Too many radio stations?
- Thread starter Mayedd
- Start date
TBH no more than than what is going on with mainstream terrestrial radio stations in both UK and NL. Especially in NL as there are many more smaller stations and it is easier to get a license they seem to be going bankrupt/merging/changing their formats/presenters all the time.
For specialist EDM genres, and local/community broadcasting if anything net radio surpasses what you can get on Band II. (there are technical limitations to the audio quality on Band II FM - a good 192k or 320k stream is way better sounding). And the way DAB is used in my country (UK) is just rubbish. 80kbps mono for "music" stations
As a comparison, this weekend the weather caused much tropo in the UK, this makes the cool air above the hot air below become a big curved mirror to VHF radio signals that would otherwise go up into space.
So I could listen to the Dutch youth orientated station Radio 538 from their Zeeland area transmitter on 102.7 MHz.
I thought the presentation was very slick, but they have 2 min long ad breaks and as many auto playout tracks as any online stations and not that many live presented shows. To be fair the ones they did have were good for listener interaction and for me even the ads weren't an annoyance, more another free Dutch lesson, but the music selection was very much commercial pop dance that you could hear on any similar station across Europe. I was expecting a few more tracks from AVB and Ferry Corsten too!
TBH I thought Female81's online station was much better and did not have all the ads, and that is one young woman competing with the whole resources of Hilversum..
PS: Did you buy the Audix?
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Female81
New Member
Thanks for the compliment.
American and French people hear commercials at my station, by the way (sadly), 2 times a hour 2 minutes. Óther countries hear the (about 40) filler tracks I've uploaded; somewhat less known tracks fitting the sound of the station.
And Radio 538 broadcasts, in fact, mostly live shows.
It's not my kind of station though; it sounds very professional, but too slick for me. Something which can be the downside of 'very professional'.
American and French people hear commercials at my station, by the way (sadly), 2 times a hour 2 minutes. Óther countries hear the (about 40) filler tracks I've uploaded; somewhat less known tracks fitting the sound of the station.
And Radio 538 broadcasts, in fact, mostly live shows.
It's not my kind of station though; it sounds very professional, but too slick for me. Something which can be the downside of 'very professional'.
telabadmanwot
New Member
i think, let them be, there is no point in getting worked up about it, i dont think it does any harm, over-ambition is what will drive the success or failure of the new stations.
I dont live in the UK any more, but i do miss uk radio, pirate, community and national, but not the regional crap.
I was listening to our second biggest national radio station (according to our national listener research company) for 8hrs on Thursday while working on the house. There was no DJ! for the whole 8hrs, just an auto dj playing! It was soul-less.
LeahJohnson
New Member
I thought about it a couple of days before and you've just articulated my thoughts. Having a hobby and trying to make a station is a good thing to do but I'd recommend the newbies to think twice whether or not they will be able to keep the boat afloat.
SOUNDZRADIOUK
New Member
do not agree with this post what so ever. Pirate radio started 20-30 years ago and finally it where it needs to be. I do pirate radio and go on one of the bigggest pirates in london and there is no crime or drugs involved what so ever. Its people like you who put a bad name to pirate radio!
There are good and bad people across the industry whether or not their stations are licensed - There are regular cases of well known legal presenters being pulled up for excessive substance use (alcohol is also a drug).and consider how many high profile folk from the BBC and Independent Radio have been busted recently for far worse crimes than a few pills and powders.
I don't disbelieve some London pirate stations are well run as professional or more so than some the legal ones (and that was the case in the 80/90s) - the one I once played on in the early 90s was run in this manner
I'm not anti-drugs nor anti pirate radio - provided doing either doesn't harm those involved or anyone else!
It was more of a problem in previous years, in any case those who take too many drugs usually aren't organised enough to keep any station going without running into problems.
With pirates what usually happens is the fed get those involved for other criminality long before Ofcom gets hard evidence on them (Ofcom don't have the required resources to deal with large cities like London and the surrounding suburbs), the resulting Court cases end up being reported in the Press, and that is why folk think pirate stations have a bad name.
In the Netherlands pirate stations (not sure if they are still as prolific) are run by otherwise perfectly respectable farmers and play local folk music in Dutch because they can't hear the music they want from Hilversum (the main broadcasting area). I can't blame them either as I've tuned into Dutch mainstream radio and its the same manufactured pop we hear this side of the sea.
TBH I consider a pirate broadcaster in London (where there aren't even community licenses available in most areas due to outdated allocations of frequencies) far less of a problem than a national broadcaster which used license payers money to pay for a presenters drug rehab costs and worse, hid a culture of bullying and abuse until very recently.
But I don't think everyone who works for the BBC is like that any more than all pirates are always involved in drugs or crime, and the entire creative industries have recently "cleaned their act up" loads, but don't believe in hiding "bad news".
There are online stations (some advertised here) actively campaigning for drugs law reform but they don't get a bad name or trouble from authorities even with fed all over the internet as they clearly approach things in a professional manner and support themselves legally (its even easier for the authorities to monitor an Internet radio stations content and its listeners than a normal one!)
I don't disbelieve some London pirate stations are well run as professional or more so than some the legal ones (and that was the case in the 80/90s) - the one I once played on in the early 90s was run in this manner
I'm not anti-drugs nor anti pirate radio - provided doing either doesn't harm those involved or anyone else!
It was more of a problem in previous years, in any case those who take too many drugs usually aren't organised enough to keep any station going without running into problems.
With pirates what usually happens is the fed get those involved for other criminality long before Ofcom gets hard evidence on them (Ofcom don't have the required resources to deal with large cities like London and the surrounding suburbs), the resulting Court cases end up being reported in the Press, and that is why folk think pirate stations have a bad name.
In the Netherlands pirate stations (not sure if they are still as prolific) are run by otherwise perfectly respectable farmers and play local folk music in Dutch because they can't hear the music they want from Hilversum (the main broadcasting area). I can't blame them either as I've tuned into Dutch mainstream radio and its the same manufactured pop we hear this side of the sea.
TBH I consider a pirate broadcaster in London (where there aren't even community licenses available in most areas due to outdated allocations of frequencies) far less of a problem than a national broadcaster which used license payers money to pay for a presenters drug rehab costs and worse, hid a culture of bullying and abuse until very recently.
But I don't think everyone who works for the BBC is like that any more than all pirates are always involved in drugs or crime, and the entire creative industries have recently "cleaned their act up" loads, but don't believe in hiding "bad news".
There are online stations (some advertised here) actively campaigning for drugs law reform but they don't get a bad name or trouble from authorities even with fed all over the internet as they clearly approach things in a professional manner and support themselves legally (its even easier for the authorities to monitor an Internet radio stations content and its listeners than a normal one!)
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realdanceradio
New Member
I never advertise for DJ's!! Don't mean this in a big headed way, however, before DJ's apply, they usually check out the station quality before applying and they are very careful who they apply to, because their is literally thousands of stations out there. Some of them go very quickly as they don't get the results that they want straight away. I swear people setup a station thinking they are going to get hundreds of listeners straight away.
In addition, stations that advertise for DJ's, will be the very new stations, a station that is broadcasting music 24/7 is not appealing, DJ's on their books seem to be appealing to listeners!
In addition, stations that advertise for DJ's, will be the very new stations, a station that is broadcasting music 24/7 is not appealing, DJ's on their books seem to be appealing to listeners!