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The Shipping Forecast
- stakhanov 8y agoExpected to rock all!
- CaliforniaKarl 8y agoJust as important (at least to me) is the song “Sailing By”, which is used to fill any extra time before the 00:48 broadcast. I wish the article would’ve given it a mention.
- JdeBP 8y agoAnd for morning people there was Fritz Spiegl's and Manfred Arlan's UK Theme. M. Spiegl also did some jingles. * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_Bu6ESf530 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_Bu6ESf530
- TeMPOraL 8y agoEveryone keeps mentioning "Sailing By", but no one seems to want to provide a link to it... I guess this is it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFdas-kMF74 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFdas-kMF74?
- JdeBP 8y agoIt's possibly because there are umpteen versions available, from performances by various orchestras (BBC Concert Orchestra to Philomusica of Edinburgh), through versions with added lyrics (one by Bernard Loughrey, others including a male voice choir and one by Binge himself and the Wimbledon Girl Singers), to people who captured it from broadcasts; as well as Wikipedia articles that are easily discoverable. The UK Theme also has several broadcast versions, alone, of differing lengths. * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailing_By https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailing_By * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pr-T3vXbj8c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pr-T3vXbj8c * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6vDtPOhDqA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6vDtPOhDqA * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSvf_wMfzLE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSvf_wMfzLE * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFfftvIVVyo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFfftvIVVyo * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CP_4w6GOQS0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CP_4w6GOQS0 * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlPSuqXlS4I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlPSuqXlS4I * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_4_UK_Theme https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_4_UK_Theme
- ldjb 8y agoFun fact: The performance of Sailing By used on BBC Radio 4 actually includes a wrong note. The mistake is easy to miss, but once you know about it, it becomes incredibly obvious. You can hear about that in this clip from the BBC's Short Cuts programme: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01hvk0x https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01hvk0x
- zeristor 8y agoThe article played some music that was of its ilk, but not Sailing By. Perhaps no one had told him?
- genericpseudo 8y agoThe Shipping Forecast is a very significant cultural reference in the UK. It crops up all over the place. Britain is _fundamentally_ an island and a seafaring nation, and that's something Americans miss; you're never more than seventy miles from the sea. It's as iconic as, I don't know, Thanksgiving football in the US; it's a thing everyone knows about without explanation. This is from an album which sold over 1.2m copies in the UK; one of the biggest records of the 90s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SD8gO8TAr4s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SD8gO8TAr4s
- JdeBP 8y agoSee also https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16013325 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16013325 .
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- PaulRobinson 8y agoAnd the music that runs up against it at night, Sailing Away, equally important reference. The nights I lay there, imagining the storms out there, particularly when depressed and alone, listening to the post-midnight "ceremonies" including the national anthem and lulled off to sleep before the World Service crept onto the airwaves... so many nights. It really is a part of me in some ways. It's interesting to me just how important BBC Radio 4 (formerly the Home Service), on which it is broadcast, is and has been to our collective culture. It's now seen in a more middle-class "sniffy" light - Radio 4 listeners are a certain "type", but think what it's given us: - It's where The Goons became famous: Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan and Harry Seacombe defined a certain age of comedy and inspired Monty Python and others. - Mornington Crescent is ironically one of the most iconic stations on the London Underground thanks to the game from the R4 show - All of Churchill's war-time speeches were broadcast there first - In the event of the death of the Queen, it will be announced first on the 8am Radio 4 news broadcast the following day (I'm not sure that can work in the modern era, but there we are) - Royal Navy Nuclear (weapon) submarines are to open a safe with hand-written letters of instruction from the Prime Minister if they can't pick up Radio 4 long-wave That's just off the top of my head.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- rwmj 8y agoFrom the last time this subject was discussed on HN, here's a copy of a shipping forecast: http://oirase.annexia.org/tmp/Shipping_Forecast_-_2017-12-27_b09jqt9n_original.m4a http://oirase.annexia.org/tmp/Shipping_Forecast_-_2017-12-27... To get the "full effect" you have to use a small transistor radio, wait until after midnight and listen to Sailing By first ...
