The Obituary Proceedure is a protocol activated upon the death of a major national figure or senior royal. It dictates an immediate shift to networked special news bulletins, a transition to sombre or appropriate reflective music, and the suspension of regular programming.
Depending on the nature of the event, some listeners will be pleased to hear the news from a familiar voice, others may want an early return to normal programming
Who’s on the list?
- His Majesty the King
- Queen Camilla
- Prince William
- Princess Catherine
- UK Prime Minister
(This is not an official list; Cambridge Radio will follow the lead set by other broadcasters as appropriate).
Example of national disasters where the Obituary Procedure may be enacted
- Major UK Terror attack
- Major International Terror attack
- Major UK Environmental disaster with mass casualties
Our emergency plan may be used for other members of the Royal Family, the US President or during other National Emergencies.
A decision will be made by the Editorial Lead (Julian Clover, August 2026) at the time of the event, and we may take our lead from the national broadcasters or other local broadcasters.
Our coverage will be led by a senior presenter
List of Senior Presenters
- Julian Clover
- Lucy Milazzo
- Daniel Baker
- Linda Ness
- Steffi Callister
- Matthew Parrott
- Gavin Richards
Wherever possible a second presenter would be on hand to assist in the writing and reading of updates.
If you are presenting your programme
If you are presenting your regular programme, please continue your show as normal, without mentioning the breaking story until you are advised by the Editorial Lead, a Senior Presenter or a member of the Engineering Team that the obituary procedure is being invoked.
Be mindful of the music you play.
In many cases, such as the announcement of a royal death, the news will initially be embargoed (i.e., the media announcement must be broadcast at a specific time, but not before). This information will be circulated via IRN. This is to allow broadcasters to put any contingency plans in place. Of course, this may not be possible if the events leading up to the death already form part of the developing story.
Once you have been informed that we are using the obituary procedure, the on-air presenter will need to load up and play “OBIT MUSIC PLAYLIST 1” which is available as a Playlist on Rivendell.
Do not mention the news story or the reason for running the playlist (even if the genre is different from your programme’s normal output) until the Senior Presenter is ready to make the formal announcement.
The Obit Playlist is a non-stop 60-minute file of suitable songs with generic dry station idents. Adverts and station promos will also be temporarily suspended from our output during this time.
“OBIT MUSIC PLAYLIST 2” will provide a further 60 minutes of music if needed, also in Rivendell.
When the Senior Presenter is ready to make the announcement, stop the Obit playlist at the end of the current track. You may need to resume it later.
Additional information for Senior Presenter
IRN will send a “FLASH” on their wire service and advise of any special bulletins via IRN NET Newsroom.
Please take the lead from IRN/Sky and not from other news sources or social media you may have access to. (The BBC and ITN may be used as a source, use the phrase ‘The BBC is reporting…”)
When we receive the necessary update say:
“This is Cambridge Radio” then read the script provided by IRN.
Following the bulletin, you will want to say…
“In light of [today’s events], Cambridge Radio has suspended normal programming. I’ll be back shortly for a further update.”
Once the news bulletin or update has been read, resume the Obit playlist.
At a suitable point during the playlist, you should provide a brief news summary of what is happening, why programming has been suspended and any further updates from the relevant press office/s or our news provider IRN.
A decision will be made by the Cambridge Radio Editorial Lead during the first hour of sustaining OBIT music – whether we opt into Sky’s coverage. This resource will need to be switched live on the remote fader in the first instance.
When handing over to Sky, the Cambridge Radio presenter should say the following:
“This is Cambridge Radio. We now cross over to our colleagues at Sky News – for further coverage of today’s Breaking News”.
Please Observe what other local and national radio stations are doing at this time (location dependent). Local
Primary: BBC Radio Cambridgeshire (96.0FM)
Local Secondary: Heart Cambridgeshire (103.0FM)
National Primary: BBC Radio 2 (88.9FM) National Secondary: Classic FM (101.9FM)
If these stations move back to regular programming, we may choose to resume normal output around the same time, dependent on the nature of the news.
Useful Phone Numbers
Editorial Lead
Julian Clover: 07770 921352
Engineering
Rob Chipperfield: 07990 646923
Dom Smith: 07989 150680
Lawrence Micallef: 07941 972724