don't even have more then a few days worth of food in their cupboards
@@thebaldconvict Hurricanes are not the only emergency. There is currently a full scale war in Europe involving Russia. That has never happened in my lifetime.
@@LouiseBrooksBob That is why they have just run a country wide test on mobile phones. Lets face it, which are you more likely to get a warning on, an AM radio that virtually nobody uses or a mobile phone that most have in our pockets.... We also have TV that people use too.... Our country isn't as big as some others so broadcasts on the FM band (I would suggest Radio 1 since it is nationawide) should finish off the communications nicely.
There has been a notable push for people to go digital, but as with many things, advantages tend to be A; cherry picked, and B; are often soon exposed as being no advantage at all
But the facts are that almost nobody is listening - and AM stations are expensive to run. And basically it's a money thing. The advantage is to Absolute Radio. If nobody is making AM radio sets - there's nobody who's going to listen.
Don’t forget to run your dishwasher daily rather it’s full or not. Your lack of trust for the NEO makes me think you haven’t been getting enough dishwasher tab meds. 😂
Not to mention that digital is all but useless if you happen to be in a dark spot. Analogue TV I could pick up a fuzzy but intelligible image, Digital just chirps constantly and the picture is mostly grey blocks over a slideshow version of the programme.
@@Sonny_McMacsson Excellent - I'll run out and plug it into my cars aux port.... So I can listen to shitty audio...... Oah - hang on! My car only has USB! Shit outa luck then?
I built my own crystal set as a kid in the 1970s. A wire, a winding on a ferrite bar, a tuning cap, an OA81 diode and an earpiece. I picked up Radio 4 MW from Moorside Edge (frequency later used by Radio 2 and latterly Radio 5).
I built mine in the 1960s using a toilet roll tube (no ferrite near me!) and an OA81. People say it's sad that modern kids won't be able to do the same, but the truth is - they don't anyway. Meanwhile, MW DX will improve without local interference and it IS possible to receive DX with a well-designed crystal set. My last one received stations from Northern Ireland to Moscow and Arctic Norway to North Africa. Still, with no UK MW stations and every household owning a MW radio - whoopee, here come the pirates!
I also built a crystal receiver from the same parts around the same period... We lived close enough to Liverpool's '194 Radio City' MW transmitter in Rainford at the time that I'm sure I could've lit a modern LED with the thing!... :)
It is a shame that AM stations are closing down, but it's a really niche market these days with very few listeners so it doesn't make financial sense for broadcasters to keep doing it. I'd like to see the spectrum opened up to more community radio stations, with a fairly low maximum power output and a low licence fee for broadcasters. It might allow the sort of people that used to run pirate stations to provide legal specialised content for their local market.
That is what has been done here in the Netherlands. However, it is not that easy for a hobbyist- or volunteer-maintained station to provide a usable signal on AM.
I think its an idea but it would strictly limit what sort of programming could be done over such airwaves, music is probably out on quality grounds so it would have to be a lot of talk content and does anyone really want more of what people think in this day and age?
If in the USA, dig around, you might find some sub 1,000 W AM stations. One issue with AM is that the tower is the antenna where as FM is a small antenna on a tower.
Goes to show that the ‘big boys’ are always looked after. I remember many years ago an RSL Station fell off air a few days shorter than the licence duration. Ofcom was not happy, one of the questions (at the time, don’t know if it still is) on the licence application was “have you ever been in breach of ofcom licence conditions” when they re applied the following year said licence was refused stating the licence applicant was . I doubt that would happen to Bauer Media somehow.
It seems like AR made a calculated risk that paid off. Keeping the AM stations on the air for the remainder of the contract duration would have costed far more than the penalty. In an ideal world, the station should be able to negotiate terminating a contract early, especially in the circumstances you described.
Yeah. Result. 9 years of operating costs would be way more than 250k so I expect the idea wasn't hard to sell to Bauer's top brass. Getting off with just a 25k penalty means whoever came up with that plan at Bauer is likely a hero. It did strike me as funny that basically the rules say: We gave you a license, you're not using it, give it back and give us money. Not many licenses work like that!
@@hydorahRemember that frequency space is limited. The reason that Ofcom are required to take the licence back is so that it can potentially be offered to someone else. Since Ofcom can't then levy a fee for that licence they are making a financial loss until a new licensee is found. As such, a £25,000 fine seems to be letting them off very lightly.
@@hydorah Depends on the situation - the license could be on an annual fee and not a one-time fee. So what Ofcom ended up saying is that they want the money for the full time of the license even if the operation is shut down.
In geographically large continents and countries like Australia, Africa, South America, and USA, MW AM is vital as VHF transmissions don't have the range. The other issue is vehicle manufacturers tend to be omitting AM radios in new models. This is fine if you live in EU where there are lots of VHF broadcast outlets covering most of the landmass. Not so in Autralia, for instance.
In the US it's already being phased out due to lack of viewership and vhf can easily cover the distance the fcc just needs to let the station operators up the power output
@@oldpolishguy253 I don't think it will be long before you can get free satellite radio everywhere. There is a lot of old geo sats that could be repurposed to radio transmission.
Buying a new car, I was excited to find it had a really sensitive and low noise AM/MW receiver. The young-ish salesman was honestly astounded: "What exactly is the point of AM?". My own point was to receive Radio Caroline on 648 KHz (from Suffolk, U.K.)
The problem is with the FM band there is little relevant content on the stations that transmit on it. The news is propaganda and the music is usually terrible. Shame there aren't any pirate radio stations in my area, then it would be worth listening to. Also if you live in the middle of Yorkshire there are hardly any FM stations at all to listen to, you can't even get Radio 1 or Radio 4. I was in Scarborough, they were listening in a shop to Radio 1 from a DAB radio, not a regular radio because they cant receive it on a normal radio.
I only receive it at night up to around sunrise and last night was very good with little fading here in the Manchester area. I don't care about Absolute Radio or most others.
RTÉ for The 252 Radio 📻 One cut off used an environmental excuse 😮 to save electricity ⚡️fabulous excuse to turn it off. In fact RTÉ turned off DAB Digital Radio too in Ireland in 2021, so very progressive!
@@richardbutler4488 RTE are a crowd of shysters. Their abandonment of DAB was a farce. And they also wanted to get rid of RTE Gold during lockdown when it was one of their most popular stations.
Belgium is a fucked up country , DAB , newspapers , all owned and directed from a same propaganda group . i still try SW , MW and LW but its getting difficult , the world is getting te be made to shut up.
100 _whole_ watts?! How generous of the regulators! I presume these stations are non~profit 'n all, but 100w isn't gonna 'touch the sides', as it were, by which I mean, the signal isn't likely to make it to the village boundary/edge of the housing scheme/ off of the college campus (this last being the most likely use for these licences, I expect). Yes, I know dedicated listeners will be able to tune these stations in further afield (after all hams on SW can go trans~oceanic on powers a _tenth_ of that, though of course SW is a whole different thing!) -- but the typical listener wanting to hear 'Smashie & Nice~y' (cheeseball dj's) playing requests for "Auntie Hilda who's 81 years - _'young'_ (bleeuch!!) today" on their windowsill radio are not going to be up for that kind of faffing around. Those licences will survive for precisely as long as it takes for the Dutch government to find a more lucrative use for the band, by which time the licence - holders will probably have jacked it in anyway for want of an audience (let alone advertisers!)
@@richiehoyt8487 FM is coming to an end, and DAB+ aren't enough MUX free, so they opened up the AM frequencies to accommodate, indeed non-profit stations, and it is only for local radio. The Netherlands has a big history about radio. But we (Belgians) aren't that radio minded. For Dutch people, radio is really popular, even on the AM.
It strikes me that maybe a station such as Radio Caroline who have a limited AM output on 648kHz might want to use those transmitter sites - if OfCOM gives them the licenses for pennies.
Very true. Most TV channels wouldn't exist if OFCOM policed the airwaves as it should. Lies, deception, cover-ups and foul language shouldn't be tolerated, especially by state broadcasters.
As a teenager I had a Sony ICF2001 radio. On weekends I'd tune in to Atlantic 252 and Radio Luxembourg. I miss those days. I still have the radio. The keyboard membrane has gone as has the volume slider. One of the best radios I've ever had.
I also have a Sony ICF2001 radio. I bought it a few years ago as I always wanted one when I was younger. I also bought another broken one for repair reasons. Unfortunately opening them up does destroy the speaker because the glue has gone bad.
@@TeriWilde charlie was even better on laser 558 khz, a offshore radio station from the north sea.when the dti sent out a boat to spy on laser and radio caroline,charlie wound them up each night on his show.laser 558, changed comcercil radio in the uk.
I have one of those, or very similar model, still works (last time I tried anyway!). There's a RUclipsr who might be able to help if you're interested in having it repaired: www.youtube.com/@MendItMark
I remember Atlantic 252lw. I bought an old valve radio and listened to the very first broadcast. Sister station of radio Luxembourg. Apart from CB, it was my first interest in radio. 🗼
In the US AM is still pretty important, especially out in the country away from the cities. I hope it never dies. I love listening to AM at night on long drives, scanning for stations to see how far away I can pick them up. If the conditions are right, you can hear stations hundreds of miles away for a while. There has been recent conflict over car manufacturers trying to remove AM from car radios and it upset a lot of people, I think Ford actually reversed the decision. A lot of people still listen to it.