- HeyLaughingBoy 8y agoOh, I dunno. I think to get the full effect, you need to be 13 years old, listening to it on a crystal radio you built from a diode scavenged from an old transistor radio and an earpiece from a broken telephone. But that's just me and I get nostalgic at times :-)
- pit2 8y agoI used the Shipping Forecast as a "self-assessment" when I move to London. When moved there, my English was not the best. I was staying up late at nights, listening BBC4 to improve my listening and I will listen to the shipping forecast every night and don't understand ANYTHING. That was for the first year, life moves on, and there I was, listening to the Shipping Forecast 3-4 years later. "Ey, I can get now some words and the overall meaning!". I have to say it felt good. A few more years later, and it was my last night living in the UK (Brexit means Brexit), and I went to listen to it again. Seven years later, since the first time I hear it, I was able to catch everything on the forecast. For me, the Shipping Forecast will always be something special.
- bookofjoe 8y agoRelated in theme but off-topic: When I started med school in 1970, I was all full of myself as a doctor-to-be so I took advantage of the very cheap student rate and subscribed to the New England Journal of Medicine. The first issue arrived: Yikes! I didn't understand a word of it. Fast forward to 1974 when I graduated: reading and understanding the NEJM was effortless, as easy as Sports Illustrated.
- chime 8y agoThat's my favorite part of learning anything. No matter what I pick up, initially the lingo makes no sense. Then over time, words and phrases get associated with meanings and my mental map of the subject gets rid of 'Here Be Dragons'. Felt the same about Computer Science, Accounting, ERP systems, kayaking, AI, Cricut, and cockatiels. No matter what the field, nothing makes sense initially. "Birds clean their crop? What?" Now I am at the same place of confusion with Go (the game). The more things don't make sense, the more excited I am. From experience, I know most people dread this feeling of not-knowing. But it is my favorite place to be because I know at the end of it, I will have learned something.
- thomasfedb 8y agoI'm a medical student, and I had my wowsers moment when I attended a conference a bit over a year ago and realised that, unlike the previous conference I had attended, I suddenly knew what everybody was on about! The acronyms, shorthands, etc - it really is another language!
- jillesvangurp 8y agoDoes it actually still serve a purpo (other than putting people to sleep)? As in are sailors tuning in to figure out the weather in the middle of the night. Surely there are better solutions for this now. I know most airports have automated weather reports that broadcast continuously on dedicated frequencies (ATIS) at least. The same information is available digitally. Many pilots have tools providing them with near real time updates on weather. There are even dedicated ipad apps for this.
- jnye131 8y agoYes, many recreational sailors will listen to this. Although GRIBs or other data is available this is a forecast from forecasters rather then model data. The same information is broadcast on VHF working channels at a similar time. It's also broadcast on longwave radio so available further out to sea then FM.
- ldjb 8y agoIt's funny you mention it putting people to sleep because on BBC Radio 4, the late Shipping Forecast is immediately followed by a rather rousing rendition of the National Anthem. I hear of people listening to the Shipping Forecast and falling asleep, only to be woken up again by the National Anthem.
