A comparative analysis shows that despite the insularity of the shipping forecast as a cultural phenomenon, the “literature of the shipping forecast” is surprisingly similar in different countries, exploring the same themes of nostalgia, loss of signification and definition of borders. In the listening experience evoked by many authors the relative safety of the radio listener’s everyday surroundings contrasts with the threat of gales and harsh conditions for seafarers. The literary adaptations and appropriations of the functional meteorological report often retain its peculiar melodic character that results from the compressed, elliptic listing of observations or warnings. Questionnaire about the BBC’s Shipping Forecast as part of its plans to assess its use.This essay investigates the intertextual manifestations of radio shipping forecasts in fiction, poetry and non-fiction from the United Kingdom, Ireland, Sweden and Finland. Members of the public are being asked to complete a “Meanwhile please will you convey my thanks to all those who have taken the trouble to respond to your website?” It will take a while for us to collate all the responses received, many people have sent me direct e-mails, I have over 400 to go through, but your data makes it much easier to analyse. Radio 4’s Chris Aldridge, said: “It is fabulous, thank you so much. We had 637 responses, mostly from readers who wanted the forecast to remain, and we sent the data to the BBC. It followed fears that its future was under threat. We ran the questionnaire, launched by the BBC to find out what listeners thought of the forecast, on our website. UPDATE February 19, 2014: Our survey regarding the shipping forecast has now closed.Ī senior announcer with the BBC has thanked YM readers for taking the trouble to comment on the future of the BBC Radio 4 Shipping Forecast.

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