The BBC Shipping Forecast Soundscape, No. 2, for 2026
- Thom Holmes
- 12 minutes ago
- 4 min read
My Podcast: The Holmes Archive of Electronic Music
My blog for the Bob Moog Foundation.
If you’ve ever had trouble getting to sleep at night, you may have turned to various soundscapes, ambient music, and other audio sources to jettison your distracted mind and settle in a state of sleepy, calm, serenity. The BBC Shipping Forecasts fill that role for many a light sleeper. But the forecasts are short—generally between 6 and 14 minutes—too short to quiet one’s mind and induce sleep.
I produced a podcast episode in 2023 featuring a remixed BBC Shipping Forecast and that has proven to be one of my most popular, making a follow-up inevitable. So, here it is.
This single soundscape consists of selections of BBC Shipping Forecasts from the past two years, bits of other broadcasts from the BBC and others, plus electronic sounds and audio treatments that I’ve created. BBC Shipping Forecasts are ©copyright BBC and located at the BBC Radio 4 Website.
Here is a rundown of the various recordings I’ve included in this version of the soundscape:
BBC Shipping Forecasts—Individual episodes featuring both men and women readers. The final section of the podcast includes an elaborate five-track remix of five female readers (and one male), stuttered and jogged in various patterns to create a soothing, if nonsensical conclusion to this edition. These forecasts are from 2024-25.
BBC World Service Annual Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast: June 21, 2024
Jane Barbe voice clips from the archives of AT&T. Barbe was the “voice of the operator” during much of the 1960s and 1970s.
Miscellaneous Shortwave Broadcasts—These were retrieved from the wonderful The Shortwave Radio Audio Archive, which I highly recommend.
o Radio Canada Shortwave Club (1973).
o Radio+Gjirokaster (Albania) (1988).
o Shortwave Stations Eastern Europe (circa 1980s).
o Shortwave Stations Western Europe (circa 1980s).
o Voice of America (Skylab Re-entry Coverage)--July 11, 1979.
Republic of Yemen Radio--February 15/April 9, 2025.
Short clips from Seoul, South Korea, Japan, and the Voice of Armenia.
I suggest that you put your headphones on and listen to this at bedtime.
What is the Shipping Forecast, anyway? Here are some notes I previously provided.
The Shipping Forecast is a BBC Radio broadcast of weather reports and forecasts for the seas around the British Isles. It is produced by the Met Office (the UK's National Weather Service) and broadcast by BBC Radio 4 on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. The forecast dates back over 150 years. There are currently four broadcasts per day and all but one is delivered by the on-air announcer of the news shift except for the second, at 05:20 in the morning, which is delivered by the weather forecaster. The final shipping forecast of the day is followed by a kind of signing-off for Radio 4 with good wishes delivered by the presenter followed by the British National Anthem "God Save the King" and the closedown of the station for the day, at which point you will typically hear the six BBC chimes leading to the programming of the BBC World Service at 01:00 Greenwich Mean Time. Speaking of presenters, shipping forecasts are generally delivered by the on-air person as part of their broadcast segment. The so-called “duty announcer” may be a man or a woman. They may also be well-acquainted with the reading style or somewhat new to it and I imagine that giving a shipping forecast presents a tantalizing challenge for any new presenter.
The language is mesmerizing and abbreviated to convey facts in the briefest of styles. For example, Visibility is given with descriptors “Good”, meaning that the visibility is greater than 5 nautical miles (9.3 km; 5.8 mi); “Moderate”, where visibility is between 2 and 5 nmi (3.7 and 9.3 km; 2.3 and 5.8 mi) nautical miles; “Poor”, where visibility is between 1,000 metres and two nautical miles and “Fog”, where visibility is less than 1,000 m (3,300 ft). Every measurable aspect of the Shipping Forecast is thus provided with succinct descriptions that are meaningful to people sailing the seas.
Every forecast is ordered as follows:
Gale warnings in force (if any)
General synopsis
Area forecasts: wind direction/speed, weather, visibility, ship icing if any
Coastal weather stations (00:48 and 05:20 only): wind direction/speed, precipitation if any, visibility, pressure
Inshore waters (00:48 and 05:20 only): wind direction/speed, weather, visibility
Rules are provided by the Met Office for writing the shipping forecast script so that it remains uniform and “highly structured to maximise the use of the available time.” For more details on the abbreviations and terms used to describe weather conditions in the script, check out the guide provided by the Met Office.
In the forecast, the waters around the British Isles are divided into 31 sea areas, also known as weather areas. The forecast begins by listing areas with gale warnings, followed by a general synopsis of pressure areas, then a forecast for each individual sea area covering wind speed and direction, precipitation, and visibility. Extended forecasts at 00:48 and 05:20 include information from coastal weather stations and inshore waters. The broadcast follows the same general order each time according to a prescribed list of geographic locations.
The unique and distinctive presentation style of these broadcasts has led to their attracting an audience much wider than that directly interested in maritime weather conditions. It is frequently referenced and parodied in British popular culture. Even the BBC itself takes a light-hearted view of this serious subject matter when it invites listeners to tune in by writing, “Take a moment to switch off with the hypnotic sounds of weather reports for the seas around the coasts of the British Isles. A strange but soothing sleep-aid and a firm favourite.”
Additional detail about this soundscape can be found on the podcast website. I’ve included several links to the source material and other information of interest at the BBC to inform you about various aspects of the Forecast.
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