- gchadwick 8y agoAs a sailor I do often check the shipping forecast (or the inshore waters forecast, also from the met office, similar content but focused on weather close to the shore). Yes you can now easily get detailed hour by hour forecasts in the form of gribs which I do use too. However you can suffer from information overload, especially as multiple weather models are available. There's also a difference between a forecast and grib. A forecast is something prepared by a meteorologist, a grib is just the output of a weather model. So the charm of the shipping forecast is its simplicity, a few sentences about the area you're interested in that have been written by an expert meteorologist based upon their interpretation of what they're seeing on the weather model. For cruising sailors this is generally enough, you have enough information to decide if it's too hazardous to want to go out, or lacking wind so you won't be able to sail and a good idea of what wind direction will be and how it will change. The main issue is it only gives you 24hrs + 24hrs outlook (48 hrs in all but second 24hrs less detail) so if you want a view of what will be happening over the next week you need other sources. Also for the racing sailor you want more detail about wind directions and speeds to effectively plan your tactics. The shipping forecast is also easily received all around the UK and offshore from the UK coast, it's transmitted on VHF radio. Getting up to date gribs requires an internet connection, mobile signal is pretty decent up to a few miles offshore I find but half way across the channel or the north sea you've got VHF only (or expensive satellite internet) so the shipping forecast on the VHF on passage lets you know if the weather remains as expected or if there's been a sudden change and you need to change your plans or prepare for some heavy weather. Edit: I should also say the shipping forecast/inshores forecast is available in a minimal text-only form on the met office website, often I'll just read the text (handy for patchy or expensive internet connections) it is fairly rare for me to actually listen to it on the radio.
- DoubleGlazing 8y agoWhen I was a student, doing lots of late nights, the shipping forecast helped lull me off to sleep. It's rhythmic, without being too repetitive. It's an aural duvet that makes you feel safe and conformable. Not just because of the way it sounds, but also the fact that you know there are lots of people doing all the work needed to bring us the forecast and help keep mariners safe. Even though I now live in Ireland, I still tune in to BBC Radio 4 on long wave every now and again to hear it. It's a unique and wonderful thing which I fear won't be around in a decade or two.
- stevesimmons 8y agoFYI, BBC Radio 4 is available on the BBC IPlayer Radio app. That might be more convenient than longwave. The BBC doesn't geoblock its radio shows, unlike the TV programmes, which can only be viewed from a UK IP address.
- DoubleGlazing 8y agoThere is something nice about listening to it over long wave though. The crackling and the fading adds a certain charm. I kind of want to enjoy while it lasts, the BBC has said that when the LW transmitter valves fail they won't be replaced signalling the end of Radio 4 long wave. As for the iPlayer the BBC has started to mess around with geoblocks on radio shows. For example I can listen to the News Quiz and I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, but Dead Ringers is geoblocked. Also, the shows I can listen to now contain adverts along with a voice at the start telling me that BBC radio shows and podcasts are ad-supported outside the UK. This mildly disappoints me.
- adwww 8y ago> the BBC has said that when the LW transmitter valves fail they won't be replaced They better tell the Royal Navy - the broadcast of the Today Show on Radio 4 LW is one of the tests submarine captains supposedly use to detect if the UK has been annihilated in a nuclear strike.
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- mongol 8y agoInteresting. The forecast overlaps with the Swedish one, which starts in the west with South Utsire, Fisher and German Bight and then continues into the Baltic Sea counter-clockwise. I recall Dogger is mentioned sometimes but could not hear it today. Example: https://sverigesradio.se/topsy/ljudfil/srse/6575657.mp3 https://sverigesradio.se/topsy/ljudfil/srse/6575657.mp3
- stevesimmons 8y agoThe Shipping Forecast and other BBC radio shows can be listened to on BBC Radio 4 using the BBC IPlayer Radio app, for Android and iPhone. The BBC's radio shows are not geoblocked (at least not the news programmes I listen to when travelling), unlike the TV shows which are only available from UK IP addresses. (I originally posted this in the middle of a discussion. Reposting as a standalone comment in the hope it makes BBC R4 more accessible to people outside the UK).
- wodenokoto 8y agoWorks on the web for me: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bbn714 https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bbn714
- arethuza 8y agoThe Scottish fishing village I grew up in had an area above the harbour called the "flagstaff" that conspicuously doesn't have any flags on it - reading this made me realise that this is where the forecast flags must have been flown. The spot currently has a memorial for those lost at sea: http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/684627 http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/684627
- maxehmookau 8y agoThe shipping forecast is the one thing that could help me get to sleep as a child. To this day, I have no idea what it all meant, but I loved the repetitive, rhythmic nature of the words in my ears.
