Tag Archives: Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast

Help record the 2024 BBC Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast later today (June 21, 2024)

Every year, the BBC broadcasts a special program to the scientists and support staff in the British Antarctic Survey Team. The BBC plays music requests and sends special messages to the small team located at various Antarctic research stations. Each year, the thirty minute show is guaranteed to be quirky, nostalgic, and certainly a DX-worthy catch!

After successful listener events from years past, I’m once again calling on all SWLing Post readers and shortwave radio listeners to make a short recording (say, 30-60 seconds) of the BBC Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast today and share it here on the SWLing Post. Details on this below.

Time and frequencies

Our intrepid contributor, Richard Langley, reports the following message from the British Antarctic Survey:

The BBC Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast will be transmitted at 21.30 GMT on 21 June on shortwave frequencies: 9585kHz, 11685kHz and 9870kHz.

Recording the Midwinter Broadcast has become an SWLing Post community tradition! Read our previous post for more details.

I’m especially fond of this broadcast as it always falls on my birthday and it’s always fun capturing this unique DX!

Share your recording and notes with us!

Comment with your recording!

During the Midwinter broadcast, I will publish a dedicated post where you can comment and include links to audio and video of your 2024 Midwinter Broadcast recordings. When this post is available, I will link to it here. This will allow you to post your logs and recordings at your convenience without my availability becoming the bottleneck.

So that there’s no confusion, I’ve turned off comments on this post so that comments are left on the appropriate article.

Here’s the format I’d like you to leave in your comment of the dedicated post:

Name:

Listening location:

Notes: (Include frequencies and any details about your receiver and antenna.)

Link to audio or video: (YouTube, Vimeo, Internet Archive, SoundCloud, etc.)

Video and Audio Recordings

There is no way to directly upload audio in your comments, however, you can link to the recordings if you upload them to the Internet Archive (which I’d highly recommend) or any of the video streaming services–like YouTube and Vimeo–or audio services like SoundCloud.

If you have a photo you’d like to include in your comment, send me an email from the same address you used in your comment. I’ll manually post the image at the top of your comment when time allows.

As with each year, I’ll make sure the BAS team and the BBC receive a link with all of your recordings!

Spread the radio love

Please share your recording of the 2023 BBC Midwinter Broadcast to Antarctica here!

58 Replies

Halley VI: The British Antarctic Survey’s new base (Source: British Antarctic Survey)

In the comments section of this post, I’d like you to share your recording of the BBC Midwinter Broadcast to Antarctica!

In years past, I’ve created a post with all of the Midwinter recordings curated in one article. This usually takes me 12+ hours to prepare over a couple of weeks as many of the audio clips and video recordings must be formatted for the site and embedded. There is also a lot of discussions back/forth confirming details with listeners. This year once again, my schedule is such that if I try to piece one of these articles together I might not have it published for many, many weeks.

The past two years, this format worked brilliantly, so we’re doing it again…

Time and frequencies

Our intrepid contributor, Richard Langley, reports:

According to a posting on Glenn Hauser’s World of Radio IO group, the following frequencies are confirmed for the broadcast on 21 June 2023 [at 21:30 UTC]:

    • 7255 kHz Dhabbaya 250 kW
    • 12005 kHz Woofferton 300 kW
    • 13810 kHz Woofferton 250 kW
      (Ascension relay – not being used)

Please comment with your recording on this post!

Listening to the 2017 BBC Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast from the back of my vehicle in Saint-Anne-de-Beaupré, Québec, Canada.

I’ve created this dedicated post where you can comment and include links to audio and video of your 2023 Midwinter Broadcast recordings. This will allow you to post your logs and recordings at your convenience without my availability becoming the bottleneck.

Here’s the format I’d like you to leave in your comment of this post:

Name:

Listening location:

Notes: (Include frequencies and any details about your receiver and antenna.)

Link to audio or video: (YouTube, Vimeo, Internet Archive, SoundCloud, etc.)

Video and Audio Recordings

There is no way to directly upload audio in your comments, however, you can link to the recordings if you upload them to the Internet Archive (which I’d highly recommend) or any of the video streaming services like YouTube and Vimeo–or audio services like SoundCloud.

If you have a photo you’d like to include in your comment, send me an email from the same address you used in your comment. I’ll manually post the image at the top of your comment when time allows.

