UK radio station 'broke rules' with false announcement of King's death

Radio Caroline has been found to have breached broadcasting rules after mistakenly announcing the death of King Charles III during a May broadcast, according to the UK's media watchdog, Ofcom. The former pirate radio station, now primarily playing rock music, issued an apology in May following the incident.

During the broadcast, messages were aired stating that normal programming was suspended "as a mark of respect following the passing of His Majesty King Charles III." This was followed by the playing of the national anthem and approximately 16 minutes of silence before regular programming resumed. The presenter reportedly apologized about 30 minutes after the erroneous messages were broadcast.

Ofcom, which received two complaints, determined that the "very significant inaccuracy" and the substantial delay in correcting the mistake violated two of its rules: one requiring news reports to be accurate and impartial, and another mandating prompt acknowledgment and correction of significant errors. Radio Caroline explained to Ofcom that the mistake occurred when a staff member, while performing maintenance on a studio computer, accessed pre-recorded sound files intended for the event of the monarch's death. The staff member reportedly played these files out of curiosity, which interrupted the presenter's remote stream and broadcast the files instead.

According to the Ofcom statement, the individual who played the files "panicked and left the premises" after realizing the error. The station noted that the remote presenter would not have been aware of going "off air" unless actively monitoring their output online and did not immediately respond to calls from station personnel who had noticed the mistake. Radio Caroline stated that the staff member involved had been reprimanded and had apologized, and the pre-recorded files have since been removed from the computer.

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we have suspended our normal programmes until further notice as a mark of respect following the passing of His Majesty King Charles III