BBC Radio Gloucestershire and the 2018-19 season

[Bbcglos]

Here are the details of our Cheltenham Town coverage for the 2018/19 season. They are the same as the 2017/18 season.

How many CTFC games will have full commentary on the radio?
Every single league and cup game, home and away, will have full commentary on the radio

Where can I hear the commentaries?
Every single game, home and away, will be broadcast on our DAB digital radio service. We have dedicated masts for DAB at Churchdown and Edge giving us great DAB reception across the whole of Cheltenham, Gloucester and the Severn vale as well as parts of Stroud. We have additional DAB transmitters in the North and South Cotswolds too. Our DAB transmitters reach a wider area than our FM transmitters do.

When Gloucester Rugby and/or FGR aren't playing, you may also hear commentary on our FM & AM frequencies and on your Freeview TV (channel 735). This will vary from week to week, but the Robins will always be on DAB digital radio.

Will commentaries be available on BBC iPlayerradio and/or the BBC sport website?
In League 2 (and above) the Football League holds the internet rights so we are unable to put CTFC league game commentary online via BBC iPlayerradio/BBC Sport website. We will make our league commentary available to the Club which it will make commercially available via its iFollow service.

FA Cup games will be broadcast free to air on the BBC iPlayer/BBC Sport website. These are available in the UK only.

I like to listen to the radio as I watch the game. Is there a delay on DAB digital radio?
All our transmitters now receive the programme feed via digital distribution. Indeed 1413AM gets its programme signal via satellite. So none of our commentaries will be in perfect “real time” with what you are watching on the pitch

I’ve got a DAB digital radio but I can’t see BBC Glos on it. Why?
BBC Radio Gloucestershire, Heart, Smooth and many new national stations have been added to DAB since you bought your set. As we are on frequencies your radio hasn’t “seen” before you need to search for the new multiplexes.

You need a full retune or a hard reset. Typically this means pushing AND HOLDING the reset/rescan button on your set for five seconds. A quick push will only search previously detected multiplexes and won’t find the new ones. If that fails, you will need to look in your menu options for full rescan or reset. If that’s not obvious look at the manual, if you don’t have the manual search for a copy via Google.

Does BBC Radio Gloucestershire pay CTFC for the right to broadcast commentary?
Yes, BBC Radio Gloucestershire pays CTFC for the right to broadcast commentaries of home and away games. We pay additional fees too when the Club plays in the FA Cup. The BBC maintains the broadcasts lines at all the home and away grounds

BBC Radio Gloucestershire is funded by the licence fee.

What else does BBC Radio Gloucestershire do in terms of Cheltenham Town?
We attend club press conference before and after the games. We broadcast the news and information from these press conferences as soon as we can… post game these interviews are often broadcast live.
All Cheltenham Town news is available on demand via the BBC Sport app. Score flashes, final scores and team news are all pushed to your smartphone.

Online we provide news updates via the BBC Sport website as well as on social media

We are on Twitter @BBCGlos and on Facebook at facebook.com/bbcgloucestershire

What other sport commentaries do you provide?
We broadcast home and away commentary of all Gloucester Rugby games on our FM frequencies as well as on iPlayer radio and Freeview TV channel 735. When CTFC and FGR aren't playing, Gloucester Rugby commentary is also on DAB digital radio and 1413AM. This will vary from week to week, but Gloucester Rugby games will always be on our FM frequencies.

We broadcast home and away commentary on Forest Green Rovers games on 1413AM. When Gloucester Rugby and/or CTFC aren't playing, you may also hear FGR commentary on our FM & DAB frequencies and on Freeview TV (channel 735). This will vary from week to week, but FGR games will always be on 1413AM.

We broadcast all Gloucestershire County Cricket Championship, Royal London Cup and T20 matches via the BBC Sport website and app.



Mark Jones
For BBC Glos

[Robin]

Thanks, looking forward to the coverage on those away games I am unable to attend.

[Malabus]

Thank you, BBC radio Gloucestershire.

[Artemis]

Thanks for the excellent coverage.
Just one question that is borne out of curiousity than any agenda or insinuation.