Where I live you have to be a hundred miles away from any civilization to be unable to receive an FM station. The people in the towns I visited that are beyond FM radio reach listen to satellite radio which is a lot better than oldies and talk shows you hear on AM radio these days.
I collect vintage pocket transistor radios from the 60s and 70s, there are virtually no stations broadcasting now so i have to use a low powered AM midulator
I heard a number of car manufacturers in the US were thinking of removing AM from the radios installed in their cars... but then changed their minds? Might be a story there. Personally I like seeing it as an available option for broadcasting and receiving emergency alerts and reports. I still see signs on the highway that read "For Road Conditions, Tune Radio To AM 780" That's a quick and easy way to get information out there!
said " Tune Radio To AM 780" That's a quick and easy way to get information out there! " There is a trend for even faster info dispersal, changeable info signs along the road.
@@bobroberts2371 It takes less time to put info in front of a broadcaster at a desk than it does to go around an area of the same size in terms of broadcast coverage and change what those (unsecure) signs say. Radio > unsecure signs which have become internet memes due to how easily their information can be changed or are poorly maintained.
@@bobroberts2371 The signs are often falling apart or vandalized. The transmitter is off-site and still functional with a looped recording that can tell you long, detailed messages about (for example) ALL the routes over a mountain pass and the exact conditions of each.
@@Desert-edDave Said : " It takes less time to put info in front of a broadcaster at a desk than it does to go around an area of the same size in terms of broadcast coverage and change what those (unsecure) signs say. " Actually, the signs I'm speaking of are permanent and hooked to the camera network. These are not portable signs. The issue with " Tune to AM 780 " is that a driver needs to be prompted to tune to AM, with an electronic sign, the information transfer is instant.
@@Josh-of-all-Trades Actually, the signs I'm speaking of are permanent and hooked to the camera network. These are not portable signs. The issue with " Tune to AM 780 " is that a driver needs to be prompted to tune to AM, with an electronic sign, the information transfer is instant.
I cannot stand DAB - its just so unreliable, if I'm driving on a long distance from SW England to North Wales, DAB just cuts out too frequently to make it an enjoyable listening experience. I used to be able to tune to AM and maybe have to retune once or twice. DAB still has too many areas where it cant be used and the quality isnt as good as its sold to be.
i may be off here but to my knowledge DAB uses the same tech as the mobile phone towers albeit a bit tweaked. "if that true" just look at the signal coverage and wonder no longer why its bad
@@etaxalo Nope, it uses VHF Band III using a similar modulation to digital TV, but with a large enough guard interval between bursts to allow single frequency working. The reason it sounds so dire is that bit rates are dialled right down to squeeze as many stations in each MUX as possible, and hang the quality.
Here where I live in Lincs our local commercial FM station was bought out by Bauer media & their FM frequencies were turned into Greatest Hits ( by the way is awful😢) & it was subsequently pushed onto DAB & streaming platforms because, I quote, ‘listener numbers were down’. Well DAB coverage is bloody awful in my hometown & my car does not have a digital radio, so I now I listen to my local BBC station instead. I wonder how many more people have had to do that?
"AM Deathwatch"...i had a good chuckle over that. My Dad stripped out some AM radios from 60's automobiles in the past. I still have one from a 1966 Mercury Meteor Montcalm hooked up in our summer cabin. In the 70's and early 80's, we used to listen to CKPR daytime [about 100 miles away SSW], then in the evenings to 890 WLS from Chicago [750 miles away almost directly south]. Hmm, I should power up that radio again to see if I can hear WLS at night.
I think (and hope a bit) that medium and shortwave radio will stay for a long time, if not forever. And with all the things going on all around the world, it may become more relevant again in the future. We will see. As long as there is good music in the air I will listen to it 😊 Oh and I just recently heard about a stock market shortwave connection thing (is that even English?😅) between Germany and the USA. It's much faster than the Internet. And for me it's another sign that something is about to happen, and the elites want to keep the money rolling. Okay, I'll take the tinfoil hat off for today.
Bauer probably make £25,000 in advertising revenue during the Ken Bruce show. It's small change to a huge media organisation. Anyone thinking this is more than a slap on the wrist is deluded.
Unless I'm missing something, surely the point of having the shipping forcast 4x a day on AM LW is so that people out at sea can pick it up. Local FM or digital doesn't have the same distance carrying capacity (think HF used for commercial aviation- same reasons).
I think it's already pointless for several years for the purpose of giving sailors the weather - it survived because land based radio 4 listeners complained that they liked listening to it
Sailors haven't relied on the radio Shipping Forecast for decades now, they get immediate weather data for their exact location on demand via satellite. As said, the main reason the Shipping Forecast still exists on radio is that land-based listeners like hearing it.
Although the number of people with the knowledge now to actually construct a very simple TRF AM receiver is probably way less than what it used to be. Even with all these "how to" videos etc on the internet. That wouldn't be much use to you if the reason you need to construct it is cause the internet is down!
@@xanataph Let's face it, if I'm ever in a position where I need to build my own radio receiver from scratch, odds are I'll have way bigger problems than the lack of a radio receiver in the first place.
As an hobbiest and a very keen am nerd. I came across an am transmitter at our local rally. Into a dummy load puts out a healthy 100 Watts. With just a simple vertical wire antenna I'm able to broadcast my 80s trance across most of my area with good quality audio.
I much prefer analog signals as you can still slightly hear them if your signal is really weak unlike digital where it just shuts off completely. That goes for all analog signals (TV, radio, VGA and other forms of analog)
Same with analogue TV too. Watching years ago from a caravan in a rural location. As long as there was enough signal to lock the horizontal and vertical sync it was watchable, if grainy. Nowadays the only way is to put your favourite shows on a USB stick before you leave home. Not exactly "live"
Even at the maximum possible fine, it probably still costed out financially to shut down. Energy costs, maintenance, the licence fee itself, network costs, administration and so on just wouldn't have been justified RoI for the number of listeners serviced. The RAJAR numbers would be an interesting read to see if people have moved to other technology, or other stations.
Well Lewis.. Whatever we loose will be for good.. Not everything needs to be in full HD.. Speaking of which.. In west Wales 🏴 DAB is useless.. F.M doesn't stand for frequency modulation you know? .. As my old Dad used to say it stands for.. F@ck1ng Marvellous.. On account that it just works.. I'll miss the LW transmission from RTE because it bolstered up a very limited select here.. Not everyone lives in big towns/cities.. Great channel Lewis.. 👍🏻
we having a similar issue in the US as well with AM radio. some new cars no longer have AM radio. some AM stations went digital AM only. with the cost of power to run a station going up a lot ,This is becoming much harder for stations to stay on the air. was cheaper just pay the fine for switch off. some stations may just go bankrupt.
I agree but I think the 50000 watt system covering coast to coast may survive for the foreseeable future. Who knows anymore if it is relevant to the government to be able to go coast to coast on radio? They might let it die about the time we'll need it.
While I find broadcasting as a whole interesting I have to say my interest in radio hasn't been too strong. Most of the commercial stations at this point are just playing pop music all day, everyday and really nothing grabs my attention on the non-commercial side. I think a glut of choice elsewhere via other digital platforms (Podcasts are a favourite of mine) I think it is inevitable that analogue broadcasting will cease at some point in the future and it makes sense to me they've taken the fine here and walked away, it was the least worst option.
YES... A.M. is still necessary for a variety of reasons to include national emergencies. That's why the FCC here in the USA. Won't let car dealers and radio manufacturers. Not include a A.M. receiver. Besides. It's still a booming business here. If you want to bring a certain A.M. frequently into a market. You have to move around 15 other frequencies on average. Just to make it fit the band plan for that market.
It's the end of an era, there's no doubt about that but I still get a buzz from listening to short and medium wave radio from abroad. Eventually those will go too, as I realised just how many stations there are online.
£25k is a joke really - how much would those transmitters have cost to run for the contracted period? Damned sight more, we can be sure of that. The fine should have been that cost + a punitive amount. Not justifying retaining AM, it's dead. We know that, but they shouldn't be able to just do that without it costing them more than maintaining their obligations. Utterly toothless and pointless "cost of doing business" fine.
They say they are also going to switch off the FM radio signals soon, But how many people still have the basic own tuning radio as to digital radio. It's if they all want you to be DBA like Digital TV of which is also crap full stop, In my days people used to call these wirelesses,
I use AM daily. I'm in London and DAB can be squelchy and unlistenable. Not only that but DAB radios use more power. I had a wind-up radio for a while and a full winding gave minutes of listening via DAB whereas AM or FM gave hours. I have a small battery powered AM/FM/LW transistor radio that's at least 30 years old. It works really well. Two of the DAB radios I bought (not bloody cheap either) have stopped working after ten years. The lights are on but nobody's at home. The third DAB radio is limping and probably on its last legs.
I think it’s sad but understandable. Having said that though, am is a valuable backup in emergency situations. I get that commercial operators wants to close down their services, but RTE and potentially BBC doing the same thing is incredibly short sighted and might be dangerous.
25k penalty is mere loose change compared to the operating costs for all these transmitters, the electricity cost alone would equal that in a single month for so many transmitters.
