A glitch a day keeps the listener awake
Guy Danaway fights insomnia in the only way he knows how
As a habitual night-owl, I tend to spend the wee hours drinking black coffee whilst sitting at my computer and listening to the radio on my stereo earphones.
Just occasionally, on Radio Five Live’s Up All Night [0100 to 0500 hours] show an historic news item breaks … or some unexpectedly heart-breaking interview happens… or some strange cock-up occurs.
As it happens, as I type this, tonight’s edition of Up All Night is being hosted by Tom Green, a journalist with whom I am not unduly familiar.
At 0235 hours – some eight minutes ago on my wrist-watch – the female newsreader made reference to the current main sports headline, the exit from soccer’s European Cup of English club Arsenal at the hands (or rather, feet) of Bayern Munich. She then went to a recorded item on the subject, featuring top radio commentator Alan Green.
However, it was not – as presumably she and the production team had intended – his post-match report upon Arsenal’s demise, but in fact a preview of the game by Mr Green, recorded several hours before kick-off, stating how important to Arsenal’s season this match was going to be and setting out the latest team news etc.
A balls-up by somebody, then.
It will be interesting to listen to the next half-hour news/sports bulletin and learn if the production team has ‘located’ the correct item by then …