How was the decision made to allocate FGR to AM and therefore Freeview and CTFC to DAB?
When FGR were non league it made sense because the AM frequency feed was used on line through the web site and was just easier that way. But both clubs are now EFL so neither clubs matches can be broadcast through the BBC website

[longtimerobin]

I live in Winchcombe and unable to listen to commentary on DAB due to poor signal. Will this be put right sooner than later.

[RegencyCheltenhamSpa]

I live in Winchcombe and unable to listen to commentary on DAB due to poor signal. Will this be put right sooner than later.

Not if you’re relying on the BBC to do it. They will spend their huge public subsidy on more commercial celebrity click-bait to compete with private businesses long before they get round to providing a public service to places like Winchcombe.

[Bbcglos]

DAB
Actually, The BBC has spent money placing a DAB transmitter in Winchcombe and this delivers all the BBC national networks. That's a good use of public money to delivers DAB to an area that regional transmitters can't reach. There are many other small BBC national DAB transmitters in rural parts of the county (EG Forest of Dean) too.

Unfortunately, because of the way DAB works, you can't put BBC Glos on that transmitter. Local DAB has to be delivered on a local multiplex ... and that multiplex has to be delivered by Ofcom and its commercial radio contractor. We have no influence on this roll out. At the moment there are four local DAB transmitters in Gloucestershire but it isn't 100% coverage. DAB does cover a bigger area of Gloucestershire than our FM transmitters do though.

For non sport programmes, Winchcombe is served by our 1413AM Bourton transmitter .. as well as via digital streaming on app/PC/smart speaker. As non of our transmitter platforms cover the whole county, when we split frequencies there will be a few areas that cant always get the commentary that ideally they would like. Sport rights restrictions mean that league football can't be placed free to air online ( See FAQ above).

I hope that helps


Mark Jones
For BBC Glos

[Artemis]

So if you live in Winchcombe, then you can fill your boots on Forest Green via AM, but not CTFC on DAB. I note, that according to UK Digital Radio there is BBC Radio Glos DAB coverage at the New Lawn - so at least they can listen to our games, even if you can't in Winchcombe.

So with that in mind, it would be interesting to know why FGR are on AM and CTFC on DAB. (personally, I prefer DAB, as its a lot clearer and we can pick it up in Cirencester, but that's not the driver behind my question)

[Bbcglos]

Thanks for the excellent coverage.
Just one question that is borne out of curiousity than any agenda or insinuation.

How was the decision made to allocate FGR to AM and therefore Freeview and CTFC to DAB?
When FGR were non league it made sense because the AM frequency feed was used on line through the web site and was just easier that way. But both clubs are now EFL so neither clubs matches can be broadcast through the BBC website

In October 2016, to save lots of money, our transmitter distribution system was changed. Since then we can mix and match our output like this
FM (104.7, 95.0 Stroud & 95.8 Cirencester). Our FM output also feeds Freeview 735 and our online feed.
1413AM
DAB

Our online feed can be switched on and off. If its on, it can be geo-blocked to serve UK audiences only.

On sport splits, Rugby goes to FM, CTFC to DAB and FGR to AM (See FAQ above). Unlike football, Rugby commentary can be placed online.

If a club isn't playing, we place one of the other commentaries on the spare frequency (or platform as we say). So in August, before Rugby starts, you'll get CTFC or FGR on FM & Freeview (with online switched off).

How do we decide which game gets the spare frequency? Well, in 99% of cases it will be the game that is being played AWAY. Last season that ended up being in ALL cases because of the way the season played out. However, if we were at the end of the coming season, and CTFC have to win their final HOME game to be promoted and FGR are playing a "dead rubber" away game .. we'd put CTFC on the spare frequency. Equally if CTFC or FGR drew Man Utd at home in the cup .. we'd place that game on the spare frequency.

We try to keep it simple. CTFC are always on DAB, FGR are always on 1413, Glos Rugby are always on FM/Freeview/Online. It worked really well last year and I hope that it continues to do so in the coming season.


Mark Jones
for BBC Glos

[Bbcglos]

So if you live in Winchcombe, then you can fill your boots on Forest Green via AM, but not CTFC on DAB. I note, that according to UK Digital Radio there is BBC Radio Glos DAB coverage at the New Lawn - so at least they can listen to our games, even if you can't in Winchcombe.

