theJazz and Planet Rock to close
More bad news for DAB digital radio this month – theJazz and Planet Rock, two of the national DAB stations, are due to fall silent soon. Owners gCap recently switched off digital station Core, and are now axing two more stations. With OneWord going too, this will leave just three national commercial DAB stations, Virgin Radio, Classic fm and TalkSport.
gCap’s reason for getting rid of Planet Rock and theJazz? Cost-saving and the slow takeup of digital radio in the UK making their ongoing funding of DAB “economically unviable”.
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Update 13 Feb: Audio show discussing developments now online
Planet Rock is the reason that I got DAB radio in my office, photo studio and bedroom. I listen to it all the time and this will be a huge blow unless it continues on Sky or the internet which is by far the clearest signal.
I bought a small personal DAB with the idea of listening to Planet rock while I was driving and to be perfectly honest the signal is so diabolical that I could drive twenty miles without as much as a whisper. It is the same with my other receivers. You got to jump through hoops and get everything just right to stop the signal from breaking up (if you are lucky). You could end up in the corner of the only room in the house where you can receive anything which could be why so few have bothered to take up much hyped DAB medium.
What would be great is if Planet rock went out on FM. The country needs a soft/prog rock station badly. All the bands that pull huge audiences like Led Zep, Pink Floyd etc are the ones that you will probably only hear on Planet rock. Forget about all the local FM trash. They are so busy trying to please evryone including the advertisers that the whole thing is so watered down that it is not worth listemning to.
Sounds like it will be back to radio two (some of the time)
Should have said that the personal Dab receiver in the car hooks into the Aux feed socket on my car radio. Waste of time though and normal have the ipod running there instead for easy motoring without the need to adjust the wandering FM radio stations or juggle with CD’s
Planet Rock was the reason I bought a DAB radio. Can Lottery funding be made available to support this great site of national importance.
Life has not been switched off! When I read this blog post, I went running into the kitchen in a panic to turn on the radio, and Life was still going strong. I really hope they don’t switch it off because it is what I mainly listen to through the day on my DAB radio.
I’m sorry to hear about Planet Rock; I have listened to it occasionally and enjoyed it.
planet rock is the best digital station,no actually its the best station period it would be criminal to close it!
i really hope that my numbers come up this weekend guys then you,ll have a new boss who actually appreciates what you do.
rock on
chris
I have to agree with Chris, Planet Rock is the best station period.
It’s the only one that has the courage to play a fairly diverse selection of classic rock for our generation – (as opposed to the more obvious and ‘safe’ selections that occasionally get played on other stations). Like many others, it’s also the only reason I invested in three DAB radio tuners. Me and the family are really gonna miss it if they do pull the plug :-(
Keep on rockin’ in the free world!
‘Planet Rock’ should live on ! … DAB or FM …I don’t really mind …. but p’haps DAB as we’ve just bought one …… my wife’s son ‘Bone crusher Effon’ intoduced me to Planet Rock …. I said I’d buy the station for him… but I’d have to put his rent up..!! …. com’n world … this country needs a great source if music like like this ….signed…’ageing hippy’ 63 and 1/4….’positive thoughts man’
Just fitted pure highway into the car on Saturday. got DAB in the kitchen,ON sky,at work on line and at home on line. what bad news to hear Planet Rock is to shut.Been an avid fan since day 1.What am I gonna do.
Brilliant, just bought a 3 Bose DAB converters for my Bose waves and Lifestyle. The only reason I purchased thwem was for Planet Rock. The best thing since TV (Tommy Vance) On The Radio on Friday nights… Afraid we are a minority and we will loose the best rock station ever… what a bummer…
Same here: I got an inexpensive set fromm Woolies last June and was finally able to get theJazz and Planet Rock. Nine months is too short a time to justify a new radio. They should have both been allocated FM frequencies and then been transferred to digital, like the BBC, after getting well-established. And I thought that there was some sort of cultural remit to establish a national jazz station when theJazz was set up which would mean it cannot be scrapped simply on commercial grounds. Ditto Planet Rock.
What is awful is that gCap are retaining their “Chill” station which churns out that teeth-grindingly dreadful ambient stuff.
I suppose we stil have Arrow…though it is not as good as the Rock.
Planet Pop is boring – ‘Rock’s Greatest Hits’, same old tracks all the time. Alan ‘Fluff’ Freeman in comparison was streets ahead. Whatever, we do need a rock station, so check out; Alice’s Restaurant Rock Radio; http://www.rockradio.eu.com
can’t believe what I am reading! Two of the best commercial stations Planet Rock & Jazz axed for the sake of profit. Same old story – v-dull middle of the road pop is all they think the British public want to hear – NOT SO!!! The last thing we want is more national content pop stations they all sound the same. Diversity and locality is what the commercial radio industry needs. As usual all the fat cats care about is massive profits and nationalisation of local station output. LONG LIVE PLANET ROCK – THE REAL ALTERNATIVE RADIO!!!
Planet Rock has only been doing what Radio Caroline has been doing for a much longer period. Bin your DAB receiver buy a Wi Fi receiver much more choice. With a bit of luck we should see internet radio in the Car in a few years time . Not controlled by those idiots at Offcom and the millionaires from Crap Radio
theJazz are putting out a programme for computers; at least ther are other rock stations besides Planet Rock. We want radios to have jazz!
It is about time the BBC treated jazz with the respect it deserves – lurking racism because the best jazz musicians are black? – there is a place for a station to bring together all the bbc jazz programmes and the best of thjazz djs.
Why oh why don’t manufacturers fit a co-axial connection to their radios then maybe the take up in fringe areas would increase. I am very dissapointed about The Jazz and have now switched to Wi-Fi internet radio. Goodbye DAB.
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