Absolute Radio UK Tribute to 1215kHz the final minutes of broadcast

Absolute Radio Tribute to 1215kHz am before shutdown
Recorded directly from a Sony ICF-6700L receiver tuned to 1197kHz as this was the best frequency In my area at night.

[@scottls]

It's so sad to hear an era come to an end. May these recordings and archives keep the memories with us always. I really like new tech but not at the cost of memories of old.

[@TheChipmunk2008]

i hope pirates crop up on AM

[@altfactor]

At least they paid tribute to.this previous networks on that frequently as well as their own programming.

[@RWL2012]

they should've finished at 12:15AM 😝

[@televisionandcheese]

RIP Virgin/Absolute Radio 1993 - 2023

[@dirkmuller8461]

What a cool radio receiver is this and such a good reception! Even here in Berlin I was able to pick up some "Absolute Radio" at night via mediumwave, but not as good & stylish as in the video :) Well technology moves on, they shut down AM-Radio in Germany 10 years ago. Thank you for this historic moment! Hopefully the BBC will keep on broadcasting on AM ...

[@benpickford9024]

It is indeed a wonderful radio! The BBC are looking to shut down all am transmitters by 2027 I believe, although currently I can only get the local bbc station on MW not on FM or DAB even though they are transmitted on those too.

With a good receiver, the reception was pretty good at night from Germany/Switzerland. Now there occasionally seems to be some 5KW station from Palma de Mallorca audible.

[@PatricioGarcia1973]

I don’t know why they shut down AM. I live in NY right now and have various AM stations, and in Argentina too, at least like 20 AM stations just in Bs As alone

[@AJonAir1]

@@PatricioGarcia1973Because listenership on AM continues to decline, a trend that’s been occurring since at least the late 70s/early 80s, as well as the noise floor blotting out signals being higher compared to a few decades back, plus increasing equipment costs.

[@Povilaz]

I used to listen to Absolute Radio here in Lithuania, whenever good conditions were and I could pick it up...

[@djcrownvic7017]

After years of listening radio I found that "Good reasons" are rarely ever good

[@milolouis]

Such a beautiful radio moment. Beautiful beyond belief.

[@nixraff7802]

Thanks for preserving the last moments of 1215kHz with this pretty vintage rig 😎

[@LJSW-rp6xm]

I daily drove a 1997 Ford Fiesta for years and always listened to Virgin/Absolute on 1215am, was the sound track to many a daily commute/shopping trip/holiday etc - Even remember listening to it on the way to the hospital the morning my daughter was born. DAB will never sound as good as 1215 AM did in that old car.

[@mikeshane2048]

Nice story!. Thanks for sharing Sir!

[@AuntieFan]

During my stay in the UK (the decade of the '70s) Radio 1 was *always* 247m on MW... never referred to as AM or expressed in kHz. Even FM was "VHF". We were so excited to get stereo (and simultaneously commercial) radio in 1973 in Scotland, precipitating the purchase of a new hi-fi setup (although most of our cars' radios remained MW and LW only through '75).

[@hcy0]

Very sad, I liked to hear Absolute Radio on AM from Germany. Was the real 80s feeling.

[@profpiehead7559]

I still remember Richard Skinner doing the announcments on the test transmissions before the launch of Virgin. Was on a loop and Whole of the Moon by The Waterboys was one of the tracks in the loop.

[@ArthurJS123]

Love my Sony ICF-6700W. So nice to see and hear another. They are not that common!

[@thedecmyster1]

Thanks for uploading this, very nice sound quality too, used too love listening too Virgin on 1215 back in the day b before it became Absolute Radio

[@doppiaggidementi13]

on January 20, 2023... At 12:00 I remember :( ABSOLUTE RADIO THE FAMILY THAT HAS ALWAYS BEEN WITH US! ❤️ Bye bye...

[@michaelmcdonald2348]

Absolute Radio is my favourite station but I was never able to get good reception in the car on AM due to the poor aerial meaning it was swamped with noise. I bought a DAB unit a few years ago but was disappointed to discover Absolute is only available in mono here. I have some old 1950's vintage radios and was surprised how good 1215 sounded on them. Sadly the MW band is falling silent now.

