False King Charles death broadcast broke UK radio rules

A false Radio Caroline broadcast announcing the death of King Charles III broke UK broadcasting rules, regulator Ofcom said on Monday.

The community radio station apologised in May after messages prepared for the monarch's death were accidentally aired. One message said normal programmes had been suspended “as a mark of respect following the passing of His Majesty King Charles III”.

The national anthem was then played, followed by about 16 minutes of silence before normal programming resumed. Ofcom said the presenter apologised 30 minutes after the messages were first triggered.

Ofcom, which received two complaints, said the “very significant inaccuracy” and the time taken to acknowledge the error breached rules requiring news reports to be accurate and impartial and requiring significant mistakes to be corrected promptly on air.

Radio Caroline told Ofcom the error happened while a staff member was carrying out maintenance on a studio computer during a remotely streamed programme. The station said the staff member accessed pre-recorded sound files prepared for the monarch's death and played them “out of curiosity”, interrupting the remote stream.

The station said the staff member had been reprimanded and had apologised. It said the pre-recorded files had been removed from the studio computer.