Radio’s place in breaking news
Above: a busy Philadelphia International Airport
The shooting of Donald Trump while at a Pennsylvania rally at 6.11pm ET on Saturday, highlighted how radio can, but often can’t, cover breaking news.
Helped by a correspondent who was at the event who had been on-air minutes earlier, the BBC World Service carried the news just three minutes later at 6.14pm, with a professional, short and clear report (albeit with scant details).
Interviews with correspondents about Donald Trump were running while the news broke on BBC Radio 5 Live and Times Radio, who both carried it at 6.15pm (11.15pm UK). On BBC Radio 5 Live, the station made the (correct, I think) decision to rebroadcast the audio of the BBC News television channel, which they took until 6.27pm.
talkRADIO (or whatever it’s called now) carried the news at 6.16pm (11.16pm UK), rather breathlessly covering the news: “We’re gonna have to stop. We’ve got some breaking news. Just come in. And shots have been fired at a Trump rally in Pennsylvania. Apparently, he was on stage. There was shooting at him, and he’s been carried off.” before a slightly more coherent recap as both presenters excitedly interrupted each other, then into a commercial break.
LBC only carried the news at 6.22pm ET (11.22pm UK). It wasn’t Nick Abbot’s finest hour, playing gun sound effects, and suggesting that it was “dingaling yee-hahs” firing into the air.
I don’t have much access to US news stations. However, NPR stations in Detroit (WDET) and Los Angeles (KCRW) were in music shows, and didn’t carry any breaking news (I listened until :35).
CBC Radio 1 (in Toronto) didn’t carry it either, despite being in a news bulletin, “Your World Tonight”; then, after 6.30pm, the station took a comedy show recorded in a theatre. CKNW Vancouver also didn’t mention it, though they were in live programming - a pre-game show covering the Lions vs the Riders (whoever they are).
WBEZ Chicago did carry it, but accidentally: they were taking the BBC World Service at the time.
I’m sure that some stations did quickly carry the news; but the reason why the UK stations carried it almost immediately is that they were live, with TV screens in the studio for exactly this reason. In North America, though, that’s not what happens. If a station is taking pre-recorded programming and there’s nobody in the station able to switch to breaking news - or doesn’t even have access to any breaking news service - we may be accelerating our own demise.
Here’s some audio, should you want a listen.
Lots of BBC News people have been posting looks behind-the-scenes from the Election on LinkedIn and X over the last week. Anyway, from these, the graphics and how they all worked; the 369 live counts from constituencies, and what they did for on-demand; how the BBC’s live broadcasting kit worked at the counts; and more about the graphics - which are HTML, just like websites. Also, the opening credits of the BBC News at Six, from the director’s view.
The UK media regulator has stepped in to stop the BBC from launching an oldies service, a brand extension of BBC Radio 2, suggesting it could have an adverse impact on competition - indeed, said Boom Radio’s Phil Riley on The Media Podcast, it would likely put his company out of business. The BBC gave Radio Today a surprisingly salty, graceless comment.
A radio host resigned from WURD after an interview with President Biden. She just asked easy questions given to her by the Biden campaign.
Why Hundreds of Mazdas Tuned to 94.9 (in Seattle) Broke Simultaneously - from a few years ago, the story of a poorly-coded broadcast from KUOW, and a poorly-coded receiver from Mazda.
Want to supercharge your radio show? Here’s a £1 week-long trial of Show Prep - from a world class radio consultant and the best show-prep writer in the UK. Great for UK stations, or for English-language stations everywhere, too. (ad)
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