Long wave goodbye... BBC Radio's The Archers is switched off after playing key role in D-Day

Published: 00:00, 28 June 2026 | Updated: 00:03, 28 June 2026 It brought everything from the shipping forecast to The Archers to listeners in remote areas - but BBC radio's long wave is no more. The broadcasting service was switched off at 1am yesterday, playing out with the National Anthem. The first BBC long wave transmissions were in 1925, going fully national when a state-of-the-art station was set up at Droitwich in 1934. As well as carrying BBC programmes, its strong signal was used during the Second World War to transmit coded messages to the French Resistance and play a key part in co-ordinating D-Day. The BBC launched its first long wave transmissions in 1925, expanding to a national service in 1934 with the opening of a state-of-the-art transmitting station at Droitwich Radio 4, which was the last long wave radio station in the UK, will still be available on other platforms such as FM, DAB, television platforms and on digital services. No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.