It's Friday afternoon, December 22nd 1978 and Britain is in the grip of the "Winter of Discontent" with public services grinding to a halt.
Rubbish is piling high in the streets and there's very little seasonal cheer to be had. Even the Beeb isn't immune, as you'll hear in this collection of clips recorded from Radio 2's FM frequency.
Strategically timed to put pressure on the BBC's management, unions arranged a walk-out 3 days before Christmas with the threat of major disruption to TV schedules over the holiday period.
For radio, the contingency measure to keep some sort of service on-air was to provide a single networked programme carried on all BBC frequencies, using a mix of Radio 2 and Radio 4 output to keep listeners informed and, to a lesser extent, entertained!
After a selection of Radio 2 Christmas jingles we get down to business with the David Hamilton Show running as usual with the "Tea at Three"... Then, at 4 o'clock, it's "everybody out".
John Dunn picks up the baton at 4 o'clock with an all-network service and then, at 9pm the walk-out is over, announced in a Radio 4 style bulletin. Of course it takes a few hours before all the networks can fire up again on all cylinders with their own programmes... but the unions are able to claim that Christmas TV has been saved for 1978.
Thanks for watching - and listening! :)
7 июн 2014
