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Don\u2019t adjust your TV or radio. The programming of our national broadcaster looks a little different today.<\/p>\n
As ABC staff walked out to take part in industrial action at 11am AEDT Wednesday, the impact was immediate: the ABC\u2019s 24-hour news channel \u2013 which promises \u201cthe latest breaking and rolling news coverage\u201d \u2013 switched to a feed from Britain\u2019s public broadcaster, the BBC.<\/p>\n
![\"BBC](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/d2fb8c27e29a19bbca3b0d9de0f3ad79433cda59.jpeg\")
BBC news anchor and DC correspondent Carl Nasman presenting\u00a0BBC World News America, aired on the ABC news channel shortly after the start of the ABC strike.\u00a0Screenshot of ABC News<\/p>\n
Viewers were greeted with BBC news anchor and DC correspondent Carl Nasman presenting BBC World News America, with a big grey bar reading \u201cRECORDED\u201d across the top of the screen. The main ABC TV channel, meanwhile, broadcast a rerun of last night\u2019s episode of Foreign Correspondent.<\/p>\n
The 24-hour strike over pay and conditions will end at 11am AEDT Thursday, and the ABC TV guide currently advertises local news programming as returning at 7pm that night.<\/p>\n
The strike wasn\u2019t a big headline on the news channel in the hours before staff walked out. Instead, the main TV news bulletin covered the arrests made in relation to the alleged abduction and murder of Chris Baghsarian, the Australian government\u2019s response to talk of fuel rationing, the United States sending more troops to the Middle East and tropical cyclone Narelle in Western Australia.<\/p>\n
ABC News Mornings presenter Gemma Veness warned viewers \u201cthere will be disruption to programming\u201d during a standard report on the matter. \u201cThe ABC will continue delivering some services,\u201d she went on. \u201cEmergency broadcasting will not be affected by the strike.\u201d These lines were then repeated at the end of the broadcast, as she signed off.<\/p>\n
There wasn\u2019t any elaboration on what that would look like for the audience, however. The news report instead used grabs from ABC Sydney presenter Hamish Macdonald\u2019s radio interviews<\/a> with ABC managing director Hugh Marks and Media and Entertainment and Arts Alliance chief executive Erin Madeley earlier that morning explaining the context of the walkout.<\/p>\n \u201cMr Marks apologised to audiences as staff prepared to walk off the job,\u201d Veness said during the segment.<\/p>\n Related Article Macdonald also warned his listeners of disruption a few minutes before 11am on ABC radio, and signed off saying he would be back on Friday.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are coming up to 11 o\u2019clock here on 702 ABC Sydney … Different programming will follow throughout the 24 hours of industrial action, including BBC World Service programming,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cYou won\u2019t hear the news at 11 o\u2019clock. You\u2019ll switch straight to conversations, and we\u2019ll be back Friday morning.\u201d<\/p>\n After the show finished, a prerecorded voice added: \u201cDue to industrial action, we can\u2019t bring you your usual program. We apologise for the interruption. Regular ABC radio programs will resume as soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n Boy Meets Girl\u2019s 1988 hit Waiting for a Star to Fall began playing instead of the regular bulletin.<\/p>\n So what can you expect to see? In short, a lot of news from the BBC and plenty of reruns. The 7pm bulletin will not go ahead, with the broadcaster instead airing Australian Story. And that will be sandwiched between two episodes of Hard Quiz. A special that aired in December, Hard Quiz: Battle of the Networks, will replace 7.30 on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n As previously reported<\/a>, The Weekly with Charlie Pickering will air in its usual slot at 8.30pm as it is prerecorded on Tuesday evenings. The show is independently produced and most of its staff are not employed by the ABC.<\/p>\n Over on the news channel, the broadcaster will be entirely relying on the BBC. The only local content that will air is Tim Ayres\u2019 address to the National Press Club (also airing on the main channel) and a live feed of Parliament and Question Time.<\/p>\n On ABC Melbourne, radio presenter Raf Epstein signed off just before 11am, saying that he would be on strike with his colleagues and would return on Friday.<\/p>\n \u201cI won\u2019t be on your radio tomorrow morning,\u201d he said, adding that programs including the Conversation Hour, the breakfast show and his morning show would be disrupted by the industrial action.<\/p>\n \u201cNone of that is going to be on your radio,\u201d Epstein said. \u201cWe\u2019re all going out on strike because it\u2019s an argument about sustainable work,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cStaff and management disagree on how we get those sustainable and secure jobs \u2026 That\u2019s the reason for the strike.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t like not talking to you and being with you, but I\u2019ll be back on Friday.\u201d<\/p>\n Triple J presenters Lucy Smith and Jack James signed off at the youth radio station, explaining to listeners why the airwaves would sound a little different for the next 24 hours.<\/p>\n \u201cOver the weekend, ABC staff rejected the second pay offer from management. More people voted no to the second offer than they did to the first offer. So talks have stalled because of that,\u201d James said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re walking off [with] staff at bureaus all across the country, including people who are really the engine room of the ABC. They\u2019re all tools-down. Management have apologised to listeners and audiences for the disruption, but because things are going to grind to a halt, you\u2019ll hear a bit of pre-programmed, automated music over the next day on Triple J.\u201d<\/p>\n The pair confirmed that \u201cthings will return to normal here at Triple J at around lunchtime [Thursday]\u201d but went out with a bang. The first song lined up at 11am? Express Yourself by NWA.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a track that has some notable lyrics \u2013 \u201c\u2019cause if I strike, it ain\u2019t for your good health\/But I won\u2019t strike if you just\/express yourself\u201d \u2013 but it also has a deeper history in protest at the broadcaster too.<\/p>\n In 1990, the station played the song practically all day<\/a> in response to the ABC\u2019s censorship of the album and the suspension of a news editor who broadcast a portion of its most controversial track<\/a>, F— Tha Police.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a tactic that worked, with management soon revoking the suspension.<\/p>\n Find out the next TV, streaming series and movies to add to your must-sees. Get The Watchlist delivered every Thursday<\/a>.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"Hugh](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/e5483de1b9521f8b8e9c6a05179d4d3ea21a50ec.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/6036868757f13b61dee4c5eb8e61a0e1f6ce28c9.jpeg\")
The Weekly with Charlie Pickering will air in its usual slot.<\/p>\n![\"ABC](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/b07a9c601dea9bd2622a6d8384ba49ec2880da9e.jpeg\")
ABC employees walk out of the broadcaster\u2019s Melbourne studios as the strike starts on Wednesday. Jason South<\/p>\n![\"ABC](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1631a4e8708f62b40d7f98fb414fb5b33aeb0fae.jpeg\")
ABC staff on strike in Sydney.Janie Barrett <\/p>\n![\"Meg](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/4a254cbd450833843b1a4bd3c70f0a616f89cea9.png\")
Meg Watson<\/a> is deputy TV editor at The Age and Sydney Morning HeraldConnect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"March 25, 2026 \u2014 11:52am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":562421,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[64,63,134,427],"class_list":["post-562420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=562420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562420\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/562421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=562420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=562420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=562420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}