I often put my bedside radio on Radio 2 late at night but there are
several presenters, mainly the ones who cover for others who are away,
who I cannot stand so I will often then switch to Radio 3 Unwind.
I have been wondering what genius at the BBC thought it was a good idea
to broadcast the Shipping Forecast with music playing over the top of it?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0cjyk2w
On 10/01/2026 13:21, JMB99 wrote:
I often put my bedside radio on Radio 2 late at night but there are
several presenters, mainly the ones who cover for others who are away,
who I cannot stand so I will often then switch to Radio 3 Unwind.
I have been wondering what genius at the BBC thought it was a good idea
to broadcast the Shipping Forecast with music playing over the top of it?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0cjyk2w
I wonder how many boat owners actually listen to the shipping forecast
on broadcast radio these days, compared with those who get the info from
the web or on maritime frequencies as an automated broadcast or
coastguard broadcast. It's still worth keeping it as a backup in case
all other methods fail.
I wonder what proportion of listeners to it have no boat connection but
are listening to it for ASMR purposes ;-) Those people might find the
music therapeutic or soothing, whereas "real" users of the service need maximum signal to noise ratio: voice only with no background music.
I wonder how many boat owners actually listen to the shipping forecast
on broadcast radio these days, compared with those who get the info from
the web or on maritime frequencies as an automated broadcast or
coastguard broadcast. It's still worth keeping it as a backup in case
all other methods fail.
I wonder what proportion of listeners to it have no boat connection but
are listening to it for ASMR purposes Efye-a Those people might find the music therapeutic or soothing, whereas "real" users of the service need maximum signal to noise ratio: voice only with no background music.
On 10/01/2026 13:55, NY wrote:
I wonder how many boat owners actually listen to the shipping forecast
on broadcast radio these days, compared with those who get the info
from the web or on maritime frequencies as an automated broadcast or
coastguard broadcast. It's still worth keeping it as a backup in case
all other methods fail.
I wonder what proportion of listeners to it have no boat connection
but are listening to it for ASMR purposes Efye-a Those people might find
the music therapeutic or soothing, whereas "real" users of the service
need maximum signal to noise ratio: voice only with no background music.
When you look at the cost of most yachts, I am sure the owners can
easily afford a NAVTEX receiver or even access to satellite.
Professional mariners are not going to sit with pencil and paper writing down the forecast.
I think there is still a SF at 17:54 (weekends only) but the main two
are 00:48 and 05:34 on 198KHz LW and VHF/FM and last 9 minutes in total. These two also carry info from the Coastal Weather stations and the
Inshore Waters Forecast. The SF forecast itself is about 6 minutes and
is always EXACTLY 350 words.
On 10/01/2026 17:10, Woody wrote:
I think there is still a SF at 17:54 (weekends only) but the main two
are 00:48 and 05:34 on 198KHz LW and VHF/FM and last 9 minutes in
total. These two also carry info from the Coastal Weather stations and
the Inshore Waters Forecast. The SF forecast itself is about 6 minutes
and is always EXACTLY 350 words.
I didn't know it was always the same number of words. Obviously the
names of the shipping areas are always the same, but I hadn't realised
that all the various sea states were always the same number of words.
Nice bit of trivia!
I'd have thought that if the number of words was fixed, the duration
would be pretty constant.
Ah, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shipping_Forecast says that it is a *maximum* ("limit") of 350 words (380 for the 00:48 SF).
On Sat 10/01/2026 21:15, NY wrote:
I'd have thought that if the number of words was fixed, the duration
would be pretty constant.
Ah, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shipping_Forecast says that it is a
*maximum* ("limit") of 350 words (380 for the 00:48 SF).
The words nuclear and submarines come to mind.......
I often put my bedside radio on Radio 2 late at night but there are
several presenters, mainly the ones who cover for others who are away,
who I cannot stand so I will often then switch to Radio 3 Unwind.
I have been wondering what genius at the BBC thought it was a good idea
to broadcast the Shipping Forecast with music playing over the top of it?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0cjyk2w
On 10/01/2026 22:16, Woody wrote:
On Sat 10/01/2026 21:15, NY wrote:
I'd have thought that if the number of words was fixed, the duration
would be pretty constant.
Ah, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shipping_Forecast says that it is a>>> *maximum* ("limit") of 350 words (380 for the 00:48 SF).
The words nuclear and submarines come to mind.......
And that won't apply after they turn Droitwich off.
On 10/01/2026 13:21, JMB99 wrote:
I often put my bedside radio on Radio 2 late at night but there are
several presenters, mainly the ones who cover for others who are away,
who I cannot stand so I will often then switch to Radio 3 Unwind.
I have been wondering what genius at the BBC thought it was a good idea
to broadcast the Shipping Forecast with music playing over the top of it?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0cjyk2w
Perhaps following this, which was done and dusted years ago.
YouTube: Tears For Fears "Pharaohs" [B-side] (1985)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxMMcgp5hOA
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