The "Long Wave 252" thread

[Mike]

Anyone got any good ideas for a viable commercial service on 252 ?

I was thinking maybe a service for older people might be a good idea.

With most music stations pitching themselves at either the "classic 80's hits" or "dance" markets (or some hybrid therof) surely theres a vast neglected segment out there who would love to hear their favorite music once again. Even BBC Radio 2 has gone down the classic hits route.

Another big point is that most listeners in this age group wouldnt object to the station being AM only.

There are actually (at least) two potential sections of the market here. Music from the late 50's/60's/early 70's and even music from the 40's/50's (although most fans of the latter would be pensioners and may not generally have enough "disposable income" to please advertisers) In the US the formats are known as "oldies" and "MYL" respectivly

Not all listeners in these age groups want talk, classical or country and if they had a station that played their music they would probably show a fantastic level of loyalty towards it.

Of course many people have suggessted using 252 for RTE Radio One an idea which also has its merits but then what does one do with 567KHz ?

[herbert]

I'm glad this topic was finally brought up!

Get rid of the talk format anyway!! Maybe it made sense to put talk on LW, but not when you have the serious potential and coverage that 252 LW has.

I agree with Mike with the 40s/50s/60s/70s format, I always thought that for the older people of Europe, would love to hear hits they grew up to on LW( Memories of old 208, Caroline etc.).
Simple - Even if it was an automated or voice-tracked service, it work be a winner.
RTE should have full control of this freq. anyway(Whatever the costs)
Personally, I'd rather have a relay of RTE Radio 1 than Teamtalk!

Anything but a talk sports radio station:mad:

Perhaps an all 80s "Sun-FM" on LW would sound good:D

[Brian O'D]

Sorry but there is plenty of music services available on FM and AM. Why do we have so many people begrudging a sports service which can be received in the Republic. Interest in football has been incredible over the past few weeks yet, and correct me if I'm wrong, Irish radio only offered us coverage of Ireland's games. I cannot get Talksport or R5 in work so Teamtalk has been so welcome to so many people in providing commentary on nearly every match. Anyone stuck in work for the big game tomorrow will be delighted to tune to 252

[Mike]

"Why do we have so many people begrudging a sports service"

Maybe because on a Saturday afternoon just about EVERY channel (including the "music" stations) turns into a "sports service"

Most people agree teamtalk has no future because it is aimed at the UK market which already has two national sports station

I would agree that RTE should cover international games. The BBC gave a lot of coverage to the Irish games but its typical of the petty nationalistic parochial (xenophobic even ???) mindset at RTE that thinks the world stops at the Irish sea !

[The Real Stuttering John]

I agree with Mike re: a music station offering "Beautiful Music" a la Class/KLAS fm from the late 80s in Dublin. A MOR station with adult standards like perhaps BBC radio 2 used to be like, playing Barbra Streisend, Neil Diamond, Al martino , Perry Como, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett, Diana Krall, and Vic Fontaine and remember the audience will have grown up with the AM sound of mw and lw so won't mind the audio so musch as youngsters

or

an oldies station playing the 50s/60/70s rock n roll etc

[Brian O'D]

Yesterday morning there was a football match on the other side of the world. Spain were playing Korea and the game went through an exciting period of extra-time and, then penalties.

Unfortunately I couldn't watch it. I was stuck in work. Luckily the second period of extra-time and penalties coincided with my morning break. Luckily I also had a radio that could tune to the long wave band.
(If I had one of the modern ones that only carry FM and MW I would have had to wait for updates. Why Irish radio stations do not recognise the interest in soccer in this country I don't know, but I've never seen so many people so captivated for 'home' sports, for which many of the national and local stations stop their programming to cover.)

Not everybody likes me, but yesterday I was the most popular bloke in the place. Approximately 35 men, aging in range from 18 - 58, had varying interest in the game (but all had some interest), and were glued to the radio, enthralled by the match.

Pobably less than 10% of these men, all with a disposable income by the way, would be interested in any of the music formats proposed above to replace what's on offer on 252. But 35 out of 35 is music to advertiser's ears.

