Reception Platforms

Reception Platforms

A reception platform is basically how we are able to receive and listen to radio; we wouldn’t be able to listen to radio at all if there was no reception platform. There are many reception platforms available, from listening to radio in your car to streaming online.

One reception platform is terrestrial reception. To be able to receive radio signals we need some form of aerial, usually a TV aerial, which will pick up the signal and will then convert the signal to audio through a stereo, that stereo can be basically anywhere, in a car or at home.

Satellite reception is where a radio signal is sent to a satellite which is in space, then in turn sends the same signal to every home who has a subscription and the satellite dish to receive the signal. You cannot receive the signal if you don’t have a subscription or the dish. The most popular in the UK is the company SKY which UK residents have to pay monthly for the subscription, and usually a member from SKY will then come to the house and set up the satellite dish. However sky is not the only satellite broadcasting company, there are others which receive foreign channels.

Streaming is a rather new reception platform that allows the audience to listen to something which is being broadcasted live in real time. You don’t need to download any files in order to stream something; you stream it straight from the site it is coming from. This makes it hard for someone to save the content from the stream and distribute it illegally, as you are not downloading any files. However a fall back of streaming is that if someone doesn’t have a high or fast enough quality internet connection, it could make the connection to the stream slow and may often need to stop and ‘buffer’ (basically have to wait to catch up to the stream).

On demand radio is basically where a radio station records what they play or produce, then upload to a website where he audience can then go to the site and listen to the recorded radio broadcast whenever they want. So the broadcast isn’t live, or showed at a particular time, instead the audience has the control of when they want to listen. Now it’s available for the audience to listen wherever they want as well, they can listen to it on their phone or laptop, at home or out and about. On demand basically gives the audience full control of when and where they wish to listen.

Over the recent years radio has changed in many ways. People now have control as to when they want to listen, they don’t have to tune in at a certain time, if they miss something they wanted to listen too, then can check if its on demand. Now you can listen to the radio over the laptop or computer, even mobile phones can access the radio without a problem.

Distribution Technologies

Distribution Technologies

Distribution technologies is basically how a broadcaster gets their show to reach their audience,  this can be done by a normal transmission from an aerial on top of their building that then distributes the signal to everywhere within their area boundary. That’s why if you’re taking a long drive through the UK and you’re listening to a local radio station it will start to crackle and loose signal, because you’re going away from their signal boundary.

More and more people listen to the radio now because it’s available across many different platforms, now you can access the radio over the internet, in your car, on your phone or on a music device like an iPod. Now, there are even apps made available to download onto your phone which allow you to listen to the radio straight from your phone. This means more people will now listen to the radio because it has been made more accessible than ever before, so in turn listening to the radio will become more popular over time.

Another way of sending content to listeners is via podcast. This is where you record your content or show as a digital file, then upload the podcast onto a sharing site where the audience can then either stream and listen straight from the website or they can download the content and put onto a device like an iPod or a phone, there are even apps available on smart phones that are made for listening or downloading the podcast straight from your phon. So the audience can listen wherever and whenever they want, for example when their walking or even driving if they want.

Another way of distributing content is via something like an iPlayer or ‘on demand’. This is a media player site that the audience can then access whenever they want, that has pre-loaded content uploaded onto the site. This means if the audience for example miss a show and want to catch up, they can use an iPlayer to listen again to the old shows whenever they want.

Content distribution from independent producers to radio stations via broadband is a relatively new form of distribution technology. This is basically where an independent producer gets paid to make something as requested by a radio station, which they then produce and send out via broadband, like by sending the radio station an email containing the product they have created. The most common use for this distribution technology is when an independent producer creates something like a jingle or an advert at their home in their studio, edit it as they like then when they have finished, save as either a .wav or .mp3 file, then send it by a secure email over broadband to the company or radio station who paid the independent company to create it.

Digital Technologies

Digital Technologies:

We have seen radio technology change in many ways over the past few years, radio originally used Long Wave (LW) used in the 1940’s and Medium Wave (MW). Then developed into Amplitude Modulation (AM) in the 1920’s, Frequency Modulation (FM) in 1950’s. Now, Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) which is used today.

LW- In radio, longwave refers to parts of the radio spectrum with relatively long wavelengths.

MW- Medium wave is part of the Medium Frequency (MF) radio band which mainly uses for AM radio broadcasting.

AM- AM broadcasting is the process of radio broadcasting using amplitude modulation.

FM- FM broadcasting is a broadcasting technology which uses frequency modulation to provide high-fidelity sound via broadcast radio.

DAB (or Digital Audio Broadcasting) is a radio technology which is now used to broadcast in several countries, especially over Europe for example in the UK DAB is mainly used. Since 2006 an estimated of over 1000 radio stations now broadcast in DAB format. DAB is liked and used simply because it provides listeners with a wider range of choice and provides an all-round better sound quality to its listeners.

Due to the way DAB technology is, broadcasters now have the ability to transmit more stations than they ever have been able to before. Audiences in large major towns or cities in the UK can access from 30 and 50 radio stations with DAB, that’s more than double what’s available with analogue. Digital radio uses he spectrum more efficiently which makes it possible to broadcast more channels with the same frequency.

DAB delivers a more improved sound quality, the technology lets the receiver access the strongest signal it can find and basically ignore everything else. This gets rid of the crackle and fade which is all too familiar with analogue radio.

DAB digital radio will tune into a station at just a touch of a button, which eliminates the need of fine tuning to the station in order to receive the best quality. If a DAB set is used, this allows the audience or listener to scroll through a list of stations that are available by name, then tune by just pressing a button.