Abusive pair kicked off RaW spot

Two students have had their show on Radio Warwick (RaW) cancelled after using their one-hour slot to make several unfounded claims about the sex lives of elected sabbatical officers, poke fun at somebody they called “actually retarded” and making frequent jokes about the weight of SU President-elect Nick Swain.

The presenters, Robert Seger and Thayyab Ahmed, were notified via e-mail that their show would be dropped with immediate effect on the grounds that they violated ‘both RaW and Ofcom regulations’.

The pair strongly criticised the Bread Oven whilst they were being broadcast live in the sandwich shop, and also alleged that Nick Swain had plagiarised current SU President Leo Boe’s manifesto, before making fun of a friend on air for their failure to get “gash”.

They also claimed that one prominent character in the Students’ Union had “struggled to get it up properly” when trying to have sex.

The pair are believed to be behind the facebook page ‘The Alternative Warwick Prospectus’, which they have used to answer critics of their programme.

RaW have made it clear that they have not been banned indefinitely, and that they will be able to re-apply for a slot next term. But Ahmed and Seger were unrepentant. To one student who justified RaW’s decision, they replied using the ‘Alternative Prospectus’ Facebook account: “if we ever get back on you’ll be the next scandal mate”.

In the face of criticism, they added, “people talk about celebrities [sic] sex lives on the radio all the fucking time”, even telling one critic that “if you said the above in person to me I would straight up end u [sic]”. Ahmed, on the ‘Alternative Warwick Prospectus’ page, also called his show “pretty fucking epic”, and invited those who disagreed to “get in the bath with a toaster, do us all a favour please”.

Boe, meanwhile, commented: “I am concerned by the choice of language the show presenters decided to use, and that they may well have been in breach of both OFCOM, and our own Equal Opportunities regulations. Subsequently, I am pleased that RaW responded in a swift and responsible manner. This is an issue which the Union is taking extremely seriously.”

Jimmy Murthi, Station Manager at RaW, told the _Boar_: “The show in question was heard to use offensive and derogatory language, and to make potentially slanderous comments about various persons, including Students’ Union members of staff. This is a violation of both RaW’s own rules and of Ofcom guidelines, by which RaW is governed. The breach of these guidelines can have very serious consequences for RaW, up to and including losing our license to broadcast. I therefore stand by the decision made by myself and the Programme Controller to remove this show from air.”