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<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Calibri>Yes, it's more than double our turnover. And
considerably more than doble the turnover of our nearest neighbour
station.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Calibri></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Calibri>Alex</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT: 10pt arial; BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=peter@engineeringradio.co.uk
href="mailto:peter@engineeringradio.co.uk">Peter Symonds</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=info@a-bc.co.uk
href="mailto:info@a-bc.co.uk">Associated Broadcast Consultants</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Cc:</B> <A title=james@cridland.net
href="mailto:james@cridland.net">James Cridland</A> ; <A
title=cma-l@mailman.commedia.org.uk
href="mailto:cma-l@mailman.commedia.org.uk">The Community Media Association
Discussion List</A> ; <A title=tlr@gairloch.co.uk
href="mailto:tlr@gairloch.co.uk">tlr</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Monday, May 18, 2015 3:57 PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [cma-l] DAB Radio</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr>A few community stations I know of are running on a yearly budget
a lot less than it costs to fund a slot on A regional DAB MUX. Hence you would
be asking them to double (or even more) their budget.
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>Pete</DIV></DIV>
<DIV class=gmail_extra><BR>
<DIV class=gmail_quote>On 18 May 2015 at 15:26, Associated Broadcast
Consultants <SPAN dir=ltr><<A href="mailto:info@a-bc.co.uk"
target=_blank>info@a-bc.co.uk</A>></SPAN> wrote:<BR>
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<DIV dir=ltr>An extra thing I forgot to say is that with Small Scale DAB
you'd instantly avail of the user-friendly tuning and station awareness
functionality of DAB on users radio sets - especially if your station is
called something like !Aardvark FM! That would be worth quite a lot
in itself.
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>Glyn</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV></DIV>
<DIV class=HOEnZb>
<DIV class=h5>
<DIV class=gmail_extra><BR>
<DIV class=gmail_quote>On 18 May 2015 at 15:17, Associated Broadcast
Consultants <SPAN dir=ltr><<A href="mailto:info@a-bc.co.uk"
target=_blank>info@a-bc.co.uk</A>></SPAN> wrote:<BR>
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<DIV dir=ltr>
<DIV>Shame - I was all ready to jack-in the day job and take-up a £70-80k
a year community radio job ;-)</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>I wouldn't write-off Small Scale DAB so readily. Yes,
the maximum power for the trials is a fraction of what the incumbents use,
but it could still provide useful coverage at a "local radio" level.
Take for example the map on <A href="http://a-bc.co.uk/dab-coverage-maps/"
target=_blank>this page</A> that shows coverage from a 50w Small Scale DAB
transmitter on a tall building in the town centre of Swindon - using
standard Ofcom levels. Other DAB coverage map suppliers are
available.
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>Of course the incumbent mux in the area (which uses 3 transmitters,
probably all with much higher power) covers a <A
href="http://www.localdigitalradio.co.uk/SwindonTX.png"
target=_blank>larger area</A>, but I've spoken to many a station manager
who is more interested in density of coverage in the populated area than
"covering sheep" (their words).</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>An additional consideration for Community radio is that generally
(I'm not saying always) it is easier for them to raise funds for "one-off"
capital investments (eg: purchase of a transmission chain) than to raise
funds for an ongoing (and relatively high) ongoing operational cost like
leasing capacity from an incumbent Mux. It's to do with the way
grants-giving bodies typically operate. Yes yes, maybe they could
capitalise on bigger revenue from a bigger coverage area, but that is a
risky game to play - if it were that easy all the incumbent Muxes would be
full to capacity.<BR></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>Horses for courses I say. If SSD muxes are licenced it can only
be a good thing because it widens choice for smaller stations, which will
widen listener choice (Ian will like that quote!)</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>Glyn</DIV><SPAN>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>-- <BR>
<DIV>Glyn Roylance - Principal Consultant
<DIV><A href="http://www.a-bc.co.uk/" target=_blank>Associated Broadcast
Consultants</A></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV></DIV></DIV></SPAN><SPAN>
<DIV class=gmail_extra><BR>
<DIV class=gmail_quote>On 18 May 2015 at 14:52, James Cridland <SPAN
dir=ltr><<A href="mailto:james@cridland.net"
target=_blank>james@cridland.net</A>></SPAN> wrote:<BR>
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<DIV dir=ltr>For clarification, cost of someone's salary is the cost to
the business, not the equivalent money that person earns. For new
employees, I've always doubled the salary as the total cost to the
business for that employee, and am assuming the same here.<BR><BR><SPAN
style="LINE-HEIGHT: 19px; FONT-SIZE: 13px">But yes, DAB's expensive.
Small-scale DAB might not be as pricey; but with the sort of
transmission coverage levels being talked about, it also sounds as if
small-scale DAB will be mostly un-listenable anyway, remembering that
DAB doesn't degrade gracefully into hiss but instead squelches into
abrupt silence.</SPAN>
<DIV><BR>The question is - could being on DAB earn you enough money as a
business to cover the cost? DAB would give you much more broadcast area,
and wouldn't have any restrictions on advertising (assuming you were to
split your output somehow). Would you think of yourself as an FM station
with a DAB addition, or a DAB station with a cheap FM marketing
opportunity? Would you use FM to do worthy community broadcasting and
training, and your DAB to produce something that is less self-indulgent
and more consistent to listen to, using the same resources and same
studios? Great broadcasters graduate from FM to DAB only when
ready?</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>There's an opportunity here if you'd like to take it. Depending on
why you're in this game, this glass is half-full from where I see
it.</DIV></DIV><SPAN><FONT color=#888888>
<DIV><BR></DIV></FONT></SPAN></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV></DIV></SPAN></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV><BR><BR
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<DIV><BR></DIV>-- <BR>
<DIV>Glyn Roylance - Principal Consultant
<DIV>
<DIV><A href="http://www.a-bc.co.uk/" target=_blank>Associated Broadcast
Consultants</A></DIV></DIV>
<DIV><A href="http://www.a-bc.co.uk/index.html"
target=_blank></A> </DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV><BR></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>