The BBC's Long Wave radio service will stop broadcasting on 27 June 2026, ending nearly 90 years of transmission from a site in Worcestershire. Long Wave carried Radio 4 on a frequency of 198 kHz — a number that has little meaning to most listeners today, but it was once the main way the BBC reached people across the country.

Long Wave was chosen decades ago because low-frequency radio signals behave differently from the FM stations you hear today. They travel along the ground over long distances, and at night they bounce off the atmosphere to reach even further. Before television and modern radio took over, this was the best way to broadcast to a whole nation. Now, most people get Radio 4 through FM radio, DAB (a digital radio service), or through apps and streaming services on their phones and computers. Long Wave no longer offers any advantage, and it costs money to keep the transmitter running.

Radio 4 itself is not going away. You can still listen on FM radio, DAB, Freeview, Freesat, Sky, and the BBC Sounds app — essentially, every way people actually listen today.

The transmitter equipment at Droitwich will be switched off and removed. However, two large radio masts will remain standing, and there is now a push to protect them as historical landmarks. These masts have been part of the Worcestershire landscape for a long time and are part of British broadcasting history.

The people most affected by this change are a small group: sailors and some listeners in parts of Europe where regular FM radio does not reach well, plus a handful of older listeners who never switched to DAB. For everyone else, there is no practical difference — Radio 4 continues on the platforms they already use.

There is one technical detail to mention. Over the years, the 198 kHz signal has also been used as a timing reference and navigation aid for ships and aircraft across northern Europe. These functions are now handled by different radio signals, so this closure does not remove those capabilities.

When the Long Wave transmission ends tomorrow, an era of radio engineering also closes. Keeping these old transmitter sites running required specialist skills that have become hard to find. The engineers who looked after Droitwich's equipment have been part of a tradition that will simply end — not replaced, just no longer needed.

The masts may or may not survive as protected heritage sites. Either way, the transmission stops. Radio 4 continues.