FM Radio faces Brit Government switch-off as Digital listening passes 50%
- Thread starter Dave B.
- Start date
Ronald1973
8-trackin', Hank, Sr. man
I rarely use FM unless I'm bored with a CD. There's just not much to listen to. I don't hide my disdain for modern "country" music; it seems every country station wants to tell us about her in his truck in her Daisy Dukes. I wonder if these idgets even know who Daisy Duke is? We have an "easy" station that's a haven for Sinatra, Sammy, Jr., Dino, some Beatles, some "light" rock, and "easy" country like Glen Campbell. It's not a bad station, but the sound quality is terrible. Would I miss FM? Probably not.
+48V
hi-fi or die
Amen brother. Hook laden Bro Country and Gurl Country that lather the airwaves today are well worn out; a pure formula genre...an abomination. These artists are more schooled at mimicking than creating their own sound. But hey, "it's has a beat and it's easy to
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Rare outburst from me coming.........but Bro Country is shit. Bunch of preening youths telling me about how country they are, their trucks, their partying revelries, just so much fluff.
Where is the heart of country, which can be summed up by that 3 cd Johnny Cash collection many years back? Love Murder God ??
Where is the heart of country, which can be summed up by that 3 cd Johnny Cash collection many years back? Love Murder God ??
"Bro country" is younger demographic feel-good party time fare, tho the party may be happening in someones' head.
Went thru the same thing with rock with target demographic youngsters that wanted to skip school hanging out with pretty girls partying hard in their parents basement. Sex, drugs, and rock and roll anyone?
Went thru the same thing with rock with target demographic youngsters that wanted to skip school hanging out with pretty girls partying hard in their parents basement. Sex, drugs, and rock and roll anyone?
Actually it's only the public sponsored that were forced to turn off. The "locals" are still on-air.
The latest being said over there is that they have seen a big uptick in people being forced to switch to streaming services. About a third of listeners are without an way to get DAB which is what the government is trying to force the transition to. Over a half of listeners are not on the local FM stations. The sad number is that about 17% now chose silence in the car.
I think this all shows the forward thinking of the HD-Radio plan of a more gentle transition into digital services. Same spectrum, same coverage and same channel allocations. Radio's can slowly add the digital without killing analog yet. And eventually, probably well after most of us care, switching to full digital will allow much bigger carriers with greater through-put ability.
EV3
Auto Analog
Justin Credible
beat_truck
Addicted Member
That's hardly an outburst. You're just stating the truth.
BTW, I don't know which I hate worse...... gangster rap or redneck rap.
I find that 90% of the radio channels play the same 10% of all music available. Not a great way to expand one's musical horizon anyway.
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tom3
Super Member
Heaven forbid that SiriusXM is the only in-car radio service I'll have around here in Applach. Absolute worst company to deal with in history. Downright dishonest. Have to put louder mufflers on the old Camaro to have music to listen to. But have to admit that FM is dying out, most commercials are station promos or public service and government paid ads, can't pay the bills with that.
Ronald1973
8-trackin', Hank, Sr. man
Man, you ain't kidding! I remember a friend who loved rap, so he "discovered" redneck rap. Some dummy with a fake accent name dropping George Jones and rapping about knocking somebody's smart mouth out. Then you have this Kane Brown feller (Kane Clown?) talking about a girl having a body like a back road. Oh, really? I don't think he knows back roads. I live on one! Dusty, full of holes, used by many, and often a place for illegal activity. Somehow I wouldn't take it as a compliment being told I had a body like that! I'll stick with the real deal:That's hardly an outburst. You're just stating the truth.
BTW, I don't know which I hate worse...... gangster rap or redneck rap.
beat_truck
Addicted Member
Unfortunately, that crapola occupies about 50% of the FM band around here. These idiots just eat it up.
The next 35% is the same 30 "classic rock" songs like "Feels Like The First Time" (ironic title, when the first time you heard it was 10,000 times ago
) played in an endless loop. Then, 5% is modern pop and (c)rap, and another 5% is NPR/news/classical music. That leaves 5% for music that might actually be worth listening to.
Condorsat
Audio Enthusiast
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rolex452
Member
Let's also include these facts about digital broadcasting: The United States was one of the LAST civilized countries on Earth to convert to high definition television, which necessitated that all TV frequencies be digitalized and moved to the UHF band (largely unused for fifty years). Digital radio was "commercial and censorship free" but cost $$$. Now, thanks to the limitations of digital (or HD digital) broadcasting, such as the inability for these signals to travel other than "line of sight", everything in the path of a digital/HD signal can block it, so your indoor and rooftop antennas are useless in urban areas. My condo building is surrounded by other large buildings, and over the air reception is impossible without a satellite dish and receiver, or cable TV. But AM & FM signals still get through, although limited. Now many of us have to pay to receive what before, was free. Digital radio/TV right now is a "catch-22" improvement.
Oh, that whole plan sounds like a definite improvement to me assuming one owns stock in a cable TV company or gets paid by the lobbyists of said TV providers. HUGE improvement. Next plan: make people pay for air and sunlight.
I have an amplifier antenna for digital TV. It worked mostly fine inside my apartment (in the concrete jungle) until I got FIOS. (The basic TV plan costs $10 per month, and I need FIOS for internet and phone, since Verizon shut off all copper service to my building. NYC is being forced to switch.)
A Gray-Hoverman wideband antenna would greatly improve reception, and these are easily constructed. But I found (personal taste) that there wasn't much worth watching on broadcast TV. Further reading:
Pity that Hoverman died ten years before the digital changeover when everyone started talking about his compact high-gain antenna.
For what it's worth,I did a pile of research during the transition to digital TV, and found these to be the best guides and construction references:
All of this might be useful to someone. I know it took me lots of time to dig out.
But, as I said, I never build the Gray-Hoverman so I can't tell you how well it works in an apartment with metal-mesh and cement walls. Given the performance of WiFi and my cordless phone, admitted at a much higher frequency, I can say not too well would be the expected result.
I have an amplifier antenna for digital TV. It worked mostly fine inside my apartment (in the concrete jungle) until I got FIOS. (The basic TV plan costs $10 per month, and I need FIOS for internet and phone, since Verizon shut off all copper service to my building. NYC is being forced to switch.)
A Gray-Hoverman wideband antenna would greatly improve reception, and these are easily constructed. But I found (personal taste) that there wasn't much worth watching on broadcast TV. Further reading:
Pity that Hoverman died ten years before the digital changeover when everyone started talking about his compact high-gain antenna.
For what it's worth,I did a pile of research during the transition to digital TV, and found these to be the best guides and construction references:
http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/186...82-introduction-gray-hoverman-tv-antenna.html
http://www.digitalhome.ca/ota/superantenna/design.htm
The available channels for various antenna types can be found here:http://www.digitalhome.ca/ota/superantenna/design.htm
All of this might be useful to someone. I know it took me lots of time to dig out.
But, as I said, I never build the Gray-Hoverman so I can't tell you how well it works in an apartment with metal-mesh and cement walls. Given the performance of WiFi and my cordless phone, admitted at a much higher frequency, I can say not too well would be the expected result.
beat_truck
Addicted Member
Digital OTA TV isn't just crap in the city. It's crap in rural areas, too.
My in-laws love their digital substations- reruns of all the old shows, usually better written than what's on today- all on the same ratshack antenna they have have for 35 years. I think they used it to watch the shows the first time
