Uploaded July 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
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I was sent a letter recently by someone who had written to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, regarding his concerns about the BBC's plans to cease broadcasting radio 4 on long wave.
This along with my research into 405-line television really made me realise that the BBC will go ahead with this plan.
Back in 1985, the 405-line television service was switched off. The population of the UK at that time was 56.55 million. It was estimated that at the time of the switch off, 1% of the population still relied on the 405-line service. That’s 565,500 people, yet it was switched off.
Radio 4 in the UK has a listenership of 10 million people today. There is no solid evidence that longwave listenership is small or declining: no studies have been conducted specifically into longwave listenership, and RAJAR data does not separate it from FM and MW listening.
Even if the number of longwave listeners is as low as 1%, or 100,000, if the 405-line switchover is anything to go by, those people just don’t matter.
There are similarities between the 405-line switch-off and the threat of a radio 4 longwave switch off.
Radio 4 on longwave will switch off whether we like it or not, whether us radio buffs consider it an important part of broadcast history, whether we feel it’s beneficial to an emergency communications framework in the UK or whether people in more remote areas consider it an important lifeline to the outside world.
► Buy me a coffee: paypal.me/ringwaymanchester
► Join this channel to get access to perks:
youtube.com/channel/UC67TJP9i84zbCi2h1aaSO6Q/join
► Email: ringwaymanchester@mail.com
► Instagram: instagram.com/m3hhyofficial
► Facebook: facebook.com/M3HHY
► Twitter: twitter.com/OfficialM3HHY
I was sent a letter recently by someone who had written to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, regarding his concerns about the BBC's plans to cease broadcasting radio 4 on long wave.
This along with my research into 405-line television really made me realise that the BBC will go ahead with this plan.
Back in 1985, the 405-line television service was switched off. The population of the UK at that time was 56.55 million. It was estimated that at the time of the switch off, 1% of the population still relied on the 405-line service. That’s 565,500 people, yet it was switched off.
Radio 4 in the UK has a listenership of 10 million people today. There is no solid evidence that longwave listenership is small or declining: no studies have been conducted specifically into longwave listenership, and RAJAR data does not separate it from FM and MW listening.
Even if the number of longwave listeners is as low as 1%, or 100,000, if the 405-line switchover is anything to go by, those people just don’t matter.
There are similarities between the 405-line switch-off and the threat of a radio 4 longwave switch off.
Radio 4 on longwave will switch off whether we like it or not, whether us radio buffs consider it an important part of broadcast history, whether we feel it’s beneficial to an emergency communications framework in the UK or whether people in more remote areas consider it an important lifeline to the outside world.
