Overview
- Radio Caroline played a pre-recorded death bulletin that interrupted music, repeated three times and was followed by the national anthem in an error the station says occurred on Tuesday afternoon, May 19.
- The station observed about 15 minutes of silence consistent with death-of-monarch protocol before restoring normal programming and apologizing on air and on social media.
- Buckingham Palace confirmed the king was alive and carrying out engagements in Belfast at the time of the broadcast, and the station has removed the Tuesday program from its online archive.
- Director Peter Moore blamed a computer or studio error for activating the 'Monarch' protocol that UK broadcasters keep ready for a sovereign's death and apologized to the king and listeners.
- The mistake highlights how automated emergency recordings and archive controls can spread authoritative false information and may prompt reviews of broadcasters' technical safeguards and procedures.