We’re now broadcasting a very special station on our Portsmouth DAB+ digital radio multiplex, Health Info Radio. No hype, no opinions, no fuss – just important information about COVID-19. Learn more on their website at www.healthinforadio.co.uk
At approximately 04:20 this morning our Portsmouth DAB+ multiplex went off the air. The reason for it going off air is frustratingly the same as most of our other outages we’ve had over the past year – the internet connection at our transmission site. I’d really like to ditch our ISP (Silverlining Convergence) and invest in a traditional broadband line. However the cost of installation and then the minimum contract period is simply not financially viable considering that our licence is currently rolled-over on a month to month basis by Ofcom.
I urge Ofcom to press ahead with licensing small scale DAB multiplexes as soon as possible. With a long term licence, we can make long term investment. We can give a consistent experience for listeners. Over the last four and a half years, the 10 trial multiplex operators have demonstrated that the technology behind small scale DAB is reliable, they have technically innovated and have provided consumers with a broad spectrum of services and formats.
I know that here in Portsmouth, Ofcom will advertise a licence that anyone can apply for, there is no automatic right for Angel Radio to keep the multiplex licence. I understand that. What small scale DAB needs from Ofcom is certainty. Ofcom still haven’t published a statement response to the small scale DAB consultation that closed in October 2019, even though they said they would in early 2020.
As a charity, it would be reckless for Angel Radio to make any long term financial commitments now without having a long term licence in place. Our service providers want the same clarity too. Therefore, I urge Ofcom to press ahead with the proper licencing of small scale DAB multiplexes as a matter of urgency.
Ash Elford
Digital Development Manager, Angel Radio
*** Services restored at 09:05 ***
We’re sorry, but all services on our Portsmouth DAB multiplex are currently off-air due to a suspected power supply fault with our internet connection at our transmission site. Please bear with us, while we investigate this.
Dance station Atmosphere Radio is expanding its weekend line-up with Northern Ireland-based DJ Neal McClelland joining the line-up. Neal’s Nocturnal show can already be heard on Cool FM in Northern Ireland, but will now also be available across the South Coast of England every Friday night.
Neal will debut on Atmosphere Radio this Friday night and he’s really looking forward to it. “Atmosphere is the perfect home for my choice of the latest dance and world exclusives. I’m ready to spread the love to a wider audience.”
Programme Director Steve Simms said “Neal’s energy, passion and knowledge of the music really cuts through and his contact book is hard to rival. His show will make an excellent addition to our schedule and we can’t wait to get him on board”.
Managing Director Robbie Harrison said “Brighton, Portsmouth and the surrounding area already have a thriving dance scene and Neal’s show fits in perfectly.”
Nocturnal with Neal McClelland can be heard every Friday night at 10pm on Atmosphere Radio, on DAB from Brighton to Portsmouth and online on the Atmosphere Radio app, smart speakers and the website Atmosphere.Radio
Please be aware that engineering work is planned to take place on our Portsmouth DAB multiplex between 10:00 and 12:00. We hope to keep disruption to an absolute minimum, but please note during this time that services may suffer from breaks in transmission.
The two pop-up Christmas services we’ve been broadcasting have come to a close on our Portsmouth DAB+ digital radio multiplex. In their place is Birdsong, the world famous audio recording as used by Classic FM in 1992 and subsequently on national DAB digital radio pop-ups.
We hope to reveal details about a new service in the next few days.
We’ve added another pop-up station to our Portsmouth DAB+ digital radio multiplex. Christmas Music Radio is a station playing non stop Christmas hits from across the decades and providing promotion to local charities.
Today we’ve added Cosoro Radio to our Portsmouth DAB+ digital radio multiplex. Featuring music and speech that celebrates Afrobeats, African artists and entertainment, we are delighted that another new format is now available on terrestrial radio in the Portsmouth area.
In other news, 100% Dragon Hits and 100% Whatever have been removed from the multiplex. We wish them well for their future endeavours.
Two new stations are now broadcasting on our DAB+ digital radio multiplex to the Portsmouth area.
Launching on 1st October, Little Radio is a radio station for small children playing their favourite songs, nursery rhymes and speech from leading children’s entertainers.
Although Christmas is still 12 weeks away, fans of Christmas can get themselves in the festive mood right now with Christmas Angel from Angel Radio. Christmas Angel plays Christmas classics from yesteryear.
Please accept our apologies this week for the outages we’ve had with our transmissions. On Tuesday our transmitter was off for much of the day due to an internet fault that occurred as a result of the bad weather first thing Tuesday morning.
Today our transmitter was on severely reduced power for much of the day to a fault. We’ve made a repair and things are back to normal.
We do our very best to keep things working as they should, but unfortunately we have not had much luck this week. Thank you for your patience during these outages.