Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the closure of longwave radio on 31 March on people living in rural areas.

The BBC is not ending long-wave transmissions of BBC Radio 4 on 31 March 2024. The Corporation announced in 2022 that it would be ending the separate programming for Radio 4 on long wave only and moving to a single Radio 4 schedule.

The BBC has been communicating this change to ensure that listeners know how they can still hear Radio 4 programmes which are only broadcast on long wave on other BBC radio services or other platforms.

Under the BBC’s 2016 Royal Charter and Agreement, it is a matter for the BBC to determine how long to continue with its long-wave transmissions.