Local DAB in North Devon - Is it really Local? Is it good for the area?
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Ian Starling posted on Tuesday 7th February at 10:25 - 522 views“The DAB extension is only a box ticking exercise by Global, owners of Heart, to keep the commercial licence to broadcast into North Devon from their countywide base in Exeter. This saved them going head to head with the Voice for the rights to broadcast commercially in North Devon.
What does it actually mean for the consumer, the listener? More choice – yes. Now we have about a dozen new radio stations via digital radio. Whilst that is good for consumer choice and competition – is it any real benefit to North Devon and the economies of North Devon?
On FM when a radio station broadcasts it is on a frequency. A digital radio station broadcasts on a multiplex. This new multiplex is called a “Local” multiplex. Look at the line up of stations : 2 stations belong to Absolute Radio – these are national ; Kiss and XFM are national ; Capital – the shows that we receive are broadcast from Southampton or London ; Gold Devon – is nothing more than another national service broadcast from London which may have advertisers from Devon on it ; Heart Devon (which at the time of writing only broadcasts the advertisers from Exeter on the DAB multiplex – so will we hear North Devon advertisers on this service) and BBC Radio Devon.
As for the Voice – yes we are looking at the practicalities to broadcast digitally – but as yet – similar to the request for a community licence – neither OFCOM nor its engineering partners have supplied with the necessary documentation and information for us to make any final decision.”
IAN STARLING
Joint MD – The Voice North Devon Ltd
I am not opposed to DAB externsion overall.Being a radio fanatic for too many years. My issue is that a whole community in North Devon 100,000 plus population has no local station to support our local towns ; local industry and local tourism.Lantern FM had a reach of over 40% at its height , was making good profit and regualr delivered good results for listener and client. Thats been wiped from the map.
Now DAB does give us more choice – but is it ultimately good for North Devon business.Radio is the most trusted media we have. Where do listeners turn to for information on anything – be it travel news; lost pets; cancellation of events ; whatever – the listener thinks the radio stations are a mine of information – they call them before newspapers and TV
We have lost that in North Devon. Yes I know OFCOM and Arqiva welcome community stations to broadcast digitally – but they are making a profit out of a not for profit organisation. As yet after 8 weeks of waiting I am still to hear about costs for the service. OFCOM RLC committee still hasnt met in 2012
Here in North Devon high street traders they are losing trade to the big boys – the listeners want The Voice – Heart Devon figures dipped again recently.
So the consumer/listener may have more choice – but ultimately one asks the question – does it benefit North Devon?
Well only time will tell.
Heart/BBC haven’t totally abandoned North Devon, have they? I mean surely they do focus on some things happening outside of Exeter/Plymouth even if not in as great a depth as Lantern used to.
Hopefully you’ll be successful in starting up a station aimed at North Devon to show everyone else that there is a need for such a service.
Out of interest, who have you contacted regarding broadcasting on DAB?
We hope so…the nails are fit for purpose after all the biting…..
I have emailed Glyn Jones at Digital One. I know these things take time…
As you may well be aware I wrote the request to Ofcom regarding extending the Exeter & Torbay DAB multiplex to cover North Devon.
I think listeners in North Devon have done well. They are gaining ten new stations on DAB, eight of which are new to the area.
People listen to great radio. The location doesn’t have to matter. Say you have a FM station for North Devon and then Ofcom licence one for just Barnstaple does it make your station any less worthy? Of course not. As long as you provide great content people will tune in to it.
I don’t work for Arqiva any more, but I do know that they are very positive towards community/independent stations broadcasting digitally. When I was there, I saw the launch of the Pop Up Radio channel which accommodated RSL type broadcasts, and also worked with community stations to get them on-air.
As for the line-up of the newly enlarged Devon multiplex, let’s have a look at it:
Absolute 60s
Absolute Classic Rock
XFM
NME Radio
KISS
Capital
Pop Up Radio
Gold
Heart
BBC Devon
That’s a pretty wide range of genres covered, rock, oldies, pop, dance, talk etc… Probably more than one station alone could cover.
As for Global deciding to broadcast Exeter adverts, ultimately that’s a decision for them. There’s no reason why they can’t broadcast whatever adverts they feel like, I’m sure if an advertiser asked for their advert to go out on DAB, Global would gladly go along with it.
By the way, the North Devon multiplex doesn’t even officially launch until Monday 13th Feb!