talkSPORT in the UK to close 7 AM transmitters on the Medium Wave band

It was recently announced that OFCOM, the UK regulator has given permission to talkSPORT to close down 7 of its 18 AM transmitters on the Medium Wave band. It is claimed that the move will reduce its national AM radio coverage from 92% to 88.9% of the UK adult population. 

The reasons given by talkSPORT for these changes include declining listenership to its AM service as people turn to alternative platforms, considered against the ongoing viability of each transmitter site.

The transmitter sites talkSPORT will close are...

1053 kHz - Stockton (Durham/North Yorkshire)(1kw), Southwick/Brighton (West Sussex)(2kw), Rusthall (Tunbridge Wells)(4kw)

1071 kHz - Clipstone (Nottinghamshire)(1kw)

1089 kHz - Lisnagarvey (nr Belfast)(13kw)

1107 kHz - Duxhurst (Surrey)(1kw), Lydd (Kent)(2kw)

As can be seen from the list above, the stations are relatively low power for an AM transmitter with levels of about 1 to 4 kw. The highest power transmitter is the 13kW output from Lisnagarvey near Belfast.

The remaining 11 transmitters will continue to transmit on 1053, 1071, 1089 & 1107 kHz. Some of these run in the region of 80 to 130 kilowatts so it's likely that most listeners in the UK won't notice any difference when the seven listed transmitters above are turned off.

A timeline for the closures wasn't given but it seems likely that it will be done after an appropriate warning to listeners.

The trend of closing down AM transmitters continues as more and more people opt to listen to radio stations via FM and DAB or online by using Smartspeakers or phone apps.

Absolute Radio to turn off its medium wave transmitters - Jan 2023

On the 4th of January 2023, Absolute Radio announced that they were switching off their network of medium wave transmitters. It is expected to happen on the 23rd of January 2023.

Virgin Radio was launched as an AM only network back in 1993 and it was rebranded as Absolute Radio in 2008. 

While they have closed down a few AM relays in recent years, the January 2023 shutdown is a huge change. I counted no fewer than 20 transmitters on their medium wave network that will close. These are shown in the map above.

According to Ian O'Neill of the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, AM radio accounts for just 2% of the listeners in the UK but makes up 35% of the radio transmission energy costs. With stats like those, it's no great surprise that the AM network will be shut down.

From my location here on the south coast of Ireland, the signal from Washford is a reasonable signal during the day. As the years go by, the number of medium wave stations within range is reducing bit by bit. 

The main high power medium transmitters are on 1215 KHz with lower power relays on other frequencies shown below.

1215 kHz (Red)
Station Transmitter kW  
Absolute Radio Brookmans Park 62.5
Absolute Radio Droitwich 52.5
Absolute Radio Westerglen 50
Absolute Radio Moorside Edge 50
Absolute Radio Washford 50
Absolute Radio Lisnagarvey 16
Absolute Radio Newcastle upon Tyne 2.2
Absolute Radio Postwick 1.2
Absolute Radio Fareham 1

1197 kHz (Blue)
Absolute Radio Brighton 1.1
Absolute Radio Nottingham 0.5
Absolute Radio Gloucester 0.3
Absolute Radio Bournemouth 0.25
Absolute Radio Oxford 0.25

1233 kHz (Orange)
Absolute Radio Northampton 0.5
Absolute Radio Manningtree 0.5 

1242 kHz (Green)
Absolute Radio Boston 2
Absolute Radio Stockton-on-Tees 1
Absolute Radio Stoke-on-Trent 0.5

1260 kHz (Purple)
Absolute Radio Lydd 1
 
Links...

1) News item from Radio Today

2) Announcement from Absolute Radio

BBC to close another batch of Medium Wave radio transmitters in 2021

In a posting on the 14th of April 2021, the BBC announced that they were going to close the medium wave service for ten regional stations in May & June of this year. With fewer and fewer people now listening to medium wave radio, the BBC felt that the transmitter didn't offer value for money.

"As I have written about in previous blog posts, we have been closing some Medium Wave (MW) transmitters across the UK which no longer offer sufficient value for money for licence fee payers."

"A large and increasing share of radio listening in the UK - including to the BBC - is digital, and the BBC is committed to a digital future for radio. In recent years we have made significant investment in local DAB expansion, all of our local radio stations are available on digital terrestrial TV (such as Freeview), and we have transformed our online and mobile offering with BBC Sounds."

A total of 14 medium wave transmitters will be closed down and these are shown below...

Most of them are reasonably low power with powers between 0.5 to 2 kW. The large one is the 160 kW Radio Ulster transmitter near Belfast which would have been heard all over Europe at night. 

They also announced that four regional transmitters will be reducing their output power.

The current power levels are shown above as it's not yet clear what the new power level will be.

"In addition, the following stations will have reduced MW coverage:

Radio Wales
Impacted areas including North of Snowdonia, Anglesey, Bangor, Caernarfon, Conwy, and Betws-y-Coed and Areas around Wrexham and east of Snowdonia. Still available on, FM, DAB, and online and on all TV platforms (Terrestrial, Satellite, and Cable)

Radio Gloucestershire
With areas around Stow-on-the-Wold being impacted DAB will likely be the best option for most listeners. Available on 104.7 FM around Gloucester, 95.0 FM around Stroud and 95.8 FM around Cirencester. Still available on Freeview/Youview and online (through a smart phone, computer, or smart speaker)"

The BBC announced its intention to close MW transmitters back in 2011. It's likely that more will close in the years ahead.

Link...

1) Next phase of changes to some local BBC radio Medium Wave services - Apr 2021