The head of LGBTQ+ radio station Juice Radio has described an Ofcom ruling that they don’t not offer enough LGBTQ+ content as “truly baffling”.

In a decision published on Monday (6 October), the broadcasting watchdog said Juice Radio “failed to fulfil the requirements specified in its key commitments, to maintain its character of service in its on-air programming”, and was a “general service, broadcasting a very limited amount of specialist programming for the LGBT+ community, rather than a service specifically for that community”.

But, speaking to BBC News Northern Ireland, Juice’s founder and managing director, Shane Pearce, hit back, saying Ofcom had previously challenged the station “with all the coherence of a poorly tuned radio signal”.

Pearce went on to say: “We defended our mission rooted in community, diversity and authentic music and Ofcom conceded that we met their requirements. Ofcom has changed their tune, claiming that our still-compliant music policy and character of service no longer cut it.

“This flip-flopping isn’t just inconsistent, it’s a masterclass in contradiction.”

According to documents, Juices key commitments, which were updated in July 2023, include serving “the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in Belfast” and “to create a community for people of all ages who identify as LGBT, to showcase and discuss the aspirations, concerns, successes and issues affecting them [and broadcasting] music and chat with an outgoing and inclusive presentation style tailored for the community”.

The station plays “dance and contemporary hit music”, “LGBT anthems” and “a daily LGBT-focused programme, as well as topics of interest to the target and wider communities”.

Ofcom launched an investigation after a complaint that the station was not meeting these goals on and off-air and did not have a studio within the licensed coverage area.

Juice told Ofcom that they run a programme called AMDMs (A Morning Dedicated to Matters), “a space for exploring LGBT+ issues, amplifying voices and building bridges through inclusive dialogue”. In addition, a “daily spotlight feature” highlights local groups which support the LGBTQ+ community and the hourly “Listen with Pride” points listeners in the direction of local organisations.

As part of the investigation, Ofcom requested recordings from the week beginning 7 April 2025, as well as a programme schedule and an explanation of how the station was meeting their commitments through programming.

“The licensee did provide a written explanation of how it was meeting these requirements but due to a technical issue, was unable to provide the requested recordings,” the Ofcom ruling said.

“The licensee also did not provide a programme schedule, instead directing Ofcom to a webpage that did not show any scheduling information. After the licensee had resolved the technical issue, we requested a programme schedule and recordings for the week commencing 12 May 2025.

“We notified the licensee that we could not find the programme schedule on the webpage it had directed us to in its initial response. The licensee provided the requested recordings and additional documents, but did not supply the programme schedule.

“Having assessed the recordings, and written response from the Juice Belfast, we were satisfied that
it was complying with the off-air social-gain requirements that were complained about, including
[having] a studio within the licensed coverage area.”

However, the regulator decided that Juice “was not delivering its character of service in [their] key commitments”.

A radio station should “ensure that it is clear from listening to their content who their target community is at all (or at least most) times”, the regulator went on to say. “We expect a station aimed at a particular equality group would sound different from a station with a ‘mainstream’ character of service… [but] “the vast majority of [Juice Radio’s] content could not be distinguished from the content available on a mainstream service for Belfast”.

While a “small amount” of content was clearly targeted at the LGBTQ+ community… “there was little to no content to signpost to the listener that service was specifically targeted at the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in Belfast”, the ruling went on to say.

Ofcom decided Juice Radio was in breach of licence condition 8(1), 8(2) and 9(1), for failing to provide information and recordings, and licence conditions 2(1) and 2(4,) for failing to comply with the following aspect of its key commitments.

Ahead of the publication of the Ofcom ruling, Pearce wrote on X/Twitter: “Ofcom is like that unhinged ex who’d scream at you for folding towels wrong, then demand you refold them while riding a unicycle and juggling flaming torches. Even when you nail the routine, they still slap you with a breach for not smiling hard enough.”

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