A UK radio station broke the rules by unintentionally reporting the death of King Charles III in a May broadcast, a UK watchdog said on Monday.
Radio Caroline, a former pirate radio station that now primarily plays rock music, apologized in May for broadcasting fake messages proclaiming the monarch’s death.
One of the messages stated, “We have suspended our normal programs until further notice as a mark of respect following the passing of His Majesty King Charles III.”
The national anthem was then performed, followed by approximately 16 minutes of silence before the regular programming resumed.
Ofcom stated the presenter apologized 30 minutes after the messages were activated.
The regulator, which received two complaints about the program, said the “very significant inaccuracy” and the “considerable length of time” it took to recognize the error violated two of its regulations.
One requires news reports to be accurate and impartial. The other mandates that severe mistakes be addressed and corrected on air as soon as possible.
Radio Caroline informed Ofcom that the incident occurred when a member of staff accessed sound tracks pre-recorded in the event of the monarch’s death while performing maintenance on the studio computer while the broadcast was being streamed remotely.
The staff member played the files “out of curiosity,” which halted the transmission from the presenter’s remote location and displayed the files live.
According to the Ofcom statement, the person then “panicked and left the premises” when they realized what had transpired.
According to Radio Caroline, the remote presenter “would not realize that they had gone ‘off air’ unless they were monitoring their output via an internet monitor.”
The presenter, believing they were still on live, did not actively monitor their phone and did not promptly respond to calls from station employees who detected the issue, according to the report.
According to the station, the person who played the files was “reprimanded” and “apologized.”
It noted that the pre-recorded files had been taken from the studio computer.