I live in Sussex, 50m from London. Because of our proximity to France, we have very limited DAB Service and in many places FM is patchy. I used to listen (to Absolute amongst others) on AM as it was the best sound / signal quality. I've noticed recently that FM reception, particularly of the BBC has got worse too. Do you know if they have reduced the transmission power? My only remaining option has been to listen via the internet. I've now fitted an Android radio to my car, such that I can have a radio service. It feels most unsatisfactory! Particularly as the 3G phone service is poor in Sussex too.
Find the pirate rig doctors in London and have them make FM and MW transmitters for you so that you can rebroadcast the services that are missing in your area.
I don’t know what to think, in the one hand I only ever really listen to FM radio on a day-to-day basis, because of the vastly superior stereo sound quality, but I’d be really sad to lose AM broadcasts, if only because I recently built a couple of crystal radios, a hobby which I hoped to share with my son. When I was a kid I spent countless hours playing with a radio shack crystal radio set, even making an amplifier with a “101 electronic projects” kit and connecting that to it. It sparked a curiosity about electronics that continues to this day. I’d be so sad if the opportunity to show my son these things was lost forever 😢
£25,000 is all they got fined? How is that fine a deterrent? That's probably not even a single engineers salary for a year let alone the 7+ years on top of that. That's far less than the £70,000 that should have been paid in licence fees that are being lost too. So essentially for doing the wrong thing the company has financially benefited? How's that going to stop the next company that decides to do the same? The country has lost out on a service for listeners, not just financially and a company is walking way happy with it's choice. Perhaps the company should loose all licences when it decides to unilaterally give up it's responsibilities of one of them.
Nice one for doing this video, I did read the long document the other day. I'd love to see some UK transmitter site tours on your channel, if you could manage to arrange any. Most of the ones I've watched have been in North America.
One thing stands clear, only an AM station can be heard by a radio with no power. In case of a tremendous tragedy that last months AM stations will be sorely missed. Only the government will have a working comm and civilians will be in darkness.
What happened about keeping AM going in case of national emergency? Guess the general public aren’t skilled enough to hack together a crystal set like in the old days. But AM does travel further than anything else which could still be useful - and old AM radios run for ages on a set of batteries, unlike DAB.
It's the battery life that's the deal breaker for me. My little Roberts analogue radio runs for weeks on four AAs. Ideal for travel or holiday listening. 4 C cells will run my DAB radio for about 20 hours, and it's three times the size.
There wont be anything left coming from Droitwich. Its a shame, i can see it from my back yard :( Absolute Radio 1215 Off. Talksport on 1053 going And now Radio 4 198 going If you do come down to film the site youre welcome to come for a cup of tea and look at an old pirate transmitter ive got from the 80s/90s 😂
But will a newcomer step up to take the INR2 license? I read the Ofcom paper which said that they have the option of re-advertising it and apparently they did receive expressions of interest. Absolute should have also been stripped of their DAB licence too in addition to the 25k. That would probably hurt more since no doubt DAB is where the majority of their listeners are.
I used to listen to Absolute Radio every morning on AM, as they didn't broadcast in FM, so there was no option. When it switched off I was really annoyed, as now I've lost it. If they had moved to FM that would have been okay, but it doesn't exist now. Really sad. I'd have to buy another radio for digital, which is going to cost money, probably have a worse signal, and will eat through batteries quicker (the radio is in the bathroom as I listen to it when getting ready on a morning). I've never used a digital radio that has worked well. My bedside one often beeps and says no signal, the three hire cars I've used with it cut out about every 30 seconds, and I don't expect a new one to be much better if I do get one. I don't understand why they weren't in FM all along, as that's what normal radio is. It's bizarre to bot be in FM.
The first two radio stations i ever listened to, were Gem AM in the East Midlands, and Atlantic 252, which i assumed when i was too young to understand, was a pirate radio station, broadcast from a ship in the Atlantic, seeing as my mum had told me stories about radio Caroline, this excited me greatly, thinking i had stumbled across a radio ship Since then, as i got older, i found out Atlantic 252 was actually broadcast from Trim, Ireland, which was ok with me, it was interesting seeing their thousand foot antenna, and 500kw transmitter site I do miss Atlantic 252, it was a pop station you could hear over most of the uk without re-tuning the stereo I think if car radio manufacturers had continued equipping the sets with long wave receive capabilities, i would have continued listening to 252 throughouy life I feel that its not Atlantic 252's fault there listener numbers declined, more car radio manufacturers
AR should have been forced to honor the bidded for licence, rather than being let off the hook. I'd like to see an alternative operator take over and provide that service but cant see that happening under the current financial woes. As for DAB vs FM, well its FM all the way.
In paragraph 67 of the financial penalty decision, Ofcom wrote: "... had Bauer not pursued a renewal, Ofcom could in principle have readvertised the licence. The option to re-advertise the licence is now available. However, despite receiving some expressions of interest in applying for the licence, there is evidence as set out in this Decision and Ofcom’s decision to approve TalkSport’s request to reduce the coverage of its national AM service, that suggests operating a national radio service on AM for a new licence term may not be economically sustainable." It seems unlikely that the licence will be advertised, especially as a significant part of Bauer's justification for ceasing to broadcast on AM was to avoid substantial upcoming costs for re-engineering transmitters.
I grew up with AM radio both as a shortwave listener and tuning in to those powerful medium wave signals from the offshore fleet in the '60s and '70s and remember those times fondly. I live outside of the UK now but am a Radio Caroline supporter to this day and listen to crystal clear audio via their online streams, and I think that, even if I lived within their AM transmitter service area I'd probably still listen via the internet simply because of the better audio quality. Okay, internet coverage can be a bit sketchy in places, especially in a car, whereas an AM signal is usually solid and reliable, so I think Caroline should not only keep their AM license, but also be granted the power increase they're asking for, if not more. I do still tune in to the BBC World Service on short wave daily for the news by the way, just to remind me of the old days, so hopefully they'll keep that service going a while longer 🙂
@@rhodaborrocks1654 Good! I’m glad you get to hear it. After doing a bit of digging, I discovered my memory was slightly wrong. BBC ceased broadcasts to North America, not completely shut down. I use to listen to the world service while living in New Orleans. Always admired their take on things.
As more UK and European AM stations close, I find I'm enjoying stations like Jil FM (549 kHz) from Algeria, and also Algeria channel 3 on 252 kHz, which are strong at night in the South of England. So at least that's a kind of bittersweet upside.
Good on Ofcom. The end of Radio 4 on longwave really will be an end of an era. It's understandable given the issue with obtaining replacement valves for the transmitter. At least the shipping forecast will carry on.
Living in Surrey I can receive Manx Radio on 1368am at night quite well, albeit with some slight fading. I can also receive Radio Caroline from Suffolk on 648am. Considering the low transmitter power of these broadcasts I'm surprised they get as far as they do.
@@bill-2018BBC Radio Sussex used to use 1368am, but they closed all their medium wave frequencies down a couple of years or so ago. If that was still in operation I'd have no chance of receiving Manx Radio in my location. I can receive Radio Caroline clearly on DAB where I live, but also on 648am night and day though that can sound a bit muffled at times... Surrey/South London borders.
I’ve not listened to AM radio in years. FM in the car, DAB on the office radio, and online in most other cases - in fact, increasingly I listen online via my phone and Bluetooth in the car. AM is very, very dead - it was always rubbish, especially at night as we all know!
Trust me when I say between electricity and upkeep, they haved already more than put the 25k in the bank to pay the fine. That there is absolutely nobody lining up to take over the frequencies on a national basis tells you everything you need to know. AM radio is, efffectively, the rotary dial phone of broadcasting. Just slightly better than having to ask an operator to make a connection but way behind the current technologies.
In New Zealand AM radio is still alive and well, mainly used for talkback and multi cultural stations with a few exceptions, as we still don't have any kind of digital radio service in this country.
I haven't listened to any AM stations for many, many years now. Been DAB for at least a decade and I imagine I talk for the vast majority of people in this country.
In many rural areas, whilst DAB coverage is fairly extensive, it can be limited to just a dozen or so (BBC) stations. So if you want to listen to commercial radio stations you will need FM radio too. And, oddly, some BBC local radio stations (like BBC Radio Scotland where I live in SW Scotland) are not broadcast on DAB in some areas.
I knew AM was in trouble years back when I lived in New Addington nr Croydon. When driving along the road parallel with a tram the switchmode noise was across the MW band and even the strongest signals couldn't get through.
Oh, I forgot to say that my understanding is that the government will NOT allow a station to broadcast on either AM or FM unless it also agrees to be present on a digital platform. Perhaps someone can verify that. If so, then it's a very bad show. What's wrong with a station on AM or FM only?
Interesting comment about the closure soon of BBC R4 LW, I wonder what they will do about the radio teleswitch service that the 198 LW signal also controls, a few million UK premises still use these for control of off-peak electricity that is used for storage heaters etc. Either they will all need to be replaced or a LW signal of some type (with nationwide coverage!) will need to be maintained..
