Imagine you are in a lengthy power cut - lasting hours, days, even weeks. Televisions, 'smart speakers' and internet routers don't work. Quite possibly the local mobile 'phone masts will be down because of the outage, and in any case a smartphone's battery won't last all that long. Nowadays, even your landline telephone (if you have one) won't work in a power cut. The only means of hearing information from the outside world is likely to be a battery-powered radio. If it's FM or DAB, the battery on that won't last long either - assuming that the local masts are still operating. Instead, your best chance of staying in touch with what's going on is to listen on medium-wave, or AM, radio, which can travel large distances and requires very little power to receive.

This scenario may not sound urgent, but in a time of national crisis it's one that could easily play out. The internet isn't really all that reliable, and could be brought down by a targeted cyber-attack or a solar flare, and electricity grids can and do fail in extreme weather and in times of war. That's why it's reassuring to all of us to know that a reliable, secure medium-wave service is provided by the BBC nationwide. Not only does it cover rural areas that can't get other signals, it could also prove invaluable to all of us in an emergency.

And yet, BBC transmissions on medium-wave are under threat, with their withdrawal mooted for possibly as early as 2027. 

We call on the BBC not to end its medium-wave broadcasts. Radio 5, Radio Wales and Radio Scotland are a lifeline, especially in rural areas, and for older people who don't have access to the internet. With the recent termination of longwave broadcasting, medium-wave has become the only way of receiving AM radio, and the only means of hearing the radio at all in some places. AM broadcasts are more reliable than digital, internet and FM transmissions, and can reach corners of the UK that other signals cannot. Furthermore, since they rely on relatively few transmitters to cover the entire country, AM broadcasts are much more efficient than more modern alternatives. This is all on top of AM's vital importance in emergencies.

The United States has already recognised this; recently, a bill was passed there requiring new cars to still be able to receive AM transmissions for this very reason. We therefore call upon the UK government to enact as part of its Radio Review an obligation for the BBC to continue medium-wave broadcasts, and call upon the BBC to safeguard and celebrate this vital service. 

We would also like to see the frequencies of Radio 5, Radio Wales and Radio Scotland occasionally mentioned on-air, as was the case in the past, so that the public is aware of how to access them during power cuts and when internet and digital communications fail.

Please sign our petition to keep medium-wave, and safeguard nationwide news and information for the future.

Keep up to date with this campaign at www.keepmediumwave.co.uk