Minutes silence.

[I like Skol]

Not sure if this should be in SC&P but I'm not that brave

Just listened to a minutes silence on the radio held to commemorate the people who died in the 7/7 bombings.

Now, call me a grumpy old barsteward, and not wanting to detract from what the minute represents, but why did the radio station (and presumably others too?) feel it was necessary to play a looped pre-recorded sound recording of some massively amplified 'silence' white background noise? Is it not good enough to simply turn off the transmitter for 60s or do they think we will all dash to the 'broken' sound emitter in confusion and despair if we can't hear it doing something for a moment?

 

[w00hoo_kent]

Could be they didn't want the automated systems to kick in. I believe the stations kit monitors output and if it's putting out 'nothing' starts playing pre-recorded apologies which wouldn't have been good (and I think are a pain to kick out again). Turning off all of the transmitters would have been a huge faff (and involved other stuff I'd imagine.).

 

[ColinJ]

Probably for the same reason that Eurosport play a loop of a helicopter sound when showing aerial shots of the peloton - people expect to hear something!

As for the minute's silence ... I was completely unaware of it so I wouldn't have known what a silence OR a blast of noise was about.

I don't like organised silences. I don't want to get into a discussion about that though - it is definitely a SC&P subject and I steer clear of that kind of thing.

 

[Yellow Saddle]

How otherwise can you listen to silence if they don't play a sound?

 

[I like Skol]

Turning off all of the transmitters would have been a huge faff (and involved other stuff I'd imagine.).

I don't actually expect them to power down the broadcasting equipment as I understand that is probably not something that could be done just for 1 minute. I am sure if they were really that bothered about meaningfully participating in the silence for sentimental reasons rather than just jumping on the public grieving bandwagon then they could have got the techie to switch any automatic system in to standby for the minute while they went into silent running?

If I was taking part I don't want to 'hear' a minutes silence. Surely the point is to take the minute to stop talking/doing stuff and contemplate what it is actually for?

 

[Bobby Mhor]

It costs moolah to switch off/on these high powered transmitters..
its not just a case of switching off then back on ,
they have to loaded and set up again..
frequency stability can kick into equipment as running cold then hot can cause drift etc..
once they get to operating temperature, they are set to go
Most run 24/7 even if the radio station doesn't....

 

[Berk on a Bike]

I guess if you want your own cocoon of silence, turn the radio or tv off for a minute.

The company I work for didn't observe it (no notification, no halt in production). They did however observe the minute's silence last week for the Tunisia murder victims.

 

[Hacienda71]

Grumpy old barsteward.

 

[ScotiaLass]

I was in Tesco at 11.30am and they announced they would be observing the minutes silence.
It's strangely surreal when everything goes quiet....no till noise, chatter, trolleys moving etc.

 

[marshmella]

I was in Tesco at 11.30am and they announced they would be observing the minutes silence.
It's strangely surreal when everything goes quiet....no till noise, chatter, trolleys moving etc.

Makes you realise just how powerful silence is

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

As it's the cafe and not to detract from the event itself


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zLfCnGVeL4

 

[Lullabelle]

Our factory observed the minute silence, it is very strange not to hear the noise of machinery, radios and phones etc...

 

[Lullabelle]

I was in Tesco at 11.30am and they announced they would be observing the minutes silence.
It's strangely surreal when everything goes quiet....no till noise, chatter, trolleys moving etc.

That happened to us a few years ago in Sainsburys on a Sunday, the whole place stood quiet. A couple walked in and temporarily froze in shock when the saw everyone stock still and no noise, apart from the ignorant couple who deemed it perfectly acceptable to chat and continue their shopping.

 

[winjim]

Our factory observed the minute silence, it is very strange not to hear the noise of machinery, radios and phones etc...

What's weird is when I come in to work at night, and all the equipment seems a lot louder than it does during the day when there's a load of people there talking and such.

 

[Lullabelle]

What's weird is when I come in to work at night, and all the equipment seems a lot louder than it does during the day when there's a load of people there talking and such.

I used to work on the shopfloor and the noise used to build as the day went on as people turned up so I didn't notice the noise but I am now in the office and when I go onto the shopfloor the noise can be deafening even though it isn't.