The unique capacity of longwave radio to provide reliable news and information during a time of crisis was mentioned in Parliament last week. However, even as the Droitwich transmitting station celebrates its 92nd birthday, the future of longwave – and of radio in general – remains uncertain.
Longwave had its mention during a debate on the government’s Media Green Paper on Tuesday 8th September, when Droitwich and Evesham MP Nigel Huddleston commented on the platform’s recent closure, and expressed his appreciation for the useful service that longwave could still provide. Following the closure of longwave transmissions in June 2026, ‘I was disappointed that Historic England could not list the station,’ Mr Huddleston said. ‘Furthermore, there are security aspects to retaining long-wave capacity. It is very difficult to block analogue radio signals… and longwave transmissions have shown their usefulness in times of crisis. In a future wartime scenario, the UK might be thankful to have retained the infrastructure required to broadcast to the nation and beyond over distances of hundreds of miles.’
Unfortunately the BBC did not share Mr Huddleston’s appreciation for long-wave radio, ending their longwave broadcasts after over 100 years on 27th June. The transmitting infrastructure, including the two iconic masts, remain in place at Wychbold near Droitwich, Worcestershire, at a transmitting station that continues to broadcast BBC Radio 5 on 693 kHz and TalkSport on 1053 kHz Medium-wave. How long these broadcasts will continue, and what will happen to the longwave masts if they cease, remains unclear. At present, Droitwich is the only station in the world capable of transmitting radio signals across almost an entire continent – a capacity that is sadly being wasted.
The Campaign to Keep AM Alive continues to support the re-instatement of longwave broadcasts, if not by the BBC then by a commerical alternative. One such commercial option was put to radio regulator Ofcom earlier this year, but has not yet had approval to go ahead. Ofcom stated that it would consider new licence proposals ‘in the autumn’, but also stated to us, ‘In light of the diminishing audiences for AM and the trend we have observed of existing national AM licences being handed back to us, we propose that making further national AM licences available should not be a priority.‘ Longwave might be considered an exception to this, given that it is not just any other AM station.
In the absence of longwave, we would like to see the retention of medium-wave broadcasts of some sort to provide coverage to all parts of the country. AM radio alone can provide news and vital information across long distances, which may be essential during power cuts that knock out local transmitters. It is also cheaply and easily available to all.
Overall, radio had little mention in the government Green Paper that was debated last week, as this focussed mostly on television and the proposal to switch off Freeview in 2034 in favour of internet-based platforms. Whilst not welcoming this proposal, the Campaign to Keep AM Alive holds that radio is an even more vital lifeline, uniquely accessible without internet or local power supplies, and that any switch-off of AM radio in particular would be potentially disastrous. AM listenership may be less than it was decades ago, but this does not make it any less of a vital lifetime in times of crisis.
The importance of AM seems to have been recognised in the United States, where a bill is going through congress this week to have AM radio mandatory in cars for the purposes of receiving signals in an emergency. In the UK, a government Radio Review was announced in February, but how to make contributions towards this review, or what its results will be, is unclear. We would like to see government and the BBC commit to retaining at least a basic level of AM broadcasts indefinitely, for the sake of national security.
A new petition was launched this summer to keep medium-wave in the UK. Please help us to keep AM alive by signing and sharing it if you can.
Keep AM Alive 
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