BBC Blackout Deprives Thousands Of Radio Listeners
Thousands of radio listeners were deprived of BBC services this morning after a power cut caused a thirteen minute black out at Radio 4 and Radio Five Live.
The power failure interrupted a Today programme interview with Culture Secretary, Tessa Jowell, who had to be moved to another studio as transmission was temporarily lost between 7.53am and 8.10am.
Radio Five Live’s breakfast programme also went off air and the BBC’s rolling television news service News 24 faced similar technical problems.
It is understood that contingency power supplies at Broadcasting House failed leaving listeners with nothing but classical music and intermittent announcements telling them the programme would be back on air as soon as possible.
A BBC spokesman said: “There was a power failure this morning and it did affect some of our services. An investigation is currently being carried out to find out exactly what caused the problem.”
The latest RAJAR figures for the three months to September show that around 1.8 million listeners tune in to the breakfast slot on Radio 4, while Radio Five Live attracts an audience of around 1.5 million during the same period.
According to Media Planning Group’s head of radio, Priscilla Rogan, the blackout could have boosted listening at commercial stations as audiences abandoned Radio 4 and Radio Five Live in their thousands.
She suggested that Classic FM would have been the most likely beneficiary of audience migration given that it attracts a similar kind of listener. However, she also emphasised that large numbers would have switched off altogether.
A similar incident occurred back in July 2001 when the main BBC channels were forced off air during peak time viewing on Saturday night due to a technical fault. Viewers watching were left with nothing but a blank screen as a power failure at White City caused a transmission failure (see BBC Blackout Prompts Migration To ITV).
BBC: 020 8743 8000 www.bbc.co.uk
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