"Why do we have so many people begrudging a sports service"

Maybe because on a Saturday afternoon just about EVERY channel (including the "music" stations) turns into a "sports service"

We have news on every single station yet I think we would all agree that although Newstalk might not be exactly what we have in mind, there is a need for the station, albeit probably on AM.
Most of the stations stop for home-grown sports on Saturday. None of them have given us coverage of the World Cup and Wimbledon starts next week, coverage in Ireland will be non-existant. There is incredible interest in the sporting events covered by Teamtalk (if not an overall recognition that the station exists) which are not covered here at home. By using the argument that 'sports' are covered elsewhere misses the point. I would equally be missing the point if my reply to these posts were 'ALL other stations have music on most of the time, so that is why I would object to even more music on 252'

Part of the objections seems to be that it's not Atlantic and other objections that it is not Irish. Maybe the answer would be an Irish non-stop sports station which could cover all these foreign events (let's face it, the rights are available) and RTÉ's sports coverage could also be carried for ex-pats in Britain and western Europe.

[Guest]

Something I found annoying about TT252's "unofficial off-tube commentary" of WC matches was the loudness of the added crowd noise. (Well this was the case last Saturday morning anyway)

BTW another question,
how is the studio in Leeds linked to the transmitter??
Does the transmitter site rebroadcast TEAMtalk from SkyDigital (910) or is there a dedicated link??

BTW RLO in Limerick seems to be doing WC commentary as well!
heard this too last Saturday

[David C]

Yes.. last Saturday they sounded like the studio was in a toilet! In previous matches, it sounded fine although.
I would imagine the background crowd is off BBC's interactive service that allows for a "No commentary" sound track.

I have noticed, if you listen closely to Teamtalk, you will hear very brief gaps in the audio every now and then..
Not sure whether this is the processor or the link dropping behind. I would imagine the link is off Astra, fed from a digital output into a digital processor (or is it still an old analogue Optimod?)
I noticed these brief gaps on LBH radio too when they linked out to Russia on the 1386 frequency a few years back.. They were using huge power..
Perhaps it is an RF problem?

[Brian O'D]

Fair play to RLO - again it takes a pirate to give the public what they want!

David, I can't imagine the BBC would allow their broadcast to be used.
The crowd on Teamtalk's coverage sounded generic to me. In other words, it didn't rise or fall at excitable moments and the inevitable lulls, when noise dies down when there's little action on the pitch, never seemed to happen on 252. As I only used it in work, it would have been intersting to use it when watching a match on the tv.

[021]

In some respects, TeamTalk is being given more of a chance than Atlantic was. For a start, why was Atlantic never made available on satellite, yet Teamtalk is??? If people were able to hear Atlantic on their satellite systems, they would also be more likely to continue listen to Atlantic on Longwave when they get in their cars (rather than another station)

Secondly, Teamtalk seems to be more welcoming of listeners in the Republic of Ireland compared with Atlantic and has already taken ads from the republic

I take on board Brian O'D's comments but don't forget the World Cup only happens once ever 4 years.

"Approximately 35 men, aging in range from 18 - 58, had varying interest in the game (but all had some interest), and were glued to the radio, enthralled by the match. "

Out of curiosity, how many of the 35 were aware TeamTALK's existence??

as well as 198kHz, 252kHz, its a big pity we dont have a THIRD LW station broadcasting to UK/Ireland (with a least one of them playing music) . 279 seems to be a good clear channel allocated to the Isle of Man yet is not being used.

[Brian O'D]

For a start, why was Atlantic never made available on satellite, yet Teamtalk is???

Atlantic themselves chose not to bc via satellite. I agree, Atlantic shot themselves in the foot a bit by not offering a better quality version of their signal.

Secondly, Teamtalk seems to be more welcoming of listeners in the Republic of Ireland compared with Atlantic and has already taken ads from the republic

All the phone-in shows I've heard have a major Irish contribution, so people here are listening.



don't forget the World Cup only happens once ever 4 years.

The Euro Nations are in 2 years, the English league and European trophies seasons start anon, and will be ongoing for the next 10 months!
Again, for example, I had to tune to Teamtalk for the draw for the European Cup QF and SF because the only coverage (As far as I know) any Irish station gave it was sports news bulletin at the top of the hour.
And, out and about working at night, Irish stations offer no coverage of English league or European matches, Teamtalk keep you right up to date on a minute-by-minute basis.

