9 May 2014 Last updated at 13:11 False fire alarm takes BBC shows off air
North West Today presenter Carol Lowe tweeted this photo from the evacuation at 8am
BBC Breakfast and Radio 5 live went off air on Friday morning after a false fire alarm at the Salford studios.
Live broadcasts were resumed within 15 minutes after staff evacuated BBC Quay House, which also resulted in Radio Manchester and the 7.55am North West Today bulletin coming off air.
The alarm also affected the broadcast of some output from Salford for Radio 4's Today programme in London.
A BBC spokeswoman said BBC Breakfast was back on air by 8.07am, adding "The presenter apologised for the disruption and referenced the fire alarm. We are looking into this in more detail and will take any learnings on board."
BBC Breakfast had been showing Chris Buckler's report on the Giro d'Italia bike race in Northern Ireland when the programme went off air.
But in a moment that could have come out of the BBC satire W1A, BBC One and the News Channel temporarily carried on broadcasting Buckler's voiceover about Northern Irish tourism, after switching to visual output from the BBC World channel, which was airing a package about tropical crocodiles.
"I am furious that I was forced to watch 15 minutes of BBC World this morning. I am a licence payer so I expect the BBC to keep broadcasting whether there is a fire or not."
It could have been worse. Five Live switched to a Ricky Gervais interview. 8am is far too early for that kind of thing.
"I am furious that I was forced to watch 15 minutes of BBC World this morning. I am a licence payer so I expect the BBC to keep broadcasting whether there is a fire or not."
.... "and I was also disgusted to see commercial advertising on BBC One"
I bet Rolex were chuffed about their sponsorship spot going out on BBC One!
Thought it odd that the 7.57 regional news wasn't broadcast by the regions outside of the NW region. The regional newsreaders could also have finished the bulletin by saying that due to a fire alarm in Salford they were going over to BBC World News for the 8.00 bulletin.
I wonder what Good Morning Britain would switch to in the event of a fire alarm, do they have a back up available or do they just put up a caption.
When it happened to GMTV they used the caption and music the studio puts out during regional opts. Some regions added their own graphics or announcements explaining what was going on.
lol I Wonder if its the first time an advert of sorts has actually gone out on BBC 1 proper? And not just as something that the BBC are reporting on?
I guess so, World News would not normally ever be used as a sustaining feed for domestic output on BBC One or Two (certainly not a raw feed of it) but as Breakfast is simulcast on the domestic NC then they had no choice! I notice World News, wherever it was coming from, was upscaled SD too.
Thought it odd that the 7.57 regional news wasn't broadcast by the regions outside of the NW region. The regional newsreaders could also have finished the bulletin by saying that due to a fire alarm in Salford they were going over to BBC World News for the 8.00 bulletin.
I'm surprised that BBC NW regional news could be broadcast, as it comes from Salford?
Does anyone know what would happen if there was to be a fire at NBH? What would the BBC News Channel and World News revert to? I suppose the Salford studios would be used in the coming hours, but would they have to revert to BBC One until Media City is ready to go to air?
Apparently, NBH was set up in such a way that some of the studios are in separate fire zones. So unless there was a very serious incident that needed the entire building to evacuate they should have at least one operational studio. They used to have a constantly available recording of the previous hour available at TVC that would sustain until they got Millbank on air.
I wonder how many switched over to GMB during the BBC Breakfasts absence due to the false alarm. Regarding BBC world output. It would be good if more of bbc world was shown on bbc news
I guess so, World News would not normally ever be used as a sustaining feed for domestic output on BBC One or Two (certainly not a raw feed of it) but as Breakfast is simulcast on the domestic NC then they had no choice! I notice World News, wherever it was coming from, was upscaled SD too.
oh right even more intriguing? The had to use the first feed they could switch to I see.
Thought it odd that the 7.57 regional news wasn't broadcast by the regions outside of the NW region. The regional newsreaders could also have finished the bulletin by saying that due to a fire alarm in Salford they were going over to BBC World News for the 8.00 bulletin.
BBC Northern Ireland crashed out of World for their news, but of course they're a nation rather than a region so have a bit more autonomy.
BBC World News is broadcast during the night on BBC1 but the ads are replaced by UK news opt-outs. Clearly there wasn't time to organise this. BBC World News comes from London not Salford.
oh right even more intriguing? The had to use the first feed they could switch to I see.
I wondered whether it was an off-air feed via DSAT at Salford but then again, the switching will probably have been done by RedBee at White City and know for sure BBC World News passes through there. I'd have thought though at NBH only an HD version of the feed is presented internally, then downscaled to SD for uplink and carriage with various DSAT providers etc?
Probably you'd find the previous hours content radiated for up to an hour, as seen on some strike days, then maybe Millbank....
I expect signing on NC prevented this looping recording being used this morning perhaps?
I wondered whether it was an off-air feed via DSAT at Salford but then again, the switching will probably have been done by RedBee at White City and know for sure BBC World News passes through there. I'd have thought though at NBH only an HD version of the feed is presented internally, then downscaled to SD for uplink and carriage with various DSAT providers etc?
I see yes at NBH you would have thought that the only feed would be HD!
BBC News Channel should simulcast BBC World News with UK opt outs between 06:00 and 08:30 on the morning, Some people who don't like BBC Breakfast may be happy for a choice.
BBC Parliament relayed on BBC 1 and BBC News channel, I wonder what BBC World news would do?
