The Shipping Forecast is celebrating the 100th anniversary of its first radio broadcast.
A century ago, on 1 January 1924, an announcer read out the Weather Shipping bulletin, with up to date information of wind and sea conditions over the airwaves to ships and fishing fleets at sea.
The voice transmission started from Air Ministry station in London on the continuous wave wavelength reaching up to 2,400 miles to the west and 2,000 miles to the south. The following year the service moved to BBC longwave.
Having a human voice reading out Atlantic and North Sea forecasts was a startling improvement on the previous service which had existed since 1867 -
In the UK, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) is responsible for the provision of maritime safety information to ships at sea, which includes the broadcast of warnings and forecasts.
The iconic Shipping Forecast is a BBC Radio broadcast produced by the Met Office on behalf of the MCA.
Met Office’s archivist Catherine Ross says it’s an national institution.
Catherine, who has spent the past 11 years trawling the rich archives of the Met Office said the regular broadcast “has so much more meaning behind it than just a forecast.
“It’s a history of the last 100 years of what’s happened around our shores, from a weather perspective of course but also maritime safety; the two are heavily linked and it is a big part of why the Met Office even exists.”
The history of the forecast goes back to 1861, when Vice-
The vessel sank in a violent storm off the coast of Anglesey, with the loss of more than 450 lives, prompting FitzRoy’s desire to prevent it happening again.
He was the main influence in the early development of the Met Office, which was then primarily intended to improve safety at sea.
Catherine Ross highlights the forecast has “saved thousands, possibly even hundreds of thousands of lives.
“It is impossible to accurately predict how many, but it really has been lifechanging for seafarers.
“Its relevance has probably changed from when its sole purpose was to provide information to UK mariners, because of all the technology and internet it can now be heard from anywhere in the world.
“It has 100 years of trust behind it now and it has taken on a cultural aspect far beyond the maritime world, which all adds to its iconic status.
“Technology will continue to move on, but that distinctive sound it has will remain for as long as people want it.
“It’s almost poetic, almost beautiful, in the way that fixed-
“In fact, it’s the voice of home.”
Shipping Forecast radio broadcast turns 100
4 January 2024
