Andy Bennett’s BBC Radio Bristol afternoon show was forced off air today after a power outage struck central Bristol.
The programme went into silence when the studio lost power, leaving Andy and his team “panicking” as the building went into blackout. The show was later taken over by Luke Knight, broadcasting from BBC Radio Somerset.
The incident was linked to a wider outage affecting more than 1,500 properties after smoke was seen coming from a pavement on Whiteladies Road in Clifton. Among those affected were BBC Points West, BBC Radio Bristol and BBC West offices.
National Grid said engineers were investigating a “fault on our underground network” which was reported at 4.22pm. The company added that the power cut was expected to last until 6pm and apologised for the disruption.
An Avon Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson said crews extinguished a fire “under the manhole cover which we believed to be connected to electric cables” at about 4pm. Firefighters later returned at 5.09pm to reports of further black smoke and flames in the same area.
You can hear when the show went off air on BBC Sounds from 2 hours and 24 seconds into the programme.
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This story first appeared on radiotoday.co.uk