Out of curiosity, how many of the 35 were aware TeamTALK's existence??

Well, after the match all 35 were! And many said they were delighted that they now had a station that they could listen to the matces on. In fact, most were surprised that 252 was not Atlantic anymore (in other words none of them listened to Atlantic!) but they all know that they can get sports coverage there now.

For the record, I am appalled that Ireland does not have a long wave station, but TeamTalk offer me something I do not get from any Irish station, and that to me, is good enough.

[KJ]

From: http://media.guardian.co.uk/city/story/0,7497,752637,00.html

Teamtalk 252 faces closure

Owen Gibson
Wednesday July 10, 2002

Radio station Teamtalk 252 is set to close less than six months after it launched, as its prospective new owners draws up plans to sell the station. UKBetting expects its agreed £14m takeover bid to go through in the next few days and will look immediately to sell the radio station to another company.

Digital radio pioneer Unique Broadcasting is believed to be interested but would use the station's long wave signal to broadcast its digital books station, Oneword.

Another possibility is a buyout led by former Teamtalk chairman and chief executive Bill Wilson, who launched the station but stepped down two months ago as the costs of the venture spiralled beyond expectations.

Teamtalk paid former owner RTL Group just £2m for the assets of pop station Atlantic 252 last year and launched Teamtalk 252 in March this year.

It has built up an audience of 400,000 listeners despite being hampered by the limitations of the long wave signal and stiff competition from BBC Radio 5 Live and Kelvin McKenzie's TalkSport.

But the radio station does not fit in with the plans of the new owners, who are due to assume control of the board in the next week.

The former managing director of Sportinglife.com, David Annat, who is in charge of UKBetting's Leeds-based content arm, is currently overseeing a review of the Teamtalk operation.

Whatever the outcome, there are likely to be scores more redundancies on top of the 60 cuts already made last month by the previous management.

On that occasion strike action was only averted when management agreed to make a £900 lump sum payment to those affected on top of their statutory redundancy pay.

Sportinglife - also bought by UK Betting - already has its own radio station that services its own sites, so some staff may be retained to work on that and provide content for a deal recently signed with Hutchison 3G to provide content for its third generation mobile phone service, 3.

"It's all still up in the air. There are a lot of complicated licensing deals to be sorted out. All the UKBetting people will be over by next week and then we'll have to wait and see," said one staff member.

Current chairman Chris Oakley, the former chief executive of Yorkshire Post publisher Regional Independent Media, will step down once the deal goes through despite having been in the role for just two months.

Both Teamtalk and UKBetting said they were unable to comment until the takeover deal had been rubber stamped


KJ

;)

[waytogo]

I wonder if RTE could see a commercial opportunity to buy out the 80% they don't already own and set up a stable service of whatever format. Teamtalk apparently only paid £3million for it which is peanuts - maybe someone like FM104 might go for it !

[Billy Dane]

Or....posted by Chris Carey on his own website...enough to get the pulses racing...

N.N.N.N.Nobody would play a better selection of music than the All New Nova 252, Nobody! But when?
It doesn't take rocket science to work this one out surely.

What does this mean????

[radio free king]

I dont like rock but virgin 252. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm:p

[midwestman]

I have got it from strong sources in RLO that madden has done a deal with UKBETTING for 80% of 252.

Since the BCI have no control over 252 they cannot stop RLO.

[Anorak]

Midwestman, with RTÉ still involved with 252, I cannot see them allowing RLO on board, can you?

Virgin? Well, 252 doesn't cover southern England too well, so they're hardly likely to go for that.

Radio Caroline would be nice but the very snotty Peter Mopore has said it's not a goer.

Nova. We can all dream!

I wouldn't be surprised to see RTÉ sticking Radio 1 on it.

Why has nobody mentioned UCB? They have the financial backing and like to 'spread the word'.

[midwestman]

I am told the deal is done for 3 million Euro and Eric Murphy is to be Madden's Station Manager.

As for RTE 20% ownership is Jack-All. How can they Justify spending 3 Million Euro for 252 when they cannot buy Soccer Rights and they are looking for a licence Increase.

[Ulster Listener 7]

Is it True that CLT/RTL are gonna relaunch Atlantic 252???

