media.info - feed of all Willie Bone's posts

Whatever Happened To Our Radio Forumites?

Fri, 19 Aug 2016 07:16:34 +0000

If they were verbal discussions, it would have the spark effect with cut and thrust of many a prime minister's question time!
What has happened to our media forum gurus including Art Grainger, Ian Beaumont and Matt Deegan, amongst others?
Their loss is almost as regrettable as the demise of the old Radio Netherlands media site 'Media Network Weblog', and that's saying something!

Come back forumites, all is forgiven! Kind Regards..Willie Bone

OFCOM Censuring Russia Today (RT), Did The Regulator Overreact?

Wed, 6 Jul 2016 14:29:20 +0000

We are used to all kinds of media with a political agenda, whether its newspapers, radio or television in the UK. The latter is relatively recent in the multichannel digital age.
The UK audience could be considered long in the tooth with the potential to discern whether a news source is well belanced with the intention of being impartial or not!
We well respect the BBC, ITN and Sky, feeding us with reliable news information for most of the time!

The UK consumer also has an appetite for news sources, considered to have a right wing or left wing agenda! During the cold war, the UK was bombarded with political propaganda radio stations with a public service remit to inform,educate and entertain ''the masses'' under a banner called ''the revolutionary arts of socialist realism''. These public broadcasters from the east, generously funded propaganda output on their external radio services back in the 1960s to 80s era.
You could also pick up communist newpapers at most major newsagents in Scotland including the Soviet Weekly and the Morning Star.

Back to the modern digital television age, Russia Today (RT HD) is a news channel with an unsurprising Russian Federation perspective on output. It will inform and discuss topics with a Russian spin on things, tolerating minor criticism against Russia, but going full throttle with criticism against the west!
A fundamental addition to RT and other external broadcasters is the devolved status of output, including studios in selected major cities. So RT and Radio Sputnik have become external broadcasters with a live feed within several countries which have their respective rules on broadcast regulation.

If the current Communications Act in the UK tolerate newpapers of every political perspective, allowing newagents to censor out features they do not wish to print, but on the other hand, OFCOM do not tolerate radio and television of doing the same; the communications act should be reviewed and modified, accordingly!

Look forward to your feedback......

The UK AM Stereo Experiment, Why was it jettisoned

Fri, 12 Feb 2016 07:41:03 +0000

By the start of the 1990s, the Independent Broadcasting Authority supervised the frequency splits on most Independent Local Radio stations with separate programming on AM and FM in each ILR area.
The IBA realised there was a mini renaissance to medium wave listening at that time and started experimenting with AM stereo using the Motorola format.
Judging by the old IBA Engineering announcement about its prototype AM stereo transmission at Foxall Heath, the regulator was over the moon about its results. The IBA then wanted to roll out the AM stereo service in designated areas within the UK!

The question is, why was the AM stereo proposal jettisoned by the government of the day?

Radio Portals Lists Variations..

Mon, 15 Jun 2015 13:39:48 +0000

I have internet radio tuners which interface with two separate radio portals, one being Reciva and the other Frontier-Silicon.
The selected stations lists on each portal are similar for the main broadcasting stations for home and abroad, but dissimilar for the lesser known services. One example is the list of Abacus music stations listed on the Frontier-Silicon portal, with not even one Abacus service listed on Reciva. Why are the lists different?

Radio North 846 AM Mystery

Wed, 22 Apr 2015 22:18:46 +0000

There is a ''border blaster'' station called Radio North 846 AM, sited in Ballyargus, County Donegal in the Republic Of Ireland. The primary marketing area for Radio North 846AM is next door County Derry in Northern Ireland, but the signal can be picked up in coastal towns in south west Scotland.

What got my attention about Radio North is the pleasing accoustics of its AM output which could be considered larger than life for a medium wave station!

Question 1: Is Radio North 846AM using an American transmitter, thus giving greater bandwidth? ( Ireland occasionaly permits AM stereo on low power.)

Question 2: I was informed Radio North 846AM is actually a pirate station, so why is it allowed to broadcast outside of the law?

Your correspondence will be appreciated...