The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) recently announced that it will shut down its oldest long-wave broadcast service, marking the end of a radio era that has lasted for nearly a century. Industry insiders generally believe that after long-wave broadcasting withdraws from the stage, the traditional TV business that relies on terrestrial signal transmission will eventually follow suit.
Longwave broadcasting was once one of the hubs of wireless communications in the UK and even Europe. Its symbolic facility is located near the small town of Droitwich in central England. In the 1930s, this Midlands town with a population of less than 5,000 stood out on the tuning scale of British radio receivers because it was responsible for broadcast transmission. Its place name was directly used to indicate the long-wave channel frequency. In 1934, the BBC opened the most powerful radio transmitting station at the time. The two steel antenna towers, about 700 feet high (approximately 213 meters), became the tallest man-made structures in the UK for a time.
The Droitwich longwave transmitting station played a special role during World War II. It not only covered the UK mainland, but could also transmit signals deep into continental Europe. During the war, the "gibberish" coded broadcasts sent through this system, such as "The rabbit is going down his hole" ("The rabbit is going down his hole"), were decrypted by the French resistance and used to coordinate operations. During the post-war peace period, this long-wave system continued to serve the public, carrying a large amount of broadcast content including the cricket match program "Test Match Special". The various professional terms and internal terms included in it often made ordinary listeners feel "confused".
Nowadays, with the popularization of digital broadcasting, network audio and mobile devices, the coverage advantage and technical status of long-wave broadcasting have been greatly weakened. High maintenance costs, aging equipment and continuous loss of audiences have made this traditional platform increasingly unsustainable. Against this background, the BBC's choice to close this oldest service is seen as an important signal to accelerate the transformation of the British broadcasting system from analog to all-digital, and from terrestrial transmission to Internet distribution. Technology observers pointed out that under the multiple pressures of reallocation of spectrum resources, infrastructure updates, and changes in user listening and viewing habits, the future of terrestrial television is also facing profound reshaping. The closure of long wave may be just the beginning of a long "farewell to the analog era."