So with that in mind, it would be interesting to know why FGR are on AM and CTFC on DAB. (personally, I prefer DAB, as its a lot clearer and we can pick it up in Cirencester, but that's not the driver behind my question)

At the risk of turning this thread into Anoraks UK, and going over some things we talked about last year, I'm happy to keep answering questions...but if you ask about transmitters replies can get lengthy!

It's important to note that we have the transmitter network we have inherited. It's been subject to changes over the last 30 years brought about by national broadcasting policy and technological change. So we had a powerful 603AM county wide transmitter just outside Cheltenham that was taken off us in the 90s (I think) which was replaced with two low power AM transmitters at either end of the County (crucially NOT in Cheltenham)

What we have today is FM/AM/DAB that all cover large chunks of the county, none of which cover the same chunk of the county and none of them cover all of the county!

So your point is correct in where you can hear what you can hear. So how did we decide DAB to CTFC and AM to FGR? Well DAB covers the whole of the M5 corridor inc Cheltenham and Gloucester .. with the bonus in that it reaches the other side of the Cotswold ridge and can be heard across the N & S Cotswolds. AM on the other hand does cover Cheltenham on a sunny summer Saturday afternoon at 1500 .. but on a wet Tuesday night in January at 2100 it is, well, not very good at all. On that basis we put CTFC on DAB. In reverse, the 1413AM transmitter at Berkeley gets a good signal into the Stroud valleys and therefore we place FGR on that platform. Please see Anoraks UK as to why AM signals vary depending on time of day/year.......

As a bonus, DAB also carries the BBC's national football coverage on 5 Live /5 Live Sports extra.. as well as other football coverage via Talksport etc. So if you don't own a DAB set, you like football, its worth the investment.

Thanks for reading this far:-)


M a r k

[Artemis]

Thanks Mark, that's a helpful explanation as to the allocation and makes perfect sense to me. A DAB Radio is a very worthwhile investment, I agree.
I do fully understand the constraints you work under - with the transmitter networks you have, you can never please everyone all of the time. The coverage that you provide for football and cricket remains, in my view, excellent value for money.

[Shade]

For anyone that hasn't bought a DAB radio yet, you can get some for £15 or £20 that work perfectly fine from the likes of Tesco.

[RegencyCheltenhamSpa]

DAB also great for getting cricket and other sports on 5LiveSportsExtra.

[Jeff Lynne]

Can BBC Glos canvas Muxco to improve BBC Glos coverage in the Forest ? Coverage is DIRE.

[RegencyCheltenhamSpa]

So if you live in Winchcombe, then you can fill your boots on Forest Green via AM, but not CTFC on DAB. I note, that according to UK Digital Radio there is BBC Radio Glos DAB coverage at the New Lawn - so at least they can listen to our games, even if you can't in Winchcombe.

So with that in mind, it would be interesting to know why FGR are on AM and CTFC on DAB. (personally, I prefer DAB, as its a lot clearer and we can pick it up in Cirencester, but that's not the driver behind my question)

At the risk of turning this thread into Anoraks UK, and going over some things we talked about last year, I'm happy to keep answering questions...but if you ask about transmitters replies can get lengthy!

It's important to note that we have the transmitter network we have inherited. It's been subject to changes over the last 30 years brought about by national broadcasting policy and technological change. So we had a powerful 603AM county wide transmitter just outside Cheltenham that was taken off us in the 90s (I think) which was replaced with two low power AM transmitters at either end of the County (crucially NOT in Cheltenham)

What we have today is FM/AM/DAB that all cover large chunks of the county, none of which cover the same chunk of the county and none of them cover all of the county!

So your point is correct in where you can hear what you can hear. So how did we decide DAB to CTFC and AM to FGR? Well DAB covers the whole of the M5 corridor inc Cheltenham and Gloucester .. with the bonus in that it reaches the other side of the Cotswold ridge and can be heard across the N & S Cotswolds. AM on the other hand does cover Cheltenham on a sunny summer Saturday afternoon at 1500 .. but on a wet Tuesday night in January at 2100 it is, well, not very good at all. On that basis we put CTFC on DAB. In reverse, the 1413AM transmitter at Berkeley gets a good signal into the Stroud valleys and therefore we place FGR on that platform. Please see Anoraks UK as to why AM signals vary depending on time of day/year.......

