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   station directory latest radio news air today feedback features  | |  Feedback archive An archived selection of comments and e-mails can be found below. Please be patient while the page loads. |
2nd October 2002 Evoke : A feeling John Lewis won't be selling it online I have just tried to purchase the Pure Evoke-1 DAB portable radio from John Lewis. It doesn't exist on their search engine. When I queried this, their reply was "we have never sold any Videologic products and we have no record of any DAB digital radios." May I suggest an amendment to your web site? Christopher John Lewis is listed as a retailer of the Pure Digital Evoke-1 DAB radio, but I expect the high street stores are waiting for further supplies and, perhaps, there are no plans to offer the product online. I'm keeping a lookout at their site, though, to see if it crops up. I've corrected our news story to make it clear Videologic is now known as Pure Digital. Argos are also listing the Pure Evoke on their website, but unfortunately they too are awaiting stock. Several retailers report a wait of around two months for this product. HiFiBitz are taking orders for the Evoke, see our retailers pages for links to all of the aforementioned companies. Ed. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Advantages in East Hertfordshire I live in East Hertfordshire and get a good FM signal. What are the advantages in buying a digital receiver? Will I get more stations...if so, which?...and do I get more interactivity? David There are no advantages in buying a DAB digital radio if you are not within a DAB transmission area. Whilst you may be able to get the national BBC and commercial multiplexes, Hertfordshire will not be getting its own local multiplexes for the foreseeable future - they're all being used for the areas around the Home Counties, such as London and Essex. See our features page for more links to information including coverage maps via the BBC and Digital One sites. See also our frequently asked questions about DAB digital radio. Ed. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 28th September 2002 DAB fails to live up to expectations for one listener Hi, I've recently moved from London to Manchester. My biggest fear was being unable to get Kiss 100 in Manchester. I looked into Digital Radio and was relieved to discover Kiss is on DAB digital radio in Manchester. Finding a tuner to suit was difficult, but I managed to get my hands on a Pure Evoke-1 model. All seemed well until I tried listening to Kiss on DAB. The sound is appalling! It appears to be only on Kiss, but the signal is unbelievably quiet and not strong enough to record with onto minidisc. Quality-wise it's similar to the internet. I am gutted. I had a great analogue signal in London and now thinking I had found a solution - I haven't. Why is the Kiss Digital signal so poor? It isn't like that on Radio 1 etc. - in fact the quality on most other stations is great. It says it's transmitting Kiss at 128kpbs and the signal strength is good. What does the problem lie? Is it going to be solved? At the moment I'll just have to forget all about Kiss. It seems that Digital Radio does not live up to its claims. An unhappy Digital Radio Listener As the problems you mention are confined to Kiss, there must be a problem with the link between London and Manchester and the station's level at the Manchester end. Unhelpfully, multiplex-owners CE Digital (the Emap/Capital Radio venture) do not have a website as such, but you could try e-mailing Kiss 100 in London or try e-mailing Emap Advertising. Perhaps even someone representing CE Digital will read your comments here and pass them on? Do let us know if Kiss returns to 'normal'. Ed. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 23rd September 2002 impressed by format As a person who teaches radio on a BSc, I am very impressed with your website. It offers loads of easily accessible information in a well thought through design package. Keep up the good work - I will be forcing my students to use your site. Rob --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- unimpressed by format I have managed to buy one of those new GBP99 Pound DAB radios and have been comparing the stations that you get on it with the ones already on the radio. Here on Merseyside I can get Digital One, EMAP Liverpool, MXR North West and the BBC National DAB multiplexes. Also, if I put the radio in just the right place, I can get the CE Manchester multiplex. The audio quality on some of the stations is great, especially the ones that are usually on low quality MW (BBC 5 Live, Virgin, talksport, Magic, etc.), although you do get some like Bloomberg, Oneword and DNN at lower quality on DAB. But mostly I like DAB for the greater choice of stations like Heart, Real Radio, Oneword, Planet Rock and Smooth. There are also, in my opinion, some not-so-good stations on DAB like Urban Choice, KISS, 3C, XFM, 1Xtra and Galaxy, but I suppose this is to do with the types of music they play, which don't interest me. But by far the worst station on DAB in my opinion is DNN - Digital News Network. It's a badly put together news radio station that manages to take what seems like ten minutes of News, Sport and Weather Reports, with a bit of Business and Entertainment News thrown in and then stretches it out with station IDs to make it about twenty minutes' worth. And then they repeat it all again three times in each hour. There are so many miscues and pauses in presentation that you loose count of them all. There is even a jingle that announces a Traffic Report, but I have yet to hear the actual report. Best of all for a rolling news station, DNN closes at 7pm, so I hope nothing important ever happens until the station starts again at 6am the next day. To me it sound so unprofessional and disjointed that I don't think it will ever get any listeners. I hope that the standards for DAB radio will not be like those for Digital News Network, otherwise DAB will nether take off in this country and it will turn out to be just another White Elephant like ITV Digital. There is only one station that I would now like to hear on DAB radio and that is the World Radio Network. It would be far more interesting to hear, with news and information from radio stations around the world than you would ever get from DNN. Mark I think DNN offers something unique on DAB digital radio - local and regional news on a rolling basis, so that you can tune in (during the daylight hours, at least at the moment) to grab the news headlines. Each region has its own news team, although national news stories would be pooled - and that's fair enough. Considering that many, many stations on DAB are automated affairs, or take their shows from a central studio, I think the 'regional feel' of DNN should be encouraged. I agree with you that there seem to be a few problems with their systems - the news sometimes gets hopelessly mixed up with the first song out of the news on The Arrow, for example, but I think there is plenty of time for tweaking such a service - DAB radios are hardly flying off the shelves. That said, DNN's model is based around ITN News Direct in London, proving the idea of having a rolling news network, albeit something which you need only jump in and out of during the day, can be successful. They just need to expunge the gremlins. Ed. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cornwall's dropped by the Beeb What's happened to Radio Cornwall? It does not seem to figure on your lists and is noted as unavailable. Canon Dr. Tim Gouldstone The BBC seem to have dropped their news report streaming for this station and I'm not quite sure why. This must be a first, becuase all but a few of the Beeb's stations are now streaming news or sports reports (or both!). To have a service removed is curious. Ed. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Five not so live I am trying to listen to Radio Five Live but I keep being asked to download a file - surestream.ram from bbc.co.uk. When I do this nothing happens. How can I listen to Radio Five? Matt You need to install RealPlayer, or Real One as the latest 'enhanced' version is called. See our live listening help page. Personally, I'd advise you to hunt out the older RealPlayer, as Real One is a good example of bloatware and is an unnecessary burden to install. Ed. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Is there any body out there? Do you know of a 'body' that governs the cost of Radio Advertising? Alex I don't, I'm afraid. I've heard of the Radio Advertising Bureau, though its members set the rates. I'll throw this one open to the floor. Ed. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Is there any body out there? Hi Steve - things seem to have gone extremely quiet on the letters front so I thought I would drop you a line with the following point. After all the publicity on 1st July surrounding the first sub-GBP100 Pounds digital radio, the Pure Evoke-1, I am finding it extremely difficult to purchase this product, and I, along with many others I suspect, am having to wait around three months to receive one. This is disappointing given that we were led to believe that this was being mass produced and would be more widely available from the end of August and September. Argos even have this on their web site but the product is still unavailable. If digital radio is to succeed, the receivers must be more readily available. Robert I totally agree with you on this one, Robert. I think it's a case of dangling the golden carrot in front of the masses, then swiping it away at the last minute. I think an adequate volume of product should have been available before the launch was announced, particularly following the debarcle with the first offering of a sub-GBP 100 Pound DAB Special Edition digital radio, the few of which were available sold out within hours. Have the manufaturers learned nothing? If they are not careful they risk alienating their customers again. Ed. