[fox on the run]

Radio 2 are playing out Michael Ball at the same time as the Russell Davies show! 2 for the price of one.

[Mickey S]

It's quite a serious playout error, isn't it? Surely someone at Radio 2 must have noticed by now?

And I was really enjoying the Michal Ball programme, too. The music was fantastic.

[fox on the run]

It's not long since we had Elaine Paige played out in the wrong order. The fact that so much is recorded on a Sunday is starting to cause some problems.

[fox on the run]

They have stopped Russell at 9.00! Will they be able to start him again?

[bb]

All fixed bang on 9 o'clock!

Wondered what on earth was going on.

Definitely on FM, interested to know if also happening on iplayer etc.

[Ollie_h19]

Originally Posted by bb

All fixed bang on 9 o'clock!

Wondered what on earth was going on.

Definitely on FM, interested to know if also happening on iplayer etc.

Not necessarily. Lets see where the next show begins from...

[fox on the run]

All back to normal!..but Michael Ball ruined.

[Bee Cee Ex]

Are pre-recs on Radio 2 not still tech-opped?

[reverse_diode]

bbc.co.uk has been down most of this evening too. Maybe major IT problems?

[Phil Ander]

I gather it would have been a scheduling error. By that I mean that someone put Russell's start time into the machine at 839 say rather than 859(we got the jingle first remember).

If everything is automated who would be able to fix it anyway? Of course in the bad old days newsreaders would have been present ..................oh don't get me started.

[davelovesleeds]

Remember some years ago when Dale Winton did Pick Of The Pops and it was on for 90 mins, Radio 2 played the second half first and then had to put out the first half. Even made comments on Radio 4's Feedback,

[Andy Walmsley]

Originally Posted by Phil Ander

If everything is automated who would be able to fix it anyway? Of course in the bad old days newsreaders would have been present ..................oh don't get me started.

Not saying things didn't go wrong before but now we get odd glitches, unexplained silences, newsreaders crashing jingles virtually every weekend, usually on a Sunday it seems.

[TUC]

Originally Posted by Phil Ander

I gather it would have been a scheduling error. By that I mean that someone put Russell's start time into the machine at 839 say rather than 859(we got the jingle first remember).

If everything is automated who would be able to fix it anyway? Of course in the bad old days newsreaders would have been present ..................oh don't get me started.

The specification in the production tender for the Michael Ball show said it should usually go out live and last night's sounded to be live from emsils being read out etc so I wonder if the problem has been at some point further down the line so they weren't even aware of it in the studio?

[Mapperley Ridge]

Originally Posted by TUC

The specification in the production tender for the Michael Ball show said it should usually go out live and last night's sounded to be live from emsils being read out etc so I wonder if the problem has been at some point further down the line so they weren't even aware of it in the studio?

A fair point. Depending on the studio set up, it could well be that the presenter and production team were only monitoring their output and not listening off TX. Or, they were simply powerless to over-ride the system.

As I understand it, a lot of the switching etc at Radio 2 is now automated, a job previously done by the "duty announcer" - who was often also the newsreader. It seems that this is a consequence of the cuts, and I can see a lot of tecchies this morning wryly saying "told you so".

I'm often defensive of Auntie, but a national network really should be able to do better than this.

[Phil Ander]

I would put money on the show being recorded as was last week's. If it were live they would have invited texts and Bobby Prior would not have followed the news bulletins at 7 and 8.

[Harris Tweed]

I'm very strongly of the opinion that basic timed switching should be automated rather than used as a reason for employing extra people in this day and age.

But it ought to be done a whole lot better than that!

[Yorkie47]

Michael Ball played some super music last night and I was thoroughly enjoying listening to it. I'm not much of a classical music fan but was disappointed not to be able to listen to the lovely Elgar music. What a mess at the end of a lovely programme!

[Paul Marks]

They made a complete mess up when they got rid of the dedicated Radio 2 Continuity Announcers. They were 'all rounders' able to be continuity announcers newsreaders and presenters. Quite honestly I don't personally think that the current batch of 6 Music Newsreaders have got the ability to do what the likes of Charles Nove Colin Berry ,Ricky Salmon Fenella Fudge and Fran Godfrey did. .. so why did they get rid of them. There were never this amount of 'cock ups'. As the old saying goes If it ain't broke don't fix it

Paul

[Mapperley Ridge]

I broadly agree with what yoy say Paul, but I think you may be looking slightly through rose tinted specs. The continuity announcers only finished at the end of last year. There were a small handful of teething problems with news bulletins which have now been ironed out. How many other major incidents like this have there actually been?

[reverse_diode]

No organisation can take on 7 year income freeze without compromises. Blame rests with Mark Thompson

[Ramsay Ladders]

Originally Posted by reverse_diode

No organisation can take on 7 year income freeze without compromises. Blame rests with Mark Thompson

Not the Tory Government that imposed the freeze then?

[reverse_diode]

Originally Posted by Ramsay Ladders

Not the Tory Government that imposed the freeze then?

Ultimately yes, but there is negotiation. MT seemed to get a pretty bum deal, but what does he care now?

[fox on the run]

Originally Posted by TUC

The specification in the production tender for the Michael Ball show said it should usually go out live and last night's sounded to be live from emsils being read out etc so I wonder if the problem has been at some point further down the line so they weren't even aware of it in the studio?

I got the impression from the emails that they were ones sent the previous Sunday so i thought it was recorded.(If it was liv e it is true though that Michael could have carried on because he couldn't hear what we could)

[Belligerence]

Mentioned on the Guardian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/medi...imulcast-gaffe

Mickey S' comment picked out.

[Andy Walmsley]

The Guardian article also mentions the Dale Winton POTP incident as if this follows on from the cutting of dedicated announcers when of course that was years ago.