Delta 171 Long Wave
( or maybe Amsterdam 171 ? )
The New 2 Million Watt Pop Music Station for London!
Set to provide a stronger signal than BBC Radio 4 Long Wave
in London, UK from January 1st 2002.
Welcome to my page of Information and Discussion
about Delta 171 Long Wave, Amsterdam.

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7 kHz Audio Bandwidth is vital.
Atlantic 252 and Virgin 1215 have 7 kHz Audio Bandwidth.
Amsterdam 171 MUST have 7 kHz Audio Bandwidth also,
or else the exceptionally poor sound will deter listeners.
But France have made it a legal requirement that the Audio Bandwidth is
restricted to 4.5 kHz.
What can be done?
ASYMMETRICAL SIDEBANDS
This is a novel technical requirement but IT CAN BE DONE!
No one on the upper side of Amsterdam 171 is making a bandwidth restriction.
There's no objection from the East German station on 177.
There's no objection from Europe 1 on 183, and they are a full 12 kHz away!
What's required is:
A Lower Sideband from 166.5 to 171 kHz
An Upper Sideband from 171 to 178 kHz
That will Sound Decent
while still giving the French no grounds for objection.

The simplest way of accomplishing this would be to specify a power absorbing rf notch filter from the antenna manufacturers. This should absorb all rf power in the frequency range 164 to 166.5 kHz and must be rated at 500 kW for worst case conditions, although the average power rating would be very much lower, at say 50 kW.

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Amsterdam 171 would be a much better name in my opinion.
The Name must Mean something, be Memorable, and must Never Change once it has become known.
Delta is meaningless and not relevant to either the station's location or it's programming.

The obvious thing to do for a Dutch station broadcasting to the UK is to exploit Holland's image as a haven for legalised pot smoking and free love.
Whether the reputation is deserved or not, it is the image people in the UK have, and it is mostly seen in a positive light, particularly by the age groups which this new pop music station wants to attract.
The mere mention of the word
Holland, or Amsterdam will conjure up this image.
Of the 2 words, "Amsterdam" does it better.
Evidently the studios will be in Amsterdam, so it fits with that also.

The name Amsterdam 171 does NOT conflict with any other station
THERE IS NO STATION ALREADY USING THIS NAME.
This name is NOT "Radio Amsterdam"
No one in the UK has ever heard of Radio Amsterdam.
No one in the UK can receive Radio Amsterdam.
And there is no existing station broadcasting in English to the UK which is called either "Radio Amsterdam" or Amsterdam anything else.

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Programming needs to be kept simple.
All that's needed is a jukebox playing the right records, but it needs LIVE human beings to introduce all the records even though they never really say anything much of any consequence.

A Jukebox with a Human Voice.

What needs to be avoided is:
News, Weather, Travel, Traffic, Trivia and Adverts.

Despite being essential and unavoidable, adverts should be kept to a minimum, and adverts which do not suit the character of the station should be avoided.
Trivia is annoying and is not pop music.
100 other stations already bore their listeners with Travel and Traffic, this station needs to keep it to an absolute minimum like Atlantic 252.

News brings you down horribly. It jars and completely breaks the spell of the continuous music. People are NOT so overwhelmed by the desire to know what's going on that they need EVERY station to be a News station and rub their noses in the full details of every death in every foreign war every 15 minutes every morning.
What they tune in for is MUSIC.

Atlantic 252 have learnt this lesson, by keeping "real" news to an absolute minimum, and concentrating on bland celebrity news and gossip rather like MTV News. Significantly MTV have no "real" news at all. If this works for Music Television, it will work for Music Radio.

Comments and Queries to: delta171@sptv.demon.co.uk

Links
www.atlantic252.com
www.longwaveradio.com
www.rnw.nl/realradio

Here's an item from Radio Netherlands about the 171 Long Wave station
http://www.rnw.nl/realradio/html/archive000803.html
The Netherlands
12 July 2000: The Dutch government has granted an extension of 18 months to the deadline by which the proposed longwave station Delta 171 must begin its transmissions. In reply to a parliamentary question from the Green Party on 28 June, Minister of Transport & Communications Monique de Vries explained that the delay was due to international coordination (the French government had objected on technical grounds to the use of 171 kHz). The question was raised in the context of a discussion on Dutch terrestrial frequencies, which are due to be reallocated amongst public and commercial broadcasters. The Green Party are not happy with the fact that Delta Radio is to be built on a platform in the North Sea 35 km off the Dutch coast, where no environmental regulations can be enforced. They pointed out that the original licence issued to Delta Radio specified that it must begin transmissions not later than 1 July 2000. They are furious that the Minister has granted an 18 month extension.

Here's a transcript of an article about the 171 Long Wave station from
The Radio Listener's Guide 2000 Edition
http://www.radioguide.demon.co.uk/
Delta 171
is a proposed Dutch-based long wave station. Although licensed by the Dutch authorities in 1997, it could not get planning permission to erect an aerial mast on land due to objections from environmentalist groups. However, during 1999, an alternative plan to base it's transmission facilities on an artificially built platform based at sea (12 miles off the Zeeland caost of Holland) was approved by the Dutch Parliament and, inspite of further objections from environmentalists the project has now got the green light and is going ahead.
The station will broadcast with 2 Mega Watts of power and will be aimed at a UK audience, although it willl be audible throughout North West Europe. It is thought that the speech element of the programming will come from studios in London, sent to the studios in Amsterdam for mixing with the music, before going through a link to the transmission base at sea.
The format of Delta hasn't been officially announced, although rumours suggest it could be "Contemporary Hit Radio". The project is thought to have major financial backing.

This page last updated 17th October 2000