In France they had the same situation and there the broadcast service has been shut down but the signal for the clock sync and remote control is still transmitted, at a considerably lower power. (probably after research on how much power would be required for that service only. of course removing the AM modulation already saved a lot of power)
@@DavidGolik Ah that is interesting... We had a similar situation here, but instead the switches were operated using superimposed tones on the mains. That system was switched off in 2021-2022 after many announcements and warnings, but still there were several places where e.g. the outside lights were on all day for several months until finally the equipment was replaced.
@@DavidGolikTeleswitches have already been done away with in Northern Ireland, having been replaced with modern multi-rate meters with an internal clock.
I was in Scotland yesterday where I couldn't get any dab, and as I haven't connected my FM ariel, I was using AM. It's still needed when there isn't an DAB signal
Here in Ohio in the US, I use AM to listen for emergancy broadcasting reguaeding tornados and severe weather mostly. There are a few talk radio stations and one music station I'll also tune into. I like that I can recieve AM signals even in my basement where I cannot get reliable cell, FM or wifi signals. I would/will be very sad to hear the end of the use of these signals, they've been with me all my life and have always been there even when the power was out locally.
Since Germany switched of LW,MW and SW in 2015 i don't listen to Radio Broadcast at all. I prefer to listen the HAM Bands in my spare time, or to VHF and UHF Repeaters while driving. 73 DH9MM
That fine was nothing! I bet the radio station laughed at the fine and said "yes please". The law should be changed allowing Ofcom to fine them 100% of the remaining time on their licence.
Having moved to SV land in 2006 one of the first things I did here was to roll through the AM band on my car radio to see what was active here on the island or anything from the continent. Zero, nothing. All I heard was QRM from all sorts of sources which were the HV insulators on the grid electric system, dirty switch mode supplies from home computers, etc. it was a real let down. I really missed listening to AM stations such as WLW, WSM back in the states. There was a warm sense of nostalgia tuning into a far away station late at night on the way home from second shift. Even back in 1972 my new Mustang was equipped with only an AM radio and it wasn’t until two years later I added an 8 track player with FM radio in it but the listening choices were limited for the time on FM. It was AM that ruled. As for Offcom handing down the fine, unless the stations in question were providing secondary emergency services for the British government, the rules are a bit off. You would think that a government agency should know costs of running these stations especially the cost of electric to keep the transmitters running all day long. It would appear that this agency is out only for money as with most every government agencies around the world. Keep these informative videos rolling, they are very informative! 73!
Where I live, just 25 miles west of London, apart from BBC Radio Berkshire, FM reception is very poor. My apartment is like a Faraday cage for VHF FM and though I can get Radio 4 with some hiss using the communal antenna socket in the lounge, I need AM radio to listen anywhere else. I would miss AM radio. I can't imagine how the shipping forecast could be heard far out to sea on VHF as it can be on Long Wave.
My thoughts ? This sounds like an excellent opportunity for Pirate Broadcasters to offer Alternative Programming that advocates fot the General Welfare of the Masses and calls for the abolishing Capitalism
Who still listens on AM and why? There are so many other and better options. It feels to me that the 'AMers' just want to be awkward. I could understand if there wasn't many other options but what's wrong with using FM, DAB, Internet or Pod casts? Maybe I'm the one getting old and therefore don't understand.
RTE spent a small fortune on digitising their radio stations.... Then completely ditched DAB two years ago as it was "the least utilised service in Ireland" and cost them a fortune to maintain. Typical industry led nonsense.
The antennas do not magically stay in a safe and usable state indefinitely. AM broadcast antennas are typically large structures (especially those at the main stations) and are older structures with considerable maintenance required to keep them safe and usable. Redundant AM broadcast antennas are likely to be removed once it is clear there is no commercially viable case for leaving them in place. Removal means the safety hazards are eliminated, the materials can be recycled and the site is freed up for reuse.
Although the AM broadcast band does not have the audio quality of FM band signals, it's range is much greater providing better usage for emergencies and disaster broadcasts. I think the FCC and other radio transmission bureaucratic agencies around the world are CRAZY for putting an end to the AM broadcast band!!!!
Its sad, but technology marches on. I feel, though, that some services should be kept alive, since I don't think someone at the far end of Fitzroy or Sole will be getting any phone signal to listen to the shipping forecast on BBC Sounds...
The Uk as a country has good mobile coverage but theres swathes of countryside with nothing - no FM either. Radio 4 LW and 5 provide a useful service when out in the hills and even abroad. I think they should continue with a few limited services that have a purpose in these cases.
Its not only AM stations that are shutting down... Lincs FM stopped transmitting on FM and moved to DAB, my car radio even though it has DAB, couldn't pick up the station on DAB so how many others can't as well... their loss.
That’s very true, my Navara has AM but it only covers MF and not LF so car makers are slowly fading it out. I suspect in a few years you won’t even get AM. There’s a very slight chance this could change due to recent global conflicts.
I am a massive radio fan. Haven’t listened to AM or FM for years. DAB rarely. Use the Radioplayer, Tunrin or individual station apps. At home I connect the to a Bose sound system vi WiFi in the car connect the phone to the car’s sound system. Operate hands free. Only use DaaB when there is no phone signal.
I bet they saved so much they would just suck up that 25K fine and laugh all the way to the bank, unless the fines are punative you wont stop them from doing what they want.
@@bobroberts2371 Not sure what yousaying there Bob, I was saying the fines were so small in terms of the company and the operating costs it wouldnt even figure in their calculations. If they were making an obvious profit they would of carried on operating and a fine of less than one man year's worth of wages isnt going to stop them closing down the transmitters early .
@@101blog Sounds like you want the fine to be large enough that the company will go bankrupt and fail either from the cost of the fine or cost of continuing service. The fine isn't about forcing companies to continue service, it is a way to generate $ .
@@bobroberts2371 Not sure 25K is much one way or another even to Ofcom . My point was merely that if you want a fine or the threat there of you need it be of sufficiently high value that it makes the benefits of disobeying the licence less. Otherwise it's just a pepercorn fine. I dont want anyone to go bankcrupt merely if you want to modify their behaviour then you need the right tools to do it not just a comparitively tiddly fine
After a hurricane here in the US our electricity was out for almost a week. Then, cellular towers started going down as their generators ran out of fuel. I could still get news on AM using a Kaito radio and two AA batteries from a station about 70 miles away in NYC.
The current government in the UK doesn't think that far ahead.
@@LouiseBrooksBob We don't have huge numbers of hurricanes to be fair.
When shtf in England almost everyone in England will be caught with their pants down and be in big trouble. They don't even have more then a few days worth of food in their cupboards
@@thebaldconvict Hurricanes are not the only emergency. There is currently a full scale war in Europe involving Russia. That has never happened in my lifetime.
@@LouiseBrooksBob That is why they have just run a country wide test on mobile phones. Lets face it, which are you more likely to get a warning on, an AM radio that virtually nobody uses or a mobile phone that most have in our pockets....
We also have TV that people use too....
Our country isn't as big as some others so broadcasts on the FM band (I would suggest Radio 1 since it is nationawide) should finish off the communications nicely.
Depending on power, AM will reach into places that digital and FM can't.
There has been a notable push for people to go digital, but as with many things, advantages tend to be A; cherry picked, and B; are often soon exposed as being no advantage at all
But the facts are that almost nobody is listening - and AM stations are expensive to run. And basically it's a money thing. The advantage is to Absolute Radio.
If nobody is making AM radio sets - there's nobody who's going to listen.
Don’t forget to run your dishwasher daily rather it’s full or not. Your lack of trust for the NEO makes me think you haven’t been getting enough dishwasher tab meds. 😂
@@tcpnetworks Sony current makes a cheap old school type transistor radio with AM/FM bands.
Not to mention that digital is all but useless if you happen to be in a dark spot. Analogue TV I could pick up a fuzzy but intelligible image, Digital just chirps constantly and the picture is mostly grey blocks over a slideshow version of the programme.
@@Sonny_McMacsson Excellent - I'll run out and plug it into my cars aux port.... So I can listen to shitty audio...... Oah - hang on! My car only has USB! Shit outa luck then?
I built my own crystal set as a kid in the 1970s. A wire, a winding on a ferrite bar, a tuning cap, an OA81 diode and an earpiece. I picked up Radio 4 MW from Moorside Edge (frequency later used by Radio 2 and latterly Radio 5).
Brilliant 👏 I did the same and I remember those OA 81 diodes and you could see inside them and see the cats whisker. Great times.
I did the same but fed the audio into an amplifier, sounded great! Only disadvantage was the long antenna needed.
I built mine in the 1960s using a toilet roll tube (no ferrite near me!) and an OA81. People say it's sad that modern kids won't be able to do the same, but the truth is - they don't anyway. Meanwhile, MW DX will improve without local interference and it IS possible to receive DX with a well-designed crystal set. My last one received stations from Northern Ireland to Moscow and Arctic Norway to North Africa.
Still, with no UK MW stations and every household owning a MW radio - whoopee, here come the pirates!
I also built a crystal receiver from the same parts around the same period... We lived close enough to Liverpool's '194 Radio City' MW transmitter in Rainford at the time that I'm sure I could've lit a modern LED with the thing!... :)
Me too at 15
It is a shame that AM stations are closing down, but it's a really niche market these days with very few listeners so it doesn't make financial sense for broadcasters to keep doing it. I'd like to see the spectrum opened up to more community radio stations, with a fairly low maximum power output and a low licence fee for broadcasters. It might allow the sort of people that used to run pirate stations to provide legal specialised content for their local market.
