British radio station Radio Caroline has officially apologized for an incident that occurred on Tuesday afternoon at its studio in Maldon, Essex. Due to a computer system error, the station accidentally broadcast an announcement of the death of King Charles III. This news triggered automated procedures within internal systems that British media have prepared for the event of a monarch's death.
Station manager Peter Moore explained that a technical fault activated a protocol that is normally kept on standby for emergency situations. Part of this process is the subsequent interruption of regular broadcasting, whereby the station honors the memory of a deceased member of the royal family. It was the sudden silence on air that alerted staff to the error, leading to immediate intervention, restoration of the program, and a subsequent on-air apology.
"Radio Caroline fell silent, as would be required, which alerted us to resume the program and issue an apology on air. We apologize to His Majesty the King and our listeners for any inconvenience caused," Peter Moore said in a statement on social media.
At the time the erroneous report occurred, King Charles III and Queen Camilla were on an official visit to Northern Ireland. The extent of the error was also evident on the station's website, where, according to the Press Association news agency, on-demand listening of Tuesday afternoon's broadcast between 2:00 PM and 5:00 PM local time was suspended.
Radio Caroline holds a unique position in British media history. It was founded in 1964 as a pirate station with the aim of disrupting the BBC's monopoly. It originally broadcast from ships anchored off the English coast in international waters. Although legislation from 1967 eliminated most pirate stations, Caroline continued offshore broadcasting intermittently until 1990. Today, the station broadcasts legally and regularly also carries the Royal Christmas Message.
The history of this station and similar projects served as inspiration for the popular 2009 British comedy “The Boat That Rocked”, which portrays the lives of eccentric DJs at sea in the 1960s.