Lancashire radio station in trouble for playing offensive song

Community station Radio Leyland in central Lancashire has been found in breach of its licence for playing an offensive song.

One person complained when the station played “Let’s Go Fishing” by Aaron Lewis, which was broadcast at 10:34 on a Saturday morning in April 2024.

The track contained three uses of the word “fu**ed”.

The station said the mistake happened due to human error, and usually has a process in place to avoid non-vetted tracks being played.

Radio Leyland apologised to Ofcom for the broadcast of the offensive language and accepted that it did not comply with Rule 1.14, but added that it did not have time to broadcast an apology on-air because it was “too caught up in ensuring we could prevent any recurrence” and that it would issue an apology when it had received Ofcom’s “judgement”.

Ofcom took into consideration the Licensee’s explanation of the circumstances that led to the broadcast of the offensive language and its representations that the error occurred due to a “departure from the presenter’s usual procedure”.

However, Ofcom reminded Radio Leyland that it is the Licensee’s responsibility to ensure all content broadcast on its service complies with the Code.