Monday, October 13, 2025

Shipping Forecast reminds us of the power of the human voice

OpEd: "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.

Posted by LampLighter at 12:33 AM | 4 COMMENTS | permalink

Comments

More from the OpEd ...

... But the two-minute program is heard by 6.5 million people. That is more than the nightly audience for Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, and Jimmy Fallon combined.

"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 for what I'll just call its restful qualities. There is something reassuring in the roll of old, Oliver Twist-ian names you hear: Humber, Biscay, Dogger, Fisher, Fair Isle, FitzRoy, Lundy, Malin, Rockall, Utsire, Mull of Galloway. Are your eyelids growing heavy?

But the persistence of "The Shipping Forecast" may remind us of how the human voice, even crackling through static, can fire up images, memories, and feelings. ...


#1 | Posted by LampLighter at 2025-10-13 12:35 AM

Back in the 80's and early 90's, before the Internet was available, I remember tuning in to the BBC NewsHour on my shortwave radio each day.

#2 | Posted by LampLighter at 2025-10-13 12:37 AM

Speaking of before the Internet was available, there was this fun video ...

Faith No More - We Care a Lot (1987)
www.youtube.com

Lyrics excerpt ...

genius.com

...
[Refrain]
We care a lot
We care a lot

[Verse 1]
(We care a lot) About disasters, fires, floods and killer bees
About the NASA shuttle falling in the sea
(We care a lot) About starvation and the food that Live Aid bought
(We care a lot) About disease, baby, Rock Hudson, rock, yeah
(Whoo)

[Chorus]
(Whoa, whoa)
Oh, it's a dirty job, but someone's gotta do it
Oh, it's a dirty job, but someone's gotta do it

[Refrain]
We care a lot
We care a lot
...



Yeah, they seemed to have fun putting together that video.


#3 | Posted by LampLighter at 2025-10-13 04:22 AM

The edition of "The Shipping Forecast" that runs at 48 minutes after midnight on BBC 4 has been especially hailed for what I'll just call its restful qualities. There is something reassuring in the roll of old, Oliver Twist-ian names you hear: Humber, Biscay, Dogger, Fisher, Fair Isle, FitzRoy, Lundy, Malin, Rockall, Utsire, Mull of Galloway. Are your eyelids growing heavy?

My wife, who is from Norn Iron, chuckled at this, recalling college days and more than a few nights hitting Belfast's pubs and, once home, falling into peaceful sleep listening to the soothing, dulcet tones of the Beeb's Shipping Forecast.

#4 | Posted by Doc_Sarvis at 2025-10-13 06:07 AM

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