Hans Knot's International Radio Report - March 2007 (1)
Welcome to this
edition of the report and thanks a lot for all your interesting emails
and comments. Most appreciated.
In this edition of the Knot International Radio Report first a long and
interesting story from Geoffry Baldwin:
Since years I write
irregularly for the British Magazine Radio Review. The editor is well
known in British circles and he decided to write for the Knot
International Radio Report too. Here�s what Geoffry Baldwin has to tell
the reader: �Some time ago, I was supposed to write a chapter for Hans
Knot�s book �The Wet And Wild History of Radio Caroline 1964-2004� about
how I became involved (at a supporter level) with offshore radio.
However, due to my commitments producing Radio Review, I was unable to
complete it in time! Instead, I promised Hans that I would, at some
stage, make some articles available online to his readers. As 2007 marks
30 years of my providing various different services to anoraks and radio
enthusiasts generally, it seemed like this year would be a good time to
get the ball rolling and honour that pledge!
First my brief history - since 1977 I�ve gone from the starting point
which was selling Caroline 319 car stickers, then I went onto form the
Caroline Movement, which (amongst other things) got me involved in
helping to organise offshore radio conventions, as well as offering
first a part-time and then a full-time Free Radio/offshore radio sales
merchandise operation. As the offshore radio scene ran out of steam in
the early 1990�s, I moved into my current role of publishing and editing
Radio Review, which I�ve been doing continuously now since 1994, only
this time looking at all aspects of the radio scene and much more
besides! Anyway, all in all, it seems like a good year to put samples of
my material out to a wider audience.
As for what�s in Radio Review, it is written from a UK perspective but
we cover all and sundry: UK radio, the Dutch radio scene, the Irish
scene and offshore radio nostalgia and memories. We�ve also recently
looked at what future the medium wave might have and the problems with
DAB radio reception and choice (DAB is, currently, being promoted
heavily to the public here in the UK). Beyond that, we analyse, debate
and discuss all the in depth issues behind the immediate radio news and
our �piratical� history. Anything can crop up in RR, even if it means
making much broader political and economic analysis (sometimes from
which conclusions about the situation with radio and broadcasting in
general can be drawn). In the past, I�ve also done analogies about the
situation in football from a supporter point of view (my other main
interest), as compared to the situation with radio, from an enthusiast
point of view. I�ve even looked at conspiracy theories on occasions!
As most of my readers are mature in years, I also ran a TV nostalgia
feature running for three years until about a year ago (hence the name
Radio Review & TV Flashback on our website) but, because of pressure on
space, we are now concentrating more on the core interest of radio again.
On the topic of being mature, we also highlight the shortage of
programming (whether radio or TV) aimed at the over 50 age group (the
baby boomer generation and those older), which, here in the UK, already
number about 20 million people or 1 in 3 of the total population (and
rising).
To see how I can improve my service (and gain more readers), I have
also, in the past year, dug deep into the psyche of my own readers to
find out what makes them tick and, perhaps, not that surprisingly, found
that, at heart, they are mainly still offshore radio supporters with no
real free offshore radio to support! Instead, they look to Big L, the
current satellite version of Radio Caroline, the Dutch stations like
Arrow Classic Rock and Radio 10 Gold and the (still) hoped for station
from the Isle of Man as sort of legally licensed substitutes for the
real thing! Some of them (myself included), will even stretch a point
and listen to certain UK stations like Capital Gold or one or two of the
newer DAB stations or even the BBC!
