So Long, Long Wave

After 102 years of broadcasting on the long wave and after forty-eight years of Radio 4’s presence on long wave the service closes on 27 June 2026. This now leaves just five countries in the world still broadcasting on long wave, that’s Romania, Poland, Morocco, Algeria and Mongolia. Other major broadcasters who have recently shut down their long wave transmitters include Europe 1 (December 2019) and RTÉ Radio 1 (April 2023). 

The closure of Radio 4 long wave has been a long time coming. In 2011 the then Director-General  Mark Thompson suggested it may end as part of  yet another round of cuts citing that it was only used by about 90,000 homes. The transmitter equipment was reaching the end of its life and the stock of valves dwindling as they are no longer manufactured. There were a couple of stumbling blocks. Firstly, what to do with the programmes that went out on long wave only. These were Yesterday in Parliament, the Daily Service and some of the Shipping Forecast bulletins. The answer was to shift the first two over to Radio 4 Extra. As for the Shipping Forecast the number of readings was cut down from four to two (three on weekends) and the final long wave only forecast was read at noon on 31 March 2024.

The second issue is that of RTS, the radio teleswitching system that piggy-backs on the radio signal and controls electricity meters, switching on Economy 7 storage heating and the like. As of this time last year over 300,000 homes still had RTS meters waiting to be converted to smart meters but I’ve not seen anything more recent that suggests how this rollout programme is progressing and what happens after June if households haven’t been switched over. For the technically minded RTS, which started in 1985, uses something called Phase Shift Keying to send messages over the airwaves via a Central Teleswitching Control Unit in Edinburgh onto the BBC Message Assembler at Crystal Palace and then on to the three long wave transmitters.

There will be a knock-on impact outside the UK as well where the long wave signal reaches a large expanse of northern Europe. For anyone still relying on old tech, or like myself still able to pick up Radio 4 on their car radio here in France, albeit with some interference everytime I pass a telegraph pole or pylon, it will be a sad loss, coming as it does a year after the lockdown of BBC Sounds for international listeners. I first remember hearing the BBC on long wave on a school trip to the Brittany coast in 1973. On a rainy day at Cancale our coach driver switched on the radio and picked up Radio 2. It was the Jimmy Young show in case you’re wondering.

Let’s also hope that Britain’s nuclear submarine fleet don’t rely on long wave broadcasts. There is the oft-repeated story that one of the signs that the UK still ‘exists’ is the monitoring of the broadcast of the Today programme on Radio 4, though quite what they do on Sunday when Today is not on air remains a mystery.          

Long wave transmissions haven’t gone down without a fight. In the summer of 2023 the Campaign to Keep Longwave and a online petition was set-up, though it has only reached about 7,600 signatures. In October 2025 an Early Day Motion was tabled in Parliament stating that ‘the House notes with concern the BBC’s intentions to cease broadcasting BBC Radio 4 on long wave’ and that it ‘remains a vital part of the UK’s broadcasting infrastructure, providing reliable analogue coverage during emergencies and in remote parts’. This was all to no avail and this year that the BBC announced that it would be closing ‘later this year’ and that ‘listeners will receive at least two months notice’. On-air announcements were broadcast at intervals during the day on long wave advising of the planned switch-off but on 11 May a date was finally given, that of 27 June.

I opened this post by saying that long wave broadcasting has been in existence for 102 years, at least in the UK. The Dutch had started using it in 1919 and Radio Eiffel Tower started in 1922. This is my timeline of long wave broadcasts from the BBC. For a far more detailed history can I point you in the direction of this excellent blog post by Chris Greenway.

I've condensed the UK long wave history into just under four minutes in this video:

Some more detail: 

July 1924 - long wave broadcasts start on 187.5kHz from a transmitter at the Marconi works in Chelmsford. Using the callsign 5XX it is also known as the High-Power Station. It mainly broadcasts London’s 2LO programmes.

27 July 1925 – a new 25kW transmitter opens at Daventry in Northamptonshire also using the callsign 5XX.

9 March 1930 - station callsigns are no longer used and the BBC offers the Regional Programme or the National Programme which comes from Daventry on 193kHz. The signal is supplemented by a number of medium wave transmitters.

6 September 1934 – a new 150kW long wave transmitter opens at Droitwich in Worcestershire carrying the National Programme on 200kHz. This 1500m wavelength will become familiar to listeners for the next half century. Daventry remained is use by the BBC until it closed on 29 March 1992. The Droitwich transmitters are replaced in 1962 and again in 1987.

1 September 1939 – ahead of the declaration of World War II the National Programme closes and is replaced by the Home Service on medium wave. The Regional Programme also closes. Droitwich is converted to medium wave and the power upped to 200kW.

16 November 1941 - long wave broadcasts resume from Droitwich carrying the BBC expanding European Service.

12 February 1943 -  regular broadcast start from a new high-power station built at Ottringham (station OSE5) near Hull. It’s east coast site means its ideally placed to carry broadcasts on behalf by the exiled Dutch government as Radio Oranje. It also carries BBC foreign language services including Dutch and Danish. After the war it continues to b broadcast European Services and eventually closes in 1953. 

29 July 1945 – the BBC Light Programme launches on 200kHz (1500m)

22 April 1956 – from this date the Shipping Forecast moves from the Home Service medium wave to the Light Programme long wave.

30 September 1967 - BBC Radio 2 replaces the Light Programme

23 November 1978 - Radio 2 moves from long wave to medium wave (plus VHF/FM) with Radio 4 UK taking over on long wave. The final Radio 2 long wave shipping forecast is read at 17.55 by chief announcer Jimmy Kinsgbury. At midnight Brian Matthew, on Radio 2, hands over to Radio 4 where announcer David Symonds is on air. To help provide coverage for what was now called Radio 4 UK the transmitters at Westerglen and Burghead in Scotland also carried the long wave signal on 200kHz. Westerglen had been in use since 1932 and Burghead since 1936 both carrying medium wave signals for the Regional Programme and later the Home Service and Light Programme.

1 February 1988 – the long wave frequency changes from 200kHzto 198kHz or 1500m to  1515m.

31 March 2024 - separate Radio 4 long wave programmes end.  The last long wave only Shipping Forecast is read by Ron Brown. From the following week the Daily Service and Yesterday in Parliament move to Radio 4 Extra. As of 24 March 2025 Yesterday in Parliament moved back to Radio 4, this time at 5.04am when the broadcasting hours were extended slightly.

May 2026 - announcement made about the closure of long wave transmissions.

27 June 2026 - Radio 4 long wave is due to close at 00.00 GMT (01.00 BST).

BBC on long wave 1924-2026 

With thanks to Chris Greenway. Droitwich site image credit (c) David Martyn Hughes