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Making Waves: Pirate Radio and Popular Music.
Radio 270
RADIO CAROLINE
Pirates
From the North Sea in the 1960s to council estates in
the 1990s, unlicensed stations have been part of British
radio for nearly three decades. White and black alike,
they have exercised much influence on the shape and
style of legitimate radio.
The original generation of offshore pirates launched
broadcasters such as TONY BLACKBURN, JOHN
PEEL, KENNY EVERETT and DAVE LEE TRAVIS,
practices now taken for granted such as DJs working
their own turntables, and led directly to the creation
of Radio 1. The second generation of ethnic pirates
created stations such as Kiss FM and London Greek
Radio which are still broadcasting ( legally) and whose
existence has greatly widened listener choice.
The maritime variety, beginning with Radio Caroline
in March 1964, were anchored in international waters
— mainly those of the North Sea, chosen because the
low-lying coast of Eastern England offered no hindrance to radio signals. Broadcasting slick, pacy pop
music to a nation whose existing radio services largely
ignored it, the pirates attracted millions of young listeners within a few weeks and consequently much advertising.
However, Harold Wilson's government set its face
against the pirates, and proceeded to drive them from the
air. TONY BENN, then Postmaster- General, publicly
attacked them as ' a menace' and accused them of stealing
copyright and endangering ship-to-shore radio.
Advertising on them, and replenishing them from the
mainland, were banned under the Marine Etc. Broadcasting ( Offences) Act which became law in August
1967 — six weeks before Radio 1 started up. Most of
the pirate ships gave up although Caroline defied the
new legislation and continued to broadcast, under many
difficulties. The Act was later used against the 1980s
pirate ship, Laser 558. See also entries for individual
pirate stations.
After the abortive 1980s experiment in COMMUNITY RADIO, frustration once again grew at the tiny
number of radio stations permitted in this country
and the reluctance of those that did exist to cater for
all tastes. Hence the explosion in black pirate radio
stations which pumped out reggae on the FM band
in the mid- 1980s. There were about four dozen in
London alone by 1987-88, broadcasting music from
illicit transmitters in council towerblocks, and linked
both musically and financially to clubs where the DJs
also appeared. Illegal ethnic stations also sprang up,
such as London Greek Radio and Sina. The DT1's Radio
Investigation Service took action against these under the
Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949, which governs the use of
the radio spectrum and, in general, makes it an offence
to instal or use wireless telegraphy ( i.e. broadcasting)
equipment without a licence.
Pirate stations had to close down by 31 December
1988, because the Home Office announced that anyone
convicted of pirate offences after this date would be
banned from operating a legal radio station for five
years.
Most obeyed the law and closed down. Several, like
London Greek Radio, Kiss FM and WNK, found it
paid off when they were awarded INCREMENTAL
franchises in 1989-90. But their illegal place on the
dial was taken by a third generation of pirates, with
names like Centreforce, Stomp and Climax FM, broadcasting 24-hour acid house music. Once again, they
have claimed to meet a demand for very tightly targeted
black music such as house and want to stand outside
the framework of legal regulation.
Radio Caroline
Britain's first pirate radio ship, rightly credited with
launching all-day music radio in this country and forcing
the BBC to start Radio 1.
It went on the air on Easter Sunday, 29 March 1964,
with these words from disc-jockey SIMON DEE: ' Good
morning, ladies and gentlemen. This is Radio Caroline
broadcasting on 199, your all-day music station.' Three
weeks later it was claiming seven million listeners. After
merging a few months later with RADIO ATLANTA,
Caroline sailed north and dropped its anchor off the
Isle of Man, becoming Radio Caroline ( North). Atlanta,
broadcasting from MV Mi Amigo, became Radio Caroline (South). It was this pincer action, operated from
both ends of Britain, which dented the Light Programme
and Radio Luxembourg.
Radio Caroline ( South) was a cornerstone of the
Swinging Sixties. Millions of pop-mad youngsters grew
up with groovy, exciting young DJs like TONY BLACKBURN, EMPEROR ROSKO and DAVE LEE TRAVIS,
all of whom made their radio debut on Caroline. ( A
lesser known DJ on the ship was Roger Gale, later an
editor on the TODAY programme and NEWSBEAT
and, since 1983, a Conservative MP.)
The man behind Britain's first pirate ship was a
27-year-old Irishman, Ronan O'Rahilly, who described
himself as a Roman Catholic anarchist. He claimed that
he named the station after the daughter of President
Kennedy, assassinated the previous October; cynics suggested he was trying to curry favour with the Chancellor
of the Exchequer, Reginald Maudling, who also had
a daughter called Caroline. Among his investors was
Jocelyn Stevens, then editor of the chic magazine Queen.
Beloved by its fans, for whom it was a potent symbol
of freedom and rebellion, Caroline was held in great suspicion by the political establishment. After all, it was not
controlled. It could, if it wanted, beam seditious propaganda. It also stood for untamed commercialism (TONY
BENN, then Postmaster-General, has since described
it as early Thatcherism) and it evaded royalties and
interfered with designated frequencies.
The Marine Etc. Broadcasting Offences Act of 1967,
by banning British companies from advertising on them,
made it virtually impossible for the North Sea pirates
to carry on. Caroline was the only one to try, and
became the one child of the 1960s that refused to grow
up. JOHNNIE WALKER was the leading DJ to stay
aboard, most of the others defecting to the lucrative
respectability of the BBC.
It closed its offices in Chesterfield Gardens, Mayfair,
and moved its headquarters to Holland ( and later to
an accommodation address in Spain). In 1968, in a
dispute over unpaid bills, it was boarded by a group
of Dutchmen — a pirate ship raided by pirates — and put
off the air. Saved by supporters, it went back on the air
from 1973-80 when it hit a sandbank and sunk.
O'Rahilly then bought a converted Icelandic trawler,
Ross Revenge, once part of the Ross Frozen Foods fleet.
On this Caroline has been broadcasting, on and off, since
1982, with 7,000 albums and 7,000 singles aboard. The
October 1987 hurricane destroyed its mast so the ship
fashioned a replacement from its cod liver oil pipes.
It was raided by the DTI, in association with Dutch
authorities, in August 1989. Effectively this put it off
the air, although it was broadcasting again for part of
1990. Supporters of the ship, who regard it as something
of a temple, have claimed the raid was in breach of
international law. They have begun a legal action, in
both Britain and Holland, with the object of winning
substantial compensation. The ship, now rusty and forlorn and still moored fifteen miles off Ramsgate, has
been silent since the autumn of 1990.
Caroline has always acted as a floating launchpad for
DJs, national ones in the 1960s and the local variety in
the 1980s: many ILR stations, such as Radio Invicta
in Kent, have hired ex-Caroline presenters.
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