BBC Radio 4’s Long Wave service will fall silent at the end of today’s programmes, bringing down the curtain on more than ninety years of broadcasting on 198 kHz (although for the purists, it was 200kHz until 1988). The BBC says the ageing Droitwich transmitter can no longer be maintained, with its last remaining valves now at the end of their usable life.
Tonight’s shutdown marks the end of a signal that once reached every corner of the UK and carried some of Radio 4’s most recognisable output, from the Shipping Forecast to Test Match Special.
BBC Radio 4 will continue on VHF / FM, (92.8 in Douglas, 92.5 in Ramsey, 96.0 in the West) DAB and BBC Sounds, but the Long Wave frequency itself will go dark for good once the final announcement is made.
