At least yous fullas have the option of DAB… which paired with AM “might” be a solution here in NZ.
Kordia & RNZ trialed DAB in Auckland and Wellington for about ten years, then quietly pulled the plug. Lack of demand, it seemed, from the public, and lack of interest by the broadcasters.
DAB is only available in the cities. If the ABC closes the entire Classic network then those of us in regional areas will be SOL
So it’s much the same as NZ, play to the metros, bugger anyone else!
I wonder if costs could be shared if ABC and RNZ merged their Classic offering into one super-station playing to both countries? Perhaps breaking out to play local talent (or even, heaven forbid, broadcasting local talent across both countries).
It wouldn’t solve the FM retention problem, but might help keep a solid base of announcers and support staff who know their violins from their violas… so that (in NZ’s case) siphoning money off it to float a youth station won’t have such a big impact on the quality of programming.
I suspect if they do put ABC Classic on AM/DAB in the metros they would leave it where it is in regional areas. If they put in online only which I doubt, they would likely out ABC Country on FM to replace Classic, in areas that already had Local on FM at least.
I think Tim Murphy is spot on here:
You break the news as “RNZ guts Concert radio as it plans appeal to youth” only if you’re looking to start an absolute shitstorm … mission accomplished!
and that station didnt lAST long…
I think there’s definitely an avenue for Concert to become a ‘RNZ Music’ station with a wider base of music to draw from while retaining the classical content.
BREAKING NEWS
RNZ will face legal action if it does not abandon its plans to gut the Concert programme. A legal challenge is being mounted by major orchestras throughout New Zealand to try save RNZ Concert.
The government is looking at opening the 102 fm band for concert
But seriously The government can’t dictate programming, staffing at RNZ
Solution increase the funding for RNZ
RNZ’s CEO has admitted the public broadcaster did not ask for an additional FM frequency for its proposed youth channel before going public with plans to take Concert off FM in favour of the new station.
Last week RNZ revealed its plans to transform Concert into an automated nonstop music station, which will stream online and play on AM radio.
The Prime Minister this week expressed her frustration with RNZ saying the broadcaster had been asked put its plans on hold to give the government a chance to look at alternatives but RNZ went public anyway, creating a backlash from Concert fans.
Now the government is looking at freeing up the 102FM frequency for the new youth channel - allowing Concert to stay on FM.
RNZ CEO Paul Thompson spoke to Lisa Owen from the Checkpoint programme.
seems to be a win/win for all concert gets to stay on fm and rnz get the new station they want
funny how it took government to act
“Miscommunication” eh… yeah right.
But wait what about the programming & presenters on concert I’m totally for it to be on fm
But seriously for the concert staff to be working still thinking have I still got a job must be very frustrating RNZ needs more funding obviously for concert to stay viable
It really doesn’t. It just needs to figure out what it wants to do. Can the silly youth idea and move to a wider music format with classical a key pillar.
rova recently introduced a new Music+ Station called rova Classical; it is dedicated to nothing but classical music as heard on RNZ Concert. Unlike Concert, it’s automated and it doesn’t feature any hosts.
Haha Good timing! Has a music+ station called ‘Big Rig Country Hits’ been added yet?
@nztv Nope. Not yet, anyway!
rova tends to have a genre for everything
Several days ago, @TV4 created a table detailing all of RNZ’s frequencies, including the “Reserved Youth Frequencies”.
Last week, RNZ announced a proposal to remove Concert from its FM frequencies and automate it, and use the FM frequency for a new youth station, but CEO Paul Thompson said he had met with staff in the music department this week to withdraw the proposal.
He said things have changed with the government now indicating it would support the youth music service similar to that of Australia’s Triple J and the UK’s BBC Radio 1, and, over the next month, RNZ will develop a new strategy for Concert aimed at improving its loyal audience. And it will also work with the government on the new service for young people.
The proposal and its timing 'frustrated Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and she said a plan would be drawn up to keep Concert running.
Here’s a full list of the 102FM frequencies (yet to be announced but based on the one posted by @TV4 earlier) - a spectrum for youth programming that has been shelved for the last 20 years.
It’s based 0.8MHz up on current RNZ National FM Frequencies, as per the NZ band plan, which is available on RSM’s website. I think I also posted a copy of the band plan here somewhere a little while ago too.
If you’re keen, go to www.rsm.govt.nz, look for their PIB’s… I can’t remember which one it’s on, but the table is in the appendices.
