Likewise, although I sometimes have Smooth, WS or 2DayFM on.
A lot of people on this forum don’t realise how fortunate we are to have the choice in formats that DAB provides. It has been a boon for the entire radio industry.
Compare it to NZ that stuck with FM, their industry is a duopoly, it’s stuck in the past with boring playlists and no competition, no new entrants and no government youth stations like JJJ or Double J.
I’ve only recently shifted to DAB as I lived in regional on and off for years and haven’t had access to it. The stations I listen to put no effort into promoting it unfortunately - general promos and jingles only advertise the frequency with no mention of DAB at all.
I’ve come across many everyday people who have no knowledge of what DAB is though - even if it’s in their car. FM is the default for many still.
Used DAB for the first time a few days ago when I was in the car with my dad. He was listening to SEN Track for the horse racing, we were driving in the city so of course the tram lines were interfering very heavily with the signal since it was an AM station. I switched it over to DAB and tuned into the station. Sound was crystal clear and no interference whatsoever. I noticed just how many stations there were as well which was genuinely impressive.
DAB is an excellent way to listen to radio, but stations would rather promote their app than their DAB station. FM is the default and probably always will be.
For an AM station, the difference is night and day. For FM, the differences are minimal for the average person. Most people aren’t going to switch when they have no problem with FM.
I’m a bit miffed that the 2015 car i bought a couple of years ago still only had AM/FM. I thought it would have had DAB at least.
For me the low bit rate and poor quality sound is the reason I don’t listen to dab+
32,48, and 64kbps sounds below fm quality.
However ABC’s Classic fm sounds really good at 120kbps, it actually sounds better then their fm station.
If all dab+ stations broadcasted at 120kbps I would listen to dab+ only, if Canberra, Wollongong, Central Coast, and Newcastle stations were all broadcasted on dab+ at very high powers it would then become my choice for dxing. If I listened to Am talkback I would listen to dab+
But at present fm offers better sound quality and dxing opportunities that dab+ does not provide so I stick with fm.
Nova and Smooth are probably the exceptions here. Nova sounds better on DAB in Sydney than on FM IMO, on 48 kpbs.
Some of SCA’s DAB stations have good sound quality on 32kbps too. 2UE is also good on 72 kbps.
I’d take NZ radio over Australian radio.
Our model just means you have Nova, SCA and ARN all copying eachother’s formats - just on DAB instead of FM. Smooth and Buddha, The Edge and R&B Fridays, KIIS 90s and Oldskool90s, Gold 80s and Triple M 80s and Easy 80s…
I suppose we have an interesting test with Mike E and Emma - if they can make a sizable score in the ratings - or they just want the podcast listens and keeping them warm to fill the 2Day seat.
I’d argue the opposite is true. The NZ market is dominated by 2 large companies and the playlists are awful and very similar i.e ZM and The Edge or More FM and The Hits.
2Day FM is very different than Nova or KIIS and it’s also different to WS and Smooth. Even Nova and KIIS, have quite different playlists. You then have 6 distinct commercial FM stations plus Triple J and ABC Classic, in Sydney. It’s a similar story in Melbourne.
The DAB stations are also very different- Buddha was similar to Koffee but is nothing like Smooth Relax, Smooth 80s, Smooth 90s or Smooth FM. The Edge and R&B Fridays are also very different as The Edge plays dance and more mainstream R&B. Nova 10s, Noughties, Throwbacks are all unique, so are Triple M’s suite of stations. ACE radio’s stations also sounds very different than Smooth or WS.
The 90s and 80s stations have a fair bit of overlap but they each have a distinct sound, unlike NZ radio where the same songs are played on both NZME and Mediaworks’ stations and there is not much differentiation between them.
If you include ACE, Australia has at least 6 major radio operators, plus the ABC, and also SBS - plus the best community radio industry in the world. NZ has 2 major commercial operators, a religious network , Niu FM (R&B) and the Concert FM/ Radio NZ from the govt. All the other independents have been bought out by Mediaworks and NZME.
Australia has loads more choice and far better playlists than NZ does. I couldn’t believe how boring and dull the playlists were when I was last over there. The NZ govt is not interested in launching a JJJ style youth station, which is a real shame. Channel Z was the closest NZ got to JJJ but that was closed down many years ago by Mediaworks.
Lol right.
The NZ market that has a mainstream EDM/DnB station that rates very well in its target market and demo, two ‘urban’/RnB formats (one the top music station in its target region), along with the regular music formats, rock and dad-rock stations. Adding to that, the ZM and Edge (CHR stations) tend to adapt more local and alternative artists than usual stations of that variety.
