Letter: BBC glitch-hunt

Sir: Roberts Hanks doesn't tell the half of it ("Normal service may not be resumed", 24 August). There are many more to be added to his list of technical glitches suffered by the BBC - Radio 4 in particular.

Presenters' or guests' microphones not opened in time, resulting in the first words being lost or faded in; wrong microphone opened, so the voice seems to becoming from the other end of the studio, talk-back speaker breaking into transmission; wrong recorded insert going to air; recorded inserts misplaced and not going to air; edits in recorded inserts not being done; lines from remote studios failing or not being available as required, and so on.

It all sounds like finger trouble, to me, and this usually can be ascribed to inexperienced operators at the controls not concentrating on what they are doing. This could be the result of firing or retiring senior, experienced people (expensive) and replacing them with juniors (cheaper) or even freelance staff (cheaper still). BBC management should be aware that listeners notice these things.

JAMES NATION

Winchester