Offshore pirate radio.

[shoreham moonraker]

cassette player and wild park for us, ran a pirate station for 12 months from up there.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Probably half of all 1960s, 70s & 80s Radio 1 and Radio 2 DJs began their careers in Luxembourg - including Pete Murray, Simon Dee, Noel Edmonds, Mike Read, Peter Powell, Kid Jensen, Emperor Rosko, to name but a few.

Even bloody Chris Moyles started out on Radio Luxembourg, just before it closed down in 1992.

Don't forget Kent Walton, the voice of wrestling on ITV and a Radio Luxembourg DJ. In the middle of his Luxembourg programme, he ALWAYS played a Buddy Holly track.

 

[vegster]

Indeed. Radio Luxembourg's transmitters in the 1930s and 40s were the most powerful in Europe. When the Germans invaded Luxembourg in 1940 they used them to broadcast Lord Haw Haw's propaganda gibberish to the UK.

The BBC originally tried to blacklist everyone who worked for Radio Luxembourg. Then they realised they were better DJs than the ones they had so they employed them instead. Probably half of all 1960s, 70s & 80s Radio 1 and Radio 2 DJs began their careers in Luxembourg - including Pete Murray, Simon Dee, Noel Edmonds, Mike Read, Peter Powell, Kid Jensen, Emperor Rosko, to name but a few.

Even bloody Chris Moyles started out on Radio Luxembourg, just before it closed down in 1992.



I know a great book all about Luxembourg - the perfect New Year's gift for all the family - Luxembourg (Country Guides) (Bradt Travel Guide): Amazon.co.uk: Tim Skelton: Books - and yes I, sorry, it does mention the radio station.

Dark days in radio broadcasting.. I'd have put them on a boat and scuttled them

 

[Lord Bracknell]

... and, if we are getting nostalgic about pioneering DJs of the sixties, we mustn't forget Terry Wogan, the RTÉ DJ who introduced rock music to Ireland.

 

[Trufflehound]

Dark days in radio broadcasting.. I'd have put them on a boat and scuttled them

I used to enjoy Simon Dee's pre-Wogan 'Dee Time' TV chat show.

Mind you, I was only about 6 when it was on, so I think it's fair to say I was easily pleased.

 

[corkster]

Ed "Stewpot" Steward was another pirate dj, only got arnold when he went on junior choice

 

[BLOCK F]

Seen 'The Boat That Rocked'? This is all about Offshore Pirate radio and if you were about in the 60's you'll LOVE the tunes!

Quite an amusing film and good music,but didn't capture the essence of the late 60's really!!

 

[Trufflehound]

Quite an amusing film and good music,but didn't capture the essence of the late 60's really!!

"Notting Hill at Sea with Better Tunes"

 

[The Large One]

Ed "Stewpot" Steward was another pirate dj, only got arnold when he went on junior choice

I thought 'Arnold' went with Tony Blackburn.

 

[dougdeep]

What a lot of people don't realise is that there was virtually no pop music available on British radio during the day in those days. Pirate radio was a godsend.

 

[wigman]

Does anyone remember laser 558 ? The music is never more than a minute away ! From. The mid eighties ?

I used to like listening to that station and when it closed Radio Caroline called themselves Caroline 558!

 

[FamilyGuy]

Seen 'The Boat That Rocked'? This is all about Offshore Pirate radio and if you were about in the 60's you'll LOVE the tunes!

or just listen to radio Caroline (first and greatest Pirate) on http://radiocaroline.com/

 

[Fef]

In the early days of pirate radio, Radio Caroline (on the MV Caroline) and Radio Atlanta (on the MV Mi Amigo - both ships located off Frinton in Essex) merged. The MV Caroline sailed up to the Isle of Man to be come Radio Caroline North, while the Mi Amigo stayed put and became Radio Caroline South.

On its journey, the MV Caroline sailed past our own fair city (or Town as it was back then).

 

[NMH]

I have the book, from 1967

 

[BensGrandad]

Horace Batchelor wasn't a bookie. He was a guy who claimed to have cracked a way of doing the pools and invited people to send in their coupons and he'd pick their winners - "only" taking a share of the winnings.

Yes you are right, I thought that he was a bookie who had worked out a formula to beat the pools companys but wouldnt argue. I do however vividly remember the advert and the spelling of K E Y N S H A M.

 

[Cian]

I am sure that that was transmitted from Luxembourg. Dont think that they were based on a ship. They were famous for their advert for a bookies Horace Batchelor from Keynsham Bristol spelt K E Y N S H A M.

Yeah, Luxembourg was licenced there and just used an over-powered transmitter to get signals to (and serve) the UK.

They closed their English language service about the time they went 50/50 with RTE to start Atlantic 252 - totally legal Irish station that basically served the UK.

 

[Kent Seagull]

This site is well worth a visit, lots of links to photos, audio clips etc http://www.offshoreradio.co.uk/index.html .

Radio Caroline is still broadcasting, albiet from a studio in Maidstone, on Radio Caroline . Bloody good music and lots of old jingles that Caroline fans will know and love! The last I heard the Ross Revenge was still moored up at Tilbury and still did the odd broadcast on special short term licenses.

 

[Trufflehound]

In the early days of pirate radio, Radio Caroline (on the MV Caroline) and Radio Atlanta (on the MV Mi Amigo - both ships located off Frinton in Essex) merged. The MV Caroline sailed up to the Isle of Man to be come Radio Caroline North, while the Mi Amigo stayed put and became Radio Caroline South.

On its journey, the MV Caroline sailed past our own fair city (or Town as it was back then).

In the mid-70s, when Radio Caroline was aboard the MV Mi Amigo, they also shared the ship with a Dutch pirate station, called Radio Mi Amigo.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

This site is well worth a visit, lots of links to photos, audio clips etc http://www.offshoreradio.co.uk/index.html .

Radio Caroline is still broadcasting, albiet from a studio in Maidstone, on Radio Caroline . Bloody good music and lots of old jingles that Caroline fans will know and love! The last I heard the Ross Revenge was still moored up at Tilbury and still did the odd broadcast on special short term licenses.

There were plans at one stage to try and bring the Ross Revenge back to Grimsby so that she could be berthed next to one of her sister vessels , the Ross Tiger but funding didn't materialise because the Fishing Heritage Museum was forced to remove "National" from the beginning of its title.

 

[FamilyGuy]

There were plans at one stage to try and bring the Ross Revenge back to Grimsby so that she could be berthed next to one of her sister vessels , the Ross Tiger but funding didn't materialise because the Fishing Heritage Museum was forced to remove "National" from the beginning of its title.

The Ross Revenge is currently berthed in Tilbury, is 50 years old in August and is being restored by the Radio Caroline Society.

Radio Caroline is 46 years old!



Radio Caroline (For info, broadcast schedules and on-line shop)

Horizon Magazine (For Pirate / Offshore Radio geeks like me)

Caroline Continues!