That is what has been done here in the Netherlands.
However, it is not that easy for a hobbyist- or volunteer-maintained station to provide a usable signal on AM.
I think its an idea but it would strictly limit what sort of programming could be done over such airwaves, music is probably out on quality grounds so it would have to be a lot of talk content and does anyone really want more of what people think in this day and age?
If in the USA, dig around, you might find some sub 1,000 W AM stations. One issue with AM is that the tower is the antenna where as FM is a small antenna on a tower.
@@shodan2958 Yeah, just imagine all the GB News types on it 🤮
Time to retire to the fainting couch.
Goes to show that the ‘big boys’ are always looked after. I remember many years ago an RSL Station fell off air a few days shorter than the licence duration. Ofcom was not happy, one of the questions (at the time, don’t know if it still is) on the licence application was “have you ever been in breach of ofcom licence conditions” when they re applied the following year said licence was refused stating the licence applicant was . I doubt that would happen to Bauer Media somehow.
It seems like AR made a calculated risk that paid off. Keeping the AM stations on the air for the remainder of the contract duration would have costed far more than the penalty.
In an ideal world, the station should be able to negotiate terminating a contract early, especially in the circumstances you described.
Exactly mate, their lawyers and accountants would have worked that one out long before the switch off. £25k is nothing to Bauer media.
Yeah. Result. 9 years of operating costs would be way more than 250k so I expect the idea wasn't hard to sell to Bauer's top brass. Getting off with just a 25k penalty means whoever came up with that plan at Bauer is likely a hero. It did strike me as funny that basically the rules say: We gave you a license, you're not using it, give it back and give us money. Not many licenses work like that!
I recall even Freeview multiplexes have a 2030 cutoff clause at the moment for similar reasons. The future just isn't looking in its favour.
@@hydorahRemember that frequency space is limited. The reason that Ofcom are required to take the licence back is so that it can potentially be offered to someone else. Since Ofcom can't then levy a fee for that licence they are making a financial loss until a new licensee is found. As such, a £25,000 fine seems to be letting them off very lightly.
@@hydorah Depends on the situation - the license could be on an annual fee and not a one-time fee. So what Ofcom ended up saying is that they want the money for the full time of the license even if the operation is shut down.
In geographically large continents and countries like Australia, Africa, South America, and USA, MW AM is vital as VHF transmissions don't have the range. The other issue is vehicle manufacturers tend to be omitting AM radios in new models. This is fine if you live in EU where there are lots of VHF broadcast outlets covering most of the landmass. Not so in Autralia, for instance.
In the US it's already being phased out due to lack of viewership and vhf can easily cover the distance the fcc just needs to let the station operators up the power output
And they charge a subscription for satellite radio. No thanks.
@@oldpolishguy253 I don't think it will be long before you can get free satellite radio everywhere. There is a lot of old geo sats that could be repurposed to radio transmission.
@@railgap they wouldn't work, satellites only work when the world is round and we all know its flat so they just vanish when they fall of the end.
Europe-Asia is the largest continent of them all.
Buying a new car, I was excited to find it had a really sensitive and low noise AM/MW receiver. The young-ish salesman was honestly astounded: "What exactly is the point of AM?". My own point was to receive Radio Caroline on 648 KHz (from Suffolk, U.K.)
The problem is with the FM band there is little relevant content on the stations that transmit on it. The news is propaganda and the music is usually terrible. Shame there aren't any pirate radio stations in my area, then it would be worth listening to. Also if you live in the middle of Yorkshire there are hardly any FM stations at all to listen to, you can't even get Radio 1 or Radio 4. I was in Scarborough, they were listening in a shop to Radio 1 from a DAB radio, not a regular radio because they cant receive it on a normal radio.
@@radioweebdx7680 Well you know what to do, build a pirate FM station. Plenty of empty airspace from what you're saying.
Hmmmm
There seems to be a bug with the usernames. Mines showing up with an @ sign and a number. It looks really crappy like something from AOL.
I only receive it at night up to around sunrise and last night was very good with little fading here in the Manchester area. I don't care about Absolute Radio or most others.
£25k is small change to Bauer Media - they give away at least £10k a day, 5 days a week in prize money
RTÉ for The 252 Radio 📻 One cut off used an environmental excuse 😮 to save electricity ⚡️fabulous excuse to turn it off. In fact RTÉ turned off DAB Digital Radio too in Ireland in 2021, so very progressive!
@@richardbutler4488 RTE are a crowd of shysters. Their abandonment of DAB was a farce. And they also wanted to get rid of RTE Gold during lockdown when it was one of their most popular stations.
In the Netherlands AM radio is restarted for private radio stations, with a max of 100w per TX site. In Belgium, this is still prohibited.
Belgium is a fucked up country , DAB , newspapers , all owned and directed from a same propaganda group . i still try SW , MW and LW but its getting difficult , the world is getting te be made to shut up.
100 _whole_ watts?! How generous of the regulators! I presume these stations are non~profit 'n all, but 100w isn't gonna 'touch the sides', as it were, by which I mean, the signal isn't likely to make it to the village boundary/edge of the housing scheme/ off of the college campus (this last being the most likely use for these licences, I expect). Yes, I know dedicated listeners will be able to tune these stations in further afield (after all hams on SW can go trans~oceanic on powers a _tenth_ of that, though of course SW is a whole different thing!) -- but the typical listener wanting to hear 'Smashie & Nice~y' (cheeseball dj's) playing requests for "Auntie Hilda who's 81 years - _'young'_ (bleeuch!!) today" on their windowsill radio are not going to be up for that kind of faffing around. Those licences will survive for precisely as long as it takes for the Dutch government to find a more lucrative use for the band, by which time the licence - holders will probably have jacked it in anyway for want of an audience (let alone advertisers!)
@@richiehoyt8487 FM is coming to an end, and DAB+ aren't enough MUX free, so they opened up the AM frequencies to accommodate, indeed non-profit stations, and it is only for local radio. The Netherlands has a big history about radio. But we (Belgians) aren't that radio minded. For Dutch people, radio is really popular, even on the AM.
100W transmit power or ERP? Because if transmitter power, that is a LOT!
It strikes me that maybe a station such as Radio Caroline who have a limited AM output on 648kHz might want to use those transmitter sites - if OfCOM gives them the licenses for pennies.
Amazing what OFCOM choose to ignore and take action over
Pretty sure they were just legally obliged to, bht even Ofcom knew it made sense, so £25k sounds like a slap on the wrist tbh
Very true. Most TV channels wouldn't exist if OFCOM policed the airwaves as it should. Lies, deception, cover-ups and foul language shouldn't be tolerated, especially by state broadcasters.
Same for Australian Communication and Media Authority..
Easy money, cheaper than lawyer fees for absolute to defend themselves
As a teenager I had a Sony ICF2001 radio. On weekends I'd tune in to Atlantic 252 and Radio Luxembourg. I miss those days.
I still have the radio. The keyboard membrane has gone as has the volume slider. One of the best radios I've ever had.
Radio Caroline is broadcasting on 648 in the south east
I used to like Charlie Wolf on Atlantic 252
I also have a Sony ICF2001 radio. I bought it a few years ago as I always wanted one when I was younger. I also bought another broken one for repair reasons.
Unfortunately opening them up does destroy the speaker because the glue has gone bad.
@@TeriWilde charlie was even better on laser 558 khz, a offshore radio station from the north sea.when the dti sent out a boat to spy on laser and radio caroline,charlie wound them up each night on his show.laser 558, changed comcercil radio in the uk.
I have one of those, or very similar model, still works (last time I tried anyway!). There's a RUclipsr who might be able to help if you're interested in having it repaired: www.youtube.com/@MendItMark
I remember Atlantic 252lw.
I bought an old valve radio and listened to the very first broadcast. Sister station of radio Luxembourg. Apart from CB, it was my first interest in radio. 🗼
In the US AM is still pretty important, especially out in the country away from the cities. I hope it never dies. I love listening to AM at night on long drives, scanning for stations to see how far away I can pick them up. If the conditions are right, you can hear stations hundreds of miles away for a while. There has been recent conflict over car manufacturers trying to remove AM from car radios and it upset a lot of people, I think Ford actually reversed the decision. A lot of people still listen to it.
There are recent reports of car manufacturers being prevented from removing AM support from car radios in the USA
@@ellisbirt Good.
Where I live you have to be a hundred miles away from any civilization to be unable to receive an FM station. The people in the towns I visited that are beyond FM radio reach listen to satellite radio which is a lot better than oldies and talk shows you hear on AM radio these days.
When I was a kid living in Texas, if the atospherics were right, I could pick up an AM station from Chicago. ~1000 miles
@@TheDalhuck That station was WGN, a clear channel 50 KW station that you could receive all over the country.
I collect vintage pocket transistor radios from the 60s and 70s, there are virtually no stations broadcasting now so i have to use a low powered AM midulator
I heard a number of car manufacturers in the US were thinking of removing AM from the radios installed in their cars... but then changed their minds? Might be a story there.