[jon1]

Originally posted by Ulster Listener 7
Is it True that CLT/RTL are gonna relaunch Atlantic 252??? What is the situation with RTE being the minority shareholder in 252.Do they have much of a say in what happens etc.etc.

Also , is it not true that the 252 freq is allocated to Ireland.If so can RTE not just use it to relay 2fm across the water and pull out of the deal.:confused: :rolleyes:

[Anorak]

CARY PLANS NOVA RETURN

Chris Cary is planning to relaunch Radio Nova on 252kHz, Ireland's long wave frequency. Cary, who changed the face of Irish radio in 1981 with the original Radio Nova, now lives on the Isle of Man and wants to base the station's studios in Douglas.
"Everything I can possibly do to bring back Radio Nova on 252LW is being done," he says. "This has got to be the biggest minefield of negotiations ever. Everyone agrees that it's right - but no one will say 'yes'. It's not about money. It's just bloody-mindedness. It's very frustrating."


I wonder if the "bloody mindedness" that Carey refers to has anything to do with RTE?

[Mike]

When I saw the story I thought it sounded too good to be true. Id imagine a few people in RTE have long memories and can be pretty bloody minded.

Chris should try his luck with Musicmann, Delta (what are thet doing now ?) or that Norwegian venture instead

[Megawatts]

When Harry originally made his application for the old Century franchise, he said it would be a Nova, but would teach people one word of Irish every day.. or was per week. may be a good ploy for the Bloody Mindede...
Maybe he could use a phase active subcarrier, and sell it that way... of course you may not be able get a radio that picks its up..


I would suggest keeping the studios in Ireland would make FarT-HEE a bit happier. But he may have to sell his soul, have gene transplant, and say "top of de mawrrning" every 30 seconds to qualify.

I would suggest the very idea of having someone who did a better job, all those years ago do it AGAIN, would be too much for some to take.
BUT:- There WAS a Conspiracy over A-252, and its PLANNED temporary nature.

That would take some getting into, before anything like a Nova 252 will ever happen.
..They can see you coming Harry, they DIDN't the last time.

As they say... U no wear I live..

[herbert]

Its gone...What now for 252?

Why dont RTE just play wall to wall "Music that has come out of Ireland in the last 50 years", or delve the archives and relay documentries that RTE radio produced over the years.... surely its not that complicated to do..

Just an idea...

[Radio Mad]

I would love to see the 252 frequency being used for an Irish all-talk station styled on BBC Radio's 4 and 5 and targetted at Irish people at home and abroad. It would only work if funded by the State.

[Tabasco]

Is there anything on, or are the rigs off?

I guess some has got to pay for all that electricity!

[Original Tyrone Gobshite!]

The website at www.teamtalk252lw.com now reads...

"TEAMtalk252 is no longer available as a radio service.
Control of the frequency has been passed back to RTE Ireland.

Thank you for your past support. "

I'd suggest in the short term putting a 2FM relay on 252KHz now, then plan for the long term future of the frequency

[Radio Mad]

This frequency is allocated to Ireland and should be used to run an Irish station.

[herbert]

252 should be now kept in the hands of RTE now they can do something useful with it...i.e - not sell it to a boring talking book station, of which there are rumours floating about..

Why isn't the government not adressing the issue of keeping the 252 frequency fully operating in Ireland...

In my opinion the frequency is taken for granted and RTE and the government of Ireland does not appreciate what potential 252 has.

Hopefully they can go back to broadcasting in Mornington house, Trim :D

[Original Tyrone Gobshite!]

According to this report Teamtalk have agreed to sell their 80% stock in Radio Tara back to RTE who will now have total control of the station.

ukbetting plc

Disposal of interest in radio business

The board of ukbetting plc is pleased to announce that it has agreed in principle to dispose of TEAMtalk Media Group plc's ('TEAMtalk') indirect 80% shareholding in Radio Tara Limited for a nominal consideration to Radio Telefis Eireann ('RTE'), which owns the remaining 20% shareholding. TEAMtalk and RTE have entered into exclusive negotiations with a view to completing the transaction at the earliest opportunity. As part of the agreement TEAMtalk 252 will cease broadcasting with immediate effect.



