Manx Radio = White Elephant?

[parchedpeas]

Compression is not the word, Processing is more the correct term when talking about final output of a broadcast.

 

Some BBC stations use processing, the BBC stations that are mainly speech Don't use processing for the simple fact that a processor would bring up background noise hurrendously, so much so you would think they were live from the runway at Heathrow.

 

Compressors are in now way a bad thing, a good one which is what you would expect most stations to have looks at five different bands of it's input whether it be analogue or digital and optimizes the whole graphic range to whatever shape you desire by equalization, stereo enhancement, multiband compression, Automatic gain control, low-intermod peak limiting, composite limiting and stereo encoding.

 

It all depends what type of station you are, a 50/50 music-speech mix would generally have very light processing with a preset tailored to country music.

 

I bet you wank over the maplin catalog don't you

[Deejay Denzel]

No but what page has pleasured you?

[copycat]

Also, the fact that Manx Radio is owned by the Manx people and administered by the Manx Government means that - unlike the other two local stations - it's run for the community rather than for shareholders. If MR stopped taking adverts and was completely state-funded it would risk losing its impartiality, and the other stations would be under NO obligation to do more local programming.

 

...so it is is it??? maybe that explains why there is never any deep and meaningful journalistic probing of matters Government don't want people to know about...

[Juan Kerr]

Manx Radio needs to re position itself because it does not even know what it does itself.

 

Its "Britains first commercial radio station" but it isn't a commercial radio station as it can't make a profit and hasn't for years

 

Its "The Islands favorite station" but numbers never quite seem to stack up.

 

Its a "public service broadcaster" but that only seems to be because it chooses to cover politics and local issues in return for bucket loads of taxpayer funding

 

and that moves me on to "political coverage" which tends to have no value as its toothless and gutless so why bother

 

Its one very confused station.

 

It used to be brilliant when it was on 219 MW, all Smashie and Nicey when that sort of stuff was popular.

[Roger Smelly]

Well said juan

 

I think we all agree that manx radio was great years ago but the trouble is they tried to fix a winning format and now we can see what's left.

 

A mish mash of programs that have very little value to people, its like they are thinking that they can do what ever they feel like and the public can listen or p*ss off and listen to 3fm or energyfm.

 

I myself have found myself tuning into both those stations during the day but mainly i like BBC Radio 2.

 

I know manx radio have tried to model there format on that but have failed in my view.

 

There is only one program that i did enjoy listening to when i get chance and that is Stu's.

 

I think Stu is the only true asset they have at the moment.

 

I would rather see government money going to all 3 rather than just one

[Freggyragh]

The BBC have let us down for a long time, it might be worth waiting to see what the new journos can do. I pay for Sky so I can get the Gaelic radio stations, and the Gaelic TV programmes on BBC Scotland and BBC NI. That, as well as my license fee adds up to quite a lot. 11 quid is buttons compared to that. If Resident Radio upped their Manx content - particularly their music content - then I would be completely happy. There are loads of good musicians here - in all genres. Money paid to them stays here.

 

Another point about the BBC. I worked for them once, in the sports department, and British (UK) Intelligence vet all the producers. Its a long time since I was there, but the Birt affair suggests that it is still controlled by the UK establishment. It would be good to have something for our licence fee, but do we really want the UK to control our own radio station? Manx Radio, with all its faults, is our station.

[Gladys]

Agreed. But I think the point of posters above is for part of the BBC licence to be rebated to the IOM government for MR. If that could be negotiated, I would be very happy. It all comes down to the basis on which we, collectively not individually, are paying the licence fee (yet again) and no one had provided a definitive answer on that one.

[Roger Smelly]

Freggyragh i know the isle of man likes to keep everything manx but why ?

 

At the end of the day you watch BBC TV programs that are made all over the world and nobody bats an eye lid but take away our manx radio and they will be rioting in the street lol.

 

Look the current system isnt working if it was Manx radio would not need more and more money every year to survive.

 

The whole argument i have is the paying twice for something that could be covered by the fee the BBC already extract which is £3 million pounds.

 

BBC Radio is one of the best providers in the world so why not have a station will such a massive customer base.

 

It would help in putting the isle of man on the map also.

 

Also with the amount of clout the BBC has it can only be a win win situation, time to get rid of a few Ego's up on the hill.

 

P.s Stu i exclude you from the EGO's

[manxmedia]

It is well known that the MR controllers has not really kept their eyes on the ball, and this has been the case for some time.

"Don't upset the pay master" is the main concern.

When did you last hear a really good, factual, item knocking the government in any way?

As reported here many times, Manx Radio said years ago that they where going to set the news agenda. But since David Callister went part time its just not happened.

[MrsTrellisfromNorthWales]

Compare Manx Radio to local BBC stations, and it comes out fantastically. A 31.4 per cent market share, compared with BBC Radio Manchester's 6.3, Lancashire's 11.7 per cent, Cumbria's 17.3 per cent and London's 1.4 per cent.

