BBC Radio 4 Long Wave closing down

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It's been announced (among other BBC changes) that R4 LW is to be closed down. (No, really this time.) Leaving aside the politics/current affairs aspects of this, do people see this impacting their, or others, boating?

BBC announces raft of closures with CBBC and BBC Four to be online only
Regrettably, no, I don’t think it will impact me. Navtex for weather so shipping forecast of no real interest (if no internet available) and I don’t listen to TMS.
 

LittleSister

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I don't use it a lot, but have found it invaluable at times - abroad, or out of range of VHF due to distance or intervening hills or whatever.

Among my abiding memories of my early sailing trips abroad was setting the alarm for 4.30 or whatever it was (being in Netherlands or France, so an hour ahead), to listen to and note down the early morning R4 LW shipping forecast. Half out of my sleeping bag, trying not to nod off while the music intro was droning on, blearily scribbling down the relevant bits, pondering what they meant for the day's plans and whether this required re-setting the alarm, then gratefully snuggling back down into my sleeping bag to continue my interrupted sleep.
 

LittleSister

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That's not my interpretation of the BBC's announcement here: BBC to move CBBC and BBC Four online

They announce "Plans to stop scheduling separate content for Radio 4 Long Wave " but not the closure of LW entirely. That's a Guardian addition which I assume relates to previous announcements that it won't last forever.

That's just poor reporting from the BBC! :D

The BBC's own press release of the announcement includes 'Plans to stop scheduling separate content for Radio 4 Long Wave, consulting with partners, including the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, ahead of the closure of the Long Wave platform itself'.
Plan to deliver a digital first BBC
 

Black Sheep

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The BBC's own press release of the announcement includes 'Plans to stop scheduling separate content for Radio 4 Long Wave, consulting with partners, including the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, ahead of the closure of the Long Wave platform itself'.
Hmmm. Doesn't sound like "No, really this time. ".
 

johnalison

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The last occasion that radio 4 was important to me was during the Morning Cloud gale, 1974? We were holed out at Briightlingsea and unable to leave, and I still have my pseudo-synoptic charts from the week. I am averse to change, but I think that this could well be outdated technology that we could reasonably phase out.
 
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savageseadog

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Radio 4 LW Transmitter Droitwich, transmitted power 500KW or half a Megawatt, with all the extras, a serious electricity bill.

I forgot about Navtex, never used it.
 

Sandy

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I do love the Shipping Forecast on R4 as it wakes me up and sends me to sleep, but get my forecast from several sources many of them in text/graphic form so it will be no great loss.

I do wish that the CG would transmit the latest Shipping Forecast during their Maritime Safety Information (MSI) broadcasts! More than once I've been listening to them and looking at a more up to date forecast on my phone. Saying that hearing an unscheduled MSI from Dover CG giving a F8 imminent in Dover Strait did cause the skipper and I to glance at each other and say where the f*k did that come from, before setting the third reef.
 

dansaskip

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Yes if it happened it would be a great loss - you can get LW in places where you can't get other transmissions and the loss of shipping forecasts, test match commentary and World service on LW would be a great loss.
 

penberth3

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I do love the Shipping Forecast on R4 as it wakes me up and sends me to sleep, but get my forecast from several sources many of them in text/graphic form so it will be no great loss.........

Shipping forecast is also on R4 MW, so it should still be there if R4 LW closes.
 
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