The BBC Shipping Forecast is an unlikely national institution in the United Kingdom. Broadcast four times a day on BBC Radio 4, it provides detailed information on the condition of seas and coastal waters surrounding the UK and beyond for sailors and coastal dwellers alike.
However, it also attracts hundreds of thousands of listeners who have no direct need for its meteorological guidance. What is the history of the broadcast and secret of its long lasting appeal to numerous non-seafarers?
The Home Service
Compiled by the Met Office in Aberdeen, Scotland and originally broadcast over forty years ago on the Home Service of the BBC, subsequently re-branded as Radio 4, the Shipping Forecast follows a strict routine.
The script itself is concise to maximise the time allotted for broadcast and details the wind speed and direction, sea type, weather type and visibility.
‘Sailing By’ Theme
In addition to the broadcast, one of the integral attractions of the Shipping Forecast is its theme tune, ‘Sailing By’. Played as a prelude, it was composed by Ronald Binge and acts as a bridge between the end of regular BBC Radio 4 programming and the broadcast itself.
Jarvis Cocker, lead singer of British band Pulp, chose ‘Sailing By’ as one of his Desert Island Discs when appearing on the programme.
The Shipping Forecast And Popular Culture
The cementing of the Shipping Forecast in the national psyche has been enhanced by its place in popular culture. Artists as diverse as Radiohead, film director Terence Davies and poet Seamus Heaney have used it as literal and metaphoric inspiration.
An Island Country
With its island status and strong historical links to the sea, the UK has a traditional interest and respect for all things maritime. The Shipping Forecast encapsulates the mystery, power and romanticism inherent with living on an island country.
The BBC Shipping Forecast
The Shipping Forecast has been described as a prose poem. Controller of BBC Radio 4 Mark Damazer says,
“It scans poetically. It’s got a rhythm of its own. It’s eccentric, it’s unique, it’s English. It’s mysterious because not many know where these places are, it takes you to a faraway place you can’t truly comprehend.”
For sailors it provides a necessary and vital vehicle for their safety, for others it has a more mystical potency. Listen for yourself.
Broadcast Times In the UK
00.48 (Long Wave and FM)
05.20 (Long Wave and FM)
12.01 (Long Wave)
17.54 (Long Wave)
Areas Covered By The Shipping Forecast
- Viking
- North Utsire
- South Utsire
- Forties
- Cromarty
- Forth
- Tyne
- Dogger
- Fisher
- German Bight
- Humber
- Thames
- Dover
- Wight
- Portland
- Plymouth
- Biscay
- Trafalgar
- FitzRoy
- Sole
- Lundy
- Fastnet
- Irish Sea
- Shannon
- Rockall
- Malin
- Hebrides
- Bailey
- Fair Isle
- Faeroes
- South-east Iceland
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