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Emergency Broadcasts

Are they in place? (July 2016)

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MA
Maarten1
Was there one sort of emergency broadcast when there was that big firework factory fire in the Netherlands a few years ago? I remember they pulled out of the Eurovision Song Contest that night to cover it.


Well, the broadcast was interrupted for extra newscasts, which was deemed more appropriate. The regional broadcaster, in this case RTV Oost (for the province of Overijssel) had the duty to transmit messages from the authorities (messages as ‘keep your windows shut’, et cetera).
SP
Steve in Pudsey
That it is important to spread the venues, became clear in 2015, when an “armed man” (later he turned out to bear a fake gun) entered the buildings of the national broadcaster NOS to read a message on the main evening news. Since the entire building, including the MCR, was evacuated, no broadcasts could be made from there. One man hided from the police services and went on working in the MCR, so the television services could resume from the parliamentary studio in The Hague. (Side note: a press conference from the mayor of Hilversum, just a few kilometers outside the Mediapark, was transmitted on Dutch tv via the VRT in Belgium and the little parliament studio in The Hague).


There was a similar incident in 1982 in the US involving Bill Close, who was held hostage in the studio and forced to read a statement on air by an armed fanatic. The police reluctantly agreed to have the station put him on air (they didn't want to for fear of setting a precedent) because of he had brought a portable TV with him to be sure that it was actually going out on air, not just on the studio monitors.

The whole incident - which ended with the gunman peacefully surrendering, happy that he had got his bizarre message out - and subsequent coverage is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWaQFguerFc
EL
elmarko

That it is important to spread the venues, became clear in 2015, when an “armed man” (later he turned out to bear a fake gun) entered the buildings of the national broadcaster NOS to read a message on the main evening news. Since the entire building, including the MCR, was evacuated, no broadcasts could be made from there. One man hided from the police services and went on working in the MCR, so the television services could resume from the parliamentary studio in The Hague. (Side note: a press conference from the mayor of Hilversum, just a few kilometers outside the Mediapark, was transmitted on Dutch tv via the VRT in Belgium and the little parliament studio in The Hague).

Thanks for this, good extra information. One question, what do you mean about VRT's involvement? Did Dutch TV just take a feed from VRT's own coverage and retransmit locally?
MA
Maarten1

Thanks for this, good extra information. One question, what do you mean about VRT's involvement? Did Dutch TV just take a feed from VRT's own coverage and retransmit locally?

As far as I know, the feed was transmitted from a satellite van to Brussels (so, that would most logically be VRT) and even the EVN in Geneva. A reporter that night posted it on Twitter.




I have to confess I'm not very into the uplinks, feeds and so on.

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