Personally I like seeing it as an available option for broadcasting and receiving emergency alerts and reports. I still see signs on the highway that read "For Road Conditions, Tune Radio To AM 780" That's a quick and easy way to get information out there!
said " Tune Radio To AM 780" That's a quick and easy way to get information out there! "
There is a trend for even faster info dispersal, changeable info signs along the road.
@@bobroberts2371 It takes less time to put info in front of a broadcaster at a desk than it does to go around an area of the same size in terms of broadcast coverage and change what those (unsecure) signs say. Radio > unsecure signs which have become internet memes due to how easily their information can be changed or are poorly maintained.
@@bobroberts2371 The signs are often falling apart or vandalized. The transmitter is off-site and still functional with a looped recording that can tell you long, detailed messages about (for example) ALL the routes over a mountain pass and the exact conditions of each.
@@Desert-edDave Said : " It takes less time to put info in front of a broadcaster at a desk than it does to go around an area of the same size in terms of broadcast coverage and change what those (unsecure) signs say. "
Actually, the signs I'm speaking of are permanent and hooked to the camera network. These are not portable signs. The issue with " Tune to AM 780 " is that a driver needs to be prompted to tune to AM, with an electronic sign, the information transfer is instant.
@@Josh-of-all-Trades Actually, the signs I'm speaking of are permanent and hooked to the camera network. These are not portable signs. The issue with " Tune to AM 780 " is that a driver needs to be prompted to tune to AM, with an electronic sign, the information transfer is instant.
"The radio will always get through" we say. Well, it will right up until we decide to stop broadcasting, I suppose...
I cannot stand DAB - its just so unreliable, if I'm driving on a long distance from SW England to North Wales, DAB just cuts out too frequently to make it an enjoyable listening experience. I used to be able to tune to AM and maybe have to retune once or twice. DAB still has too many areas where it cant be used and the quality isnt as good as its sold to be.
DAB, in my experience, has a ghastly compressed unlistenable quality to it
Yes, DAB is a crock of s***
i may be off here but to my knowledge DAB uses the same tech as the mobile phone towers albeit a bit tweaked.
"if that true" just look at the signal coverage and wonder no longer why its bad
@@etaxalo Nope, it uses VHF Band III using a similar modulation to digital TV, but with a large enough guard interval between bursts to allow single frequency working. The reason it sounds so dire is that bit rates are dialled right down to squeeze as many stations in each MUX as possible, and hang the quality.
Here where I live in Lincs our local commercial FM station was bought out by Bauer media & their FM frequencies were turned into Greatest Hits ( by the way is awful😢) & it was subsequently pushed onto DAB & streaming platforms because, I quote, ‘listener numbers were down’. Well DAB coverage is bloody awful in my hometown & my car does not have a digital radio, so I now I listen to my local BBC station instead. I wonder how many more people have had to do that?
They penalize pirate stations for transmitting too much, and others, for not transmitting enough.
"AM Deathwatch"...i had a good chuckle over that. My Dad stripped out some AM radios from 60's automobiles in the past. I still have one from a 1966 Mercury Meteor Montcalm hooked up in our summer cabin. In the 70's and early 80's, we used to listen to CKPR daytime [about 100 miles away SSW], then in the evenings to 890 WLS from Chicago [750 miles away almost directly south]. Hmm, I should power up that radio again to see if I can hear WLS at night.
I think (and hope a bit) that medium and shortwave radio will stay for a long time, if not forever. And with all the things going on all around the world, it may become more relevant again in the future. We will see. As long as there is good music in the air I will listen to it 😊
Oh and I just recently heard about a stock market shortwave connection thing (is that even English?😅) between Germany and the USA. It's much faster than the Internet. And for me it's another sign that something is about to happen, and the elites want to keep the money rolling. Okay, I'll take the tinfoil hat off for today.
Bauer probably make £25,000 in advertising revenue during the Ken Bruce show. It's small change to a huge media organisation. Anyone thinking this is more than a slap on the wrist is deluded.
Unless I'm missing something, surely the point of having the shipping forcast 4x a day on AM LW is so that people out at sea can pick it up. Local FM or digital doesn't have the same distance carrying capacity (think HF used for commercial aviation- same reasons).
I think it's already pointless for several years for the purpose of giving sailors the weather - it survived because land based radio 4 listeners complained that they liked listening to it
Sailors haven't relied on the radio Shipping Forecast for decades now, they get immediate weather data for their exact location on demand via satellite. As said, the main reason the Shipping Forecast still exists on radio is that land-based listeners like hearing it.
In the case of an emergency a simple AM receiver could be made. You cannot easily make a DAB receiver. In the US emergency transmissions are on AM.
Although the number of people with the knowledge now to actually construct a very simple TRF AM receiver is probably way less than what it used to be. Even with all these "how to" videos etc on the internet. That wouldn't be much use to you if the reason you need to construct it is cause the internet is down!
@@xanataph Let's face it, if I'm ever in a position where I need to build my own radio receiver from scratch, odds are I'll have way bigger problems than the lack of a radio receiver in the first place.
The fine is peanuts compared to the running costs and license fee. Smart move for AR as they probably had 5 listeners on AM!
As an hobbiest and a very keen am nerd. I came across an am transmitter at our local rally. Into a dummy load puts out a healthy 100 Watts. With just a simple vertical wire antenna I'm able to broadcast my 80s trance across most of my area with good quality audio.
I much prefer analog signals as you can still slightly hear them if your signal is really weak unlike digital where it just shuts off completely. That goes for all analog signals (TV, radio, VGA and other forms of analog)
Same with analogue TV too. Watching years ago from a caravan in a rural location. As long as there was enough signal to lock the horizontal and vertical sync it was watchable, if grainy. Nowadays the only way is to put your favourite shows on a USB stick before you leave home. Not exactly "live"
@@chrisreynolds6331 Totally agree with you there, great thing to point out!
Even at the maximum possible fine, it probably still costed out financially to shut down. Energy costs, maintenance, the licence fee itself, network costs, administration and so on just wouldn't have been justified RoI for the number of listeners serviced.
The RAJAR numbers would be an interesting read to see if people have moved to other technology, or other stations.
Well Lewis.. Whatever we loose will be for good.. Not everything needs to be in full HD.. Speaking of which.. In west Wales 🏴 DAB is useless.. F.M doesn't stand for frequency modulation you know? .. As my old Dad used to say it stands for.. F@ck1ng Marvellous.. On account that it just works.. I'll miss the LW transmission from RTE because it bolstered up a very limited select here.. Not everyone lives in big towns/cities.. Great channel Lewis.. 👍🏻
we having a similar issue in the US as well with AM radio. some new cars no longer have AM radio. some AM stations went digital AM only. with the cost of power to run a station going up a lot ,This is becoming much harder for stations to stay on the air. was cheaper just pay the fine for switch off. some stations may just go bankrupt.
I agree but I think the 50000 watt system covering coast to coast may survive for the foreseeable future. Who knows anymore if it is relevant to the government to be able to go coast to coast on radio? They might let it die about the time we'll need it.
Probably cheaper to pay the fine than to carry on with AM. Smart move.
While I find broadcasting as a whole interesting I have to say my interest in radio hasn't been too strong. Most of the commercial stations at this point are just playing pop music all day, everyday and really nothing grabs my attention on the non-commercial side. I think a glut of choice elsewhere via other digital platforms (Podcasts are a favourite of mine) I think it is inevitable that analogue broadcasting will cease at some point in the future and it makes sense to me they've taken the fine here and walked away, it was the least worst option.
YES... A.M. is still necessary for a variety of reasons to include national emergencies. That's why the FCC here in the USA. Won't let car dealers and radio manufacturers. Not include a A.M. receiver. Besides. It's still a booming business here. If you want to bring a certain A.M. frequently into a market. You have to move around 15 other frequencies on average. Just to make it fit the band plan for that market.
Not in the UK it isn't. There is hardly anywhere in the UK that the FM band isn't bursting at the seems with stations.
It's the end of an era, there's no doubt about that but I still get a buzz from listening to short and medium wave radio from abroad. Eventually those will go too, as I realised just how many stations there are online.
£25k is a joke really - how much would those transmitters have cost to run for the contracted period? Damned sight more, we can be sure of that.
The fine should have been that cost + a punitive amount.
Not justifying retaining AM, it's dead. We know that, but they shouldn't be able to just do that without it costing them more than maintaining their obligations. Utterly toothless and pointless "cost of doing business" fine.
Sounds like you would rather bankrupt the stations than let them continue on another format. .
@@bobroberts2371 Sounds like you would rather businesses breach their contracts with negligible consequences.
I think AM radio is more useful in North America, where there are wide open spaces between cities.
Clever move by Bauer, taking a 25K as knowing if they kept going it would have cost them substantially more !!!
They say they are also going to switch off the FM radio signals soon,
But how many people still have the basic own tuning radio as to digital radio.
It's if they all want you to be DBA like Digital TV of which is also crap full stop,
In my days people used to call these wirelesses,
I use AM daily. I'm in London and DAB can be squelchy and unlistenable. Not only that but DAB radios use more power. I had a wind-up radio for a while and a full winding gave minutes of listening via DAB whereas AM or FM gave hours. I have a small battery powered AM/FM/LW transistor radio that's at least 30 years old. It works really well. Two of the DAB radios I bought (not bloody cheap either) have stopped working after ten years. The lights are on but nobody's at home. The third DAB radio is limping and probably on its last legs.
