Observing silences on radio

In the UK radio stations observe a two minute silence on Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday. A moments silence might be observed on other anniversaries or to mark a recent event.

These are important occasions and listeners will expect you to mark a one or two minute silence appropriately. For workers and drivers the radio could even be on to know when the silence is being observed.

• Armistice Day: 11 November, 11:00am
• Remembrance Sunday: Sunday nearest 11 November, 11:00am

Although inserting two minutes of silence into a programme sounds simple enough, a degree of planning involved.

• Should there be special programming around the event which is being marked?
• How will the silence be introduced and ended?
• What music should be played before and after?
• Where will the ads from the top of the hour go?
• Will there be a news bulletin before or after?

This page looks at some of the aspects of marking a silence on radio.

Playout and presenters

For radio stations with a studio and live presenter or tech-op the scheduled music can be stopped, the playout system switched to to manual and all faders pulled down. A presenter only needs to touch an instant cart by mistake for a sound effect to go off during the silence.

A clear and simple policy from the programme manager is valuable to ensure that the silence is marked appropriately.

For automated stations the silence can be scheduled ahead of time. Playout systems often have the ability to schedule something at a specific time, regardless of the item which is currently playing. Just scheduling a silent two minute file at the appropriate time could be jarring for listeners. A brief introduction at the start of the file, scheduled slightly earlier as required, could be better.

If the silence will be automated it’s very important to test this to ensure the playout system behaves as expected. Another event or marker could kick in during the silence. See if you can test the procedure ahead of time to ensure it will work as required.

Silence detection

Radio stations and transmitters are often configured to detect silence. If there’s nothing being broadcast it normally means something has gone wrong, either technically or by mistake. Some radio stations have a backup audio source which is triggered by a silence detector after a set period of time.

It’s for this reason some stations use ambient noise rather than complete silence during a one or two minute silence. However, a silence detector uses a threshold level, and there is still a risk that the ambient noise won’t be loud enough to prevent it starting the backup audio.

If possible it’s worth disabling the silence detector for occasions like this. If that’s not possible, you should know the level on the desk that the ambient audio needs to be. Listeners would be rightly upset if 30 seconds into a two minute silence your station played a sweeper before “We Can Work It Out” by The Beetles.

It’s worth testing silence detection on the station too. This is something that could be done at any time of year.

If you have the ability to listen ‘off air’, i.e. to the FM output from the transmitter rather than the output from the desk, you’ll be able to monitor that listeners did hear the two minute silence as planned.

Ambient audio

If your station takes bulletins through a satellite dish, such as from IRN or Sky News Radio, you may be able to use the silence from the National Service of Remembrance in London.

Radio news providers often upload a two minute file with ambient background noise that you can use instead.

You could simply record your own silence using a portable recorder outside and play this out. Ensure that it contains only ambient wind and background noise - not yourself, laughing children, car horns or fumbling of the recorder.

The Royal British Legion provides an MP3 on their website. It includes the Last Post at the beginning and Reveille to end the silence.

Silences and news bulletins

Many commercial, community and hospital radio stations use Sky News Radio / IRN for live news bulletins. The two minute silences in November are normally provided by IRN. An advisory should be issued in advance or you can enquire about any plans.

Some providers supply a bulletin with an introduction, the silence (with background noise), and an outro or short summary of news stories. In the case of IRN this would start a minute early and finish two minutes late.

The IRN bulletin has traditionally contained an introduction, a two minute silence which commences with the chimes of Big Ben, the Last Post and some brief news headlines.

When bulletins are delivered by FTP or Dropbox they will need to be scheduled so that the silence is marked accurately.

Always ensure that you have received any advisories from your news provider and plan the bulletins for both Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday well in advance. If you’re presenting a programme and don’t receive this information you should follow up with the person responsible for the bulletins on your station.

Conclusion

It’s important for listeners to observe the silence for Remembrance Sunday, Armistice Day and other occasions. It might seem simple enough to pull down the faders and start again a minute or two later, but by planning ahead you can ensure it is an important part of the output and not seen as an abrupt interruption.

If you’re not sure how your silence detection or playout system will handle the silence it’s worth testing it. You could always test your playout system by scheduling some silence at a specific time during the night. Likewise with the background ambient noise.

But it’s worth liaising with your technical team or provider first, and check any tests from the audio logs at the same point your listener would hear - e.g. from the transmitter or an online stream. If your audio log is in the studio and the backup audio at the transmitter you won’t know what really happened.