Alan Smith (radio presenter)

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Alan Smith is a British radio presenter and newsreader. He can be heard on BBC Radio 4, as well as sister station Radio 4 Extra. [1] He is well known as one of the readers of the Shipping Forecast, which NPR called "a national institution, almost as much as Manchester United". [2]

Contents

Career

Smith got his start in broadcasting in 1989 and has been on the air daily for over three decades. [3] [4] He joined BBC Radio 4 as an announcer in 2002 after presenting on regional radio programmes such as the Lamb Bank on BBC Radio Cumbria, as well as a daily phone-in and specialist music shows. [3]

Alan Smith is well known as one of the voices of the BBC Radio 4 Shipping Forecast . [4] [2] In 2007, he gained recognition in British tabloids and music magazines for his "soothing tones" when the British DJs The Young Punx sampled his voice reading the Shipping Forecast on their hit single "Rockall". [4] [5] [6] [7]

Personal life

Born in the Simpson Memorial Maternity Pavilion, Edinburgh, Scotland, [8] Alan Smith moved with his family to the Lake District in Cumbria when he was two. [3] As a child, he was an extra in the 1974 film Swallows and Amazons. [9]

References

  1. ↑ "Radio 4 Extra Presenters". BBC. Retrieved 30 September 2025.
  2. 1 2 Simon, Scott (28 September 2002). "Interview: Alan Smith discusses the Shipping Forecast broadcasts in Britain". Weekend Edition. Washington, DC: NPR . Retrieved 13 October 2025– via Gale General OneFile.
  3. 1 2 3 "Alan Smith". Six O'Clock News. BBC Radio 4 . Retrieved 13 October 2025.
  4. 1 2 3 Ford, Louise (18 February 2007). "Alan's a Rockall & roller". Sunday Mirror. Retrieved 13 October 2025– via ProQuest.
  5. ↑ Carolan, Victoria (2011). "The shipping forecast and British national identity". Journal for Maritime Research. 13 (2): 104–116. doi:10.1080/21533369.2011.622870.
  6. ↑ Dixon, Gary (19 February 2007). "And now the Shipping Forecast..." TradeWinds. Retrieved 13 October 2025.
  7. ↑ "The Young Punx dj set in the The[sic] Limelight". Fame Magazine. 3 September 2007. Retrieved 13 October 2025.
  8. ↑ Commentary BBC Radio 4 Extra 16 December 2013
  9. ↑ "The Real Swallows and Amazons in Cumbria". BBC Local Cumbria. Retrieved 13 October 2025.
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