Roman Kemp radio show breaches Ofcom rules over on-air swearing

An episode of Roman Kemp’s breakfast show on Capital Radio broke Ofcom guidelines on offensive language when a clip of a song contained a swear word, the regulator said.

During a pre-recorded interview with guests Michael Buble and Jason Derulo, which aired at 7.30am on February 8, a musical item involving a “mash-up” of several of the guests’ songs included an expletive.

The clip, from Savage Love by Derulo, violated the broadcasting code, Ofcom ruled, saying the most offensive language was broadcast at a time when children were particularly likely to be listening.

Global Radio Limited, the owners of Capital FM, said that “during the checking of the content, the swear word complained about within the Jason Derulo song Savage Love was missed”.

It said that the team responsible for checking content “believed the lyric was something else entirely.”

Global told Ofcom that it had not received any complaints directly about the incident and that the interview is no longer available to listen to on the station’s catch-up service.

Capital Breakfast is broadcast daily on weekdays from 6am-10am across Capital’s network of 11 local radio stations, as well as nationally on Capital’s DAB service.

It is now hosted by I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! runner up Jordan North alongside continuing co-hosts Chris Stark and Sian Welby.

Kemp left the show in February after 10 years with the station.