Zoe Ball said she was “reduced to tears” as she joined DJs across Europe in playing the same song as a show of unity amid the coronavirus pandemic.
BBC Radio 1’s Matt and Mollie and Radio 6 Music’s Lauren Laverne were among those who all played the Gerry And The Pacemakers track You’ll Never Walk Alone on Friday morning.
They were joined by “hundreds” of DJs in Europe.
Radio 2 Breakfast Show host Ball, 49, told listeners: “We are going to join in with something very special and beautiful that is happening all across Europe.
At times like this, it’s important we look out for each other.
Listen on Friday morning at 7.45 on @bbcsounds as we join forces with radio stations across Europe to play Gerry and the Pacemakers’ ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’.@zoetheball | @gregjames | @laurenlaverne pic.twitter.com/gYaMpvZ3pn
— BBC Radio 2 (@BBCRadio2) March 19, 2020
“In an act of support and solidarity in the face of adversity and anxiety, loads and loads of breakfast shows are going to play exactly the same song at exactly the same time.”
Dutch radio presenter Sander Hoogendoorn, of station 3FM, came up with the idea.
Ball told listeners that he wants “everyone to know, that whatever they are going through right now, they are not alone”.
And she said afterwards: “I’ve got tears in my eyes, I don’t know about you.
“I think it’s the solidarity … He’s reduced us all to tears…
“From something that can be quite scary and worrying for all of us on so many different levels … We are all in it together and we will look after each and that’s something beautiful.”
She added: “I’ll pull myself together now.”
Stations in countries across Europe – including Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Finland, Latvia, Slovakia, Romania and Spain – played the song, which is also the anthem of Liverpool Football Club.
Ball also told listeners that she had donated blood.
“It’s only the second time I’ve given blood,” she said.
“I thought, this is a really good time if you do donate blood to keep going.
“The messages are, to anyone who does donate blood, that blood stocks are good at the moment but the NHS wants to keep it that way during these unprecedented times.”