{"id":19301,"date":"2026-08-11T14:12:05","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T09:12:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newspulse.com.pk\/en\/?p=19301"},"modified":"2026-08-11T14:27:28","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T09:27:28","slug":"king-charles-death-hoax-uk-radio-st","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newspulse.com.pk\/en\/2026\/08\/11\/king-charles-death-hoax-uk-radio-st\/","title":{"rendered":"King Charles death hoax: UK radio station explains how false announcement went on air"},"content":{"rendered":"

King Charles death hoax: UK radio station explains how false announcement went on air<\/strong><\/h3>\n

UK radio station mistakenly announces King Charles\u2019 death, faces Ofcom breach<\/p>\n

Radio Caroline mistakenly announced King Charles III\u2019s death during a live programme. Ofcom has now ruled that the broadcaster breached accuracy rules over the incident.<\/strong><\/p>\n

LONDON: A British radio station mistakenly announced the death of King Charles<\/a> III during a live programme in May, prompting a brief wave of confusion before the broadcaster realised the error and apologised.<\/p>\n

The incident occurred on May 19, 2026, during The Barry Marsh Show on Radio Caroline, when a pre-recorded announcement prepared for use in the event of the monarch\u2019s death was accidentally played on air.<\/p>\n

The recording stated that the station had \u201csuspended our normal programmes until further notice as a mark of respect following the passing of His Majesty King Charles III.\u201d It was followed by the national anthem and 16 minutes of silence.<\/p>\n

The announcement was part of a pre-arranged protocol designed to be broadcast only after receiving clearance from Buckingham Palace in the event of the King\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

After the error was discovered, the presenter apologised to listeners, explaining that the material had been broadcast because of a technical issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve just been informed that we\u2019ve played in error some information a little earlier,\u201d the presenter said. \u201cI didn\u2019t hear this myself, but it is incorrect, it\u2019s a technical issue, and of course we apologise.\u201d<\/p>\n

New details have now emerged about how the incident occurred, after the U.K. broadcasting regulator Ofcom found Radio Caroline in breach of its rules.<\/p>\n

According to Ofcom\u2019s ruling, a member of staff carrying out maintenance on a studio computer accessed the pre-recorded audio files and played them \u201cout of curiosity\u201d, without realising that the material would be transmitted live.<\/p>\n

When the employee realised what had happened, they stopped the recordings before panicking and leaving the premises.<\/p>\n

Radio Caroline told Ofcom that the staff member had been reprimanded and had apologised for the incident. The station also said the pre-recorded files had subsequently been removed from the studio computer.<\/p>\n

Ofcom ruling on King Charles death announcement<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ofcom said the incident amounted to a serious breach because the broadcast contained inaccurate information about a matter of significant public importance.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe considered this to have been a very significant inaccuracy about an issue of particular public importance,\u201d Ofcom said in its ruling.<\/p>\n

The regulator also criticised the time taken by the station to issue a clarification and apology.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs outlined above, Radio Caroline did not broadcast an apology and clarification until approximately 30 minutes after the inaccurate announcements were first broadcast,\u201d Ofcom said.<\/p>\n

Ofcom noted that the station was monitoring its output at the time and that an engineer had become aware of the problem. However, the regulator said it took time for staff to establish what had happened and restore the scheduled programme.<\/p>\n

The situation was further complicated because the presenter was broadcasting the programme remotely, Ofcom added.<\/p>\n

The incident highlights the potential risks associated with pre-recorded emergency broadcasts and the importance of ensuring that such material cannot be accidentally transmitted during routine studio maintenance.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

King Charles death hoax: UK radio station explains how false announcement went on air UK radio station mistakenly announces King Charles\u2019 death, faces Ofcom breach Radio Caroline mistakenly announced King Charles III\u2019s death during a live programme. Ofcom has now ruled that the broadcaster breached accuracy rules over the incident. LONDON: A British radio station […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":19305,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2297,2299],"tags":[3995],"class_list":["post-19301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news","category-world","tag-king-charles-iii"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newspulse.com.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newspulse.com.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newspulse.com.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newspulse.com.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newspulse.com.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19301"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newspulse.com.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19301\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19303,"href":"https:\/\/newspulse.com.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19301\/revisions\/19303"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newspulse.com.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newspulse.com.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newspulse.com.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newspulse.com.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}