A BBC radio station resumed playing dance music after announcing Queen Elizabeth II had died.
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No, a BBC radio station didn’t resume normal programming after queen’s death
If Your Time is short
- All radio programming in the United Kingdom was suspended following news that Queen Elizabeth II died. A BBC station didn’t resume playing dance music.
Media coverage in Britain and beyond has been dominated by news of Queen Elizabeth II’s death, but a supposed clip from one BBC radio station makes it seem like it buffeted the news with dance music.
In the clip, an announcer cuts into a song by saying, "This is BBC News. We’re interrupting our schedules for the following announcement: Buckingham Palace has announced the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II."
Pulsating music then resumes.
An Instagram post sharing the clip was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)
Featured Fact-check
The first part of the clip in the Instagram post is authentic. Radio 1 Dance was playing the song in the clip and cut away to announce Elizabeth’s death. But the station did not resume playing music, tweeted Scott Bryan, who co-host’s the "Must Watch" podcast on BBC Sounds and BBC Radio 5 Live.
"All BBC radio programming in the United Kingdom was suspended and united under a single broadcast to announce the death of HM The Queen," Bryan wrote.
He shared a clip of that moment on Radio 1 Dance and rather than resuming the song, the announcer went on to report more about what the palace said.
We rate claims that Radio 1 Dance played music after announcing the queen's death False.
Our Sources
Instagram post, Sept. 8, 2022
Indy100, No, Radio 1 did not cut straight back to music after announcing the Queen's death, Sept. 9, 2022
Scott Bryan Twitter thread, Sept. 8, 2022
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More by Ciara O'Rourke
No, a BBC radio station didn’t resume normal programming after queen’s death
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