The 80% shareholding in Radio Tara Limited was acquired by TEAMtalk in December 2001 for a consideration of GBP 2.0 million. Since its acquisition Radio Tara Limited has lost approximately 60% of its weekly reach according to RAJAR figures as at 31 March 2002. Radio Tara Limited has also incurred unaudited pre-tax losses of GBP 2.2 million since its acquisition. The disposal of this shareholding will stem a significant cash drain on the TEAMtalk business.


http://www.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/200207311558153839Z.html

[021]

Bear in mind that with RTE's financial problems they probably do not have the resources to try putting an all-talk station on the frequency as Radio Mad suggests. Its a struggle to keep the 4 RTE national radio stations they have going, especially Lyric FM and RnaG. There was even talk in the press of Lyric being closed down some months ago

To answer Tabasco yes the transmitter is indeed off, Algeria 252 audible on my car radio right now.

Personally I have no problems with a foreign-owned station on the frequency, so long as the programming is of interest to a large percentage of listeners in Ireland as well, as was the case with Atlantic and to a lesser extent with Teamtalk.

[Mike]

Personally I dont see the merit in putting 2FM on Longwave since theyre already available across the Republic (and much of NI) on FM and I dont see there been much demand for it in Mainland Britain

There is a case to be made for putting Radio One on Longwave (For UK/Continental listeners who cannot hear 567KHz easily) but then what should be done with 567KHz ? (Actually since a lot of older listeners radios are permanently tuned to 567 Id imagine any change could cause a bit of upheval)

Alternatively theres the Radio Nova idea (excpt id imagine political considerations would rule against this) It would certainly be interesting to see what form Nova would come back in and if they could make a go of it in this day and age (Remember Nova was innovative in its day but that was 20 years ago)

I still maintain that a service catering for listeners 50 and over could be a winner (See my 252 ideas post from a few weeks ago)

Although I think the demise of teamtalk proves that theres too much sports coverage on radio

[Scottish Jim]

Well, i would at least like to see any new station originate from Ireland for starts, and if it must be a relay of an RTE station, then id prefer 2FM, as its a pretty good station, but hopefully we will get something new on 252, and something that will hopefully be aimed at the UK and Ireland, much as the original Atlantic was. I hope the Irish government force any station to broadcast from Ireland, and dont let money talk, cause i am sure that a huge bid will change the minds of RTE.

Erm, in fact, c'mon RTE, you must still own the Atlantic name, you own the transmitter, so how about relaunching the original Atlantic 252, with the same superb style of broadcasting. And if you dont want to play the dirge from todays charts, just play the same tunes you played back then, like an Atlantic oldies station !!!! LOL

[Scottish Jim]

Conspiracy over Atlantic 252's temporary nature?

tell us more!

[021]

re. the suggestion of closing RTE Radio 1 on 567 and putting it on 252.
This would solve some problems but create others.
What percentage of Radios have the LW band in this country??
I remember many years ago an article about Atlantic in the Sunday Tribune (I think) where Mike Hogan of Capital Radio in Dublin (now FM104) claimed only 10% of radios in the republic had LW.
Whilst almost all car radios have LW, I have only once seen a walkman with LW.
Especially if RTE provided sports on LW only (as opposed to MW only) this would lead to complaints from people with portable radios without the LW band.

The 252 signal suffers from nighttime fading in places surpisingly close to the transmitter (why?) . The 567 does not suffer from this to the same degree.

[Scottish Jim]

a lot of new Hi-Fi's dont have LW on them either, so i dont think that would be a viable or popular decision.

A lot of talk over here has Oneword taking it over. I hope not, cos personally i wanna see some music on it again, but if Oneword took over, how long before running 252 and the money involved with it bankrupts them, and we are back at the same situation again?

[scanman]

In 1996 a London based group applied to RA for a London licence
RTE were listed as proposed share holder in that group at 25%
Another competing applicant was none other than Paul Claffey !!!

[Original Tyrone Gobshite!]

