The regulator has fined 30 local radio stations, all part of GCap Media's One Network, for unfair conduct in the listener competition, held in January 2007.
The stations were penalised because Ofcom found that on a number of occasions, programme makers had deliberately put on air text entrants with incorrect answers, in order to prevent the prize from being won too soon. As a result, those listeners who had paid to enter the competitions on these occasions had no chance of winning.
The seriousness of the compliance failures was also compounded by certain actions taken by GCap after the incidents came to light. The regulator took particular issue with a statement published by GCap, referring to the breach as an "isolated incident" that happened because of a "system error". Ofcom said this was misleading, as the error was not a system fault, but a human decision.
Secondly, GCap's offer in August 2007 to refund any of the listeners who had taken part in the competition, was only published on the radio company's corporate website and not on any of the individual station websites, nor was it broadcast on GCap's radio stations. Consequently, only one listener was refunded £2.
Thirdly, Ofcom was concerned with the levels of cooperation by GCap at the initial stages of the inquiry. Information provided by the radio company was deemed ambiguous by the regulator.
Ofcom has directed each of the 30 radio stations to broadcast a summary of its findings on two separate occasions.
In a statement released today, GCap said it took the ruling "extremely seriously" and also said new owner Global Radio, who has taken over since the competition ran, was looking forward to "building a strong future for the commercial radio industry where the trust of its listeners and of its regulator is of the highest importance".
GCap said the new management team were putting in place extra measures on top of improved controls implemented over the last 12 months.
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