A group of children in remote Western Australia broke into the community radio station they had recently visited, and amused themselves by cooking chicken nuggets, dying their hair and swearing over the airwaves until police were called.

Angie Stahl, station manager of the Wangki Yupurnanupurru community station, told the ABC it seemed the children, aged between eight and 14, broke into her Fitzroy Crossing home on May 14, found Stahl’s food and hair dye, and then accessed the studio attached to the house.

The children had visited the station a few times before, and had learned the basics of operating the equipment.

"They were able to turn on all the microphones, turn on the panel and switch everything on in the right way, and decided to do a bit of a show themselves," Stahl said. The “show” consisted mostly of swearing, prompting a listener to call the police.

“The cops got a call from an outlaying station, ringing up to say, 'I think you've got some kids on the radio, they're busy swearing, you'd better go bust them'."

Police arrived to discover the six children, three of them still inside, after complaints from members of the public that “they were listening to a local radio station and they could hear children swearing over the radio”, a spokeswoman for WA police told Guardian Australia.

“It is believed that the children gained entry to the radio station, which was unmanned at the time, and accessed the radio equipment.”

Officers contacted Stahl but no official complaint was lodged, the spokeswoman said.

"Criminal charges might have had serious consequences for a couple of the kids, so we decided we could work it out amongst ourselves, and that worked out a lot better."

Instead, the children made an agreement with the station, their parents and elders and to perform “sorry tasks”.

Stahl said, although she was angry to begin with, she was seeing the funny side, telling ABC the children might have a future in broadcasting.