Anyway, to give you just a small flavour of what to expect in RR, the
following is a slightly adapted version of the lead article from a
recent issue and I hope to be able to offer you some more articles and
views as 2007 progresses. By the way, should you be interested by what
you have read here, we are, currently, offering all new readers (living
in the UK) a special offer, meaning you can, effectively, obtain 6
issues by sending just �5 (with no obligation to subscribe further
thereafter at the full price, although we hope you will!) and the
appropriate number of SAE�s. If you live outside the UK, the charge is a
little higher to allow for additional postage costs. So, if you live in
a European country, please send a remittance of �7.50 (or the equivalent
in Euros or your local currency) plus self-addressed envelopes. All
cheques should be made payable to: �G.J.BALDWIN�. If you live anywhere
outside Europe, please send a remittance of �10 (and envelopes) made out
in the same way. ALL COMMUNICATIONS SHOULD BE SENT TO: RADIO REVIEW, P.O.
BOX 46, ROMFORD, RM7 8AY, ENGLAND or email Geoffrey.John@btinternet.com
NOTE 1:
Alternatively, there is a secure online payment facility for any reader
that wishes to take out the special offer trial subscription that way.
At present this is set up for �7.50 payments only. If in doubt email me.
Visit our website at www.radioreview.org.uk and go to the page NEW
READERS for further details.
NOTE 2:
For the purpose of this special offer, a new reader is deemed to include
any previously lapsed RR subscriber that has not been a regular reader
for the last three years (i.e. since 2003). We also welcome old friends
and associates who used to be members of the Caroline Movement back in
the 1980�s.
Thanks for reading this and happy listening.
Geoff Baldwin
EDITOR OF RADIO REVIEW AND
FOUNDER OF THE CAROLINE MOVEMENT
WE WERE CHEATED!
As we have reported
in the latest issue of Radio Review (no.170 published last month), the
new boss of Ofcom, Ed Richards, has admitted that the 2003
Communications Act � governing the regulation of television, telecoms
and radio is already out-of-date�. He says: �in radio, the legislation
is not in step with the speed and pace of change in the sector.�
I suspect what may have prompted this is the shock waves that must have
reverberated round Riverside House (the Ofcom headquarters) when the
UKRD (a group that owns several local radio licences) handed the local
radio licence for Stroud back to the regulator. This had never happened
before. As we reported in issue 167, the licence holder had concerns
about signal strength, too much regulation, lack of flexibility in how
the product is delivered to air and lack of flexibility in format
regulation. In other words, too much bureaucratic interference in how
the radio station was set up and run! UKRD were also, apparently, upset
that Ofcom refused them permission to merge the Stroud licence with the
neighbouring licence it holds for Cheltenham. At the time, the chief
executive of UKRD, William Rogers claimed that �there are scores of
radio stations losing money that will never work.�
The way I look at all this takes me back over the last 40 years of radio
regulation. When the pirates broke the BBC monopoly in the 1960�s, they
weren�t legalised and licensed, they were banned altogether by the then
Labour government which enacted the Marine etc. Broadcasting offences
Act 1967 to, effectively, restore the BBC�s monopoly (albeit, listeners
in the UK could, subsequently, also pick up broadcasts from pirate
stations based off the Dutch coast in the early 1970�s). It was only
when the Conservatives came to power that they passed the Sound
Broadcasting Act 1972 which first enabled legal commercial radio to be
introduced in the UK for the first time. However, at that time, the
first ILR stations like Capital Radio were still severely hampered not
just by specific programming requirements (enforced at that time by the
Independent Broadcasting Authority) but also by needle time restrictions,
which limited the number of hours that records could be played during
the week. Free radio (so called) it definitely wasn�t!
