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Rock FM in breach of broadcast regulations over sweary breakfast show
By Andy Malt | Published on Tuesday 10 January 2023
UK media regulator OfCom has found Bauer-owned Lancashire radio station Rock FM in breach of broadcast standards after it aired a listener saying the word ‘cunt’ at 8.40am during an edition of its breakfast show in October. Not exactly a difficult day at the office. For OfCom, I mean, when deciding whether any rules had been broken. It sounds like it was quite stressful for all at Rock FM.
The sweary statement wasn’t even uttered during a live phone call, instead it was part of a pre-recorded voice note submitted by a listener. Nonetheless, those tuning in still heard the recording in full and unedited, it concluding “…but that’s probably because my ex is a cunt”. Two apologies were made by presenter Joel Ross immediately following the incident.
Meanwhile, Bauer told OfCom that while the station has a “robust process” in place to vet voice notes before they are played on air, “human error by the producer in the studio” meant this unvetted one somehow slipped through. That was all “due to the nature of live radio and trying to achieve a turnaround in a tight time frame”, the broadcaster explained.
As a result of this incident, Bauer said that the station has now added “an extra layer of security where the audio is always loaded into a separate player” to ensure that only content that has been fully vetted is available to be played on air. It also assured OfCom that both Ross and his producer are “fully aware of the significance of this issue and are very apologetic”.
OfCom found that two of its rules had been broken. Those being that “the most offensive language must not be broadcast … when children are particularly likely to be listening” and that “broadcasters must ensure that material which may cause offence is justified by the context”.
“In this case, the broadcast of the word ‘cunt’ at 8.40am on a Wednesday was a clear example of the most offensive language being broadcast at a time when children were particularly likely to be listening”, says the regulator. “We also took into account that the voice note was pre-recorded and the incident was not the result of a listener calling in live”.
“We took into account that the licensee accepted that it had made an error in broadcasting highly offensive language at this time of day; the apologies that were made directly following the incident; and the steps it said it has taken to avoid a recurrence in future”, it continued. “However, OfCom’s decision is that the broadcast was in breach [of broadcasting regulations]”.