I’m not saying NZ radio is perfect but I do dispute some of your points.
It’s also not the job of the government to be spending money on ‘youth stations’ that are well catered for elsewhere.
NZ was never going to be a DAB country. Streaming made a lot more sense for a market like New Zealand for a variety of reasons.
Everything is networked nationwide basically, much like the UK’s god awful radio industry. No thanks.
I much prefer Dance Hits to George, even streaming Kisstory or Heart Dance from the UK is a better option. George hardly rates outside Auckland anyway (less then 1%).
Flava is not too bad, as they are playing more OldSkool R&B these days, but The Edge, R&B Fridays sounds better IMO. Niu is good though although I’m surprised that it hasn’t been swallowed up by Mediaworks.
They used to be good, but have fallen way behind with terrible playlists IMO. I was listening to More FM recently and it was dreadful. The soft rock playlist was so stale, very disappointing.
They sound so similar and so safe, nothing like KIIS or even Nova’s suite of stations, or even 2Day FM.
I completely disagree with you here. Alternative stations like JJJ and Double J would not be possible from a commercial player, so there definitely is a role for government to fill a niche. Ditto ABC Jazz, Classic, Country and Sport. SBS also do a great job with SBS Chill and the diverse Asian/Indian music and talk formats, which wouldn’t happen in the commercial sector.
Agreed. It’s awful. You can literally switch from an NZME station to a Mediaworks one and they sound nearly identical (and bad).
Except the UK has the BBC and some excellent DAB stations like Kisstory, MiSoul, Heart Dance, Virgin Groove and Magic Soul to name a few.
It’s absolutely true. I reckon probably 3/4 of people you ask have no clue what DAB is. It’s a real shame because the variety of formats and better listening experience of AM stations is something people should be aware of. Not to mention the DAB-only stations have generally far fewer ads than FM.
The education campaign has missed the mark. For a start there are SO many cars out there with DAB and the drivers wouldn’t know. A good start would be to actually ask people to check and see if they’ve got DAB and actually press the button!
They should have sold it as what was once AM/FM is now AM/FM/DAB.
The problem here is that now there’s no incentive for broadcasters to do that. Adding “Listnr” to your phone or to a CarPlay/Android Auto capable headunit is far more valuable.
Both in that streaming gives them the user data and targeted advertising/demographic information, but also it increases the barriers. If I run iHeart or Listnr, then I’m locked out of the competitor’s programming. If you promote DAB listening, you’re a station flip away from the competition.
Obviously will be very interesting again with SCA trying this with a proven base - obviously there’d be part of the audience that listened to The Edge on DAB already where they’ll already be used to the platform, but those who were on 96.1 will just think they’ve vanished - the weird station name will just make a lot of people think that they are just Fridays only on 2Day, but can’t imagine any of the audience will stick around.
I agree. The overwhelming majority of my circle of friends and family have no idea what DAB is and the ones that do are technically minded anyway and the sole non-technically minded one that is interested in DAB lives outside the reception area anyway but commutes by car into a metropolitan area with DAB reception for which he chose his latest car by the fact it had a DAB radio!
This is a shame because if the choice offered by DAB was known by a larger proportion of the populous the increase in listenership and TSL would offset any promotional costs.
The misses is a fan of Mike E & Emma but doesn’t follow their socials. If it were not for the fact I told her about their new gig after reading it on here she would be completely oblivious to their new show. It’s a moot point anyway as we don’t have DAB in the car during the morning commute and can’t be bothered Bluetooth’ing it during the short drive.
Look how little promotion Steve Price’s show gets outside the regional stations.
I think you’re right. From a consumer standpoint I think most people will skip DAB and go to their station app or Radioapp. There’s more variety, it’s more portable and you don’t have to buy any hardware.
For networks, it reduces reliance on broadcast spectrum and, as pointed out, provides better data and acts to block other networks out.
No doubt this is why they are promoting Listnr, Nova/Smooth player and iHeart over their DAB channels. Plus they can add pre-roll on their players for extra revenue.
I’d like to see Listnr on Sonos as a native integration like iHeartradio is. It can be Airplay’ed but as an alternative.
i know in my case, i have a car with DAB, android auto / carplay and if i end up with an audio app without carplay compatibility it doesnt get used. the only time i really listen (as opposed to background music or audio) is during my commute. Honestly if you have a radio station app and don’t have carplayt / android auto integration - fire the developer. its just as vital as a play button.
I know this started out talking about Mike E and Emma, but I think this convo should be moved to this forum - Digital Radio - Content, or this forum - Digital Radio - Technical
I’m sure Danny Lakey and Erin Molan would have something to say about that!