Umpteen Acts of Parliament later, over a 30 year period and UK
commercial radio stations are still hampered by some of the sort of
petty restrictions (which wouldn�t be tolerable to the publisher of a
newspaper or magazine) and radio licences have been handed out like
confetti by people who have never run a radio station themselves to
applicants who (in some cases) have never run a radio station before! A
lot of these stations only exist, in the first place, because they are
now formed into groups which may I guess make them slightly more viable
as a commercial venture - i.e. through the economies of scale and the
possibilities of advertisers reaching more people by having their
adverts heard across a group of stations. A case in point, is here in
Romford, where the local station, Time FM (originally called Active FM
and later Soul Fm and then 107.5 Soul City) became part of one radio
group and then was sold onto another. According to audience research, It
only has an audience of about 16,000 listeners in a coverage area that
officially is supposed to have an adult population of 295,000, although
the two east London boroughs at which it is primarily aimed have an
actual total population of more like 400,000. So, it�s only listened to
by 4% of the local population at the most! I guess in urban areas like
London there is considerably more competition for listeners (rather like
small local football clubs struggle to attract supporters when top
Premiership clubs like West Ham, Spurs and Arsenal are only based a few
miles away) but, even so, I imagine that this sort of picture is
repeated across the UK and that (as William Rogers indicated) these
small fry stations aren�t really viable, especially if they are
subjected to petty programme restrictions.
What I think has happened down the years is that each time they have
drawn up a new set of rules for radio regulation (a bit less restrictive
than the previous set of rules), the goalposts move and something
happens that makes that new set of rules fall behind the reality of
what�s going on in the marketplace, so they have to relax them yet again
until, finally, we will end up with a situation where there probably are
very few rules! In other words, it will be more like a free for all and
the situation that we had briefly back in the 1960�s with offshore radio,
when there was no Ofcom, no Radio Authority, no Independent Broadcasting
Authority (it was, originally, just called the Independent Television
Authority) and nothing the monopoly BBC broadcaster could do about it!
In other words, in the long run, most of the regulation has been a waste
of time and the marketplace will decide which stations survive and which
stations fail, not a government appointed quango. This is little
consolation to aging anoraks who still seem to miss the vibrant radio
stations of their youth, such as Radio Caroline, Radio London, Radio
City, Laser 558 and so on - all of which were, in effect, hounded out of
existence by the authorities and their laws, rules and regulations. This
yearning for the radio past, is probably fuelled all the more by the
fact that most of the radio stations licensed in the UK today (like many
TV channels) are aimed at the under 45 age group that advertisers so
love (the FM generation as I call them) who, with a few exceptions, seem
to have no love of radio at all and don�t care about it, other than as
something that they might stick on in the background. It�s just another
part of the media that they take for granted. To make matters even worse,
an increasing number of the under 25 age group don�t bother with radio
at all and are more interested with gadgets like mobile phones and MP3
players and the internet which supply all of their music and information
needs.
In the 1960�s there were all sorts of restrictive practices associated
with the playing of records on the radio which the offshore stations
were said to be in breach of and these were used as part of the argument
for closing them down. By the 1980�s such objections had, to a large
extent, been resolved to allow all day pop music radio to broadcast
legally in the UK. So, when Laser 558 came onto the scene in 1984/85 and
�stole� listeners (as the licensed operators would have us believe) from
ILR stations and Radio 1, the only argument the authorities could come
up with to oppose it, as a reason for intervening, was the potential
interference that such a station�s signal could cause to other broadcast
stations or even on frequencies used by aircraft and emergency services.
That whole argument always seemed a bit spurious to me. Licensed
stations often cause interference to one another, especially if you live
in an area situated between two transmitters using the same medium wave
frequency. For example, this happened here in this part of Essex/east
London, between 1998 and 2003, when I wanted to listen to Dutch station
Arrow Classic Rock on 828 kHz (the frequency then in use) but could also
hear the ILR station Classic Gold (previously, Chiltern Supergold) in
the background - because they used the same frequency via a transmitter
that was meant to cover the Luton area of Bedfordshire! Of course, for
some UK listeners who wanted to tune to Classic Gold, at some distance
from the Luton area, they might have seen it the other way round with
the foreign station Arrow causing the interference!
