Editing Greenwich Time Signal (section)

==Crashing the pips==
The [[BBC]] discourages any other sound being broadcast at the same time as the pips; doing so is commonly known as "crashing the pips". This was most often referred to on [[Terry Wogan]]'s Radio 2 Breakfast show, although usually only in jest since the actual event happened rarely.<ref name="sue">{{cite news |title=Pip, pip! Woman of Today is gone tomorrow |author=Tom Leonard |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1386296/Pip-pip-Woman-of-Today-is-gone-tomorrow.html |newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |date=28 February 2002 |access-date=18 November 2012}}</ref> Different BBC Radio stations approach this issue differently. Radio 1 and Radio 2 generally take a relaxed approach with the pips, usually playing them over the closing seconds of a song or a jingle "bed" (background music from a jingle), followed by their respective news jingles. Many BBC local radio stations also played the pips over the station's jingle before the 2020 rebrand. BBC Radio 4 is stricter, as it is an almost entirely speech-based network.

As a contribution to [[Comic Relief]]'s 2005 [[Red Nose Day]], the BBC developed a "pips" ringtone which could be downloaded.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/today/reports/arts/rednose_ringtones_20050307.shtml |title=The Radio 4 Pips – How you download the pips |date=March 2005 |work=[[Today (BBC Radio 4)|Today Programme]] |publisher=[[BBC News]] |access-date=18 November 2012}}</ref>

[[Bill Bailey]]'s BBC Rave includes the [[BBC News (British TV channel)|BBC News theme]], which incorporates a variant of the pips (though not actually broadcast exactly on the hour). The footage can be seen on his DVD ''Part Troll''.

In the late 1980s Radio 1 featured the pips played over a station [[jingle]] during [[Jackie Brambles|Jakki Brambles]]' early show and [[Simon Mayo]]'s breakfast show. This was not strictly "crashing the pips" as they were not intended to be used as an accurate time signal.

During her final broadcast as presenter on BBC Radio 4's [[The Today Programme]] – following 11 years sharing the post – [[Mishal Husain]] asked for forgiveness having previously "crashed the pips." Husain remarked that "in the tradition of [her] faith, when people used to go on pilgrimage in generations past, they would not only take leave of their associates, but they would ask for their forgiveness because in those days many would not return from the arduous journey."<ref>{{citation
|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c77j68y8v52o
|title= Mishal Husain bids farewell in final Today episode
|publisher=[[BBC News]]
|date=17 December 2024
|access-date=17 December 2024
}}</ref>