As with each year, I’ll make sure the BAS team and the BBC receive a link with all of your recordings!

Click here to comment with your recording of the 2023 BBC Midwinter Broadcast to Antarctica!

Spread the radio love

Help record the 2023 BBC Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast today (June 21, 2023)

Every year, the BBC broadcasts a special program to the scientists and support staff in the British Antarctic Survey Team. The BBC plays music requests and sends special messages to the small team located at various Antarctic research stations. Each year, the thirty minute show is guaranteed to be quirky, nostalgic, and certainly a DX-worthy catch!

After successful listener events from years past, I’m once again calling on all SWLing Post readers and shortwave radio listeners to make a short recording (say, 30-60 seconds) of the BBC Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast today and share it here on the SWLing Post. Details on this below.

Time and frequencies

Our intrepid contributor, Richard Langley, reports:

According to a posting on Glenn Hauser’s World of Radio IO group, the following frequencies are confirmed for the broadcast on 21 June [at 21:30 UTC]:

    • 7255 kHz Dhabbaya 250 kW
    • 12005 kHz Woofferton 300 kW
    • 13810 kHz Woofferton 250 kW
      (Ascension relay – not being used)

Recording the Midwinter Broadcast has become an SWLing Post community tradition! Read our previous post for more details.

I’m especially fond of this broadcast as it always falls on my birthday and it’s always fun capturing this unique DX!

Share your recording and notes with us!

Comment with your recording!

During the Midwinter broadcast, I will publish a dedicated post where you can comment and include links to audio and video of your 2023 Midwinter Broadcast recordings. When this post is available, I will link to it here. This will allow you to post your logs and recordings at your convenience without my availability becoming the bottleneck.

So that there’s no confusion, I’ve turned off comments on this post so that comments are left on the appropriate article.

Here’s the format I’d like you to leave in your comment of the dedicated post:

Name:

Listening location:

Notes: (Include frequencies and any details about your receiver and antenna.)

Link to audio or video: (YouTube, Vimeo, Internet Archive, SoundCloud, etc.)

Video and Audio Recordings

There is no way to directly upload audio in your comments, however, you can link to the recordings if you upload them to the Internet Archive (which I’d highly recommend) or any of the video streaming services–like YouTube and Vimeo–or audio services like SoundCloud.

If you have a photo you’d like to include in your comment, send me an email from the same address you used in your comment. I’ll manually post the image at the top of your comment when time allows.

As with each year, I’ll make sure the BAS team and the BBC receive a link with all of your recordings!

Spread the radio love

June 21, 2023: The Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast from the BBC

27 Replies

It’s that time of year again! Time to tune into one of the most unique broadcasts transmitted by the BBC World Service: the Midwinter Broadcast to Antarctica.

If you have confirmed the 2023 frequency details, please share them in the comments.

(Source: BBC Media Centre)

Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast

The Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast is unlike anything else on the BBC World Service. We make this special programme for just 37 listeners: The team of scientists and support staff isolated at British research stations in the Antarctic midwinter.

Presented by Cerys Matthews, the programme features messages from family and friends at home as well as music requests from Antarctica. For decades it has been part of the traditional midwinter celebrations.

For the staff living at three British Antarctic Survey research stations (Rothera, Bird Island and South Georgia), and at other national bases across the frozen continent, midwinter is a special time. With no sunlight, Antarctica is at its coldest and those stationed on the frozen continent face months of total isolation.

Midwinter celebrations at the British research stations include a feast, exchange of presents, watching the 1982 horror film The Thing (where an alien monster terrorises an Antarctic base) and listening – on short wave – to the BBC’s Midwinter Broadcast.

    • Presenter: Cerys Matthews
    • Produced by Martin Redfern for the BBC World Service
Spread the radio love

Please share your recording of the 2022 BBC Midwinter Broadcast to Antarctica here!

45 Replies

Halley VI: The British Antarctic Survey’s new base (Source: British Antarctic Survey)

In the comments section of this post, I’d like you to share your recording of the BBC Midwinter Broadcast to Antarctica!

In years past, I’ve created a post with all of the Midwinter recordings curated in one article. This usually takes me 12+ hours to prepare over a couple of weeks as many of the audio clips and video recordings must be formatted for the site and embedded. There is also a lot of discussions back/forth confirming details with listeners. This year once again, my travel schedule is such that if I try to piece one of these articles together I might not have it published for many, many weeks.

