UK Radio Station Breached Broadcasting Rules After Falsely Announcing King Charles’ Death

A UK radio station breached broadcasting rules after it accidentally announced the death of King Charles III during a May broadcast, media regulator Ofcom has ruled.

Radio Caroline, a former pirate station now known mainly for its rock music programming, aired pre-recorded messages falsely informing listeners that the monarch had died.

One of the messages announced the suspension of normal programming as a mark of respect for the King, before the national anthem was played and the station went silent for about 16 minutes.

The station later apologised, but Ofcom said the error was not corrected quickly enough. The regulator received two complaints about the broadcast and found that the incident breached two of its broadcasting rules.

Ofcom said the false announcement represented a “very significant inaccuracy” and noted the considerable time that passed before the mistake was acknowledged on air. Its rules require news reports to be accurate and impartial and require broadcasters to promptly correct significant mistakes.

Radio Caroline told Ofcom that the incident happened when a staff member accessed sound files that had been recorded in advance for use in the event of the King’s death. The files were played while the staff member was carrying out maintenance on the station’s studio computer as the programme was being broadcast remotely.

According to the station’s account, the staff member played the files out of curiosity, unintentionally interrupting the remote broadcast. The person then panicked and left the premises after realising what had happened.

The remote presenter did not immediately realise that the broadcast had been interrupted because they were not monitoring the station’s output or actively checking their phone. The station said the presenter therefore continued with the programme without knowing that the pre-recorded death announcement was being aired.

Radio Caroline said the staff member responsible had been reprimanded and had apologised. The station has also removed the pre-recorded files from the studio computer.