As a bonus, DAB also carries the BBC's national football coverage on 5 Live /5 Live Sports extra.. as well as other football coverage via Talksport etc. So if you don't own a DAB set, you like football, its worth the investment.

Thanks for reading this far:-)


M a r k

Thanks for the detail. Should be no concern about Anoraks UK and I wish the BBC would focus more on proper information like this rather than dumbing everything down!

[longtimerobin]

Hi thanks for the replies, but I wont be able to listen to Cheltenham games unless I drive into town, or perhaps Lands End but not in my own home.??????????

[Shade]

Hi thanks for the replies, but I wont be able to listen to Cheltenham games unless I drive into town, or perhaps Lands End but not in my own home.??????????

It might not help but try giving this a read if you haven't already? https://www.bbc.co.uk/reception/digital ... n_problems" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Horteng]

Hi thanks for the replies, but I wont be able to listen to Cheltenham games unless I drive into town, or perhaps Lands End but not in my own home.??????????

It might not help but try giving this a read if you haven't already? https://www.bbc.co.uk/reception/digital ... n_problems" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Get the CTFC app. Granted you have to pay £4 a month but it gives me trouble free commentary in the FOD. Got fed up with trying to listen on AM/FM a few seasons ago.

The app is definitely the way to go

[Bbcglos]

Hi thanks for the replies, but I wont be able to listen to Cheltenham games unless I drive into town, or perhaps Lands End but not in my own home.??????????

I wish I could fix it for you ... but I can't. We can't get all broadcast platforms to all of the county (see above) and internet sport rights restrictions mean we cant put league football free to air online which of course does reach all the county.

You will of course be able to hear FA cup games free to air via the web. On a really odd technical note, if anyone uses a smart speaker to listen to our FA Cup commentary it might not work. This is because we geo block it to the UK for rights reasons .. but your smart speaker thinks its outside the UK. It doesn't connect to our web stream directly .. but connects first to Google/amazon/apple servers outside the UK which then connect to the BBC server!

Meanwhile DAB coverage (indoors) can be seen here. http://www.muxco.com/wp-content/uploads ... ndoor4.png" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[horlickfanclub]

It is good to get the coverage again but it would be even better too have more commentary and less punditry and listener texts that could be discussed when a game is not in progress.Sometimes there can be five minutes where the game could have been abandoned for all the listener knows while the broadcasters talk about next season or 1998.

[Shade]

It is good to get the coverage again but it would be even better too have more commentary and less punditry and listener texts that could be discussed when a game is not in progress.Sometimes there can be five minutes where the game could have been abandoned for all the listener knows while the broadcasters talk about next season or 1998.

Very true, too much of the commentators proving what megafans they are by wandering down memory lane and then all of a sudden breaking away to tell us something has happened, but forgetting to tell us for several seconds to which team. The level of noise from fans usually lets us know, though!

Would love it if you could get Paul Godfrey on more often. Obviously, an expert in his field and with all of the knowledge of what's going on at the club.

[RegencyCheltenhamSpa]

It is good to get the coverage again but it would be even better too have more commentary and less punditry and listener texts that could be discussed when a game is not in progress.Sometimes there can be five minutes where the game could have been abandoned for all the listener knows while the broadcasters talk about next season or 1998.

Very true, too much of the commentators proving what megafans they are by wandering down memory lane and then all of a sudden breaking away to tell us something has happened, but forgetting to tell us for several seconds to which team. The level of noise from fans usually lets us know, though!

Would love it if you could get Paul Godfrey on more often. Obviously, an expert in his field and with all of the knowledge of what's going on at the club.

Like when one tunes in expecting to hear action described only to hear an frothing apoplectic rant repeated every few mins from Halliwell about something one later discovers was a minor thing at best or something which isn’t even a thing at worst.

Positive in theory to have passionate fans commentating but the primary function of the BBC and our licence fee / TV tax is to describe the match in a factual, engaging and detailed manner - not to be a venting platform for fans with a specific gripe against certain players or tactics etc.

