Editing Shipping Forecast (section)

==Broadcast times and frequencies==
From 1 April 2024, there is no longer a separate long wave schedule for Radio 4, so the number of broadcasts per day has been reduced to two on weekdays and three at weekends, at the following ([[Time in the United Kingdom|UK local]]) times.  They can be received on long wave, FM, DAB, [[Sky (UK and Ireland)|Sky]], [[Freeview (UK)|Freeview]], [[Freesat]], [[Virgin Media]] and online via [[BBC Sounds]].
* 00:48. Includes weather reports from an extended list of [[List of coastal weather stations of the United Kingdom|coastal stations]] at 00:52 and an [[Inshore coastal areas of the United Kingdom|inshore waters]] forecast at 00:55 and concludes with a brief UK weather outlook for the coming day. The broadcast finishes at approximately 00:58.
* 05:34 (from 24 March 2025 - previously at 05:20). Includes weather reports from coastal stations at 05:38, and an inshore waters forecast at 05:40.
* 17:54 (Saturdays and Sundays only).

The forecasts are read by the duty announcer.  Until 23 March 2025, the 05:20 forecast was read by the weather forecaster.

Until 31 March 2024,  there were four broadcasts per day at the following ([[Time in the United Kingdom|UK local]]) times:
* 00:48 – transmitted on [[FM broadcasting|FM]] and [[longwave|LW]]. 
* 05:20 – transmitted on FM and LW. 
* 12:01 – normally transmitted on LW only.
* 17:54 – transmitted only on LW on weekdays, as an opt-out from the [[PM (BBC Radio 4)|''PM'' programme]], but at weekends transmitted on both FM and LW.

===Longwave===
The Shipping Forecast has been broadcast on BBC [[longwave]] radio services so the signal can be received clearly at sea all around the [[British Isles]], regardless of time of day or radio conditions. The forecast was broadcast on the [[BBC National Programme]] until September 1939, and then after the Second World War on the [[BBC Light Programme]] (later [[BBC Radio 2]]) until November 1978. When BBC Radio 4 took over the longwave frequency from Radio 2 on 23 November 1978, the Shipping Forecast was moved to Radio 4 to keep it broadcasting on longwave.

As part of the BBC's plans to switch off BBC Radio 4 longwave transmissions, it reduced daily broadcasts of the Shipping Forecast to the FM simulcast schedule of twice on weekdays and three times on weekends in April 2024.<ref>{{Cite web |title=BBC Radio 4 begins information campaign to transition listeners from Long Wave |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/articles/2023/bbc-radio-4-long-wave-transition|access-date=2023-06-14 |website=www.bbc.co.uk |language=en}}</ref>

===Online===
The Shipping Forecast is published online by the Met Office and the BBC.<ref>{{Cite web|title=BBC Weather - Shipping Forecast|url=https://www.bbc.com/weather/coast_and_sea/shipping_forecast|website=BBC Weather|access-date=8 May 2020}}</ref> It is also available on [[BBC Sounds]].

===Television broadcasts===
On 18 December 1993, as part of the ''[[Arena (British TV series)|Arena Radio Night]]'', BBC Radio 4 and BBC 2 collaborated on a one off simulcast so the shipping forecast – read that night by [[Laurie Macmillan]] – could be seen as well as heard. To date, it is the only time that it has been broadcast on television.