The Shipping Forecast turns our landscape into a slightly ethereal world, inhabited by communities we are connected to but know nothing about
“I feel chastened on nights like this when I see storm force 11, and think there are people out there contending with that weather, putting their lives at risk in pursuit of their livelihood – be it in the navy, on fishing boats or just lone travellers.”
I'm not sure why alexi23's comment is dead, but it's very poetic.
"The Shipping Forecast turns our landscape into a slightly ethereal world, inhabited by communities we are connected to but know nothing about “I feel chastened on nights like this when I see storm force 11, and think there are people out there contending with that weather, putting their lives at risk in pursuit of their livelihood – be it in the navy, on fishing boats or just lone travellers.”"
There's no such thing as an account whose comments can't be vouched for. Nor is it true that there are many dead new accounts, if by 'dead' you mean 'banned'. But it is true that software filters sometimes kill comments by new accounts. That's not software that we want to have to run, or write, but it's necessary because of past abuses by trolls.
What I meant is vouching not reviving it, even when (apparently) multiple people vouch. I didn't mean to attack the HN mods, you guys do a good job here!
Ethereal yes. But let's be honest! The late night shipping forecast makes being in bed more cosy. Because they are out there, battling the gale, and we are not.
It's not only what is said, but the timbre of the voice, repetitions and odd names, all these are hallmarks (some types) of the ASMR phenomenon Youtube.
I banned the account last night because it's probably a spammer trying to build up account karma by pasting quotes from other articles. Here's another one you can Google: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16013540.
Spammers adopted this technique in the last couple years. A favorite method is to find a Reddit thread on the same topic and paste comments from there into HN.
A side benefit of this method is that when we ban accounts that do it, it looks like we're suppressing perfectly innocent commenters. Can you believe the abusive mods! HN is rife with censorship!
Broadcast from Droitwich Transmitting Station[0] on 198kHz using amplitude modulation, still with large vacuum tubes at 500kW in order to reach shipping in the large area of ocean around the UK.
It can be a surreal experience when driving late at night on an inland road and the shipping forecast comes on. If you are on a coastal road, it becomes rather more real.
It is a much loved institution for all Brits who are old enough to listen to Radio 4 8)
There used to be a similar weather forecast in France, called "Météo marine". It was broadcasted until 2016 on one of the national radio station (France Inter) and had a cult-like following, even (especially?) among people that had no relationship to sailing (or to the sea in general).
It's funny to see that both countries had a similar weather report that was beloved for the same reasons. Even funnier is that some of the "sea areas" described in the OP were mentioned in the french report (eg. Viking)
Marie-Pierre Planchon's voice is a madeleine de Proust to many of my friends.
I think the title is stretching it a bit. Almost no-one actually listens to it and as time goes on, I suspect fewer people have even heard of it. I brought it up in conversation in my office recently and had to explain what it was as it wasn't even on the modern cultural radar.
For a good part of my life it's been something I've fallen asleep to after the "Late Book". I suspect it's the same for many people who have a radio in their bedroom permenantly tuned to Radio 4. (A habit I picked up from my parents, and one I was pleased to discover that my wife shared). Given the popularity of Radio 4, I suspect that this is more common than you might think.
But I also suspect that you're correct in your assertion that few people (outside of those for whom it is actually relevant) actually listen to what is said.
I'm going to propose as a conjecture that (maritime) radio weather reports are universally soothing and nostalgic, were they written by Met Office and broadcast by BBC or not.
I don't know specifics of the UK culture, so maybe they have cultivated the veneration of the Shipping Forecast to immeasurable heights unmatched by its counterparts in other nations, but I'd require some comparative evidence to persuade me that there really is something special about Radio 4 maritime report or how it's experienced (aside from the fact that it's the British weather report and not some other weather report, and thus the populace of Britain finds it more enjoyable than the continental alternatives).
The thing is, I'd expect that every country with a coastline has maritime weather reports and forecasts. And the claims about the connection to Brexit island ethos notwithstanding, the description of the evocative feelings and whatnot didn't sound alien to me at all despite never listening to the BBC Radio 4 Shipping Forecast. However, I do have heard FMI's daily "Weather report for shipping" numerous times, and it sure is part of national "radio mythology" (I remember how some years back patrons of relatively popular internet forum decided try their hand at amateur internet radio: They played music and then read aloud the weather report for shipping.)
1. Weather reports are one of the oldest type of radio content all across the continent. Their format probably has not changed much since the idea was first introduced. (After all, distilled to their most rudimentary basic form, a weather report is a series of numerical readings, and there's only so many ways you can read a collection of numerical readings aloud on radio. The poetic repetition is bound to be soothing.)
2. In countries with a national public broadcaster, such regular programming becomes part of the shared cultural experience; the daily weather report is always in the background, and because of part 1, it remains unchanged as decades pass by. This explains the nostalgia.