[Reginald]

Can BBC Glos canvas Muxco to improve BBC Glos coverage in the Forest ? Coverage is DIRE.

That's absolutely true JL. DAB coverage is dire, FM poor, so just crackly old 1413AM for the Forest....and the FGR commentary .
It's absolutely typical that the well healed Cotswolds gets two DAB transmitters for BBC Radio Gloucestershire - yet if there was ever a need for the most isolated, needy and impoverished area of the county to get a decent signal from DAB, the Forest is left behind in the radio stakes. (Mind you, the BBC locally seems so obsessed with Stroud and the Cotswolds at the expense of the Forest, we shouldn't be surprised...)

[RegencyCheltenhamSpa]

Can BBC Glos canvas Muxco to improve BBC Glos coverage in the Forest ? Coverage is DIRE.

That's absolutely true JL. DAB coverage is dire, FM poor, so just crackly old 1413AM for the Forest....and the FGR commentary .
It's absolutely typical that the well healed Cotswolds gets two DAB transmitters for BBC Radio Gloucestershire - yet if there was ever a need for the most isolated, needy and impoverished area of the county to get a decent signal from DAB, the Forest is left behind in the radio stakes. (Mind you, the BBC locally seems so obsessed with Stroud and the Cotswolds at the expense of the Forest, we shouldn't be surprised...)

BBC luvvies probably went to art school with the Stroud set - or at least some garden parties. So give them good service and lo and behold the non-executive Trustees approve bloated pay deals out of keeping with any other public service organisation.

[Nesty]

DAB reception is dire where I live, but can understand the rationale, but have to say from a selfish personal point of view would prefer if we got AM or FM then I could get the commentary through FREEVIEW. I even have SKY but DAB BBC Glos not available on FREESAT either

[Bbcglos]

As noted above the BBC has spent lots of money placing DAB transmitters across Gloucestershire ( EG Winchcombe & The Forest) but these deliver the BBC national networks.

Unfortunately, because of the way DAB works, you can't put BBC Glos on those transmitters. Local DAB has to be delivered on a local multiplex ... and that multiplex has to be delivered by Ofcom and its commercial radio contractor. We have no influence on this roll out. At the moment there are four local DAB transmitters in Gloucestershire but it isn't 100% coverage. DAB does cover a bigger area of Gloucestershire than our FM transmitters do though.

Broadband has been rolled out into rural areas of Gloucestershire using funding from the BBC licence fee and radio via online (broadband and mobile 3g/4g) allows us to fill all our "transmitter gaps" .. except that in the world of football commentary, the rights holder (EFL) doesn't allow us to do that.

Its not perfect .. but its as good as we can get it. We cant please everyone but last season saw a big increase in the number of people listening to our CTFC/FGR/GRFC commentaries.

Here's to a season of cup runs and promotion


M a r k
for BBC Glos

[paperboy]

[quote="Bbcglos"]As noted above the BBC has spent lots of money placing DAB transmitters across Gloucestershire ( EG Winchcombe & The Forest) but these deliver the BBC national networks.

Unfortunately, because of the way DAB works, you can't put BBC Glos on those transmitters. Local DAB has to be delivered on a local multiplex ... and that multiplex has to be delivered by Ofcom and its commercial radio contractor. We have no influence on this roll out. At the moment there are four local DAB transmitters in Gloucestershire but it isn't 100% coverage. DAB does cover a bigger area of Gloucestershire than our FM transmitters do though.

Broadband has been rolled out into rural areas of Gloucestershire using funding from the BBC licence fee and radio via online (broadband and mobile 3g/4g) allows us to fill all our "transmitter gaps" .. except that in the world of football commentary, the rights holder (EFL) doesn't allow us to do that.

Its not perfect .. but its as good as we can get it. We cant please everyone but last season saw a big increase in the number of people listening to our CTFC/FGR/GRFC commentaries.

Mark (BBC Glos)

Thanks Mark,

Really enlightening explanation.

[Nesty]

yes - thanks Mark. I have to say I enjoy the commentaries - always factual and less hysterically biased than others !