I think it’s sad but understandable. Having said that though, am is a valuable backup in emergency situations. I get that commercial operators wants to close down their services, but RTE and potentially BBC doing the same thing is incredibly short sighted and might be dangerous.
I loved listening to the light program on long wave in the 60’s we always turned the TV off on Sunday afternoon because it was only religious programs
It's a shame we can't reuse the AM frequencies in Europe for DRM. What happened to BBC Devon's DRM experiment on Medium Wave?
25k penalty is mere loose change compared to the operating costs for all these transmitters, the electricity cost alone would equal that in a single month for so many transmitters.
But all that exists anyway......🤫
I live in Sussex, 50m from London. Because of our proximity to France, we have very limited DAB Service and in many places FM is patchy. I used to listen (to Absolute amongst others) on AM as it was the best sound / signal quality.
I've noticed recently that FM reception, particularly of the BBC has got worse too. Do you know if they have reduced the transmission power?
My only remaining option has been to listen via the internet. I've now fitted an Android radio to my car, such that I can have a radio service. It feels most unsatisfactory! Particularly as the 3G phone service is poor in Sussex too.
Find the pirate rig doctors in London and have them make FM and MW transmitters for you so that you can rebroadcast the services that are missing in your area.
I don’t know what to think, in the one hand I only ever really listen to FM radio on a day-to-day basis, because of the vastly superior stereo sound quality, but I’d be really sad to lose AM broadcasts, if only because I recently built a couple of crystal radios, a hobby which I hoped to share with my son. When I was a kid I spent countless hours playing with a radio shack crystal radio set, even making an amplifier with a “101 electronic projects” kit and connecting that to it. It sparked a curiosity about electronics that continues to this day. I’d be so sad if the opportunity to show my son these things was lost forever 😢
Bauer knew they would get a slap on the wrist financial wise and that gamble paid off. Now we wonder if the other AM services will follow.
£25,000 is all they got fined? How is that fine a deterrent? That's probably not even a single engineers salary for a year let alone the 7+ years on top of that. That's far less than the £70,000 that should have been paid in licence fees that are being lost too. So essentially for doing the wrong thing the company has financially benefited? How's that going to stop the next company that decides to do the same? The country has lost out on a service for listeners, not just financially and a company is walking way happy with it's choice. Perhaps the company should loose all licences when it decides to unilaterally give up it's responsibilities of one of them.
Nice one for doing this video, I did read the long document the other day.
I'd love to see some UK transmitter site tours on your channel, if you could manage to arrange any. Most of the ones I've watched have been in North America.
FM ❤
Bless Up Bro
I'd bet the bean counter's did the math & decided it was cheaper to take the fine & license revocation than keep transmitting.
One thing stands clear, only an AM station can be heard by a radio with no power. In case of a tremendous tragedy that last months AM stations will be sorely missed. Only the government will have a working comm and civilians will be in darkness.
Totally agree, but common sense is not common!!
I have questioned the what ifs for a few years...... does not make sense to me
What happened about keeping AM going in case of national emergency? Guess the general public aren’t skilled enough to hack together a crystal set like in the old days. But AM does travel further than anything else which could still be useful - and old AM radios run for ages on a set of batteries, unlike DAB.
It's the battery life that's the deal breaker for me. My little Roberts analogue radio runs for weeks on four AAs. Ideal for travel or holiday listening. 4 C cells will run my DAB radio for about 20 hours, and it's three times the size.
There wont be anything left coming from Droitwich. Its a shame, i can see it from my back yard :(
Absolute Radio 1215 Off.
Talksport on 1053 going
And now Radio 4 198 going
If you do come down to film the site youre welcome to come for a cup of tea and look at an old pirate transmitter ive got from the 80s/90s 😂
But will a newcomer step up to take the INR2 license? I read the Ofcom paper which said that they have the option of re-advertising it and apparently they did receive expressions of interest. Absolute should have also been stripped of their DAB licence too in addition to the 25k. That would probably hurt more since no doubt DAB is where the majority of their listeners are.
I used to listen to Absolute Radio every morning on AM, as they didn't broadcast in FM, so there was no option. When it switched off I was really annoyed, as now I've lost it. If they had moved to FM that would have been okay, but it doesn't exist now. Really sad. I'd have to buy another radio for digital, which is going to cost money, probably have a worse signal, and will eat through batteries quicker (the radio is in the bathroom as I listen to it when getting ready on a morning).
I've never used a digital radio that has worked well. My bedside one often beeps and says no signal, the three hire cars I've used with it cut out about every 30 seconds, and I don't expect a new one to be much better if I do get one.
I don't understand why they weren't in FM all along, as that's what normal radio is. It's bizarre to bot be in FM.
The first two radio stations i ever listened to, were Gem AM in the East Midlands, and Atlantic 252, which i assumed when i was too young to understand, was a pirate radio station, broadcast from a ship in the Atlantic, seeing as my mum had told me stories about radio Caroline, this excited me greatly, thinking i had stumbled across a radio ship
Since then, as i got older, i found out Atlantic 252 was actually broadcast from Trim, Ireland, which was ok with me, it was interesting seeing their thousand foot antenna, and 500kw transmitter site
I do miss Atlantic 252, it was a pop station you could hear over most of the uk without re-tuning the stereo
I think if car radio manufacturers had continued equipping the sets with long wave receive capabilities, i would have continued listening to 252 throughouy life
I feel that its not Atlantic 252's fault there listener numbers declined, more car radio manufacturers
I remember Atlantic 252. My mates dad had a trawler and we used to listen to it when he took us for a jolly . Happy days
AR should have been forced to honor the bidded for licence, rather than being let off the hook. I'd like to see an alternative operator take over and provide that service but cant see that happening under the current financial woes. As for DAB vs FM, well its FM all the way.
In paragraph 67 of the financial penalty decision, Ofcom wrote:
"... had Bauer not pursued a renewal, Ofcom could in principle have readvertised the licence. The option to re-advertise the licence is now available. However, despite receiving some expressions of interest in applying for the licence, there is evidence as set out in this Decision and Ofcom’s decision to approve TalkSport’s request to reduce the coverage of its national AM service, that suggests operating a national radio service on AM for a new licence term may not be economically sustainable."
It seems unlikely that the licence will be advertised, especially as a significant part of Bauer's justification for ceasing to broadcast on AM was to avoid substantial upcoming costs for re-engineering transmitters.
I grew up with AM radio both as a shortwave listener and tuning in to those powerful medium wave signals from the offshore fleet in the '60s and '70s and remember those times fondly. I live outside of the UK now but am a Radio Caroline supporter to this day and listen to crystal clear audio via their online streams, and I think that, even if I lived within their AM transmitter service area I'd probably still listen via the internet simply because of the better audio quality. Okay, internet coverage can be a bit sketchy in places, especially in a car, whereas an AM signal is usually solid and reliable, so I think Caroline should not only keep their AM license, but also be granted the power increase they're asking for, if not more. I do still tune in to the BBC World Service on short wave daily for the news by the way, just to remind me of the old days, so hopefully they'll keep that service going a while longer 🙂
BBC World service is still up and running? Thought they did away with shortwave for the damn internet years ago! Nice to know!
@@sird2333 We get a few hours in the evenings on the 41m band here in SA from a relay in Madagascar, it's a good clear signal.
@@rhodaborrocks1654
Good! I’m glad you get to hear it.
After doing a bit of digging, I discovered my memory was slightly wrong. BBC ceased broadcasts to North America, not completely shut down.
I use to listen to the world service while living in New Orleans. Always admired their take on things.
I used to listen to Absolute Radio in the car on the AM band, 1215kHz
As more UK and European AM stations close, I find I'm enjoying stations like Jil FM (549 kHz) from Algeria, and also Algeria channel 3 on 252 kHz, which are strong at night in the South of England. So at least that's a kind of bittersweet upside.
I'm hoping that as more European stations ditch MW, I'll get to hear more AM from the other side of the pond.
Good on Ofcom.
The end of Radio 4 on longwave really will be an end of an era. It's understandable given the issue with obtaining replacement valves for the transmitter. At least the shipping forecast will carry on.
Devastating for my area, the Droitwich masts have been a landmark for nearly 80 years.
I can't imagine driving down the A38 or M5 and not seeing them
Here in the USA more and more AM stations are going dark and turning in their licenses. Plus some auto makers are not offering AM.
FM and FM HD RADIO
Living in Surrey I can receive Manx Radio on 1368am at night quite well, albeit with some slight fading. I can also receive Radio Caroline from Suffolk on 648am. Considering the low transmitter power of these broadcasts I'm surprised they get as far as they do.
Manchester area here and I pick up both at night. Received Caroline very good last night.
@@bill-2018BBC Radio Sussex used to use 1368am, but they closed all their medium wave frequencies down a couple of years or so ago. If that was still in operation I'd have no chance of receiving Manx Radio in my location. I can receive Radio Caroline clearly on DAB where I live, but also on 648am night and day though that can sound a bit muffled at times... Surrey/South London borders.
@@trevordance5181 Right, okay. Thanks for the info.
