British radio station mistakenly announces death of King Charles
Kyiv • UNN
Due to a technical glitch on Radio Caroline, the protocol for the death of the monarch was triggered. The station apologized to the King and listeners for the erroneous report.
The British radio station Radio Caroline has apologized to listeners after a technical error led to a false announcement of King Charles's death on air. The incident occurred due to a computer system failure that activated the emergency procedure designated for the death of the monarch. This was reported by The Guardian, according to UNN.
Details
The incident occurred on Tuesday afternoon due to a computer system failure at Radio Caroline's main studio in Essex.
Station manager Peter Moore stated on Facebook that the error accidentally activated the "death of the monarch" procedure, which all British radio stations keep ready, though they hope never to use it.
According to him, the radio went silent afterwards, as stipulated by the procedure, which allowed the error to be identified, broadcasting to be restored, and an apology to be issued on air.
In his statement, he emphasized that the station regrets the incident and apologizes to the King and listeners for any potential emotional distress caused.
The exact duration the error remained on air was not specified. At the same time, it was noted that the broadcast recording for the period from 1:58 PM to 5:00 PM on Tuesday was temporarily unavailable on the station's website.
The incident occurred while King Charles and Queen Camilla were in Northern Ireland, where they attended a series of public events, including musical performances and dance shows in Belfast.
Radio Caroline, founded in 1964, is a former pirate radio station that previously operated from ships off the coast of England. Following legislative changes in 1967, it gradually ceased offshore broadcasting, fully ending such transmissions in 1990.
Separately, it was noted that on the same day, the BBC also apologized for an on-air error: listeners of one program received a repeat of a previous episode due to a scheduling glitch.