Describe the missing boundary precisely
First establish whether the file plays normally but enters after an introduction, or ends while a presenter is still speaking. That differs from a page failing to load or a player stopping unpredictably in the middle. RTHK’s FAQ addresses incomplete beginnings and endings as a consequence of occasional timing discrepancies.
Record the radio channel, broadcast date, scheduled programme time and the selected archive page. Describe the first or last words you can actually hear without inventing the passage you expected. A memory of a guest introduction is useful as a clue, but it is not enough to establish the exact recording boundary.
Compare neighbouring scheduled material as leads
Check the adjacent programme entries for that channel and date when they are available. A programme that ran late may have crossed an archive boundary, but the FAQ does not guarantee that every missing passage survives in the preceding or following file. Treat adjacent entries as candidates to inspect rather than a promised repair.
Keep each candidate’s own title and time in your notes. If you locate a continuation, preserve both programme references and the position within each recording. Do not relabel the neighbouring programme as a complete copy of the first one simply because it contains a few relevant minutes. The schedule and audible content can describe different boundaries.
Separate a source cut from an intermittent stop
If repeated checks reach the same clean file endpoint, report the archive boundary with that evidence. If the player stops at varying points or displays an error, describe that different symptom separately. Reinstalling an app cannot establish that an automatically cut source file contains the missing introduction.
For a follow-up, provide the channel, date, programme page and the precise end or start that appears incomplete. Include any neighbouring reference that contains a possible continuation. This gives the broadcaster a schedule-level description of the gap while preserving uncertainty about whether a fuller recording is publicly available. It also lets another listener retrace the same material without relying on a broad claim that the whole archive is broken.