[@Sheffield_Steve]

Radio Caroline is available on low power on irony of ironies the establishment's former frequency of 648kHz previously occupied by the BBC World Service. Probably receivable in the South & South East only. It's high time Radio Caroline was given Nationwide on AM or DAB+ coverage as a mark of gratitude to them showing that commercial radio could work in the UK and breaking the BBC's monopoly of the UK airwaves! 👍

[@walkingtheboogie]

Thanks for sharing this. I didn't listen to Absoloute radio and haven't heard AM for a while now but nice to hear this on KZbin.

[@allanm6246]

There aren't many left now. Manx Radio and BBC Radio Scotland are still there.

[@ParadiseFMMalta]

thanks for your memory!

[@doppiaggidementi13]

Goodbye Absolute radio 😢

[@hoopoo3721]

The world will miss you.

[@DOCTOR_SONG]

its up to the pirates to SAVE RADIO NOW

[@milolouis]

I'll join whatever plan you have. I know radio, from London.

[@francisuk1989]

Amazing why Virgin/Absolute Radio needed so many AM freqs 1197 AM 1215 AM 1233 AM 1242 AM 1260 AM BBC Radio 5 can be found on 693 kHz 909 kHz 990 kHz 1593 KHz Bretagne 5 can be heard from UK from France clearly... even at 20:33 The following BBC Local Radio AM transmitters closed by June 2021 Radio Lancashire on 855 Radio Leeds on 774 Radio Sheffield on 1035 Radio Stoke-on-Trent on 1503 Radio Wales on 657 and 882

[@markwoolley3672]

You can't cover a large area with just one transmitter on one frequency without causing interference (or performing expensive frequency locking of transmitters on the same frequency). 1215KHz covered most of the country, but in areas where it didn't, or transmissions from 2 or more 1215KHz transmitters caused interference, other low powered stations were used. Full info here: www.bbceng.info/Technical%20Reviews/dev_am_tx_nw_6a.pdf

[@jano3681]

Internet is almost everywhere... What if one day it will be switched off ... From where will you get informations? Im sad HF is dying.. but luckly HAM radio operators are still there (included me).

[@satwolf]

More space for ANOTHER Spanish station, should rename from Medium waves to Spanish waves :D - Still remember it from the times of Virgin Radio , great station , great reception also here in Northern Italy , especially in past.

[@dosdoktor]

What is that elder briton gonna do? There are a lot of old britons still listening to these stations using 1960s equipment on valves.

[@benpickford9024]

Bluetooth yuck, I would use a low power am transmitter to get that characteristic am sound and to keep the radio original!

[@davidedgar7338]

@David Wanklyn and tons of interference?

[@ericconnor8419]

I don't think there are many, certainly not listening to Absolute they listen to Radio 4. I am a gardener I work for a lot of old people and it seems even the really ancient ones have digital radios and smart phones. You can buy a DAB for £20 from Argos now, a proper valve radio would sell for more.

[@neilforbes416]

Digital broadcasting is a joke, and a bad one at that. Here in Australia, AM stations simply switched to the 88-to-108Mhz FM band so they could broadcast in high-quality stereo and still be able to cover most of the service area covered by their former AM frequency. Prior to this there were several stations that tried AM-stereo and found it wanting, so they opted to convert to FM.

[@benpickford9024]

Not sure if it is the same for Australia but in the UK most DAB stations are low bitrate and only in mono this includes music stations, the main exception being the BBC stations at 128kbps stereo, this still doesn't sound as good as FM.

[@neilforbes416]

@@benpickford9024 The Analogue FM signal, even at just 1.5Kw can still have considerable reach(up to 100 miles) and still be heard(albeit a bit noisy) at its outer reaches, so a station putting out 10Kw or more is going to be heard in high quality stereo out to a bit over 120 miles from the transmitter. A digital signal at even twice that ERP(effective radiated power) would be heard at best 45-to-50 miles at most from its transmitter site. Analogue FM is *one million times* superior to digital broadcasting which should be dismissed as a bad joke, just like AM-Stereo which proved to be a costly mistake.

