![]() ![]() The shipping forecast has been broadcast for more than a century but took on its current form in 1949 – including most of the 31 distinctive names for nautical areas around the coast of Great Britain and Ireland. But the loss of the long wave signal – accessible far from the British mainland – confirms they will essentially be nostalgia pieces, more about waking the nation up or lulling listeners to sleep. ![]() The early morning and late night forecasts will remain on FM, DAB and online broadcasts. The BBC plans to end dedicated programming on its Radio 4 long wave frequency next year, which could mean the loss of two of the current four shipping broadcast updates. Another added: “For us it is a bygone age but for many older folk it is a reassuring connection to the past.” When the fishers’ trade body asked its members how they felt about the shipping forecast one said it “acted as a link across communities, a link across time”. There’s as much a fondness among fishermen for that as there is for the rest of us.” Yet that does not mean they are immune to the charms of Sailing By, the music that heralds the forecasts and was designed to help captains adjust their radios: “That theme tune is a link to other times, other people, other places. I’ve had video calls from people in the middle of the sea.” Modern fishers have far more accurate devices to warn them about the wind and rain: “Even the small 15-metre boats in Bridlington have satellite internet these days. The slightly less romantic reality, according to Mike Cohen of the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations, is that his members have not needed Radio 4 for decades.
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