All posts by Willie Bone
Below are all of Willie Bone's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Being a sort of an auld fashioned kind of guy, I will stick with Sky-Q and the satellite system. Personally, not ready yet for a near exclusive broadband tv service with a lot of eggs in the one service basket!
That stated, we as a family are watching less and less of live tv programmes, 10 o'clock evening news excepted.
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Good luck with the DAB+ Digital Radio campaign, but the best mode of service delivery for channel choice and sound quality is online radio reception in the car and at home.
Data required for in the car online radio or podcast reception, only requires a modest slice of most people's allowance!
Looking forward to sampling 5G Broadcast radio in the future, an enhancement that does not require a simm contract to receive it. Exciting times ahead!
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Back in the day, when DAB monopolised digital radio, I would have loudly applauded FM retention for mainstream services until at least 2030. After all, why endure a DAB system sounding positively inferior to FM in a good listening environment?
However, today's online radio service offers listeners an escapist treat of a CD or near CD sound quality listening experience on most channels, a calibre of audio quality that the DAB radio industry could never afford to deliver, albeit, the DAB system is capable of reproducing it!
Listeners today, especially classical music lovers, can now migrate to online services for a knockout listening treat on BBC Radio 3 HD Sound, Linn Classical Radio, Classic FM, Scala Radio, amongst others. So, digital migration from FM to DAB is really not a major issue anymore for most listeners, audiophiles included!
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I reckon, the relaunch of BBC Three on linear television, along with the relaunch of the BBC World Service on shortwave radio to Ukraine are both a publicity stunt by BBC management! The corporation has a strong desire to retain the television licence fee after the current BBC Royal Charter ends!
How many youngsters in an average family gather round a linear tv to watch BBC Three or any other tv channel in 2022?
DXers excepted, how many European households include a shortwave radio in 2022?
Technically, going back to the future for a programme delivery improvement, does not necessarily transpire into mproving audience reach, especially if the targetted audience has moved on to smart phones, tablets or even smart tellys!
I firmly believe, the licence fee should end and we pay for BBC services through income tax, just like we do for other publicly supported organisations.
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StevensOnln1: Being an auld fart nudging the age of 69, I am now watching a lot less live tv and radio, opting for recordings/downloads of the former and using BBC Sounds listen again services for the latter. The only notable exceptions is viewing live versions of BBC One's Ten O'clock News and BBC 2's Newsnight.
Me and the missus are well into our 60s and left wondering about the viewing habits of the two generations before us, beyond our family circle including grand children? I suspect, the BBC Three linear tv channel's youngish audience is a lot smaller than it would have been five years ago, before smart tv ownership became mainstream! That stated, I respect your rationale on growth of the BBC Three programme budget while BBC Three has linear channel output!
I already realised that the government released additional funding for BBC World Service for external broadcasts to Ukraine. Even though, shortwave receiver ownership in most parts of Euriope is now tiny!
Back to my original point, the aforementioned BBC public relations exercises may never have seen the light of day if a decision on future BBC funding was not to be determined by the next elected UK government!
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I imagine, the transmission cost per listener for BBC Radio 4's long wave service must have rocketed in recent years! Not only due to listeners migrating to other platforms due to the low fidelity audio offered on long wave, but the rising costs to power the three transmitters carrying Radio 4.
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Nicholas Anderson: DXers excluded, how many people still listen to long wave on a regular basis? The frequency range is too low for decent fidelity of sound reproduction on most tuners and has been susceptible to electrical noise interference for decades. Long wave cannot even be heard properly in heavily built up areas, making medium wave transmitters infills essential for national reception coverage.
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Bauer Media has already calculated around 85% per cent of its audience have gone digital which is a far higher percentage proportion of the national average! So, Bauer has decided to pull the plug on its AM services in Scotland, Northern Ireland and North of England.
DXers excepted, how many people will notice the AM service has gone after December 13th?
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Hello Folks,
I say go for it!
The 8 to 10% per cent of rural listeners who cannot receive commercial radio on DAB may be grateful for the additional spin-off audio services of BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 3 on the BBC National DAB multiplex!
One plea to the auld Beeb is to retain BBC Radio 4 Extra and upgrade it to stereo at around 48kbps HE-AAC-V1 or V2. The bandwidth required would therefore be minimal.
Kind Regards...Willie Bone
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Sunday 3 October 2021 5:05AM
Nick Anderson, You are correct about the survival of the fittest on today's supermarket telly and radio choice, but the fittest might not necessarily be the best! Early days seen the death knell of the ITN News Channel (on tv and DAB), Tara TV (UK access to some RTE programmes from Ireland) and S2/STV2 in Scotland. Radio's lost services included OneWord (book reading and drama), Primetime Radio (from Saga), Saga Radio (regional service) and not forgetting Independent Local Radio output on commercial radio.
So, some diamonds amongst the dross were lost on services once received on tv and radio.