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7th June 2002 When can the masses tune in to digital radio? Where on earth are these inexpensive DAB tuners, which have been promised since last Christmas? VideoLogic seem to manufacture the only reasonably-priced tuners, but they're still over the GBP 200 mark. Texas Instruments announced a development kit in an Autumn edition of 'Electronics Weekly' and, indeed, their web site has details. We had expected to hear a launch date from Goodmans for the first sub-GBP 100 tuner in the UK, but so far there's been no news. There is no doubt about the market being available, but whether it is commercially strong enough yet to support an expensive development project - I am not sure. Jerry Davis, Leicester, via feedback form The launch of the Goodmans products has been put back until Autumn at the earliest, as I understand it. They were due to launch this summer, although I wouldn't expect to see them much earlier than Christmas 2002. There was an interesting piece in The Guardian in Online this week, discussing how small, cheap DAB receiver units might be a companion to 3G (third generation) mobile phones and PDAs (personal digital assistants). As DAB is equally good for data services as it is for speech and music radio, it may be a way to allow mobile devices to receive content such as web pages and other interactive services at much greater speeds than would otherwise allow. As regards music-and-talk DAB digital radio, I wouldn't give up my Wavefinder for anything. The range of services available here in Bristol is staggering and, although the question of audio quality is bound to rear its ugly head, there's no doubt that if it wasn't for DAB digital radio, I simply wouldn't be able to hear the bands and music I currently enjoy. Ed. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 25th May 2002 A different Ocean Ocean Sound is/was a different licence to the old Radio Victory, not simply a rename. As far as I can recall Radio Victory never used the 103.2 frequency; this only came on air with Ocean Sound (West). Anon, via feedback form Radio Victory lost its licence to Ocean Sound, one of the reasons being that the new licence holder proposed extending the service to cover Southampton as well as Portsmouth. It is a totally different station as it is operated by a totally separate company. The 'newer' Radio Victory (now 107.4 The Quay) is, again, a different station, using the heritage and name of the original station. Ed. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cricket on DAB digital radio? Cricket - okay, not to everyone's liking, but does DAB offer more in the way of coverage than conventional analogue radio stations? Anon, via feedback form I think probably about the same. I'm not a big fan, but Radio 4 longwave provides continuous coverage of test matches. However, Radio 4 longwave is not available on DAB digital radio (it used to be, but now only Radio 4's FM service is available). Instead, we have a part-time service in the form of BBC Five Live Sports Extra, which broadcasts uninterrupted cricket, golf and many other sports including F1 racing. You can find a link on our national stations page. Ed. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Where are you from? Great website. Wonder if you can tell me if there is a similar site for international stations, USA and others? Also, are you part of some UK company that promotes radio stations? Just wondered how you make a living as you are promoting other stations. Finally, is there some way that I can get sounds in stereo. Seem not to be at the moment. Peter, via feedback form As far as international stations are concerned, try Radio Locator (formerly the MIT list of stations). Radio-now is an independent resource and has no affiliation or connection with any company or radio station that it lists. It is also a non-profit venture (i.e. the editor has a day job and the site relies on banner advertising for its revenue!)As for stereo on the web, mono works well at slower connections. I think a small number of stations broadcast in stereo, usually (but not always) those using RealPlayer. Ed. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7th May 2002 Why is digital so far behind? Why are the DAB transmissions 4 seconds behind the anlogue signal? I understand the digital satellite transmission delays are due to distance the signals have to travel, but why are the DAB signals nearly 5 times longer? Paul, via e-mail I think this is something to do with the way the signal is compressed and the fact that there is extra information added to the digital signal to allow for error correction to take place at the receiver end. If any error correction has to take place, there will be a delay as the signal is decompressed and corrected. Ed. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fading out for the last time Just passing through the site ... GB Radio did relay some CBC but it also managed a Gwent split in the afternoons with Matthew Rosser broadcasting on the Eastern transmitters. All this stuff gets a bit like the man who shot Liberty Valence - if in doubt, print the legend! But as the man who pulled down the faders on GB Radio for the very last time I reckon the record ought to be set straight. Usual ILR story. Bags of enthusiasm but no money. Passable figures but nothing much in the north of a tricky topographic patch with radio waves refusing point blank to sneak up some of the valleys. Colin B (ex GB News Ed) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tune in to US With the advances in technology is it possible to listen to US radio stations whilst in the UK other than on the internet? Dee, via feedback form With digital satellite (and perhaps less so with cable television), it's possible to tune in to a handful of European stations (EuroMax, UBC and a few others), and with a satellite radio (literally a radio with a 'dish' tagged on) you can pick up many other European stations. As regards the U.S.A., I don't think it's possible to listen to too many of their stations as the satellites are all in the wrong place and it would not be commercially viable for them to sign carriage deals with service providers over here. You'll have to stick to the 'net, I'm afraid. Ed. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6th May 2002 Knocked out by Koko Re: Chiltern FM. It is very hard to get to this site and it makes me mad. I am sick of this: do something, please. Anon, via feedback form I give in. All our links to Koko point to the front page. Assuming you can enable cookies in your browser, the only likely problem you'll face is which area on the map to click on. I live in hope that this is the last time I will have to field questions about Koko. Ed. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Why does Capital Gold in Birmingham take London's feed? I am an exiled Brummie and your live link to Capital Gold Birmingham defaults to the London feed. Why? Also Radio WM tell listeners they are 'live online', but you have only news links. Gordon, via feedback form Capital Gold has some local programming for the areas in which it broadcasts (these areas include Cardiff, Southampton, Brighton, Birmingham - of course - and many others), but this is limited to four hours during weekdays (either at drivetime or during breakfast - I can't remember which off the top of my head!). During the rest of the time, programmes are broadcast from London with networked presenters, but local ads. Hence the reason for broadcasting only the London feed at their website. Radio WM is not yet live on the web - there has been discussion before about streaming the BBC stations' output, but this has not yet materialised. Ed. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18th April 2002 Wake up and smell the koko Great service, but several of the stations give me a guide to Colchester and not the station I'm looking for, so a bit confused! Don't need a reply, just for info. Debbie, via e-mail Koko helpfully (or not, as in your case) sends you to the last location you clicked on, so as you clicked on Colchester, you're sent to the microsite for SGR Colchester. Worse still, the "get back to the front page" link is buried in a drop-down menu under "kokotools", which is difficult to spot and slow to load. Bad, bad design. Switching off cookies and revisiting koko.com doesn't fool the site, either - it just won't let you in. The site could have done with some usability testing (all sites could benefit from this, I know mine could!). Anyway, we've helpfully tweaked our links to koko on our listen live : pop page to dump visitors at the front page. Ed. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Why has my reception failed? Do you know of any reason why I have lost all digital reception? The digital aerial is pointing towards London and was set up correctly by the installers. The tuner has been checked and I am told everything is fine. Do aerials fail? I live on top of a hill in the High Wycombe area. Any comments on the next way to turn would be appreciated Alec, via e-mail I get questions like this every now and then and I'm not usually able to help. Aerials aren't my thing. I would direct you to the UK Digital Radio website. Ed. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The truth about WNK? London Greek Radio (LGR) went on to broadcast 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, following demise of the great WNK, which produced much better programmes than Choice FM in my opinion. Remember, LGR and WNK shared the frequency on a 4 hours on/4 hours off rotation. Sadly, advertising revenues fell sharply at WNK. They then allegedly fell into debt with the RA in respect of TX rental fees. Although I didn't hear the final broadcast I believe it was a very sad day indeed for all involved. Joe Douglas (MD), Sid Burke (Head of Speech programmes) and the team at WNK worked hard to keep the station afloat. In my opinion, the RA could have helped save WNK, Sunset and others by not charging these stations the full amount, per se, in terms of TX rental fees, since they were community stations. LGR took over WNK's share of 103.3FM as was the agreement written into the license by the RA. I suppose the idea to have two stations, both with big audiences sharing a frequency, was really doomed to failure from the outset. Michael, via e-mail Thanks for the insight, Michael. I'll update our pages in good time. Ed. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