[@halfbakedproductions7887]

And in the Republic of Ireland the regulation was so poor that there were (maybe still are) pirates broadcasting on DAB of all things. I don't think I've ever come across that in the UK.

[@smiths7317]

AM stereo is quite difficult to get right, and isn't simple as plug 'n' play else would sound like crap compared to FM. Altho, once you have proper AM stereo broadcast it can sound much better then FM Stereo believe it or not.

DAB+ works fine, it was really bad a few years ago however. And also, I could receive 234kHz in my basement, but FM/DAB was pretty terrible there for a long time, now DAB works pretty reliable there. I think Digital Radio Mondiale and HD Radio should get more attention.

[@philcrosby8931]

Quite nicely produced but totally missed out on the golden era of AM on MW - the offshore stations - especially the 70's with Caroline, RNI, and the amazing Laser. All had huge audiences with signals tuned to punch through on AM. And then, the landbased pirates - Jackie, Kaleidoscope, and Thames Radio - a whole genre missed in the clip!

[@RWL2012]

it was only about 247m / 1215KHz

[@DCDura]

Great capture. Thank you for this piece of now history Oh yes Free App, pay $$$ for the must data connection. Duh

[@benpickford9024]

and if you like you can pay more $$$ for no ad breaks and skippable songs. Amazing 🙄

Doesn‘t like everyone have unlimited data anyways? I think the main issues are data collection and reliability of cell service in some areas.

[@DCDura]

@ Actually not. In the US there are data deserts. The Gov is working to help people pay, but their providers while their coverage maps may show excellent coverage are also questionable. We have data caps too.

[@maryrafuse3851]

A naive mistake from those who think a computer can replace everything. The problem with computers replacing radio broadcast transmitters is the effort & complexity required to share computer access, coverage, throughout a large and often difficult geographic area. What a stupid time to take this transmitter down! In Atlantic Canada, where I live, our computers and cell phones went down in a horrific storm in September 2022. Cell and Computer connectivity took as long as 7 weeks to be restored in all areas within the Atlantic Canadian Region. Meanwhile, CBC Radio broadcasting continued from AM & FM transmitters such as CBC 1140AM in the Sydney Nova Scotia Metro Area. CBC had the advantage of backup electricity and the fact that AM towers are slender catching less ferocious wind than bulky heavily laden cell towers. Now the silly and foolish CBC wants to abandon transmitters for the vulnerable internet. Not smart with climate change where the storm of the century is becoming three or four savage storms every seven years. CBC has the perfect system for stormy climate change weather, it is called AM Radio. How dumb are these idiots sitting in their board rooms???

[@derpderpderpityderp8848]

broadcasting in AM costs more money, noone cares whether you can get news and info from the radio when there's a hurricane.

[@gb5uq]

They've lost me as a listener. The DAB take up has been pathetic, the quality is bad just 8bit in most instances, in fact it has been so bad that Southern Ireland has scrapped DAB altogether and many European countries haven't adopted it at all..

[@rjds1800]

So long and thanks for all the fish.... the end of analog radio is the end of an era.

[@Sheffield_Steve]

Does anyone have a recording of the closure of the AM stations that were used for Greatest Hits Radio/Radio Hallam for example on 1548kHz??

[@djthproductions]

Question: Why did AM Stereo become a thing? It sounded better than FM Stereo, in the examples I heard on KZbin. You could broadcast far away with top notch sound quality. FM, under normal circumstances could only broadcast 200 km.....

[@Crabbyjack]

Where is Billy Shears ?

[@samd6644]

Sad 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 what are they gonna do with that frequency now will someone else broadcast?

[@johnclarke2997]

Handed by to Ofcom the government body in charge of broadcasting. As to what they will do is probably down to the government.

