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Absolute UK Shutting down AM

Kelly A said:
That's an assumption which isn't always the case. Many antenna ground systems have decayed over the years to the point where it's that much more ineffective to couple into marginal natural ground.
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Agreed.
Kelly A said:
Given the increased/increasing levels of terrestrial noise, and the reduced number of AM listeners, it's becoming more likely that an AM signal is no longer, if ever noticed. Playing long distances using skywave does a station no good if nobody is listening for it.
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The only place where AM remotely has an edge is in rural communities. Skywave might matter to those people. Everyone else has FM, Satellite, or Streaming.
Kelly A said:
When was the last time you had a hearing test?
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🤣
Kelly A said:
And listen to: "Conservative" talk radio...
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Unfortunately, that seems to be about the only option around here. I do listen to car related shows on those channels, and occasionally sports.
 
During the last few days, I have been listening to Absolute Radio on 1215 via several KiwiSDRs throughout Europe to determine how far the signal goes. I have been able to pick up Absolute Radio as far east as Finland (near Helsinki) and Czechia (Prague), and as far south as central Italy (Tuscany). Therefore, the signal covers most of Europe north of the 43rd parallel north and west of the 25th meridian east.

It is often said that a 50-kw clear-channel AM station in the US covers 38 states at night. Well, Absolute Radio’s skywave AM coverage in Europe is equivalent to a clear-channel AM station in Chicago using whatever amount of power Absolute Radio is using to cover 45 states, excluding the five Pacific states, at night.

Having said that, I must ask, did Absolute Radio really need to use that much power on its transmitters, especially in this age of digital radio? Of course, the international coverage is an unintended but inevitable result of broadcasting at such high power. After January 23, the few listeners of Absolute Radio on 1215 outside the UK will no longer listen to the station since its live stream is officially geoblocked in their locations. It remains to be seen whether or not Absolute Radio’s AM transmitters will have a future as part of a network of another broadcaster.
 
Marcos_C said:
During the last few days, I have been listening to Absolute Radio on 1215 via several KiwiSDRs throughout Europe to determine how far the signal goes. I have been able to pick up Absolute Radio as far east as Finland (near Helsinki) and Czechia (Prague), and as far south as central Italy (Tuscany). Therefore, the signal covers most of Europe north of the 43rd parallel north and west of the 25th meridian east.

It is often said that a 50-kw clear-channel AM station in the US covers 38 states at night. Well, Absolute Radio’s skywave AM coverage in Europe is equivalent to a clear-channel AM station in Chicago using whatever amount of power Absolute Radio is using to cover 45 states, excluding the five Pacific states, at night.

Having said that, I must ask, did Absolute Radio really need to use that much power on its transmitters, especially in this age of digital radio? Of course, the international coverage is an unintended but inevitable result of broadcasting at such high power. After January 23, the few listeners of Absolute Radio on 1215 outside the UK will no longer listen to the station since its live stream is officially geoblocked in their locations. It remains to be seen whether or not Absolute Radio’s AM transmitters will have a future as part of a network of another broadcaster.
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I'm listening to absolute Radio in the US right now, no VPN:

Listen Live Online to absolute - RadioFeeds UK & Ireland Search

Listen Live Online to absolute - RadioFeeds UK & Ireland Search
radiofeeds.co.uk

And you say all that power on 1215 and the relays? They used to run even more. theyre 62.5KW for some of them now.. they halved that about 2 years ago and were 125KW before
 
SomeRadioGuy said:
And you say all that power on 1215 and the relays? They used to run even more. theyre 62.5KW for some of them now.. they halved that about 2 years ago and were 125KW before
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That amount of power seems like massive overkill for covering a land mass the size of the UK. Was this necessary to overcome the noise floor in urban areas? Or was there a business case for blanketing continental Europe with a strong signal?
 
louis_p said:
That amount of power seems like massive overkill for covering a land mass the size of the UK. Was this necessary to overcome the noise floor in urban areas? Or was there a business case for blanketing continental Europe with a strong signal?
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The UK is about the size of Michigan.

So how many AMs does it take to cover all of Michigan? 50 kw WJR does not cover even 20% of the state's area; with double the power it would only increase by about another 5% of the state. You would need about 6 different 50 kw stations to moderately cover most of the state, with a few 5 to 10 kw stations in to give enough signal to cover adequately the noisy central zones of cities not big enough for their own local higher power transmitter.

Also take into consideration that the high frequencies, like 1215, don't cover well with any power level. Further, there are areas of the UK that have very bad ground conductivity. So even higher power transmitters don't cover well. As an example, 50 kw on 750 WSB in Atlanta, Ga, barely covers the Atlanta metro area and it would take 12 to 15 other stations to cover the whole state.

1,000,000 watt Radio Luxembourg in the 50's and 60's covered moderately well SE England from across the channel with a highly directional antenna radiating over 4 million watts towards the UK. It did not cover northern England or Ireland, the western zones like Liverpool, and Wales well at all.

When I was building my own stations in Ecuador, I figured that it would take 12 to 13 10 kw stations to cover just the coastal and Andean zones with no coverage at all of the eastern half of the nation. Ecuador is the size of Nevada.
 
louis_p said:
That amount of power seems like massive overkill for covering a land mass the size of the UK. Was this necessary to overcome the noise floor in urban areas? Or was there a business case for blanketing continental Europe with a strong signal?
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England's soil is incredibly clay-like and so it does not conduct signals well. 62.5 kw is surprisingly not overkill for that reason. Also, AM does not penetrate metal as much, and metal is common in downtown skyscrapers.
DavidEduardo said:
The UK is about the size of Michigan.

