Wednesday, 17 June 2009
Got My Radio On (until 2015)...
This shouldn't have come as a shock - after all it was bound to happen - but it did. What it means is that in six years' time (if they stick to the date) every non-digital radio in your house - all those transistors all over the place - will be so much worthless junk and will have to be replaced with DAB radios. They may prate all they like about 'device and platform convergence' and about all the other platforms on which radio can 'piggyback', but the whole point of radio is to have a simple, working radio with reasonable sound and reliable reception anywhere you want it aound the house - 'portable, intimate and ambient', indeed. Have these people ever tried using a DAB radio in the way we use our humble transistor sets? If so, they should know that DAB sets are as good as useless. Reception is dodgy - very dependent on position, and liable to give out for no apparent reason (especially if you use battery power). This is why take-up of DAB has been so disappointing to the industry - it seemed like a must-have, until you actually bought a set. In the natural course of things, it would be heading rapidly for the technological graveyard, as the people who want such a diversity of channels are quite content to listen on the internet (internet radio is booming), while the people who just want reliable radio around the place tuned to Radio 4, or 3, or whatever, are definitely not served by DAB. If this goes ahead, radio listening is never going to be the same again. To the barricades! For Long Wave, Medium Wave and FM! Forward to the past! !
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I thought it was just me!
ReplyDeleteMy (stupidly expensive) DAB system is constantly cutting out and making strange grunting noises.
No wonder we haven't got the robots and flying cars we were promised if we can't even design a working radio system.
Yes, mine only works in one room in the house, and I only use it for Radio 4 or for the cricket anyway.
ReplyDeleteA big difference between TV and radio is that people don't want to channel surf with radio, and they listen to stations rather than programmes. So the value of a multiplicity of channels is greatly reduced.
Too right Joe - and the personal jetpack - when's that going to happen? By the way, there's a non-existent prize going for the first person who spots the musical reference in this post's title...
ReplyDeleteRoadrunner by the Modern Lovers?
ReplyDeleteSophie you are so right. I have it on 7" vinyl...
ReplyDeleteLet's go the whole hog. I demand the return of the Third Programme, the Light Programme and the Scottish Home Service. Ooh, and Radios Luxemburg and Caroline.
ReplyDeleteI shall celebrate with a cup of tea and a slice of non-existent cake.
ReplyDeleteHas the UK already made the switch to digital broadcast TV? We just made the switch here in the US and it's a complete fiasco - the digital broadcast only comes in if the signal is nearly perfect, and gives a blank screen otherwise. At least with analog if you didn't have a perfect signal, you'd still get a reasonable picture and sound, but with digital it's all or nothing. This change was forced down our throats by our wonderful government, and seems to benefit only the digital-conversion equipment and antenna manufacturers and cable TV companies, and certainly not viewers.
ReplyDeleteI expect the US will soon force digital radio conversion down our throats as well, at which point I'll probably stop listening to radio altogether.
TV here is in the process of switching, Pete - only a few pilot areas so far. As you say, the whole thing is a con - the UK government saw a chance of making big money by flogging off the analog wavebands. Ah well...
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