Tradition, formality, and ceremony can help people cope with a loss, and all were in place when the BBC announced the death of Queen Elizabeth II on Sept. 8.
BBC Sounds, which generally makes programs available for on-demand listening for a limited time after their broadcast, offers broadcast historians a chance to listen to how the events unfolded on a few of its services.
News of the Queen’s health concerns first broke around lunchtime in Britain, and the report of her death came out about six hours later.
BBC 5 Live had devoted most of its drive-time program to the concerns about the Queen’s health. At 6:32 p.m. local time, host Tony Livesey cut short an interview and turned things over to Clare McDonnell.
LISTEN: “5 Live Drive,” Sept. 8, 2022 (timecode of announcement: 2:32:30).
Meanwhile, the BBC World Service was in its “Outside Source” program at the time and had devoted coverage to news of the Queen’s health. Following the conclusion of the network’s standard bottom of the hour news brief at 1732 GMT, host James Reynolds broke the news.
LISTEN: “BBC OS,” Sept. 8, 2022 (timecode of announcement: 26:30)
The BBC offers a dozen national domestic radio networks, nearly a dozen regional networks, and dozens of local services.
At BBC Radio Manchester, a sports program quickly ended to go to a special report:
LISTEN: “Talking Balls,” BBC Radio Manchester, Sept. 8, 2022
Here’s where the tradition, formality, and ceremony come into play. At approximately 6:36 local time, all BBC radio services joined together for an announcement by newsreader Chris Aldridge:
LISTEN: “BBC News Special – Part 1,” Sept. 8, 2022
“We are interrupting our schedules for the following announcement: Buckingham Palace has announced the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.”
The networks then played “God Save the Queen” followed by an advisory that “normal programs have been suspended because of the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.”
Schedules indicate all BBC radio services then simulcast the news special through the evening and overnight hours.
Unfortunately, programming leading up to the announcement on Radio 1, 2, 3, and most other services is not available through BBC Sounds. However, Ewan Gregory created a compilation of how the news was reported on numerous radio networks and stations, with most BBC music services abruptly cutting out of songs to switch to the report originating on Radio 4:
Meanwhile, British broadcaster Scott Bryan has a comprehensive look at how TV networks reported the news.