Radio 2 in huge on-air meltdown as Vernon Kay left scrambling to play CDs

Radio 2 DJ Vernon Kay had to go old-school on his show after a system failure left him scrambling to play CDs on air.

The radio presenter was coming to the end of his show on June 27, playing Won’t Get Fooled Again by The Who, when the music cut out and he had to call for help over the airwaves.

He called out for help from listeners, saying: “I don’t think it’s playing out because it’s gone deadly silent in the studio, which is quite strange.”

But the consummate professional kept his cool, adding: “I’m fascinated by it because these things excite me when things go wrong on air.”

Vernon Kay

The 50-year-old presenter was not the only DJ affected, as fellow radio presenter Jeremy Vine said he had issues with the system while he was practising his show earlier that day.

Jeremy and Vernon quickly learned that in live radio the show must go on, so the two of them improvised over Vernon’s show with some chatting and small talk until a staff member came in to save the day with a box of CDs to play.

Vernon, who is married to Strictly presenter Tess Daly, let Jeremy keep talking while he hooked up a CD of Harry Styles ’ song Treat People With Kindness to the airwaves.

Tess Daly and Vernon Kay

Harry Styles has been largely out of the public eye recently following his split from actress Taylor Russel after just over a year of dating. Harry is used to making headlines with his public dating life which has included Taylor Swift. Caroline Flack, and supermodel Emily Ratajkowski. His romantic life was at its most public, and perhaps most infamous, when he dated Olivia Wilde. That relationship was credited with breaking up her marriage with comedian Jason Sukdeikis, and was a focal point of the press tour for her movie Don’t Worry Darling. Now, however, he’s taken a step back from the dating limelight, and has been taking some time for himself.

Back in the studio, Vernon jokingly said that while he was in the recording booth, staffers were running up and down from the BBC’s basement to find CDs and mini disks to play on air.

Jeremy Vine on the Jeremy Vine show

He then ran a previously aired interview with Shania Twain about her upcoming Glastonbury set this week. He was able to finally announce that the system was back to normal and back on air at around 11:50pm.

A spokeswoman for the BBC said the issue “was a technical fault which was quickly fixed”.