So how many AMs does it take to cover all of Michigan? 50 kw WJR does not cover even 20% of the state's area; with double the power it would only increase by about another 5% of the state. You would need about 6 different 50 kw stations to moderately cover most of the state, with a few 5 to 10 kw stations in to give enough signal to cover adequately the noisy central zones of cities not big enough for their own local higher power transmitter.

Also take into consideration that the high frequencies, like 1215, don't cover well with any power level. Further, there are areas of the UK that have very bad ground conductivity. So even higher power transmitters don't cover well. As an example, 50 kw on 750 WSB in Atlanta, Ga, barely covers the Atlanta metro area and it would take 12 to 15 other stations to cover the whole state.

1,000,000 watt Radio Luxembourg in the 50's and 60's covered moderately well SE England from across the channel with a highly directional antenna radiating over 4 million watts towards the UK. It did not cover northern England or Ireland, the western zones like Liverpool, and Wales well at all.

When I was building my own stations in Ecuador, I figured that it would take 12 to 13 10 kw stations to cover just the coastal and Andean zones with no coverage at all of the eastern half of the nation. Ecuador is the size of Nevada.
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100% this. Thank you for noting that 750 WSB and 760 WJR have vastly different coverage areas because Georgia ground lacks the conductivity of Michigan ground. Again, plains states have it good here, with 15+ mv/m being common in the Dakotas, whereas the UK does not have that "luxury"
 
I'm sitting here looking at Moorside Edge, one of the Absolute Radio high-power transmitters, over on the moors in the distance. It operates with 62.5kW on Absolute (1215), and according to official data it still operates with 400kW on both BBC Radio 5 Live (909) and Talk Sport (1089). It's so close to me that I can't detect a difference between the stations in terms of the S-meter on my radio.

One of the odder issues with the 1215 allocation in the UK is that it effectively operates as an SFN. The two other national AM networks operate on pairs of frequencies - 909/693 for the BBC, and 1089/1053 for Talk Sport, roughly in "stripes" across the country - this map from an old Radio Listener's Guide (via @DavidEduardo's site) gives a rough idea. 1215 has mush zones between its transmitters, hence all the smaller transmitters on 1242/1197 etc to provide services in these areas. It's always been the worst of the three national AM transmission networks, especially given its pop/rock music content.

It's certainly a hugely different reception environment to somewhere like the Great Plains, where 1kW on a frequency like 550 can carry across half a state of corn and not much else.
 
Update reported on DX forums: Last day for Absolute Radio on AM will be January 19, with a short tribute at 2350 UTC. Redirect announcements will air for several days after that.
 
Mediafrog+ said:
Update reported on DX forums: Last day for Absolute Radio on AM will be January 19, with a short tribute at 2350 UTC. Redirect announcements will air for several days after that.
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January 19 is a Thursday. That means that the coming weekend will be the last one for Absolute Radio on the AM dial.
 
Just checking the ratings for the UK market: RAJAR

I'm surprised that the share for Absolute is so low (below Jack, Smooth, Heart, and Rock FM). I'm not familiar with how ratings work in the UK. I assume that, like the 6+ numbers publicly available in the US markets, these don't tell the full story.
 
louis_p said:
Just checking the ratings for the UK market: RAJAR

I'm surprised that the share for Absolute is so low (below Jack, Smooth, Heart, and Rock FM). I'm not familiar with how ratings work in the UK. I assume that, like the 6+ numbers publicly available in the US markets, these don't tell the full story.
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Smooth and Heart are both national networks and are more popular than Absolute - Smooth is a Soft AC, Heart is a Hot AC.

Jack and Rock FM are both fairly small local stations, Rock FM being (of course?!) a CHR. You can't really compare a national station's share across the country to a local station's share in its area. The UK market is incredibly competitive with 60+ DAB stations across the country as well as numerous local choices in various areas.
 
Absolute Radio AM no longer has any commercials - all the breaks have been replaced with messaging telling listeners to retune to digital platforms such as DAB, apps and smart speakers. The remainder of each break is replaced with a song that has some connection to radio until programming cuts back in - they have played Spirit of Radio by Rush, Radio Number One by Air, Radio Song by REM among others, someone having a bit of fun with the song choices.

Surprised not to have heard AM Radio by Everclear as yet!
 
Miss Tuned said:
Absolute Radio AM no longer has any commercials - all the breaks have been replaced with messaging telling listeners to retune to digital platforms such as DAB, apps and smart speakers. The remainder of each break is replaced with a song that has some connection to radio until programming cuts back in - they have played Spirit of Radio by Rush, Radio Number One by Air, Radio Song by REM among others, someone having a bit of fun with the song choices.

Surprised not to have heard AM Radio by Everclear as yet!
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Since it's daytime in Western Europe, I have been listening to Absolute Radio on 1215 via a KiwiSDR that is based near London. I have noticed that during each break, they play two versions of the same message, each read by a different person. During last two station breaks, they played the first minute of "Atmospherics: Listen to the Radio" by Tom Robinson. The fact that they play the same message twice during the break rather than give more time to the song about the radio underscores how important it is for people to find another way to listen to Absolute Radio.
 
Marcos_C said:
Since it's daytime in Western Europe, I have been listening to Absolute Radio on 1215 via a KiwiSDR that is based near London. I have noticed that during each break, they play two versions of the same message, each read by a different person. During last two station breaks, they played the first minute of "Atmospherics: Listen to the Radio" by Tom Robinson. The fact that they play the same message twice during the break rather than give more time to the song about the radio underscores how important it is for people to find another way to listen to Absolute Radio.
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It's also notable that FM distribution of Absolute has been cut back and it is now a digital-only service. The owners, Bauer, flipped the very long-running London 105.8 FM signal to one of their other stations, a Classic Hits format called Greatest Hits Radio in 2021. There was previously another FM signal carrying Absolute in Birmingham, which also now runs the Greatest Hits format IIRC.
 
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