The BBC Shipping Forecast Soundscape, No. 2, for 2026

Episode 183

The BBC Shipping Forecast Soundscape, No. 2, for 2026

Playlist

This 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.
  • Radio Canada Shortwave Club (1973).
  • Radio+Gjirokaster (Albania) (1988).
  • Shortwave Stations Eastern Europe (circa 1980s).
  • Shortwave Stations Western Europe (circa 1980s).
  • 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.

Opening and closing sequences voiced by Anne Benkovitz.

Additional opening, closing, and other incidental music by Thom Holmes.

See my companion blog that I write for the Bob Moog Foundation.

For additional notes, please see my blog, Noise and Notations.

Links for The BBC Shipping Forecast:

Website from BBC Radio 4 for clips of The Shipping Forecast.

From the BBC: What does the Shipping Forecast Mean?

Script Guidelines for the Shipping Forecast from the Met Office