Lighthouses Whiskey Alpha on position extinguished.
(Pause) Lightship German Bight burning unreliably.
(Pause) Six degrees 26 minutes East indicated by a yellow ball. (End)
Anyone who hears such messages, which sound like secret messages for agents, on the radio has ended up on the digital channel “Deutschlandfunk Documents and Debates”.
The sea weather report is available three times a day.
Well known and popular with fans of the format are the special emphasis on the cardinal points "Ooost" and "Nordooost".
The report begins similarly to a normal weather forecast, on Thursday afternoon it sounded like this: "A comprehensive low 975 over Novaya Zemlya is weakening." Information about ship fires, missing light buoys, lost anchors or temporarily set up restricted zones, for example because of ammunition finds, follows later.
The associated locations in the North Sea and Baltic Sea are identified with longitude and latitude information that seems cryptic to people who live on land and have no experience on the high seas.
This is also what makes the program so appealing, the enraptured magic of a parallel world.
Has someone stolen the anchor, and how can a light buoy disappear?
But soon it will be over: The maritime weather report on Deutschlandfunk will be discontinued on March 1st.
This also eliminates the possibility of listening to it at deutschlandradio.de or having it announced by tape.
Digital "weather info boxes" are now widespread.
In addition, the German Weather Service continues to broadcast maritime weather voice messages via shortwave.
The current episodes can also be heard as a podcast on NDR Info Spezial.
Many sailors and water sports enthusiasts now use special weather apps anyway.
The last sea weather report was broadcast on medium wave on Deutschlandfunk on New Year's Eve 2015 at 11 a.m.
Fans recorded the broadcast, you can listen to it on YouTube.