UK Radio Station Fined After Accidentally Announcing King Charles III’s Death

• UK broadcaster Radio Caroline has been found to have breached broadcasting rules after accidentally airing a false announcement of King Charles III’s death during a May broadcast, prompting regulator Ofcom to intervene.

A UK radio station has breached broadcasting rules after accidentally announcing the death of King Charles III during a May broadcast, the country’s media regulator, Ofcom, said on Monday.

Radio Caroline, a former pirate radio station that now primarily broadcasts rock music, apologised after mistakenly airing pre-recorded messages announcing the death of the monarch.

One of the messages stated, “We have suspended our normal programmes until further notice as a mark of respect following the passing of His Majesty King Charles III.”

The message was followed by the national anthem and approximately 16 minutes of silence before the station resumed its regular programming.

According to Ofcom, the presenter apologised about 30 minutes after the false announcement was initially broadcast.

The regulator said the incident breached two of its broadcasting rules, citing the “very significant inaccuracy” of the announcement and the “considerable length of time” taken to acknowledge and correct the error.

One of the rules requires broadcasters to ensure that news reports are accurate and impartial, while another requires significant mistakes to be acknowledged and corrected promptly on air.

Radio Caroline explained that the incident occurred when a member of staff accessed sound files that had been pre-recorded for use in the event of the monarch’s death.

The staff member reportedly accessed the files while carrying out maintenance on the station’s studio computer as the programme was being streamed remotely.

According to the station’s explanation to Ofcom, the employee played the files “out of curiosity”, causing the presenter’s remote stream to stop and the pre-recorded messages to be broadcast on air.

The staff member reportedly “panicked and left the premises” after realising what had happened.

Radio Caroline said the remote presenter would not have immediately known that they were no longer broadcasting unless they were monitoring the station’s output through an internet monitor.

The presenter, believing the programme was still being broadcast normally, was not actively monitoring their phone and therefore did not immediately respond to calls from station personnel who had noticed the error.

Ofcom said Radio Caroline reported that the staff member responsible had been “reprimanded” and had “apologised” for the incident.

The station also confirmed that the pre-recorded files relating to the monarch’s death had been removed from the studio computer.

Ofcom received two complaints about the broadcast and subsequently investigated the incident, concluding that the station had breached its broadcasting rules.