To claim that 2022 was a good year for RBB would reveal an abyss of sarcasm. The scandal surrounding ex-director Patricia Schlesinger not only shook the broadcaster, but also the entire ARD. 2022 was a terrible year for Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg. But instead of it ending without further ado for the crisis-ridden broadcaster, it came to a broadcasting glitch just as the RBB finally wanted to say goodbye to this ugly year.
The transition should be at least energetic. The show was on December 31st at 8:15 p.m The big New Year’s Eve hit countdown of the 80s planned, with the 100 best hits of the decade. You really can’t go wrong with such a revival show, the 80s always work. In addition, moderator Janna Falkenstein, while presenting the clips, welcomed prominent guests such as Heinz Rudolf Kunze, who recited “Your is my whole heart” (whatever else) on the piano.
As befits New Year’s Eve, the New Year was welcomed in between, and the moderator of the previously recorded program did that with a New Year’s Eve classic, namely a countdown from ten to zero – and then: welcome 2023. But that was the second RBB salute for the new year, because the countdown and the subsequent “pop pearls” of the 80s had already been broadcast on Friday night of December 31st.
The speaker apologizes and speaks of “a jump at the same time the following day”
The evening before, the RBB had from 10:15 p.m The most beautiful cult hits of the 60s presents. Followed from 11.45 p.m. by The most beautiful cult hits of the 60s – the encore, but only about 15 minutes. Ten seconds before midnight the surprise: Suddenly the hit countdown of the 80s show starts counting down, and the 80s New Year’s Eve party follows, the show is not stopped. The broadcaster reported this on Saturday and thus confirmed media reports.
When asked by dpa, RBB spokesman Justus Demmer called a technical breakdown the reason. “We regret this error, the causes of which have now been eliminated, and we apologize,” he said, explaining the breakdown with a “jump at the same time the following day” and the scheduled broadcast. As announced by Demmer on Saturday, the show ran again on New Year’s Eve, as originally planned.
However, nothing is known about how many people jumped out of their armchairs in front of their television sets or laptops at home because they thought they had overslept on New Year’s Eve and that their friends were about to have the party of their lives – and without them. One or the other must have rummaged out their mobile phone in a panic and briefly doubted their own sanity, or at least their ability to have some control over their own everyday life.
But it is also possible that a few lucky ones let it rip twice at the end of the year. Otherwise, it can be said that good resolutions are best made several times anyway. This can only increase the chance that they will actually be complied with. Maybe that also applies to the resolution at RBB that a lot should get better in 2023.