Top 20 Legendary F**k Ups In Live Radio
#20: What’s So Funny?
Giggle fits are no joke and they can come at the most inappropriate of times if you’re not careful. Take for example, this instance on BBC radio 4, where presenter Charlotte Green was reading a story about the oldest recording of a human voice. For whatever reason, this tickled the host even though she had to read some pretty serious headlines after.
The more she tries to compose herself and continue reading the leading stories, the worse it gets.
#19: Picky What?
Fair warning, there’s going to be a lot of accidental swearing on this list. But let’s ease you in with a rather tame one from Radio 1. Jordan North and Vick Hope were presenting their drivetime show “Going Home”, when the latter fumbled towards the end of the show whilst reading listener comments.
We’re sure we’re not the only ones who’ll be using the term “picky tits” from now on!
#18: And Now… The Traffic
Everyone knows that one of the most important segments on the radio is the traffic! Sally “Traffic” Boazman has always been one of the most trusted sources of said updates with her lovely voice and fantastic on-air professionalism. That was… except for this instance. Radio is of course an audio only experience, but presenter Mark Radcliffe wanted to highlight just how wonderful Sally’s hair looked in the studio that day. That’s when things went wrong.
Yes, probably best we all move on and pretend we didn’t hear that.
#17: A Muddy Mix-Up
The Glastonbury festival has had notoriously terrible weather over the years, and 2009’s edition was no exception. Tomasz Schafernaker, who is no stranger to live, on-air gaffes was set to report the weather conditions for the event that day. It did not go well.
From that point on, it’s impossible for him to get back in the zone. He does an amicable job of getting the rest of the information out but you can hear him holding back the laughter.
#16: A Simple Mistake
It doesn’t matter if you’ve got an OBE like the multi-talented Michael Ball - you can still be prone to the odd cockup. Though in all honesty, this one doesn’t seem that bad.
Michael accidentally misses the show’s jingle. But it’s his reaction to the blunder that makes this clip so hilarious. That’s the sound of infectious laughter.
#15: Advice From a Legend
When you’ve got Hollywood royalty on your radio show, you’d best be on your best behaviour. But sometimes, being too polite can lead you to missing the point. When Arnold Schwarzenegger was brought in as a guest on the Breakfast crew’s show, he had this advice about making money. They were too busy agreeing with everything he said that they failed to realize it was a joke. The memory of that awkward silence must still haunt them.
#14: He’s Not Finnish
An absolute classic in sports radio call in history has to be this conversation about Finnish football player, Antti Niemi. The caller rang in baffled that Niemi wasn’t being used by the Scotland National Team manager… and that’s when host and former player, Arthur Albiston had to correct him. Well, years later it would be revealed that this was actually an elaborate prank pulled by the caller - but that wont stop us from revisiting it time and time again.
#13: Mistaken Identity
Look, it’s live radio there’s about a million different mistakes you can make - but this is probably one of the worst. In this segment on BBC Radio Cornwall, presenter Laurence Reed was set to talk to the owner of a skip company - but the caller seemed a little reluctant to reply to him.
Yes indeed, it turns out the wrong call had been patched through to Laurence and he was left, we assume, completely red-faced. We don’t know who we feel worse for in this situation.
#12: Botched Immediately
Alright, imagine you’re a radio presenter. You’re just about to start your show, you’ve psyched yourself up, the music hits, and you start your opening line… and you fall at the first hurdle this badly.
That pregnant pause says more words than any kneejerk reaction could’ve. Poor Chris Arnold would later take to Twitter to apologize for his crudeness.
#11: A Bizarre Tribute
Following the death of the vile, disgusting, creature that was Jimmy Saville, BBC Radio Ulster presenter Karen Patterson was discussing him on her show. It’s here that she read out a message from one of the listeners, without taking into consideration what it might have meant.
Later on the show, when Karen and her team caught the prank, she was forced to apologize for the gaffe - but the damage was already done.