The distance a medium wave signal can travel goes up significantly during the hours of darkness.
@@sullivan912 Yes, bouncing off the ionosphere which is more electrically charged, or something like that, at night.
Can we get rid of Offcom please? Absolute quangos
+1
I’ve not listened to AM radio in years. FM in the car, DAB on the office radio, and online in most other cases - in fact, increasingly I listen online via my phone and Bluetooth in the car. AM is very, very dead - it was always rubbish, especially at night as we all know!
Trust me when I say between electricity and upkeep, they haved already more than put the 25k in the bank to pay the fine. That there is absolutely nobody lining up to take over the frequencies on a national basis tells you everything you need to know. AM radio is, efffectively, the rotary dial phone of broadcasting. Just slightly better than having to ask an operator to make a connection but way behind the current technologies.
In New Zealand AM radio is still alive and well, mainly used for talkback and multi cultural stations with a few exceptions, as we still don't have any kind of digital radio service in this country.
I haven't listened to any AM stations for many, many years now. Been DAB for at least a decade and I imagine I talk for the vast majority of people in this country.
I think that medium wave is still important. If there's a natural or human made disaster, MW is still the best to communicate that
In the UK, Digital Radio actually has to be in new cars. FM is still existing as of now because of older cars and probably is the new AM now.
In many rural areas, whilst DAB coverage is fairly extensive, it can be limited to just a dozen or so (BBC) stations. So if you want to listen to commercial radio stations you will need FM radio too. And, oddly, some BBC local radio stations (like BBC Radio Scotland where I live in SW Scotland) are not broadcast on DAB in some areas.
I knew AM was in trouble years back when I lived in New Addington nr Croydon. When driving along the road parallel with a tram the switchmode noise was across the MW band and even the strongest signals couldn't get through.
What about emergency public notifications?
Thanks RM***** Take Care
Oh, I forgot to say that my understanding is that the government will NOT allow a station to broadcast on either AM or FM unless it also agrees to be present on a digital platform. Perhaps someone can verify that. If so, then it's a very bad show. What's wrong with a station on AM or FM only?
Interesting comment about the closure soon of BBC R4 LW, I wonder what they will do about the radio teleswitch service that the 198 LW signal also controls, a few million UK premises still use these for control of off-peak electricity that is used for storage heaters etc. Either they will all need to be replaced or a LW signal of some type (with nationwide coverage!) will need to be maintained..
In France they had the same situation and there the broadcast service has been shut down but the signal for the clock sync and remote control is still transmitted, at a considerably lower power.
(probably after research on how much power would be required for that service only. of course removing the AM modulation already saved a lot of power)
@@DavidGolik Ah that is interesting...
We had a similar situation here, but instead the switches were operated using superimposed tones on the mains.
That system was switched off in 2021-2022 after many announcements and warnings, but still there were several places where e.g. the outside lights were on all day for several months until finally the equipment was replaced.
@@DavidGolikTeleswitches have already been done away with in Northern Ireland, having been replaced with modern multi-rate meters with an internal clock.
Be a sad day when 198khz closes
@@johnroberts8512 To be honest, it already was sad when it moved from 200 to 198...
Hi Lewis, excellent narrative and a sign of the times... 73 Clint
Many thanks!
I was in Scotland yesterday where I couldn't get any dab, and as I haven't connected my FM ariel, I was using AM. It's still needed when there isn't an DAB signal
Here in Ohio in the US, I use AM to listen for emergancy broadcasting reguaeding tornados and severe weather mostly. There are a few talk radio stations and one music station I'll also tune into. I like that I can recieve AM signals even in my basement where I cannot get reliable cell, FM or wifi signals. I would/will be very sad to hear the end of the use of these signals, they've been with me all my life and have always been there even when the power was out locally.
Since Germany switched of LW,MW and SW in 2015 i don't listen to Radio Broadcast at all. I prefer to listen the HAM Bands in my spare time, or to VHF and UHF Repeaters while driving.
73
DH9MM
That fine was nothing! I bet the radio station laughed at the fine and said "yes please". The law should be changed allowing Ofcom to fine them 100% of the remaining time on their licence.
Having moved to SV land in 2006 one of the first things I did here was to roll through the AM band on my car radio to see what was active here on the island or anything from the continent. Zero, nothing. All I heard was QRM from all sorts of sources which were the HV insulators on the grid electric system, dirty switch mode supplies from home computers, etc. it was a real let down. I really missed listening to AM stations such as WLW, WSM back in the states. There was a warm sense of nostalgia tuning into a far away station late at night on the way home from second shift. Even back in 1972 my new Mustang was equipped with only an AM radio and it wasn’t until two years later I added an 8 track player with FM radio in it but the listening choices were limited for the time on FM. It was AM that ruled.
As for Offcom handing down the fine, unless the stations in question were providing secondary emergency services for the British government, the rules are a bit off. You would think that a government agency should know costs of running these stations especially the cost of electric to keep the transmitters running all day long. It would appear that this agency is out only for money as with most every government agencies around the world.
Keep these informative videos rolling, they are very informative!
73!
Where I live, just 25 miles west of London, apart from BBC Radio Berkshire, FM reception is very poor. My apartment is like a Faraday cage for VHF FM and though I can get Radio 4 with some hiss using the communal antenna socket in the lounge, I need AM radio to listen anywhere else. I would miss AM radio. I can't imagine how the shipping forecast could be heard far out to sea on VHF as it can be on Long Wave.
Give the old land based and offshore MW pirates licences
My thoughts ? This sounds like an excellent opportunity for Pirate Broadcasters to offer Alternative Programming that advocates fot the General Welfare of the Masses and calls for the abolishing Capitalism
Who still listens on AM and why? There are so many other and better options. It feels to me that the 'AMers' just want to be awkward. I could understand if there wasn't many other options but what's wrong with using FM, DAB, Internet or Pod casts? Maybe I'm the one getting old and therefore don't understand.
25000 is peanuts for such an operation. Ofcom did not mean business at all.
Every radio ever made for public use should be guaranteed something to receive in perpetuity.
A 25K Penalty vs 8 years of running the AM service seems like a bargain for Baurer.....
RTE spent a small fortune on digitising their radio stations.... Then completely ditched DAB two years ago as it was "the least utilised service in Ireland" and cost them a fortune to maintain. Typical industry led nonsense.
And what if internet goes down? Am antennas should be protected by law
The antennas do not magically stay in a safe and usable state indefinitely. AM broadcast antennas are typically large structures (especially those at the main stations) and are older structures with considerable maintenance required to keep them safe and usable.
Redundant AM broadcast antennas are likely to be removed once it is clear there is no commercially viable case for leaving them in place. Removal means the safety hazards are eliminated, the materials can be recycled and the site is freed up for reuse.
Although the AM broadcast band does not have the audio quality of FM band signals, it's range is much greater providing better usage for emergencies and disaster broadcasts. I think the FCC and other radio transmission bureaucratic agencies around the world are CRAZY for putting an end to the AM broadcast band!!!!
Its sad, but technology marches on. I feel, though, that some services should be kept alive, since I don't think someone at the far end of Fitzroy or Sole will be getting any phone signal to listen to the shipping forecast on BBC Sounds...
The Uk as a country has good mobile coverage but theres swathes of countryside with nothing - no FM either.
Radio 4 LW and 5 provide a useful service when out in the hills and even abroad. I think they should continue with a few limited services that have a purpose in these cases.
Its not only AM stations that are shutting down... Lincs FM stopped transmitting on FM and moved to DAB, my car radio even though it has DAB, couldn't pick up the station on DAB so how many others can't as well... their loss.
25k sounds a splash in the bucket , did it even cover Ofcom's costs ?
Try finding a radio with am on it these days, you can't, its even been taken off car radios
That’s very true, my Navara has AM but it only covers MF and not LF so car makers are slowly fading it out. I suspect in a few years you won’t even get AM. There’s a very slight chance this could change due to recent global conflicts.
I am a massive radio fan. Haven’t listened to AM or FM for years. DAB rarely. Use the Radioplayer, Tunrin or individual station apps. At home I connect the to a Bose sound system vi WiFi in the car connect the phone to the car’s sound system. Operate hands free. Only use DaaB when there is no phone signal.
I bet they saved so much they would just suck up that 25K fine and laugh all the way to the bank, unless the fines are punative you wont stop them from doing what they want.
Well, here is your chance to buy the AM stations, restart them and make $$$$$ .. What are you waiting for?
@@bobroberts2371 Not sure what yousaying there Bob, I was saying the fines were so small in terms of the company and the operating costs it wouldnt even figure in their calculations. If they were making an obvious profit they would of carried on operating and a fine of less than one man year's worth of wages isnt going to stop them closing down the transmitters early .
@@101blog Sounds like you want the fine to be large enough that the company will go bankrupt and fail either from the cost of the fine or cost of continuing service. The fine isn't about forcing companies to continue service, it is a way to generate $ .
@@bobroberts2371 Not sure 25K is much one way or another even to Ofcom . My point was merely that if you want a fine or the threat there of you need it be of sufficiently high value that it makes the benefits of disobeying the licence less. Otherwise it's just a pepercorn fine. I dont want anyone to go bankcrupt merely if you want to modify their behaviour then you need the right tools to do it not just a comparitively tiddly fine