(Source: Southgate ARC)
RTÉ is going to spend €250,000 per year transmitting its Radio One station to the Irish diaspora in Britain – while closing down all its digital stations.
The station is shutting down RTÉ Gold, RTE Junior, RTÉ 2XM, RTÉ Pulse and RTÉ Radio 1 Extra, but would not specify how much this will save.
However, it has confirmed that it is going to continue its Longwave radio service to the Irish diaspora in Britain up to 2022.
Read the full story at
https://www.businesspost
.ie/news/rte-continue-spending-e250k-year-longwave-radio-service-axed-457245
The longwave service must be retained as a national service and important asset . The digital systems are prone to interruption ,accidental or deliberate , whereas longwave is much more secure and robust. If only the 252kHz frequency could be changed to 261kHz to avoid the very powerful Algerian transmitter then Rte Radio 1 coverage could be assured in Ireland , UK, and near continental Europe.
DAB is being dropped after years of limited city coverage and would be difficult to cover all the country in mobile (car ) reception as the frequencies are much higher than the present VHF-FM coverage. I live a few miles west of the Cork city ( Togher ) , can see the mast but have virtually no DAB reception due to its signal being beamed over the city . I have always said DAB stands for Dead And Buried !
Longwave must be retained!
I used to listen to France Inter on 162khz before they stopped broadcasting on Long Wave. I just stumbled on it (as it were) while tuning between RTE 1 and Radio 4. The signal blasted into West Wales. I’m not a French speaker,but they played allot of interesting music. Much more varied than the pap you get from BBC Radio 2 or local radio,these days. They also had a classical music program on around 3pm,when I’m out & about. It used to open,rather arrestingly,with the William Tell Overture (The Long Ranger,anybody?!!) I used to listen to it via my Roberts R9962 (now sadly,discontinued by Roberts!) tucked inside my pocket! Now,what has this got to do with RTE Radio 1,you might say?! Well,I just wonder if I would have listened to France Inter,out of all the thousands of radio stations streamed on the internet. Particularly,as someone who can’t speak a word of French (bar,the few words that most British people know!). Now,France Inter is just one of thousands to choose from,on the world wide web! And yes,the problem with DAB is coverage is limited to areas where reception is strong. No listening to anything outside that area of coverage,bar unusual atmospheric conditions. As for Long Wave! You can listen to Radio 4 late at night on LW,if you want to?! The sound quality is not exactly hi-fi,but it’s strong and clear. At least it is here,in West Wales! RTE could be the same. All they have to do is move the frequency. An un-listenable 252khz,in the evening (and it IS that bad!) is just a waste of electricity!!
It’s not just the Irish diaspora that listen to RTÉ 1 on longwave. Certain remote parts of the country are not served by FM transmitters so the Longwave service is vital to them. My dear old Mum refuses to listen to it other than on LW and she can get it on FM and Satellite.