Just caught up on the iPlayer, I presume the Devon and Cornwall Spotlight originated reports were sent up to Bristol via the internet online for transmission without the required power in Seymour Road.
Interesting what can be done in the circumstances, although they had some notice to sort things, given the timing of the failure.
Hard to say without knowing more about the nature of the failure and what exactly it affected.
It's certainly likely that some packages would have been edited in the SNG truck and sent to Bristol via satellite. Whether packages could have been edited at Radio Cornwall (I assume there are some TV contribution/editing facilities there like at most BBC LR stations) and sent to Bristol without going through Plymouth, I'm not sure, although via the internet may well have been an option.
I've clipped up all the relevant parts of tonight's programme from iPlayer and stuck it in the following video:
Lips may be out at times as for some reason my capture equipment has thrown a wobbly and speeds up and down the video so it is never quite in sync. I've tried as best I can to make it line up but it might be out for a few seconds now and then. Must say that it was a very good effort from Points West, with a good mix of features from the two regions.
Another joint programme for the 10 so Plymouth won't be back on until tomorrow now.
Did they broadcast at Breakfast or have they been off the whole day?
Power went off shortly before the BBC Spotlight lunchtime bulletin was due to air. Radio Devon was taken off air briefly as well.
And BBC national radio services from North Hessary Tor, the main FM radio site for the region, went into mono RBS mode (as the NICAM feeds from London to NHT pass through BH Plymouth)
Why does the NICAM feed go via BH Plymouth? Just a convenient point to put amps etc or do the operations at Plymouth require a feed of NICAM? Are the radio services still mono or have they plugged around it or connected the NICAM kit at PY to the generator by now?
In fact are Radio Devon broadcasting from Plymouth or are they running the whole operation from Exeter? ISTR they have, unusually, a full studio suite at both locations, so could presumably run the whole lot from Exeter fairly easily.
Why does the NICAM feed go via BH Plymouth? Just a convenient point to put amps etc or do the operations at Plymouth require a feed of NICAM? Are the radio services still mono or have they plugged around it or connected the NICAM kit at PY to the generator by now?
The fault logging shows that R1-4 NHT were RBS mono from 13:19 to 18:33hrs yesterday.
I think the reason the NICAM feeds pass through BBC Plymouth (and it's not the only region/nation where that's so) is probably historic, from the time they were 13bit PCM links. Remember also that R4 used to have regional opt outs, so the original routing architecture is probably still in use. All the NICAM distribution kit is falling to bits anyway, I'm amazed the Beeb still persist with using it. It's 2014 now, there are far easier and cheaper methods to deliver audio to national transmitter sites (though not many that have the 13ms latency that NICAM offers)
According to a tweet from BBC Spotlight I've just seen, it looks like Justin Leigh is being sent to Bristol to present Spotlight's 1330 bulletin! Guess they have a spare studio...