- singingfish 8y agoThe shipping forecast is awesome[1]. If you're a surfer in Britain, grab a map [2] and learn how to visualise what's going to happen with the waves over the next couple of days while listening to the broadcast. Especially useful for North East coast surfers where the waves are short lived but can be surprisingly ok. [1] As is 99pi [2] https://imgur.com/a/pb7nPr4 https://imgur.com/a/pb7nPr4
- Neil44 8y agoRadio 4 still broadcasts on long wave as well as FM, which I assume is helpful for ships far out at sea.
- ericpauley 8y agoHe had been around for a long time and they wanted to get some fresh faces in the building How is this not an age discrimination lawsuit?
- Jaruzel 8y agoOh the BBC have done this sort of thing many, many times... and they always get away with it.
- exegete 8y agoThey said they wanted someone "new" not someone "younger". He actually "retired" in 2001, eight years before this incident. He was only doing freelance spots on the BBC until the 2009 slip up, so he didn't actually work for the BBC as an employee at that point. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2009/sep/15/radio-4-continuity-announcer https://www.theguardian.com/media/2009/sep/15/radio-4-contin...
- dvcrn 8y agoThe shipping forecast was a topic in the meditation app I am using (Calm) and I loved it. Definitely qualifies as great rhythmic sleep aid without being distracting :)
- spiralx 8y agoThat's read by the guy they're interviewing in the podcast :)
- helipad 8y agoThe Shipping Forecast always reminds me of the scene in Ken Loach's 'Kes': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LCod-iVNHM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LCod-iVNHM "Fisher, German Bight, Cromarty. I like to hear it every night Sir, I like names"
- andyjohnson0 8y agoThis captures the late-night, meditative feel of it to me: Prayer by Carol Ann Duffy Some days, although we cannot pray, a prayer utters itself. So, a woman will lift her head from the sieve of her hands and stare at the minims sung by a tree, a sudden gift. Some nights, although we are faithless, the truth enters our hearts, that small familiar pain; then a man will stand stock-still, hearing his youth in the distant Latin chanting of a train. Pray for us now. Grade 1 piano scales console the lodger looking out across a Midlands town. Then dusk, and someone calls a child's name as though they named their loss. Darkness outside. Inside, the radio's prayer - Rockall. Malin. Dogger. Finisterre.
- OJFord 8y agoAre you sure that's not by E.J. Thribb?
- andyjohnson0 8y agoDefinitely Carol Ann Duffy. It's the final poem from her 1993 collection Mean Time.
- OJFord 8y agoI was just kidding, E.J. Thribb is the house-poet of _Private Eye_, a half-satire/half-investigative-journalism magazine in the UK. This poem shares some of the traits of his works, in particular the line breaks.
- LeoPanthera 8y agoThis is only vaguely related, but I moved from the UK to the US, and missed the shipping forecast. Listening to it online isn't quite the same thing. Eventually I stumbled across WWV[1], a shortwave station broadcast by NIST which has satisfied the need in my life. Ostensibly it is for broadcasting the time, but it also includes storm warmings (especially from WWVH - the Hawaii transmitter), and space weather forecasts. So cool. You can find it at 2.5, 5, 10, 15, and 20 MHz on your Shortwave radio. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWV_(radio_station) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWV_(radio_station)
- tomkinson 8y agoLoved this show and have listened to this forecast for years.
- gnufx 8y agoLes Barker may have made the best forecast, either properly https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9QumF93PpY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9QumF93PpY or by the professional idiot himself https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ywku0lQYNc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ywku0lQYNc
- Animats 8y agoCurrent San Francisco aviation weather report: KSFO 261856Z 30018KT 10SM FEW008 16/12 A3002 RMK AO2 SLP165 T01610117 Very nice day.