3. Why maritime reports could be special? Different from the regular weather reports, the condensed format and terminology of the maritime forecast communicate information whose purpose and use might be slightly alien to non-seafaring populace. At least this is my experience: I understand what kind of implications of "x degrees Celcius" would entail in my daily life; but what about the more, should I say, nautical information (wind speeds and wave heights and alike)? Not so much. Where are the measurement stations with obscure, poetic-sounding names located? No idea. In short, maritime weather reports have certain mystique to them.
4. However, I wouldn't be surprised if the Met Office and BBC were the original forerunners of this kind of public service; BBC is one of the biggest and best-funded public broadcasters in the world, of course everyone has copied them.
Someone should write a monograph on international cultural history of maritime weather reports?
Ah... When I hear the shipping forecast at 1am on BBC Radio 4, I've stayed up too late.
It's interesting how Radio 4 is used... The shipping forecast and also apparently how it's used as one of the ways to see if the UK is still standing.
But now I'm reminded, it's 1:33, so I'm going to sleep now.
The shipping forecast is the best resource for surfers in Britain. Especially those on the north east, or north coast. /me <3s the shipping forecast, and I ain't lived in Britain for nearly 2 decades.
31 comments
[ 2.7 ms ] story [ 85.7 ms ] threadhttp://youtu.be/FDUk11Z0bkQ
Gives you a good idea of the cadences in the shipping forecast itself. It can be strangely relaxing listening to the shipping forecast on BBC Radio 4.
Of course it's not quite the same unless you put on Sailing By beforehand and listen to it in the dead of night.
Thanks, from a fellow Islander (PEI, Canada).
And Biscay is in for a rough night force 11!
"The Shipping Forecast turns our landscape into a slightly ethereal world, inhabited by communities we are connected to but know nothing about “I feel chastened on nights like this when I see storm force 11, and think there are people out there contending with that weather, putting their lives at risk in pursuit of their livelihood – be it in the navy, on fishing boats or just lone travellers.”"
Spammers adopted this technique in the last couple years. A favorite method is to find a Reddit thread on the same topic and paste comments from there into HN.
A side benefit of this method is that when we ban accounts that do it, it looks like we're suppressing perfectly innocent commenters. Can you believe the abusive mods! HN is rife with censorship!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Droitwich_Transmitting_Station
It is a much loved institution for all Brits who are old enough to listen to Radio 4 8)
My mum appears to have had Radio 4 playing almost non stop since well before I was born.
It's funny to see that both countries had a similar weather report that was beloved for the same reasons. Even funnier is that some of the "sea areas" described in the OP were mentioned in the french report (eg. Viking)
Marie-Pierre Planchon's voice is a madeleine de Proust to many of my friends.
See the section on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shipping_Forecast
But I also suspect that you're correct in your assertion that few people (outside of those for whom it is actually relevant) actually listen to what is said.
I don't know specifics of the UK culture, so maybe they have cultivated the veneration of the Shipping Forecast to immeasurable heights unmatched by its counterparts in other nations, but I'd require some comparative evidence to persuade me that there really is something special about Radio 4 maritime report or how it's experienced (aside from the fact that it's the British weather report and not some other weather report, and thus the populace of Britain finds it more enjoyable than the continental alternatives).
The thing is, I'd expect that every country with a coastline has maritime weather reports and forecasts. And the claims about the connection to Brexit island ethos notwithstanding, the description of the evocative feelings and whatnot didn't sound alien to me at all despite never listening to the BBC Radio 4 Shipping Forecast. However, I do have heard FMI's daily "Weather report for shipping" numerous times, and it sure is part of national "radio mythology" (I remember how some years back patrons of relatively popular internet forum decided try their hand at amateur internet radio: They played music and then read aloud the weather report for shipping.)
1. Weather reports are one of the oldest type of radio content all across the continent. Their format probably has not changed much since the idea was first introduced. (After all, distilled to their most rudimentary basic form, a weather report is a series of numerical readings, and there's only so many ways you can read a collection of numerical readings aloud on radio. The poetic repetition is bound to be soothing.)
2. In countries with a national public broadcaster, such regular programming becomes part of the shared cultural experience; the daily weather report is always in the background, and because of part 1, it remains unchanged as decades pass by. This explains the nostalgia.
3. Why maritime reports could be special? Different from the regular weather reports, the condensed format and terminology of the maritime forecast communicate information whose purpose and use might be slightly alien to non-seafaring populace. At least this is my experience: I understand what kind of implications of "x degrees Celcius" would entail in my daily life; but what about the more, should I say, nautical information (wind speeds and wave heights and alike)? Not so much. Where are the measurement stations with obscure, poetic-sounding names located? No idea. In short, maritime weather reports have certain mystique to them.
4. However, I wouldn't be surprised if the Met Office and BBC were the original forerunners of this kind of public service; BBC is one of the biggest and best-funded public broadcasters in the world, of course everyone has copied them.
Someone should write a monograph on international cultural history of maritime weather reports?
But now I'm reminded, it's 1:33, so I'm going to sleep now.