[@simonharrisson2837]

It's very expensive broadcasting at high power on AM. Plus, 1215 is a bad frequency, beset by interference and phasing

[@Fluteboy]

6:14 - That countdown montage: the song playing is *Tender* by Blur; 9 and 8 are the Beatles; 3 is Bob Dorough; and 1 is Madness. Anyone prepared to guess the other numbers? 😊

[@MikeSmith-pt7yu]

@@Fluteboy where was this recorded with 1215 fadeing in and out

[@EssexResident2000]

Absolute Radio may be forced by Ofcom to restart broadcasting on 1215 AM, as ownrs Bauer turned it off earlier than permitted......several YEARS earlier than permitted

[@dktr2]

The internet has destroyed everything. Just those damn apps everywhere.

[@tomkandy]

ok boomer

[@halfbakedproductions7887]

And now the RadioGarden app is nerfed in the UK because of some horse crap court ruling on copyright, so we're not allowed to use the app to listen to foreign broadcasts anymore. Stinks of last month's sewage and nobody has even attempted to justify it when asked. Just a total nonsense.

[@dktr2]

@@halfbakedproductions7887 what the fuck? Are you banned from listening to foreign stations? xD

[@richiehoyt8487]

@@halfbakedproductions7887 These 'Intellectual Property' holders have made a tawdry joke of something that was meant to protect the right of 'the little guy' to enjoy the financial rewards of the 'sweat of his his (her) brow', and not as a tool to take the shirt off his back. So now we've got the nauseating spectacle of phalanxes of corporate lawyers using algorithms and bots to force genuine creators of original content off of the internet and the surreal situation of people being hit with copyright strikes for such sins as there being music playing over a PA system in the background while they do a piece to camera 'in the wild', or earnest kids being made to take down their inoffensive '800 view' film reviews for the temerity of having a movie poster on their bedroom wall! Not satisfied with turning platforms like KZbin into a blasted wasteland, at the same time, they stiff the public by ensuring the 'airwaves' [sic] are full of nothing but pre~chewed pap; wall - to - wall autotuned whining on 'radio', manipulative talent contests, tacky 'reality' shows, 'Ancient Aliens', and the Karcrapians on TV. There's always been excrement, of course, but they have made it harder and harder to discover _anything_ decent or stimulating. I pity the young, for whom it must be like subsisting on luncheon meat and never knowing of the existence of, (never mind actually tasting) steak! The great thing about radio is that it is free at the point of use (as long as, like the internet, you can put up with the ads!) And the other thing is (even though radio is meant to be cognisant of 'the neighbours') the signals don't stop at the border... This, after all, was of course _the basis_ for Radio Luxembourg's business model! ps Yes, I think I saw something on Radio Garden to the effect that the BBC will shortly be restricting the availability of their channels to UK residents (ie, Licence Payers) _only×,_ leaving people like me (and there must be a lot of us), a British subject living in the Rep. of Ireland, with one less connection to home. I can still pick up Radio 4 on LW, but as you know, they've been saying for years now that when the transmitter eventually 'gives out', that rather than trying to fix it, that'll be that: 'Sayonara, baby'. They also make it clear that they _really don't_ want foreigners using their BBC i~Player App, if I have the name right. One is reminded of the kid who won't play football with the other kids on the street, "Cos it's _his_ ball, and he doesn't remember any of _you_ guys chipping in to buy it!" pps Upon re~reading your comment I see that that the situation obtaining on Radio Garden in the UK is the _opposite_ of what they are doing, here in the RoI (obvious of course, now I think about it) They will be withdrawing 'foreign' stations from the App there; as yet they haven't mentioned anything about stations from the rest of the World to us here, but like I mentioned, it looks like we wont be getting your BBC stations from now on. ×With the exception, I suspect, of the World Service, given that it is, so to speak, the 'Voice of London', and of course paid for by the British taxpayer.

[@jeff4362]

Ever heard of DAB?

[@tomkandy]

6:06 tbf "Sex Havers Radio" would probably have been a better name than Absolute

[@winstonchurchill6506]

By jove spurs won how spiffing

[@sarkybugger5009]

Must be a very old recording. 😁

[@pauldonaldson6067]

1:52 to 2:11 is that Kenny Everett?