No, not BBC Parliament, they broadcast a BBC News/World News joint service from Millbank. At least that's what they did in I think 2000. It was BBC World with generic BBC News titles and the 9 O'Clock news came from there too.
Breakfast News was unusually simulcast on News 24 the next day, then News 24 resumed as normal at 9am.
On that occasion, continuity came from Birminghsm, I think.
I wondered whether it was an off-air feed via DSAT at Salford but then again, the switching will probably have been done by RedBee at White City and know for sure BBC World News passes through there. I'd have thought though at NBH only an HD version of the feed is presented internally, then downscaled to SD for uplink and carriage with various DSAT providers etc?
There are a few things that suggest that it was done at Salford rather than by RedBee - the key one being that the vision and sound switched separately.
BBC News Channel should simulcast BBC World News with UK opt outs between 06:00 and 08:30 on the morning, Some people who don't like BBC Breakfast may be happy for a choice.
No doubt that would see some increase in costs, especially as a UK newsreader would have to be around to do those opt-outs (I'm sure that one of the points of simulcasting is to cut costs)
I also wonder if there is some BBC Trust (or other) restriction on the amount that BBC can use of BBC World output provided for overseas consumption and paid for on a commercial basis?
When Princess Diana died in 1997 BBC1 carried BBC World News throughout the night,mainly presented by Nik Gowing who made the first announcement of her death (there was no BBC News channel in those days). BBC1 mounted its own programming from 6 a.m. when Martyn Lewis took over and he broadcast continuously for 13 hours.There is no problem in the BBC domestic channels carrying items from BBC World but they must opt-out of any advertising.
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9 May 2014 Last updated at 13:11 False fire alarm takes BBC shows off air
North West Today presenter Carol Lowe tweeted this photo from the evacuation at 8am
BBC Breakfast and Radio 5 live went off air on Friday morning after a false fire alarm at the Salford studios.
Live broadcasts were resumed within 15 minutes after staff evacuated BBC Quay House, which also resulted in Radio Manchester and the 7.55am North West Today bulletin coming off air.
The alarm also affected the broadcast of some output from Salford for Radio 4's Today programme in London.
A BBC spokeswoman said BBC Breakfast was back on air by 8.07am, adding "The presenter apologised for the disruption and referenced the fire alarm. We are looking into this in more detail and will take any learnings on board."
BBC Breakfast had been showing Chris Buckler's report on the Giro d'Italia bike race in Northern Ireland when the programme went off air.
But in a moment that could have come out of the BBC satire W1A, BBC One and the News Channel temporarily carried on broadcasting Buckler's voiceover about Northern Irish tourism, after switching to visual output from the BBC World channel, which was airing a package about tropical crocodiles.
BBC house magazine on-line Ariel
"I am furious that I was forced to watch 15 minutes of BBC World this morning. I am a licence payer so I expect the BBC to keep broadcasting whether there is a fire or not."
It could have been worse. Five Live switched to a Ricky Gervais interview. 8am is far too early for that kind of thing.
.... "and I was also disgusted to see commercial advertising on BBC One"
I bet Rolex were chuffed about their sponsorship spot going out on BBC One!
oh lol
lol I Wonder if its the first time an advert of sorts has actually gone out on BBC 1 proper? And not just as something that the BBC are reporting on?
When it happened to GMTV they used the caption and music the studio puts out during regional opts. Some regions added their own graphics or announcements explaining what was going on.
I guess so, World News would not normally ever be used as a sustaining feed for domestic output on BBC One or Two (certainly not a raw feed of it) but as Breakfast is simulcast on the domestic NC then they had no choice! I notice World News, wherever it was coming from, was upscaled SD too.
I'm surprised that BBC NW regional news could be broadcast, as it comes from Salford?
Apparently, NBH was set up in such a way that some of the studios are in separate fire zones. So unless there was a very serious incident that needed the entire building to evacuate they should have at least one operational studio. They used to have a constantly available recording of the previous hour available at TVC that would sustain until they got Millbank on air.
oh right even more intriguing? The had to use the first feed they could switch to I see.
BBC Northern Ireland crashed out of World for their news, but of course they're a nation rather than a region so have a bit more autonomy.
I wonder if Wales and Scotland did for their opts then? Anyone from Wales or Scotland watching their country's BBC 1 when this happened?
I wondered whether it was an off-air feed via DSAT at Salford but then again, the switching will probably have been done by RedBee at White City and know for sure BBC World News passes through there. I'd have thought though at NBH only an HD version of the feed is presented internally, then downscaled to SD for uplink and carriage with various DSAT providers etc?
Probably you'd find the previous hours content radiated for up to an hour, as seen on some strike days, then maybe Millbank....
I expect signing on NC prevented this looping recording being used this morning perhaps?
I see yes at NBH you would have thought that the only feed would be HD!
No, not BBC Parliament, they broadcast a BBC News/World News joint service from Millbank. At least that's what they did in I think 2000. It was BBC World with generic BBC News titles and the 9 O'Clock news came from there too.
Breakfast News was unusually simulcast on News 24 the next day, then News 24 resumed as normal at 9am.
On that occasion, continuity came from Birminghsm, I think.
There are a few things that suggest that it was done at Salford rather than by RedBee - the key one being that the vision and sound switched separately.
No doubt that would see some increase in costs, especially as a UK newsreader would have to be around to do those opt-outs (I'm sure that one of the points of simulcasting is to cut costs)
I also wonder if there is some BBC Trust (or other) restriction on the amount that BBC can use of BBC World output provided for overseas consumption and paid for on a commercial basis?