Personally I dont see the merit in putting 2FM on Longwave since theyre already available across the Republic (and much of NI) on FM and I dont see there been much demand for it in Mainland Britain In fairness Mike I only suggested that 2FM could be tempoarily put on the channel until something permenant was ready to take over. There are some parts of Ireland, in particular the coastal fringes and in parts of Belfast & Antrim where the 612KHz signal is not great and where FM reception is also patchy. Also does anyone really these days listen to the MW frequency of 2FM these days when FM is available? If a permenant shift from 612Khz to 252KHz was made (which I don't see happening), you can get a radio with Long wave on it for less than £10/€15 - hardly a major investment. And as (presumebly) less people listen to 2FM on MW than Radio 1, there would be less headaches.

The benefit of this could be surprising. Although this was nearly a decade ago, BBC Radio 1 was thought to have lost one million listeners when it gave up it's medium wave frequencies.

Whilst almost all car radios have LW, I have only once seen a walkman with LW. Would this have been an Awia Walkman I've seen recently?

The 252 signal suffers from nighttime fading in places surpisingly close to the transmitter (why?) . The 567 does not suffer from this to the same degree. I'm told it's because of the antenna type, being a 1/4 length aerial rather than a 5/8 aerial which I'm told (I'm not a TX installer) is less prone to fadeing. Saying that the 252KHz frequency in this part of the county never had a problem and was by far the strongest AM station to be received here.

[Radio Mad]

021, I couldn’t agree with your more. RTE in its current state isn’t sufficiently cash rich to be able to afford what I am proposing for the 252 frequency. Central government needs to give RTE the additional money required to work such a service. It could be operated on similar lines to the BBC World Service, which gets its finance from the British Foreign Office and not the licence payer – with of course additional revenue garnered from advertising. After all, think of the number of Irish people here and in the UK who would love to listen to an Irish version of Radio 4 and/or Radio 5.

Either way, I think the time is long past when Ireland should have its own top quality talk radio service. That doesn’t mean one jam-packed with cheap talk shows

[North West Listener]

Originally posted by Radio Mad
This frequency is allocated to Ireland and should be used to run an Irish station.

Agree totally!

I wouldn't mind seeing a Radio Nova type station on the frequency. Heard it via satellite in 1988 on the Donegal Radio Nova - thought it sounded great!

But I think that it should operate totally out of Ireland, and be proud to do so, unlike Atlantic, which went out of its way to sound like it was based in England (e.g. "disguising" phone numbers).

And the above comments do not mean that I am anti-English - I have no problems with the English at all, not any more than I have with the Irish!

[Anorak]

Not a chance of Nova going on it now that RTE have it. Shame that.

[Ulster Listener 7]

I think that they should put it back to the way Atlantic 252 at its hight after all 252 could still have been around if soem decent money had of been pumped into it bring back the non stop dance as for broadcastign again from mornington house thats a no no sure its been striped out and is only a shell and was been sold back to the trim conty councle i think

[Mosfet]

Trim Co.Co. me don't think so!,maybe Meath Co.Co.:rolleyes:
As for 252 -"There is no way of going forward into the past"
Sad really:(

[ex-pirate]

When teamtalk started, and I heard it was to be sport related, I gave it 6 months to live.
I even got a phone call from them asking if I would do freelance work for them on local football issues in the north of Ireland as they couldn't get anybody, and football is not even my strong point!!
I think from a personal opinion 252 should be left off.
It will always be best remembered as changing radio on the Fm band by giving them all a wake up call and that's in the history books.

[Original Tyrone Gobshite!]

After a few days I now get the feeling that 252 might end up being used for a test transmission for Digital AM radio before a permenant service will be used as RTE now own the frequency and would probably co-operate with the BBC on the usefulness for this in the LW band, wanting to see how far a good DRM signal will travel on a high powered LW allocation.

I'm actually surprised that RTE "bought" the Teamtalk share of Radio Tara considering that they're quite hard up at the moment.

[Megawatts]

It was still great to listen to a good pop station, blasting out the hits, even in London town. Driving around the UK is a nightmare, as almost all the "locals" fade out within a few miles, on most of the motorways.

252 was always there, and the lack of fidelity more than made up for yap from the BBC locals ... which are all over each end of the band.

I would hope a good "AM" digital system could be brought on line, so that a reasonable fidelity could come to a signal, that gets places.

Now the local regressives in the IoM have stopped the Musicmann signal... we will have to wait!

[021]

BTW by accident in the car discovered a blank carrier on 252 this afternoon (Friday) at about 4:20 PM, it was switched off a few minutes later!

