UK radio broke rules in announcing king's death: watchdog

A community radio station breached broadcasting rules after accidentally announcing the death of King Charles III in a May broadcast, UK watchdog Ofcom said on Monday.

Radio Caroline, a former pirate radio station that now mostly plays rock music, apologized in May after airing messages falsely announcing the monarch's death.

Why did Radio Caroline announce the King's death?

A staff member accidentally triggered pre-recorded sound files prepared for the event of the monarch's death while carrying out maintenance on the studio computer. The files played "out of curiosity" while the program was being streamed remotely, cutting off the presenter's live feed and broadcasting the emergency messages on air instead.

One message 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 played next, followed by around 16 minutes of silence before regular programming resumed. The presenter apologized 30 minutes after the messages were first triggered, Ofcom said.

What rules did Radio Caroline breach?

Ofcom, which received two complaints about the broadcast, said the "very significant inaccuracy" and the "considerable length of time" taken to acknowledge the error breached two of its rules. One requires news reports to be accurate and impartial. The other requires significant mistakes to be acknowledged and corrected on air promptly.

How did the error happen at Radio Caroline?

Radio Caroline told Ofcom the staff member's actions stopped the stream from the presenter's remote location and broadcast the files on air instead. The person then reportedly "panicked and left the premises" after realizing what had happened, according to Ofcom's statement. Radio Caroline said the remote presenter would not have realized they had gone off air unless monitoring their output via an internet monitor.

The presenter, believing they were still on air, was not actively monitoring their phone and did not immediately respond to calls from station staff who had noticed the error. Radio Caroline said the staff member who played the files had been reprimanded and had apologized. The station added that the pre-recorded files had since been removed from the studio computer.