Community | June 03, 2009 | 1 comment

Radio station that played nothing but birds chirping has been axed, causes outcry

source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/5431109/Cult-birdsong-radio-station-...

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Apparently there was a radio station that play nothing but the sound of birdsong from a British garden. Who knew? Well apparently (again) lots of people did as lots have complained about it's removal from digital radio. It's been claimed that 1/2 million people tuned in to hear the 20min long loop.

The station had been on the air for 18 months but was recently axed to make way for a crazy station that plays music, has DJs and the odd advert. This has prompted an outcry from it's loyal fans who are rumoured to be petitioning Government for it to be reinstated (er, guys - what Government? Haven't you heard the news?)

Did any Current users listen to it or even know of it?
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1 comment // Radio station that played nothing but birds chirping has been axed, causes outcry

  • graemesmith
    • 0
      graemesmith  

    • Birdsong was relayed in order to fill space left by a digital station that shut down.

      There was a station called One Word that was an intelligent speech station and had a very high bitrate -so they gave it loads of bandwidth to provide top quality sound. When it disappeared they had to put something out in its slot on digital radio and opted for the sound of birds singing. Birdsong was left on taking up a massive amount of bandwidth for a year that other broadcasters would kill for. It is shocking that it was able to continue for this long, considering the space it was taking up!

      Birdsong was a sound effect on a loop. It was like a test card.

      It's not the first time birdsong has been used:
      When financial news station Bloomberg, and rolling news station ITN News Radio ceased to broadcast within several months of one another in 2003, replacement audio services were never found due to a commitment in Digital One's broadcasting licence to provide a news station. This resulted in a station playing a 36-minute, 56-second loop of birdsong and ambient sounds, entitled D1 Temp which broadcast for almost two years.

      Birdsong has been on and off replacing services that go bust for many years. It was used in the Classic FM test transmissions in 1992.

      The dawn birdsong was recorded in spring 1991, on the edge of Salisbury Plain in the Wiltshire garden of Quentin Howard, the chairman of Digital One - the national commercial digital radio multiplex operator.

      Zzzzzzzzip.
      Thats the sound of my anorak.

    • 2 years ago
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