Radio Authority Fines Station £1,000

The Radio Authority has fined Piccadilly 1152 £1,000 for broadcasting an offensive and ‘blasphemous’ exchange of views between a presenter and a caller to a late-night ‘phone-in. This item was found to break Broadcasting Act rules on taste and decency and religious matters.

Overall there were 68 programming complaints, of which 10 were upheld, and 101 advertising complaints, of which 22 were upheld, in the first quarter of 1996. Of those received, 5 concerned the accuracy of broadcasts, 7 pertained to issues of bias or fairness, 19 regarded stations straying from their format and 20 related to taste and decency.

The single radio commercial which prompted the most reaction was for “Fisherman’s Friends” lozenges: 8 listeners found offensive the theme of the script in which a cat was threatened with being shot in a sketch redolent of children’s programming. The Authority upheld these complaints and all stations were required to withdraw the ad.

Some stations also requested to change the ‘promise of performance’ conditions of their licence:

Radio Authority: 0171 430 2724