[@benpickford9024]

Certainly is!

[@pauldonaldson6067]

@@benpickford9024 I'm guessing that clip was from the 60s but it sounds like it could have been more modern than that. He was definitely ahead of his time.

[@Vortex64]

ive got a recording of this directly to tape from my own reciever that i got when it stopped

[@RWL2012]

upload it!

[@Vortex64]

@@RWL2012 i would do but i just found the tape, and its fallen off of where i put my tapes and landed directly ontop of this speaker im repairing rn, as a result it landed on the magnet so its not good quality anymore, not all of its gone though as i have a random copy of it, but not the stopping point, just the message of 'absolute radio is no longer broadcasting' and so on. ill have to only upload that and be way more carefull of my tapes from now on

[@sarkybugger5009]

DAB radio is still an optional extra on most cars, so that's a fucking lie, for a start... And who can afford a brand new car? Don't get me started on BBC Long wave. And...... relax. 👍

[@maryrafuse3851]

Sounds like you are making some very good points. Please read my commentary on experiences with computer and cell coverage, digital systems, during the savage September Storm in Atlantic Canada. September 2022. If Europe thinks it is special, and will avoid all destruction of digital systems during the storms to come, then no doubt arrogance will see its reward. The toughest most robust broadcast systems for emergencies is AM Radio with slender well tied down towers. Let your digital fan boys & girls wake up one day to no digital radio or internet. No media coverage at all.

[@jeff4362]

Yeah but come on a new car radio with DAB should cost less than a hundred quid, at least a 1 tier sized one. That's a small fraction of an average second hand car. Just go ahead and get yourself a new car radio.

[@sarkybugger5009]

@@jeff4362 Unfortunately, my car has a bastard shaped built-in stereo, and adaptor plates don't seem to be available. It doesn't even have an Aux-in socket.

[@richiehoyt8487]

"There are a number of good reasons we've made this change (but why would we bother explaining them to you troglodytes listening on this channel? We'd much prefer to explain them to those listeners who are already convinced of the benefits of digital...") Yeah, there was a famous book written about that kind of thinking by a man called Joseph Heller. It's called "Catch 22".

[@maryrafuse3851]

May you enjoy the storms of climate change when your computer is down and your cell phones don't work.

[@neilforbes416]

Okay, my mistake, I took this to be a lowly American radio station. I didn't realise it was a British station until further into the video, now I realise "Absolute Radio" is/was the station call-sign as British radio and TV stations had *PROPER* identities based on their corporate names.

[@ki5aok]

It's in the title, if you had bothered reading it. Perhaps you feel that you're above reading titles on KZbin videos, since you made an assumption that this was a "lowly American station" and right there, in the title, it says in the first three words "Absolute Radio UK."

[@RWL2012]

@@ki5aok I think the "UK" was added to the title since the guy commented. The explanation about being on 1197 had already been added to the description after _that_ discussion, so it's very likely.

[@benpickford9024]

Yes I added UK to the title after @Neil Forbes comment to clarify

[@neilforbes416]

@@benpickford9024 So I'm owed an apology by @Drive Tour(Robert T. Kirton).

[@darganx]

@@neilforbes416 Culpability is a dying art.

[@mestredigital2]

What is the model of this Sony?

[@benpickford9024]

This is a Sony ICF-6700L

[@RWL2012]

@mestredigital2 you could've read the description.

[@mestredigital2]

@@benpickford9024 Thank you.

[@RWL2012]

@mestredigital2 again, you could've read the description.

[@VicGreenBitcoin]

Why is the digital screen saying 1197kHz and not 1215kHz?