#10: Who?
You can probably recall a time when your slightly-out-of-touch buddy or parents may have said the name of a popular musician and completely messed it up. Well sometimes that happens with radio presenters too - and here we recall the funniest attempt to read out the band “Boys II Men”. In fairness, the name is spelt with roman numerals, so it would probably look like an eleven on paper - but still we can’t believe someone in the back didn’t inform him beforehand!
#9: Classic Margolyes
Honestly, you can’t bring Miriam Margolyes anywhere! She’s bound to say something particularly naughty, so we can’t really understand why BBC Radio 4 thought they’d be safe having her on for a live radio interview. In this instance, she was the next guest on the show after former Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt. At least she didn’t hide how she felt.
#8: I’m a What?
Another prank here, but what could possibly be more humiliating than being tricked while having the whole nation listen to it on radio? How about if it also happened to be a live episode in BBC's Philharmonic Studio with an audience in attendance? That’s exactly what happened to Mark Chapman who immediately caught his blunder after reading a tweet by Mr. McHunt. He plays it off very well, but he’ll definitely be thinking twice about having audience participation in the future.
#7: Cleese
Alongside Miriam Margolyes, inviting John Cleese onto your show is a surefire way to get yourself into trouble with the execs. You’d think people would’ve learned this lesson by now but there’s a particular word Cleese is known to drop every time he appears on radio interviews. Perhaps they should open his interviews with a foul language warning for those who can’t handle the occasional F-Bomb.
#6: Don’t Stop Me Now!
There’s nothing like the thrill of your call being picked on live radio. So when such an opportunity comes, you need to make the most of it. Maybe send a shout out to your mates, tell your wife and kids you love them, or simply tell the DJ how much you love their show. Oh yeah, there’s one more option you can take which is to tell the world how you feel about a certain politician.
#5: So Cold
Message to all sound engineers - make sure that the mic is not left on when the next presenter is setting up for their show. Otherwise you might end up in a situation like THIS. While Winifred Robinson was still running her show on BBC Radio 4, another presenter was doing the mic check in the other room. Only the mic was hot and the audience could hear him complain about the temperature of the room. The BBC refused to specify who this host was to save them the embarrassment, but Winifred Robinson still had to apologize for the muck up.
#4: West Kent What?
You really can’t blame Nicky Campbell for this one. He was supposed to be presenting a story about the West Kent hunt but it came out like this. Yeah that’s rough - but honestly you try saying West Kent Hunt 3 times fast.
Campbell has gone on record saying that this was the “worst moment on air” for him and its easy to see why. After all, he did end up doing it again shortly after!
#3: Prince Phillip
The death of Prince Phillip had some of the biggest media coverage in British broadcasting history. From news stories to premade documentaries, the coverage took up almost every channel. Even leading to some complaints from the audience.
A moment from this day that will live on in infamy for many, however, was much more concise - the death being announced during a session on BBC Radio 1 Dance.
It’s so abrupt, so nonchalant, and unintentionally perfectly timed with the beat drop that people can’t help but play this clip over and over again.
#2: Oh Dear
How does this keep happening? It’s the word that has to rank towards the top of swears you don’t want to slip out while being recorded and yet here we are again. James Naughtie tries to play it off as a coughing fit but its quite easy to assume he’s holding back the laughter. Queue the standard apology to those in the audience who are sensitive to swear words or have children around. But what makes this especially funny is that, in reference to the blunder later on, Andrew Marr ended up repeating the same line.
#1: Ouch
For our final entry, we swing on over to BBC Radio Derby for potentially the funniest slip up in radio history. Presenter Ian Skye was doing a standup job as usual, but made one fatal error when he began playing the jingle that would lead into the next segment.
Apparently, it played far too loudly in the studio which caused this very human reaction. Unfortunately for Skye, this may have proved that his recent trip to a radio presenting improvement class was all for naught.
What’s the funniest thing you’ve ever heard on radio? Let us know in those comments below
