Greenwich Time Signal not allow the pips to be broadcast except as a time signal. Radio plays and comedies which have fictional news programmes use various methods to avoid playing the full six pips, ranging from simply fading in the pips to a version played on "On the Hour" in which the sound was made into a small tune between the pips. "The News Quiz" also featured a special Christmas pantomime edition where the pips went missing, and the problem was avoided there by only playing individual pips and not the whole set. The 2012 project "Radio Reunited", however, did use the pips
Greenwich Time Signal broadcast at 15:00 on Saturdays and at 10:00 and 11:00 on Sundays. This is caused by the scheduling of the afternoon play on Saturday and the omnibus edition of "The Archers" on Sunday. On BBC Radio 2, the pips are used at 07:00, 08:00, 17:00 and 19:00 on weekdays, at 07:00 and 08:00 on Saturdays and at 08:00 and 09:00 on Sundays. The pips were used on Radio 1 during "The Chris Moyles Show" at 06:30 just after the news, 09:00 as part of the Tedious Link feature, 10 am (at the end of the show) and often before "Newsbeat".