[Anorak]

Now that RTÉ have said they intend using it themselves, what would be the best way for them to use it?
Ironically, I think sport (for ex-pats) might be a way to go!

[grey lake]

It would be a good idea to relay RTE R1 sport coverage at weekends especially the All Ireland hurling and football especially for those in South East England and the near continent that cannot receive 567khz clearly.

[Brian O'D]

One flaw in that plan...252 doesn't reach SE England, and London would have the highest concentration of ex-pats.

A best of RTE, old and new, would probably be the best.

[grey lake]

At night 252 is difficult to hear but from listening to radio in London 252 is stronger than 567 in daylight hours at the time the sport would be featured. When atlantic 252 started broadcasting it did so only in the daytime starting at 6am and shutting down at 7pm

[ex-pirate]

When Atlantic started, it was 24 hours pop music.

What happened to you and others was that because Atlantic transmitters were too powerful, it interfered with other stations in Europe and beyond who used 252 as a frequency, so at night when medium wave and long wave goes further, they had to switch to lower powered transmitters at 7pm and return to full power at 6am.
I think the order came from not the Irish authorities or English authorities but from the European parliament itself.

[Aquavid]

Originally posted by ex-pirate
When Atlantic started, it was 24 hours pop music.

What happened to you and others was that because Atlantic transmitters were too powerful, it interfered with other stations in Europe and beyond who used 252 as a frequency, so at night when medium wave and long wave goes further, they had to switch to lower powered transmitters at 7pm and return to full power at 6am.
I think the order came from not the Irish authorities or English authorities but from the European parliament itself.


Hi,

As someone who lived in London for many years (until 2000) and was a long-term 252 listener, let me correct a few misconceptions.

Firstly, with reference to the above, Atlantic 252 was *not* a fulltime station from the beginning. For about the first 9 months or so (maybe longer) they did actually close down (not just reduce power) at 7pm. There was a formal closedown announcment, reminder listeners that they could now tune across to Luxy on 208/1440 for great music. Ater a few months programmes extended to midnight (low power after 7pm) and very shortly after that it went 24 hours. It was possible to hear the signal when on low power, but it was not listenable-quality after dark in the South East. NB, at some stage the low-power change changed to 6pm.

However, during the day, Atlantic 252 was fine to listen to on a normal car-radio throughout London and the South East, even to Dover/Folkestone/Dungeness which is about as far South-East as you can get! Bear in mind this relates to car-radio only - indoor radios would have to be positioned correctly, or get poor signal, or none at all in large buildings.

On the road the signal was only compromised when passing the usual AM dampers - i.e. bridges, valley with steep cliffs on either side etc. Also the Square Mile in London, when surrounded by tall buildings, signal was weak or gone - as were many other AMs, including Caroline during periods of lower power.

The 66% coverage relates to the fact that in this 66% of the UK a normal listener can get a strong signal, indoors and outdoors, without difficulty.

In summer months, the 252 signal would be listenable on a car-radio even after the power-drop, usually until about 9pm.

Contrast this with 567, which suffers severe splatter from Spectrum, but in any case is very variable in London, and only really clear on winter nights.

NB - 612 comes through well on winter nights, and amazingly 1278 would sometimes come through for an hour or so, especially in november and March, clear as a bell.


Regards
Aquavid

[Charles Slane]

Would it not be sensible for RTE to introduce a service something similar to BBC Radio 2 ?

That way they could make 2FM a bit younger.

I reckon that older listeners are more likely to tune to a long wave station, as they already use it for Radio 4, so it wouldn't be too difficult to get a commercial foothold with this type of service.

[Billy Dane]

Chris Cary is planning exactly that kind of service for 252!!!
I wonder is he handing RTE ideas on a plate by going so public. Radio 4 for speech and (Nova?)252 for music, the older generation wouldn't have to move off the LW band in Ireland or the UK.

[Scottish Jim]

I do hope for a music station on 252 again, but if Chris Carey is just going to give us another dull Radio 2 clone, then i hope the Nova name stays exactly where it is.........in history!

[Billy Dane]

I cannot imagine CC giving us dull radio in any form!

[Scottish Jim]

Anything that sounds like BBC Radio 2 will be dull !!!