However, going back to the 1980�s offshore radio days, once Laser had
vacated the 558 frequency in November 1985, Radio Caroline soon occupied
it but, four years later in October 1989, the UK authorities allocated
the same frequency to multi-ethnic station Spectrum Radio in London,
knowing full well this would cause both stations to interfere with one
another in London and the south east. Not, you might think, exactly the
action of a responsible government appointed body but, then again, this
has to be seen against the bigger picture of the raid on the Ross
Revenge conducted by the Dutch just two months earlier on the 19th
August 1989 and the motive behind that!
Of course, all the reasons for that episode taking place have been gone
over minutely since then and I�m not wishing to drag them up again here.
However, talking generally about the outlawing of �the pirates�, I think
many people came to realise that this was not, principally, about
royalty payments for records played on the radio or, indeed,
interference caused to other broadcasters (they may both have been side
issues), it was more to do with the political control of the airwaves
that the government wanted to re-establish and the �we know what is best
for the people� attitude of the politicians and the government of the
day.
Well, of course, here in the UK, we know, in the broadest sense, where
this �we know best� attitude has got us, over the last 50 years or so.
It�s resulted in what some call �The Nanny State� and what I have
referred to, in the past, simply, as �Big Government�., with the result,
basically, that people who work hard and pay full taxes are ending up
working nearly half the year now just to keep the whole government
machine going and, in many areas of Britain (outside of the south
eastern region of England), the majority of people have now become
completely dependent on the state, either in the form of actual welfare
dependency or because, to an ever increasing extent, they work in the
public sector and their jobs are being funded by the government. To pay
for this, the government is desperately trying to raise more and more
revenue from taxation on what remains of the wealth creating private
sector of the economy.
In terms of the immediate economic situation, I don�t think either the
politicians themselves or the majority of the population realise how
near the edge of the precipice we are getting right now because of this
approach to government. It will only take a relatively small increase in
interest rates to push many people over that edge and into defaulting on
their huge personal debts, triggering a house price implosion and all
the damage to the economy and the knock on effect that this will bring.
In other words, it�s that old �boom to bust� scenario that has been
building up now for years. It�s just taking longer to come to a head
this time than it may have done in decades past. It could take another 1
year to reach a conclusion, another 2 years or even another 5 years.
It�s just a question of when it will happen, not if.
In exactly the same way, the boom period of expansion of independent
radio under the Radio Authority during the 1990�s is beginning to look
more and more like it is in retreat in the current decade. The smaller
ILR stations don�t have an audience of any size and don�t make any money.
Meanwhile, the larger UK radio groups are being squeezed by reduced
advertising revenue and competition from new entertainment outlets like
the internet. They are also finding that the burden of pouring millions
of pounds into funding the development of DAB radio is unlikely to bring
them a return on their huge investment any time soon. In fact, DAB has
big problems of its own (something that we discussed in the previous
issue of Radio Review). All this means that there are going to be
mounting pressures all the time for the current radio regulator Ofcom,
as it wrestles with its own red tape and regulations and the obligations
that government legislation has placed on it. Obviously, from his
comments, the new grossly overpaid Ofcom boss, Ed Richards has clearly
already grasped this! I can, certainly, see there being pressure to
slash the charges that operators on AM frequencies, currently, have to
pay!
Last year, Ofcom issued a discussion document entitled, The Future of
Radio and they are especially concerned about the future of AM radio.
Responses to this document were meant to be handed in before Christmas.
My response would be more in the form of a question: �DOES INDEPENDENT
RADIO IN THE UK HAVE ANY FUTURE AS LONG AS A REGULATORY BODY LIKE OFCOM
IS RUNNING IT?!�
Well thanks Geoffrey for this long and interesting subject which made
this edition of the Knot International Radio Report a must for each
reader. Anyone to comment can sent it to
Hknot@home.nl
Now back to last issue when Mike Terry told you about his visit to
Gambia, where the Cheetah 2, once house for Radio Syd and also a short
time for Radio Caroline South, is shipwrecked decades ago. He took this
next picture:
WRECK OF CHEETAH 2 OFF BANHURST PHOTO: Mike Terry
Commercial time for Foundation for Media Communication (SMC)
Dear radio friends: we offer you the opportunity to have your favourite
station on a Canvas "painting". We print a photo on canvas and... it's
rather cheap! We now have: REM island, Veronica, RNI, Caroline's Mi
Amigo, Fredericia, Ross Revenge, and Radio London on canvas. The sizes
are as follows: A 4 � 31,-- or 25 pounds, A3 � 45,-- or 30 pounds and A
2 � 75,-- or 60 pounds.
