In the 6pm hour of October 9, 2025, a DAB+ radio station serving the English South East Midlands cities of Milton Keynes, Leighton Buzzard and Northampton normally sees host Vicki McCarthy offer “the best rock and indie music” on the Rock Revolution program. Abnormally, listeners heard the “F-word” repeatedly on a loop, resulting in a trio of complaints to the UK’s regulator for communications services.
Ofcom investigated the incident involving Horizon Radio. And, there will be no Pounds owed to the FCC equivalent in Great Britain. Why? The station was hijacked, and station management did all it could to get things back to normal in a swift manner.
In the U.S., interruption of the broadcast chain from a nefarious interloper is serious business, and security has become a major investment for legions of radio station licensees who have fallen victim to cybersecurity ransoms and attempts to greatly limit a station’s access to commercials, liners, music and other key assets needed to bring a full broadcast to listeners.
A hijack of what goes out over-the-air is rarer. And that’s what Horizon Radio experienced.
For its part, the station immediately contacted Ofcom following the incident to alert the office of the matter, which raised potential indecency issues. Specifically, the word “Fuck” was uttered for at least 26 minutes during an hour when children could be listening.
How did this happen? Horizon Radio explained to Ofcom that the studio output is delivered to a DAB transmitter using a web stream provided by a third party. Furthermore, the DAB transmission is outsourced to a separate company.
In this case, Horizon Radio says, its stream provider “hijacked” a web stream it uses to deliver its DAB service, which is akin to HD Radio multicast stations in the U.S. An alternative stream was put in place after Horizon Radio notified the stream provider, rectifying the matter. That said, Horizon Radio told Ofcom it believes the stream provider intentionally interrupted the station’s regular broadcast because of a contractual dispute between that third-party entity and another DAB multiplex provider.
Horizon Radio’s defense was also bolstered by its statement that listeners using streaming audio via the station’s website and mobile app were not subject to the “hijack.”
AN AUDIO SURPRISE, WHILE ON THE ROAD
How did Horizon Radio itself become aware of the signal takeover?
The station’s Managing Director was listening to Horizon Radio in the car at 6:24pm and heard the expletive on repeat. The Technical Manager was phoned immediately, and he determined the stream had been “compromised.” The Managing Director then called the transmission provider, leaving a voicemail when there was no answer on that early Sunday evening. The technical manager also called the transmission provider five times
with no response and they left a voicemail, before contacting the helpdesk for the transmission provider at 6:30. Twenty minutes later, proper service was restored for those tuned in via DAB.
In the 7pm hour, the following message was aired:
Earlier today you may have heard some language broadcast which may have caused offense. This was caused by circumstances outside our control, and we are very sorry for any offense this may have caused.
For Horizon Media, it asserts that it took all reasonable measures to ensure its transmission stream was secure, adding that its Technical Manager now maintains all of its streaming output and it no longer uses the services of the third-party stream provider, nor will it use that provider in future.
What did Ofcom have to say? It ruled that the offensive content was in breach of two rules. However, Ofcom took into account the licensee’s explanation of the circumstances that led to the broadcast of this language; “the swift action the licensee took to stop the incorrect stream from being broadcast;” the apology broadcast shortly after the incident occurred; the nature of the looped audio would have indicated to listeners this was not planned programming; and, that the Licensee contacted Ofcom proactively to inform the officer of the situation.
“We therefore considered that the licensee did everything in its control to minimize the impact of this incident,” Ofcom concluded, issuing a decision that the matter is Resolved — minus any forfeiture or other stipulations.
