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This morning, I re-discovered a recording I made in the early morning hours of January 25, 2015 on 6,230 kHz SSB: the Australian Bureau of Meteorology’s marine weather radio service.
This was actually a new station for me and, no doubt, decent DX (though I’m sure the broadcast is quite audible when conditions are favorable). While I prefer old-school recorded voice for shipping forecasts, this nonetheless has a catchy cadence.
Since the dawn of time, there is, there was, and there always has been…the Shipping Forecast. We set our clocks by it. Despite the complexities of our planet–war, famine, daytime television–the Shipping Forecast has been there for us. Our steady friend amid the choppy seas of life. Our rock of Gibraltar…our security blanket.
Regardless of our diverse beliefs (or unbeliefs), it seems we all believe in the Forecast. We somehow find ourselves regularly returning to its altar, taking comfort in its soothing ministry. And why should we not? It’s been there, without fail, for ninety years.
That is…until this morning.
This morning, BBC Radio 4, who produces the Shipping Forecast experienced some technical difficulties. These, alas, led to a failure to broadcast the Forecast for the first time in, yes, ninety years. Andy Sennit shares this article from The Guardian:
It was early-morning chaos and warnings of impending armageddon when BBC Radio 4 failed to broadcast the Shipping Forecast for the first time in more than 90 years.
The BBC radio service is something of an institution, metronomically broadcasting four forecasts a day since 1924, a routine which failed for the first time at 5.20am on Friday.
A technical glitch meant the BBC’s World Service was played in its place, a gaffe that prompted listeners to take to Twitter to voice their bewilderment.
Kirsty Connell said: “Eep. The shipping forecast didn’t get broadcast on @BBCRadio4 this morning. Isn’t that the sign of impending nuclear armageddon?”
Jordan Rowland added: “No shipping forecast? If UK submarines don’t get shipping forecast, don’t they launch nuclear attack?”
The BBC was only able to resolve the issue at 5.40am when it cut back to the Radio 4 programme. Friday morning’s Shipping Forecast eventually aired 6.40am.
If this news has greatly unhinged you (as it has me) rest assured: the world continues. Thus the Forecast will await us at its regularly scheduled time tomorrow morning.
Regional: 5:30, 6:32am on weekdays, and 5:30am and 7:05am on weekends
Main centre: 5:05, 5:35, 6:08, 7:08, 8:08am on weekdays and 5:05, 5:35, 6:05, 7:05 and 8:08am on weekends
Urban: 7:32, 8:32am
Long-range: 12:32pm on weekdays and 1:04pm on weekends
Coastal: 4:05am
Mountain: 4:05pm
Many thanks, Mike! I had no idea New Zealand had a coastal forecast similar to that of the UK. I shouldn’t be surprised, though, as New Zealand is very much a maritime country and indeed, Aukland, NZ has the highest boat ownership of any city in the world.
When I lived in the UK, I would often fall asleep and/or wake up to the Shipping Forecast: a BBC Radio broadcast of weather reports and forecasts for the seas around the coasts of the British Isles.
Though I had, of course, no real need of the Forecast, on many occasions it lured me like the voice of a hypnotic siren (especially, I must admit, when read by a woman). When I moved back to the US in 2003, I missed hearing the Forecast on the radio, but thankfully one can listen to it at Radio 4 online. Although the online stream lacks the delectable sonic texture of long wave radio, the Forecast still has the power can still reel in its listeners.
Last December, I followed a brilliant series on NPR which highlighted the BBC Shipping Forecast. I intended to publish it here on the SWLing Post at the time, but somehow lost it in the shuffle of a busy travel season. Fortunately, NPR has archived audio from the series online. I love their introduction:
“It is a bizarre nightly ritual that is deeply embedded in the British way of life.
You switch off the TV, lock up the house, slip into bed, turn on your radio, and begin to listen to a mantra, delivered by a soothing, soporific voice.
“Viking, North Utsire, South Utsire, Forties, Cromarty, Forth, Tyne, Dogger ….” says the voice.
You are aware — vaguely — that these delicious words are names, and that those names refer to big blocks of sea around your island nation, stretching all the way up to Iceland and down to North Africa.
The BBC’s beloved Shipping Forecast bulletin covers 31 sea areas, the names of which have inspired poets, artists and singers and become embedded into the national psyche.
Your mind begins to swoop across the landscape, sleepily checking the shorelines, from the gray waters of the English Channel to the steely turbulence of the Atlantic.
Somewhere, deep in your memory, stir echoes of British history — of invasions from across the sea by Vikings, Romans and Normans; of battles with Napoleon’s galleons and Hitler’s U-boats.
Finally, as the BBC’s Shipping Forecast bulletin draws to a close, you nod off, complacent in the knowledge that whatever storms are blasting away on the oceans out there, you’re in your pajamas, sensibly tucked up at home”
You can listen to the series on NPR, or via the embedded player below:
This morning, I re-discovered a recording I made in the early morning hours of January 25, 2015 on 6,230 kHz SSB: the Australian Bureau of Meteorology’s marine weather radio service.
