Radio station cleared over swearing played on loop

A community radio station that broadcast a loop of expletives “for at least 26 minutes” has been cleared by Ofcom.

Horizon Radio broadcast the offensive language to its listeners in Milton Keynes on October 9 when its programme was “hijacked” before it got to a transmitter.

The regulator said “children were particularly likely to be listening” to the evening show, which was aired at 18:00 BST, but concluded the station did “everything in its control to minimise the impact of this incident”.

Horizon Radio tried to get the stream turned off multiple times and provided Ofcom with a recording of an apology broadcast in the following hour once it had resumed control of its DAB output.

The apology stated: “Earlier today, you may have heard some language broadcast which may have caused offence.

“This was caused by circumstances outside our control, and we are very sorry for any offence this may have caused.”

Ofcom received complaints from three listeners that an offensive word was being broadcast on a loop.

In its report, the regulator said Horizon Radio’s web stream and DAB transmission were provided by third parties.

Horizon Radio told Ofcom that its stream provider “‘hijacked’ a web stream” which consisted of a string of obscenities instead of airing the planned output.

“[Horizon Radio] believed this happened because of a contractual dispute between the stream provider and another DAB multiplex provider,” the report said.

Horizon Radio stated that its website and app did not use this stream.

Horizon’s managing director heard the broadcast whilst driving and immediately tried to get the transmission stopped, the report said.

Ofcom said there was evidence that the transmission provider was asked to turn off the Horizon Radio service on DAB at 18:32 BST and again at 18:43, at 18:44 and twice at 18:47.

The correct service was restored at 18:50 BST.

In its ruling, Ofcom said Horizon Radio took swift action to stop the incorrect stream from being broadcast.

It also made an apology shortly after the incident, and it contacted the regulator to inform it about the situation.

Ofcom concluded it did “everything in its control to minimise the impact of this incident” and the matter was now resolved.

Horizon Radio said its technical manager now maintained all its streaming output and it no longer used the services of third-party stream providers, nor would it in the future.