Last year this format worked brilliantly, so we’re doing it again…

Time and frequencies

The 2022 Midwinter Broadcast will take place from 21:30-22:00 UTC on June 21, 2022 and will be broadcast on the following four frequencies:

  • 7305 kHz from Ascension
  • 9505 kHz from Woofferton
  • 12065 kHz from Woofferton

Please comment with your recording on this post!

Listening to the 2017 BBC Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast from the back of my vehicle in Saint-Anne-de-Beaupré, Québec, Canada.

I’ve created this dedicated post where you can comment and include links to audio and video of your 2022 Midwinter Broadcast recordings. This will allow you to post your logs and recordings at your convenience without my availability becoming the bottleneck.

Here’s the format I’d like you to leave in your comment of this post:

Name:

Listening location:

Notes: (Include frequencies and any details about your receiver and antenna.)

Link to audio or video: (YouTube, Vimeo, Internet Archive, SoundCloud, etc.)

Video and Audio Recordings

There is no way to directly upload audio in your comments, however, you can link to the recordings if you upload them to the Internet Archive (which I’d highly recommend) or any of the video streaming services like YouTube and Vimeo–or audio services like SoundCloud.

If you have a photo you’d like to include in your comment, send me an email from the same address you used in your comment. I’ll manually post the image at the top of your comment when time allows.

As with each year, I’ll make sure the BAS team and the BBC receive a link with all of your recordings!

Click here to comment with your recording of the 2022 BBC Midwinter Broadcast to Antarctica!

Spread the radio love

BBC Midwinter Broadcast Frequencies and Schedule: June 21, 2022

6 Replies

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Richard Langley, who shares the following note from Alan Pennington via the WoR io group:

BBC Antarctic Midwinter broadcast – June 21 frequencies confirmed
From: Alan Pennington

Thanks to Dave Passey at Woofferton who has just confirmed to me the frequencies for the BBC Antarctic Midwinter broadcast tomorrow, Tuesday 21st June, at 2130-2200 UTC:

“Following the test transmissions, the 6035kHz from DHA has been closed out, leaving just the three:

7305 ASC
9505 WOF
12065 WOF

You are correct that there will only be one transmission on Shortwave at 2130UTC. “

(in the UK, the programme is also on BBC WS on DAB at 2130 UTC, 2230 BST. This is probably a slightly shorter edition though: 2132-2200, so best to listen on shortwave!)

This from BBC’s Media site:

The BBC’s unique annual broadcast to Antarctica, featuring music and messages.

The Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast is unlike anything else on the BBC World Service. Every year, we make this special programme for just 32 listeners: the team of scientists and support staff isolated at British research stations in the Antarctic midwinter.

Presented by Cerys Matthews, the programme features messages from family and friends at home as well as music requests from Antarctica. For decades it has been part of the traditional midwinter celebrations.

For the staff living at three British Antarctic Survey research stations (Rothera, Bird Island and South Georgia), and at other national bases across the frozen continent, midwinter is a special time. With no sunlight, Antarctica is at its coldest and those stationed on the frozen continent face months of total isolation.

Midwinter celebrations at the British research stations include a feast, exchange of presents, watching the 1982 horror film The Thing (where an alien monster terrorises an Antarctic base) and listening to the BBC’s Midwinter Broadcast.

As ever, this year’s programme includes recorded messages from family and friends of the winterers, music requests from the personnel in Antarctica, and appearances from special guests.

A Boffin Media production produced by Martin Redfern for the BBC World Service

https://www.bbc.com/mediacentre/proginfo/2022/25/antarctic-midwinter-broadcast

73, Alan Pennington

Many thanks for sharing this, Richard!

We will once again ask that listeners across the globe share their recordings here on the SWLing Post. We will post details in a separate post!

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BBC Midwinter Broadcast: Second set of test transmissions on Friday, June 17, 2022

4 Replies

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Richard Langley, who shares the following message from Dave (M0MYA):

Hello All,
There is to be a second set of test transmissions for the BBC Antarctic
special.

The will take place tomorrow (Friday 17.06.2022) at 2130 – 2145 UTC.
The frequencies are the same as they were on Tuesday June 14:

ASC: 7305kHz
DHA: 6035 kHz
WOF: 9505kHz and 12065kHz
73,
Dave M0MYA

Many thanks for the tip, Richard!

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