All posts by Willie Bone
Below are all of Willie Bone's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
The television licence is good value for money and is a lot cheaper than most peoples' newspapers/magazines annual bill !!
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Go for option 3 and withdraw support for the BBC World Service. If the government really want an
external radio service to counteract propagada from Voice Of Russia and China Radio International,
Whitehall should fork out and pay for it. If the government do not want BBC support for the World
Service, Sky News Radio could do it! The BBC should also close medium and long wave because it
is antiquated..
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Is the BBC Three proposal just a money saving sop, or is it an investment in a library of content?
A bit of both with a short term sop to save money while the virtual library is the longer term goal
i.e. the library is the arcadia of digital broadcasting, I think!
Almost coinciding with this feature, a Sky engineer vistied recently to replace my old satellite dish.
We chatted away on the prospects of aerial installation services and so on and his viewpoint was
''satellite installers will become history, only if fast broadband does become available to all.''
Back to BBC 3, for this service could be following in the footsteps of the BBC For Schools &
Colleges output. The BBC Schools audio and video library content as far as I am aware, has not
diminished over the years, even though its presence on linear tv was discontinued some time ago..
I do not think it is the end of the line for BBC 3, it may eventually be joined by BBC 4 & BBC
Parliament as a starter!
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DAB TRANSMITTER MAP IN SOUTH AYRSHIRE
Brian, the planned Ballantrae relay in South Ayrshire. Is it to be a Now-Digital-Ayr
extension or is it for BBC National DAB?
I realise that the Girvan relay now has BBC National DAB with Now-Digital-Ayr
coming shortly as a 'step 1' extension. The plan for a local multiplex
extension for Ballantrae was not included! (unless I am reading an old version
of the OFCOM document.)
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The BBC should have retained its all night live presentation service on Radio 2, the most popular
station in the UK. Overnight live programmes are not only appreciated by night shift workers and
insomniacs alike, it is regarded as part of a distinctive public service outlet, compared to output of
non-BBC radio stations within a deregulating commercial radio sector! The exception being
Radio 3 where 'Through The Night' programmes have always been recorded since Radio 3's
broadcasting hours were extended for overnight listening!
I did night shifts for over six years of my working life & enjoyed live radio presentation as a friend
to help me through many a night! After all, the dj is also sharing the shifts with you!!
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MikeB: As previously stated from a listener's perspective: ''I [Willie] did night shifts for over six years
of my working life & enjoyed live radio presentation as a friend to help me through many a night!
After all, the dj is also sharing the shifts with you!''
Some years ago, many listeners used to tune into 'Truckers' Hour', hosted by the late Sheila Tracy for
the same reason. That is, truckers sharing a lonely allnighter with the radio presenter!
A recording cannot capture that mood!
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MikeB: Up here in Scotland, we are about to get a new BBC television channel for Scotland
that very few people really seem to want. The BBC Scotland management team were more aspired
to having a ''Scottish News At Six'' on BBC One tv and a BBC Radio Scotland 2 service,
complimenting the established Radio Scotland service. Aunty in London knew best & jettisoned
both of the BBC Scotland proposals!
The point being, if money is available to fund a new television channel in Scotland that very few
people are interested in, why not fund and retain the overnight live programmes on BBC Radio 2?
The overnight schedule of live radio presentation has greater value to night shift workers than
squandering funds on an extra tv channel that Scots don't really want nor need!
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Is there an update on the Glasgow South local DAB plan to bring local digital radio & BBC regional DAB to Dumfries & Galloway? Listeners require a WiFi digital radio or tablet to hear BBC Radio Scotland & Westsound FM without hiss on a radio set throughout Dumfries & Galloway region!
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Hello Brian,
Now Digital Ayr transmission of local DAB radio in Ayrshire was recently extended in South Ayrshire with a relay transmitter launch in Girvan. According to the 'step1' expansion plan for local DAB, the relay has 2kW of power!
The attached feature includes a revised coverage map for Now Digital Ayr..
Ayr multiplex
Kind Regards..Willie Bone
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Tuesday 11 March 2014 7:16PM
DISCRIMINATION OF BBC THREE TELEVISION VIEWERS.
The only viewers in Britain who are forced to pay twice with the licence fee charge and then a broadband charge to allow access to BBC Three television programming from autumn 2015.. Surely, that is a contradiction of a public service ethos!!.
There is always this banging of the big bass drum with criticism of internet radio over DAB where the former requires an additional charge while the latter DAB radio services are free at point of reception. So why discriminate against less well off young people who like BBC Three and are forced to pay an additional price to receive it?