This Radio Station Announces the Death of King Charles III, Then Apologises for Incorrect Information

A UK radio station abruptly announced the death of King Charles III, but soon apologised for disseminating incorrect information. The death report was posted on Tuesday evening (19 May) following a computer error at the station’s main studio in Maldon, eastern Essex, Radio Caroline said in a post on social media. ‘Radio Caroline then stopped its broadcasts, and the situation forced us to reset the programme and issue an on-air apology,’ station manager Peter Moore said in the Facebook post, as cited by Euronews. The error occurred while King Charles and Queen Camilla were in Northern Ireland to attend a performance by an Irish folk music group. It was not clear how long it took Radio Caroline to realise the information was incorrect. Founded in 1964 to challenge the BBC’s broadcasting monopoly, Radio Caroline previously operated from ships off the coast of England. After the 1967 Marine Broadcasting Offences Act forced many pirate stations to close, this station continued operating before ending offshore broadcasts in 1990. Caroline and other pirate radio stations inspired the 2009 comedy film The Boat That Rocked, starring Bill Nighy and Philip Seymour Hoffman about a group of eccentric DJs living and working at sea.