Yle's radio broadcasts hit by daily technical glitches

Yle, Finland's public broadcaster, has been plagued by widespread technical problems affecting its radio transmissions, with significant disruptions occurring twice in the past week. These issues extend beyond major outages, as regional content is frequently replaced by news from other areas, impacting local news segments and short radio features.

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If the correct local news doesn't start after 15 seconds of silence, the system switches on news from somewhere else.

Kai Pohjanen, a representative for Yle's program staff, stated that these problems occur almost daily. For example, listeners in Lapland might hear news from Oulu instead of their local reports. If correct local news doesn't begin within 15 seconds of silence, the system automatically switches to news from elsewhere. This affects both regional news bulletins and short regional radio segments produced by local newsrooms.

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Only about one percent of all broadcast content fails.

Janne Yli-Äyhö, Yle's technology director, acknowledged the accuracy of Pohjanen's assessment, although he did not have exact figures on the number of problems. He described the issues as minor and localized, considering the high volume of broadcasts, with only about one percent of all content reportedly failing. However, for employees, these technical glitches mean their work may go to waste, leading to anxiety about whether their reports will be broadcast at all. Pohjanen expressed concern about how this uncertainty affects staff morale and noted that listener feedback can be harsh.

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The repetition of problems eats at you, man or woman.

The system, which was implemented last fall, has been described by a Yle employee, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of repercussions, as being put into use before it was fully ready. Pohjanen also felt the team was "jumping on a moving train." Yli-Äyhö admitted the system was rolled out quickly, but stated its implementation went "surprisingly well," as the company had anticipated larger problems. The system was deemed sufficiently ready based on a trial period. While Yli-Äyhö doesn't see the disruptions as a threat to Yle's reliability, the recurring technical failures have raised concerns among staff about the system's dependability, especially given Yle's responsibility to broadcast urgent information like danger alerts.

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The system was implemented quickly.