Radio Caroline has been found in breach of broadcasting rules after mistakenly announcing the death of King Charles III while the monarch remains alive.
The ruling by media watchdog Ofcom follows an extraordinary incident on 19 May, when the station accidentally broadcast three pre-recorded announcements claiming that the King had died.
The announcements, which were aired during the Barry Marsh Show, stated that the “news media” had confirmed Charles’s death.
The false reports were then followed by the playing of the national anthem and 16 minutes of silence on the station’s DAB+ service.
Listeners to Radio Caroline’s AM service instead heard back-up music.
A correction and apology was broadcast around 30 minutes later after the station realised what had happened.
Ofcom has now ruled that the incident breached two of its broadcasting rules.
Rule 5.1 requires broadcasters to report news with due accuracy, while Rule 5.2 requires significant mistakes to be corrected quickly.
The regulator described the announcement of the King’s death as a “very significant inaccuracy” concerning a matter of “very high public interest”.
The incident occurred when a member of staff carrying out maintenance accessed pre-recorded obituary files which had been prepared for use in the event of the King’s death.
According to Ofcom, the files were played “out of curiosity”, accidentally cutting off the presenter’s remotely streamed programme and putting the obituary announcements on air.
The staff member realised what had happened and stopped the broadcast before reportedly panicking and leaving the premises.
Radio Caroline explained that the presenter did not initially realise that the programme had gone off air because they were broadcasting remotely.
The station said presenters would not necessarily know they had been disconnected unless they were monitoring the station’s output through an internet monitor.
The station director was also unaware of the incident initially because he was on a telephone call while monitoring the station’s AM output.
He became aware that something was wrong after hearing continuous music rather than the scheduled programme and contacted an engineer, who was already investigating the incident.
Radio Caroline subsequently broadcast an apology, with the presenter explaining that the earlier information had been incorrect and attributing the incident to a “technical issue”.
The station told Ofcom that it took the matter “very seriously” and acted “as soon as possible”.
The employee responsible was reprimanded following the incident, while the obituary files have since been removed from the studio desktop to prevent the same mistake from happening again.
Radio Caroline also pointed out that only two complaints were received by Ofcom and stressed that it is a “100% volunteer-led” operation without the resources available to larger broadcasters.
The station has a long and unusual history in British broadcasting.
Radio Caroline was founded in 1964 as an offshore pirate radio station, broadcasting from ships in international waters in an attempt to circumvent Britain’s broadcasting restrictions.
It continued broadcasting from a ship for decades before its vessel was shipwrecked off the Kent coast in 1991.
Today, Radio Caroline continues to broadcast, with its operations based off the north-east Essex coast and many of its presenters hosting programmes remotely.
The incident nevertheless provided a remarkable reminder of the care required when preparing contingency material for the death of a monarch.
With the Royal Family’s major broadcasters and institutions maintaining detailed plans for the eventual death of King Charles, obituary material is routinely prepared in advance.
In this case, however, material intended for an eventual moment of national significance was accidentally broadcast while the King remains very much alive.
