Radio station fined over offensive jingle

The Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA) has deemed a radio jingle making fun of a female public figure's reported lesbian relationship as offensive and fined the owner of The Edge radio station $2000.

The BSA said the jingle, sung to the tune of Beyonce's Single Ladies, included the lyrics she "wanted to go rug munching" and she "got sick of dicks", which offended at least one listener enough to lodge a complaint.

The original complaint about the jingle, sung during The Edge Morning Madhouse in February, was upheld and owner Radioworks said the announcer was "severely reprimanded", but in a decision released today, the BSA said the broadcaster took insufficient action given the seriousness of the breach.

RadioWorks had said the comments and song were "just beyond the expectations of the station" and were not a serious breach of the standards.

The complainant told the BSA he believed the host had been suspended for only one day, and after that had "sarcastically stated how bad he felt about what he had done and wore a saint's outfit".

In its decision, the BSA said it disagreed with RadioWorks about the seriousness of the breach.

It considered the host's song lyrics were vulgar and phrases including "when they make love do they have to put a strap on it?" would have been offensive to most listeners at 8.20am when children could have been listening.

The BSA also said the announcer had admitted during the broadcast that he had already been warned not to sing the song on air, but went ahead and did so.

In its submission, RadioWorks said it believed the swift disciplinary action taken against the host had been the best way to reduce the possibility of a repeat offence, and that an on-air apology would potentially draw more attention to the unacceptable material broadcast and create more offence.

- NZPA