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 

Wavelength Changes 1978 - Part 5

All Change

As the D-Day of 23 November 1978 approached BBC Radio was running this promotional material for all the networks, though I can only recall it being played out on Radio 4. Again the publicity is voiced by David Symonds.

BBC Radio is Going Places

On the 22nd over on Radio 1 Dave Lee Travis was telling his listeners about the changes. The promo was voiced by the unlikely combination of John Snagge and Kid Jensen.

Radio 1 Changes

Later that day the Radio 4 Six O’Clock news outlined the engineering aspect of the work required. Reporter Nicholas Jones spoke to Chief Engineer Duncan McEwan and Head of Radio Aubrey Singer. The newsreader is Susan Denny.

Radio 4 News 221178

At 11p.m. on Radio 2 Brain Matthew kicked off Round Midnight. The final long wave station identification was given by James Alexander Gordon.

Round Midnight

Over on Radio 3 John Holmstrom was closing the network for the day and offering concerned listeners reassurance and how to avoid hearing “the Albanian Archers”.

Radio 3 - John Holmstrom

At midnight 1500 metres long wave switched from Radio 2 to Radio 4. Here’s Brian Matthew before midnight and David Symonds after midnight (I cheated slightly and recorded this on VHF). I assume this is the first play of Sailing By.

Radio 2 into Radio 4

Radio 2 had planned to be broadcasting 24 hours a day at this stage but industrial problems prevented this, so the station closed at 2 a.m. and re-opened at 5 a.m. The early morning announcing shift was taken by Presentation Editor Jimmy Kingsbury. The Early Show is presented by Tony Brandon.

Radio 2 Closedown and Open

Radio 4 opened at 6 a.m., David Symonds on overnight announcing duty.
Radio 4 Open

At 7a.m. Radio 3 was on-air with announcer Cormac Rigby in particularly poetic mood.
Radio 3 Open

On 275 and 285 metres DLT (aka “The Hairy Cornflake”) welcomed Radio 1 listeners.
Radio 1 - DLT

In this news report from Radio 4 Mike Wooldridge reviewed the mammoth task to change over the transmitters.

News Report - Mike Wooldridge

Radio 1 was running a Jaws 2 Competition by asking you to name all the DJs in the wavelength jingle.
Radio 1 - Jaws 2 Competition

On Newsbeat Laurie Mayer spoke to Eileen Mullan who was in charge of the publicity for the changeover.
Radio 1 Newsbeat

And to close, that week’s News Huddlines seemed confused by the whole exercise.
The News Huddlines

Wavelength Changes 1978 - Part 4

Radio 4 UK


With BBC Radio 4 moving to long wave in November 1978, and the improved national coverage that brought, it was able to promote itself as “Radio 4 UK.” 

In the run-up to the wavelength changes the network sought to publicise both the new programmes as well as the existing services it provided. Most of this promotional work was voiced by David Symonds.  



Radio Times 23 November 1978



In this sequence lasting just under nine minutes you’ll hear David plus, at the end, John Timpson on Today:

The UK Theme

When, in 2006, the then Controller of Radio 4 Mark Damazer axed the UK Theme that opened the station each morning even the BBC got into a muddle about when it was first used. The history of Radio 4 online continues to erroneously state that the UK Theme was introduced in 1973 when, of course, it was launched in 1978 to coincide with Radio 4 UK.

The UK Theme was aired on Radio 4 before 23 November 1978 whenever there was an appropriate gap in the schedules. Here, for example, you can hear it played on the 20^th and introduced by announcer Edgar Martin:

Despite what a certain online encyclopaedia says this is not the first play for the theme. My own recording is from Friday 17 November when Charles Collville was on duty. Here’s what he had to say after playing the theme:

Let’s hear the theme in use to open proceedings on Radio 4. Moving forward to 29 January 1982 this is Eugene Fraser welcoming in a new day of broadcasting:

Before the UK Theme was introduced Radio 4 started each day with another Fritz Spiegel composition known as 'A Skipping Tune'. This had been in use from the summer of 1973. Here's an on-air recording from 1977. The music starts 30 seconds in after the test tone beeps:

Wavelength Changes 1978 - Part 3

In the lead up to the wavelength changes (or frequency changes, take your pick) in November 1978 the BBC publicity machine went into overdrive. In this post you can hear a selection of the musical, comedy and celebrity based promotions.

• Instant Sunshine
• Radio 2 changes with Larry Grayson
• Mari Griffith on Radio 4 in Wales
• Changing metres not meters - can anyone identify the voices?
• Radio 2 changes with Johnny Mathis
• The Jason Explanation of Wavelength Changes with David Jason and Sheila Steafel

Wavelength Changes 1978 - Part 2

Here’s one of my favourite bits of audio from the lead-up to the frequency changes in November 1978 as Radio 3 announcer Cormac Rigby plays in Queen’s ‘Fat Bottomed Girls’.

Radio 3 moved from 464m to 247m, Radio 1s slot on the dial. To help its listeners before the switchover Radio 3 continuity announcers would encourage them to find 247 metres by playing a quick blast of what was going on over on Radio 1.

So here on 18 November 1978 is Cormac asking his engineer to fade in the Peter Powell show who just happens to playing the aforementioned Queen track. You can here the laugh in his voice just before it happens. What will the staid Radio 3 audience think if it?

The second part of this recording features Jon Curle on 20 November, but he just plays in part of Alan Dell’s ‘Dance Band Days’ – 247m was carrying the Radio 2 service in the evening.

Radio_3_Wavelength_Changes

Wavelength Changes 1978 - Part 1

The biggest single shake-up in UK radio broadcasting happened on 23rd November 1978 and affected all four national services. In the months and weeks leading up to the big event the BBC publicised the changes on air and in the press. Remember those stickers issued with the Radio Times to put on your radio dial? Radios 1 and 2 commissioned new jingles from JAM Creative Productions in Dallas and Radio 4 rebranded itself as Radio 4 UK.

To kick things off here's some audio of the BBC tv coverage on Nationwide on the evening of the 23rd.


For the record you'll hear Nationwide presenters Sue Lawley and Glyn Worsnip. On the radio there's Kid Jensen, John Dunn, Patricia Hughes, Moira Stuart and Week Ending featuring David Jason. The Managing Director of Radio is Aubrey Singer and you'll also hear The Kings Singers. The Radio 4 newsreader, who gets talked over, is Colin Doran.

At the end of the Nationwide clip I think it's Hugh Scully and John Stapleton. The tape runs on into an announcement by BBC1 North announcer Vanessa Hill introducing Tomorrow's World.

From October 1977 BBC Engineering Sheet 1045 explaining the new frequency arrangements.