In the latest Broadcast Bulletin from Ofcom, two complaints were made against two Emap Big City stations.
Rock FM in Preston received a complaint that a listener, who was listening to the station with his young child heard the presenter use the word ‘bastard’, whilst Metro Radio has been quizzed about a sponsorship strapline which claims that ‘no one saves you more money’ than Factory Direct windows. A competitor questioned whether the claim could be substantiated or not.
Ofcom’s official response to Rock FM’s complaint is below:
Rock FM explained that the swearing had occurred during an item in which listeners had been invited to text in the names of celebrities they found irritating. The response was much greater than expected and the presenter had quite a task selecting those to read on-air. Although he passed over many, including several because of inappropriate language, in haste he inadvertently read one of the texts verbatim.
Rock FM?s management apologised for any offence caused by the feature. The presenter had been spoken to immediately after the incident and he recognised that the use of the word was unacceptable at that time of day. The station took the view that it was a regrettable error of judgement, made on the spur of the moment during a particularly busy segment of the programme. It was confident that the action taken would prevent any future occurrence.
Decision
In view of the action taken by the broadcaster, we consider the matter resolved.
Complaint resolved
The official responce to the complaint about Metro Radio’s sponsorship tag is as follows:
Metro Radio assured us that care was taken to ensure sponsor credits were Code compliant. The
broadcaster said that while adequate substantiation had not been obtained prior to broadcast, the station management had noticed the content of the credit and were already in the process of amending it when Ofcom alerted them to the complaint.
It therefore regretted its mistake on this occasion, adding that those responsible had been reminded of the requirements of Section 2 Rule 3c (Misleadingness) and Rule 6 (Fair Comparisons) of the BCAP Radio Advertising Standards Code.
Decision
The broadcaster?s clearance procedures had failed to identify the potential for a misleading claim in the sponsor?s credit on this occasion. However we welcome the prompt action and assurances of station management, which we believe resolves the matter.
Complaint resolved
You can read the latest Broadcast Bulletin by clicking here.
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