""The Shipping Forecast," presented twice on weekdays on the BBC and thrice on weekends, is 100-years-old this week. It broadcasts weather forecasts for the seas that surround the British Isles. You may wonder: why don't sailors and citizens on the North and Irish Seas, and along the English Channel, just look at their iPhones for the weather? They probably do. But the two-minute program is heard by 6.5 million people."
""The Shipping Forecast" is a fixture of British life. It has been featured in songs from Radiohead, Arctic Monkeys, and Chumbawamba, and satirized by British comics and on TikTok. Seamus Heaney saluted the show in his poem "The Shipping Forecast," in which he wrote, " Green, swift upsurges, North Atlantic flux, Conjured by that strong gale-warning voice " The edition of "The Shipping Forecast" that runs at 48 minutes after midnight on BBC 4 has been especially hailed"
The Shipping Forecast airs twice on weekdays and three times on weekends on the BBC, offering sea weather forecasts for waters around the British Isles. The two-minute program reaches about 6.5 million listeners, exceeding the nightly audiences of several U.S. late-night hosts. The broadcast has penetrated British culture, appearing in songs and satire and earning a tribute in a Seamus Heaney poem. The late-night edition is prized for its restful qualities. Traditional sea-area names evoke reassurance. The human voice, even amid static, stimulates images and memories. Many listeners are likely at home yet still appreciate hearing forecasts of waves, winds, and clear skies.
Read at www.npr.org
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]