As a child, I used to be fascinated by the indicators on old radios for faraway cities: magic places such as Warsaw, Nador, Ulaanbatar… and Droitwich. Longwave radio was surely something amazing we had found but already forgotten about, those markings and frequencies being absent from newer devices. Only now, though, is the BBC finally retiring its 198 kHz longwave service, the broadcast equipment being at the end of its life and longwave not being critical national infrastructure.
Continuing would require significant investment to replace ageing equipment and sustain a platform now used by a very small proportion of listeners. Digital listening has also grown significantly over the past decade, with the majority of UK radio listening now taking place digitally or online. The BBC's focus is on investing in platforms that best serve audiences and provide resilient coverage for the future.
No programming will be ended as a result, as they mostly just broadcast Radio 4 over it anyway.
Here's Ringway Manchester on the shutdown, lamenting the few still listening in. "Perhaps I just don't like change," he says.
