Next weeks issue of the Radio Times Page 144 (edited summary quoting the information)
Why is Long Wave being dismissed?
Radio 4 Longwave on the 198 frequency will be switched off in 2024, possibly by the end of March.
The Daily Service and Today in Parliament will move to digital only.
Radio 4 FM will carry the Shipping Forecast twice a day on weekdays and three times a day at weekends as well as on Radio 4 Extra and BBC Sounds.
A spokesman for Arqiva, the company responsible for the transmitters at Droitwich, Westerglen and Burghead tells Radio Times: “Longwave equipment here has been around for decades and has now reached the point where maintaining the network for the relatively small audience is not considered economicallly viable.Any equipment used solely for this network that can’t be repurposed will be decommissioned and eventually removed.”
No mention of the medium wave fillers or that the electricity industry is paying for the operational costs and maintenance of the infrastructure, annual cost of which estimated to be £5 million this financial year.
Their website mentions the extension of this agreement until March 2024.
https://www.energynetworks.org/industry-hub/engineering-and-technical-programmes/radio-teleswitch
Mike Barraclough to mwlists iog (2023-06-16)