Hours of Russian music played on UCC Radio

UCC Radio inadvertently played multiple hours of Russian pop songs on Monday night and Tuesday morning, after a mistake by a volunteer left the music playing overnight.

The music was changed when staff arrived into the studio on Tuesday morning.

Ray Burke, the station's manager, said that what happened was a "straightforward mistake" made by a student volunteer on Monday evening.

"Our radio automation software is called ZaraRadio. While attempting to open it, the student inadvertently searched for 'Zara playlist' in a separate music application. This brought up a track called 'Nedolyubila' by a Russian pop singer called Zara.

"The application's automatic playback feature then continued selecting similar music throughout the night, resulting in several hours of Russian-language pop. The music was changed when staff arrived on Tuesday morning," he said.

He clarified that the music played was predominantly mainstream Russian-language pop music, and that having reviewed the monitoring reports of what was played, he found no evidence that any of the songs promoted Russia's invasion of Ukraine, or contained Russian military propaganda.

He also said that approximately 18% of the tracks featured Ukrainian-born artists, including several established acts such as NeAngely and LOBODA.

Burke said that the station received two complaints on foot of the incident.

"Both were answered promptly and in considerable detail. I've apologised for any distress caused, particularly given the terrible circumstances in Ukraine," he said.

However, the incident caused upset for a number of Ukrainians in Cork who heard it. One Ukrainian who spoke to the Cork Independent said that she heard the music while driving to work. She said she found it "shocking".

"I recorded myself listening to it and sent it to my friends, saying like 'Can you believe this?'. It was weird and shocking to say the least," she said.

"Some of these artists are the same ones that they listen to in the Kremlin. They are ones receiving medals directly from Putin. They are ones who are singing for soldiers," she said.

Ray Burke said: "We understand and respect that some listeners feel Russian music should not be broadcast while the war in Ukraine continues.

"However, Russian-language music is not prohibited under Irish broadcasting law, and our investigation has identified no apparent breach of broadcasting standards.

"We are nevertheless sensitive to the concerns raised, particularly as Ukrainian students are part of our own station team. We are reviewing our end of programme procedures to prevent accidental overnight playback of this kind happening again," he said.