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Virgin hit by record fine

This article is more than 22 years old

Virgin Radio has been fined £75,000 for broadcasting a show in which a DJ encouraged a nine-year old girl to repeat a bizarre sexually explicit phrase.

It is the sixth time the station has been fined for breaking the radio watchdog's rules, the worst record of any station.

And the regulator said Virgin had only escaped a larger fine by taking immediate steps to prevent the offence happening again.

The DJ in question, Jon Holmes, was sacked on March 7 after a period of suspension resulting from a string of controversial on-air stunts.

This latest fine comes as a result of a phone-in competition called "Swear word hangman", which the Radio Authority called "a huge failure of compliance, which led to a serious breach of the rules on taste, decency and offence to public feeling".

Just before midnight on January 18 Holmes' late-night show broadcast the child taking part in a competition in which callers guess the letters of the phrase "soapy tit wank".

The girl was prompted to say the phrase and then encouraged to repeat it three times in what the authority called a "highly offensive" and "totally unacceptable" programme that would be "inappropriate even in the context of adult alternative comedy".

The watchdog's chairman, Richard Hooper, said: "The Radio Authority is fully aware that attitudes amongst adults, about programmes by and for adults, towards what constitutes indecency and offence have changed markedly over recent years.

"However, where children are involved, the authority will use the full range of its powers to preserve clear standards of what is acceptable, in order to protect children."

The authority also expressed "grave concern" over Virgin's failure to have proper programme supervision in place to ensure it does not break the terms of its broadcast licences.

During his brief tenure at Virgin Holmes gained notoriety for bizarre and risqué antics including a stunt involving Adam Ant that also landed the station in trouble with the regulator.

He broadcast his assistant's attempts to break into the hospital psychiatric ward where the singer was receiving treatment, prompting a swift complaint from Camden and Islington Mental Health NHS Trust.

He was also critcised for broadcasting a blue version of a pantomine starring Neighbours hunk Daniel MacPherson that featured murder, drugs and pornography. Theatre bosses accused Holmes of exploiting MacPherson's clean image.

In May 2000 the radio authority fined Virgin a record £75,000 when Chris Evans broke due impartiality rules by declaring his support for Ken Livingstone in the London mayoral election.

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