Media regulator OfCom has come out all rather critical of Q Radio's Programme Director Ric Blaxhill, albeit for actions undertaken in his previous job at BBC 6Music. As previously reported, former 6Music boss Blaxhill was the highest level BBC exec to resign when all the phone-in scandals occurred last year. Blaxhill came under particular criticism in the resulting OfCom investigation for a faked phone in on the Russell Brand show on the digital station which the programming boss himself produced. The Beeb was fined £17,500 over the deception, even though faked phone ins were quite common in radio land prior to all the outrage last year.
The OfCom report said: "The individual within BBC 6 Music who was responsible for the editorial compliance of programmes broadcast on the channel was complicit in the deception that occurred. Ofcom was of the view that the BBC's oversight of BBC 6Music, BBC 6Music's head of programmes and individual programmes broadcast was inadequate during the relevant period. Moreover, there were insufficient systems in place to prevent or identify the unfair conduct that occurred in this case. Ofcom was concerned about these shortcomings and considered that it was clear that, at the relevant time, BBC 6Music's management, risk management and compliance process and procedures were inadequate to ensure the fair conduct of listener interactive competitions and compliance with the [broadcasting] code. This was totally unacceptable".