I can only think that maybe the 88 means you have a lot of people trying to get a ‘lucky’ number - so many 04xx 882 882 might be taken. But I’d be shocked if all of them would be, and even then 04xx 422 882 (for 04xx 4BC 882) would be a smarter alternative to what they went with.
Nearly every radio station with a text line has a bad number, they are just too long to memorise and unless you’re sitting there with a pen you’ve got no chance of writing it down. Indeed I’m writing a comment on 4BC’s number and while I can remember it started 0499, and finished 882, I’ve already forgotten exactly what the middle set of numbers was.
I suspect the frequency change for 4BC is also about dial positioning (as well as better coverage on 882). They are now next to Radio National on the Brisbane AM dial, so are probably hoping to pick up ABC listeners.
I’ve heard a couple of people now in other forums say that 4BH sounds better on 1116 than it did on 882, can anyone in Brisbane confirm that, guess the other question that needs asking is, does 4BC sound worse on 882 than it did on 1116?
One said both reception & audio quality, other said audio quality, it was discussed whether they were using different processing now, or if it was something else, a few mentioned they were hoping it’d be in AM stereo now too.
I found before and after the switch 882 had a softer more gentle sound where as 1116 has a punchier louder sound
On DAB 4BH used to sound really good then about 6 months ago it became flat and bland. Certainly notice the difference on DAB between KQ and BH.
As for coverage the 882 signal is much better at night time. I was driving around Corinda and out west as far as Rosewood last weekend and the 882 signal won hands down. I’m not sure what they’ve done to the 1116 signal but I don’t remember coverage being so bad. Could they have cranked up 882 a bit more?
I’ll check it out but yes I agree about the big difference between KQ and BH on DAB. I reckon KQ is probably the best sounding station on DAB in Brisbane.
Listening on my trusty walkman while out walking I find 4BH on 1116 sounds as good as, if not better than 882. But I’m in the inner eastern suburbs.
I too was secretly hoping they might flick the stereo back on - we know the 1116 transmitter is capable of it, and there’s more reason now they’re playing music again. I do agree it sounds pretty good still though, much better than 693 does with music. Just wish for a bit wider audio bandwidth to please those of us with wideband receivers - they still exist out there!
not that ACMA would ever do anything about it, but where does it stand where one company can just “lease” a station from another operator to essentially control it but not have ownership?
Not that familiar with Ace’s music current format. Do you think they tailor the format for each city? Given they have 3mp which would be in competition with Magic.
Good question @TelevisionAU. I don’t think they would be allowed to go talkback. I am sure the stations must be music stations.
ARN, Nova, SCA all program competing music stations. ACE hopefully will find a way to form complementary programming between the two stations rather than have them compete. The question is then do they tailor Magic separately to 4BH and 2UE, because a one-size-fits-all between all three might not work?