Station in Ofcom breach for missing a word

Ambur Radio in Walsall has been found in breach of the broadcasting code for not associating a weather sponsor with the weather clearly enough.

Sponsorship rules say it must be obvious that a client has sponsored a particular feature, by using the word “with” or “brought to you by” or “sponsored by” but in this instance, the station had the following:

Pre-recorded voice 1: “Ambur Radio Weather.”

Pre-recorded voice 2: “Attention all drivers, if you’ve had an accident, call One Call today, on [telephone number].”

Presenter (live): “The weather forecast on 103.6 FM Ambur Radio. Cold and mainly dry with strong easterly winds……”

Ofcom said, after a listener complained about it, that the announcement did not clarify that Ambur had a sponsorship agreement with One Call.

The station said it had removed the promotion from air as soon as the matter had been raised by Ofcom. It added that Ambur Radio had carried out additional training for members of its production team, to ensure all future sponsorship credits appropriately signalled the commercial arrangement in place with the relevant programme sponsor.

Ambur Radio is a multi-cultural community radio station based in the West Midlands.