[@benpickford9024]

Because they transmitted on multiple frequencies and 1197kHz came in best that night

[@VicGreenBitcoin]

@@benpickford9024 They thought they were so important that they claimed multiple frequencies for their (let's face it) lame dusty broadcasts..!? Good thing they're off the air

[@robertpreece7259]

The way it sounded, the radio was picking two transmissions from two seperate transmitters or its picking the upper and lower sideband

[@VicGreenBitcoin]

@@robertpreece7259 We can conclude this whole video was strange

[@RWL2012]

​@@robertpreece7259 it was picking up one of the 1197KHz transmitters and then at the end when he tunes to 1215KHz it's picking up two of the 1215KHz transmitters with the echo problem because they're slightly out of sync with each other

[@avtransfersUK]

Bring on Digital AM?

[@winstonchurchill6506]

Nice one😂😂😂

[@BrianG61UK]

@@winstonchurchill6506 DRM works okay on medium wave. It even sounds better than AM. But it's far from Hi-Fi.

[@jeff4362]

What's on 1215 now?

[@RWL2012]

in the UK, nothing.

[@careydavies1197]

You are on 1197 kHz

[@benpickford9024]

It is the same station just that they had transmitters on other frequencies, 1197khz was coming in much better that night due to the transmitters on 1215khz being out of sync causing echo.

[@BrianG61UK]

@@benpickford9024 In the evening, after they'd switched off our local relay on 1233 kHz a few years ago, 1215 kHz was often all weird and echoey and I often found 1260 kHz was better. Much weaker but still better.

[@paulsengupta971]

@@BrianG61UK The problem with 1215 was that it had too many transmitters, so if you were somewhere you could pick up more than one with a slight time delay, it became echo-y. Similar with 693 and 909kHz. P.S. I have a long retired TV and Radio engineer friend called Bryan Gregory.

[@theyoutubeguy1]

Unpopular opinion: I think AM should be phased out, it's archaic technology at this point. DAB and FM are far superior, get better receptions with less static and don't require you to point your radio in a certain direction for the best reception. Everyone talking about natural disasters should remember 2 things. 1. The UK is a very small place relative to AUSTRALIA and CANADA, we don't have huge areas of wilderness between towns. 2. If a war did happen then we still have the satellites for television, we don't need to rely on radio for news.

[@bangerbangerbro]

I didn't know Absolute Radio was on AM.

[@RWL2012]

carry-over from Virgin Radio, they wanted to turn it off for years.

[@bangerbangerbro]

@@RWL2012 oh right?

[@RWL2012]

​​​​@Elliott Savva yeah the old Virgin 1215 that launched in 1993 as one of the 3 INR (Independent National Radio) stations that came out of the Broadcasting Act 1990 (the other 2 being Talk Radio AM, now Talksport, and Classic FM). Virgin Radio became Absolute Radio in 2008 and Absolute Radio 1215 AM was just a carry-over from that, but an ex-employee has revealed they wanted to turn it off even when they worked there. now Bauer Media Radio has had their medium wave licence revoked by Ofcom due to ending broadcast in 2023 without handing the licence back, even though they had renewed it in 2021 for 10 years until 2031. I saw people on forums saying that with Absolute Radio gone from AM it could affect it being on DAB because of its INR status.

[@bangerbangerbro]

@@RWL2012 Oh right, that is interesting. I can't say I have ever heard Absolute on normal radio, I thought you could only get it on non-DAB in London. Medium wave should go a long distance, but I have never heard it there either.

[@RWL2012]

​@@bangerbangerbro Absolute Radio stopped being available on FM in London in 2021, and now nationally on AM in January 2023.

[@user-or2uk7sf3w]

Исторический момент зафиксирован.

[@neilforbes416]

What was the proper call-letters of this station? "Absolute Radio" is *NOT* a legitimate identification, it is only a "slogan" and 1215Khz as the frequency, is as such totally unimportant.

[@RWL2012]

I don't think we use them

[@neilforbes416]

@@RWL2012 In Britain, stations(TV and radio) have actual *names.* See my next comment.

[@derpderpderpityderp8848]

get tossed yank

[@neilforbes416]

@@derpderpderpityderp8848 You have insulted me by referring to me as American. *I'M AUSTRALIAN!*

[@MrHajimeSaitou]