 

Its reach - i.e. the percentage of people who listen at some time during the week - is great too. 59 per cent.

 

http://www.mediauk.com/radio/rajar/265/manx-radio

 

Manx Radio:

TSA: This radio station broadcasts to a survey area of 65,000 adults (aged 15+).

Reach: It is listened to by 38,000 people (59%) each week.

Hours: Each listener tunes in for 13.3 hours per week - a total of 509,000.

Share: In its area, it has a 31.4% market share

 

BBC Radio Manchester:

TSA: This radio station broadcasts to a survey area of 2,076,000 adults (aged 15+).

Reach: It is listened to by 248,000 people (12%) each week.

Hours: Each listener tunes in for 9.7 hours per week - a total of 2,406,000.

Share: In its area, it has a 6.3% market share.

 

BBC Radio Lancashire:

TSA: This radio station broadcasts to a survey area of 1,135,000 adults (aged 15+).

Reach: It is listened to by 246,000 people (22%) each week.

Hours: Each listener tunes in for 10.8 hours per week - a total of 2,663,000.

Share: In its area, it has a 11.7% market share.

 

BBC Radio Cumbria:

TSA: This radio station broadcasts to a survey area of 395,000 adults (aged 15+).

Reach: It is listened to by 130,000 people (33%) each week.

Hours: Each listener tunes in for 10.9 hours per week - a total of 1,410,000.

Share: In its area, it has a 17.3% market share.

 

BBC London:

TSA: This radio station broadcasts to a survey area of 10,585,000 adults (aged 15+).

Reach: It is listened to by 494,000 people (5%) each week.

Hours: Each listener tunes in for 5.9 hours per week - a total of 2,940,000.

Share: In its area, it has a 1.4% market share.

 

 

It's good compared with more comparable areas:

 

BBC Radio Guernsey:

TSA: This radio station broadcasts to a survey area of 50,000 adults (aged 15+).

Reach: It is listened to by 19,000 people (38%) each week.

Hours: Each listener tunes in for 12.8 hours per week - a total of 239,000.

Share: In its area, it has a 28.7% market share.

 

BBC Radio Jersey:

TSA: This radio station broadcasts to a survey area of 73,000 adults (aged 15+).

Reach: It is listened to by 30,000 people (41%) each week.

Hours: Each listener tunes in for 11.2 hours per week - a total of 334,000.

Share: In its area, it has a 22.6% market share.

[Biker]

The only trouble is the audience figures are from RAJAR which on the Isle of Man has a disproportionate level of old people, i.e. the retired population that has the time to fill in the diary that RAJAR require. Therefore the listening figures are not reliable as they do not have a realistic spread of ages.

[molly]

I may be wrong here but dont you get a little bit of TV for the price of the TV licence?

 

I could understand getting pissed off if you had to pay £110.00 or whatever it is just to get radio and nothing else.

[Roger Smelly]

Molly what we are trying to say is for the £110 per household the BBC get a small share of it should go to Manx Radio instead of the tax payer having to pay for it.

 

That money £1 million or so per year could be spent on something that needs the money, what alan bell and eddie teare are trying to say to people is that we need to run on budget and no over spending because the 1% VAT from the UK we get every year could change.

 

the 1% works out about £680 million a year, when you put it in terms of what the government costs it isnt that much.

 

The government spending is around £400+ million a year so there is only £280 million or so left for the likes of manx radio and what ever improvements or projects are needed.

 

so if the VAT deal changes to say 0.5% the government would only get £340 million a year.

 

Sorry for going of the subject a bit but you can sort of see why the government needs to cut back of some things.

 

Gordon Brown hates tax heavens so if he get's into power he might want to stir it up.

[scrumptious]

The only trouble is the audience figures are from RAJAR which on the Isle of Man has a disproportionate level of old people, i.e. the retired population that has the time to fill in the diary that RAJAR require. Therefore the listening figures are not reliable as they do not have a realistic spread of ages.

 

 

That's only true...ish - but that's not a Manx problem, it's the same the UK over so at least every station that subscribes to RAJAR (which any decent station does) has the same problem.

 

Rajar address this by weighting the results according to the numbers of diaries in each age demographic surveyed, so it's more accurate than you think. Still not the ideal situation admittedly, but nevertheless, it's the same for everyone.

 

Rajar has it's faults, but at least it's a problem that affects every station. Large ad agencies use the audience figures to sell National airtime on a cost per thousand people basis, so if you don't subscribe to Rajar, you get little or no National money. A one or two % audience drop for a big city station is instantly mirrored by a drop in revenue. The local stations won't be as affected by this though, they're probably at least 90% locally sold, I know two of them are signed to National Sales houses across though.

[Dr Gonzo]

...so it is is it??? maybe that explains why there is never any deep and meaningful journalistic probing of matters Government don't want people to know about...

 

Yeah like the MEA, or the Mount Murray, of the Childcare Inquiry, or the bugging scandal, or... oh, wait. The government didn't want those covered and yet - as if by magic - you know about them.