You may put the banknotes in an envelop and send it to:
SMC, PO BOX 53121
1007 RC AMSTERDAM
THE NETHERLANDS
After receiving the money the painting will be sent within 3 days! This
is also your address for cheap Dutch cd's from Golden Earring, Focus,
Earth and Fire, Outsiders and so on. Prices? Just ask Rob Olthof at
rob@mediacommunicatie.nl
Again a cartoon in the report, this time REM Island from 1964 from my
own archive.
Many more from this period from my archive have been put on internet:
https://www.mediapages.nl/index.php?module=photoshare&func=showimages&fid=115
One of the more rare tapes in my collection is a recording for a Wolfman
Jack show, which is never aired on the station it was produced for. In
1981 there were plans for a restart of the station. The former radio
ship Mi Amigo sunk in March 1980 and an official press report mentioned
there was a new ship and Wolfman would become one of the deejays. He had
already recorded some shows. Listening to the tape last weekend I
suddenly heard himself mentioning a nickname: Wolfman Jack, the new
queen of England.
After the release of the last issue and the sad news of the death from
Jeanne as well as Tom de Munck we got some e mails: The first one came
from Ian Anderson on the
Shetland Islands: �Sad news. A lot of local people we know have died
here recently as well. What was wrong with Jeanne? I know that she took
early retirement, and gave up Monitor as well, because her health was
not good, but that was years and years ago. I met Buster once, in June
1973, at Benfleet, along with his mother and his aunt. We sat at the
bottom of the garden, with the radio on, while his mother and his aunt
insisted in providing hospitality. I can still "hear" one or the other
of them asking me "Would you like some ale?". I was given fresh lemonade
instead on my refusal! If was like something out of the 1930s - very
courteous and very pleasant.�
Andy
Archer: Hi Hans, �I didn't know Tom de Munck, but I did meet
Penelope Page on a few occasions in South Benfleet. I was sad to hear of
her death. She was an invaluable support for Buster Pearson,
particularly after his mother and aunt both died. Best wishes, Andy
Archer�.
Rob Chapman: �I was very
sorry to hear about Jeanne's death. When I was doing the initial
research for my radio book in the late 1980's she (and Don) were a great
help to me, giving me full unlimited access to the Monitor archives,
including much useful literature and many, many hours of invaluable
radio recordings of Caroline, RNI, etc. I always enjoyed my visits down
to Benfleet and Jeanne was always a great host. It doesn't surprise me
to see the salad bowl in the photo of you two! No one ever went hungry
when they went to Avondale Road. My other memory of those times is the
ever present sound of her uncaged canaries and budgies flying around the
room as we sat and chatted. Free spirits. Just like Jeanne. My sincere
condolences.
Another picture for the archives comes from Australia and good old Colin
Nichol. He has worked for Radio Atlanta and Caroline in the sixties and
sent in three pictures from buildings in London, from which the next one,
I thought, should be seen by the reader: It�s the Radio Atlanta building
in Dean Street Soho London.
Photo Colin Nichol
Next from Scotland Graeme: Oh, forgot to ask you, another collector I
know is looking for recordings for two US deejays from the 1950's called
Dewey Philips and Hunter Hancock. Any idea who might have some - or
maybe you could also mention it in the next report.? Also I�m still
looking for early BBC Radio 2 jingles. I would love to receive emails on
both subjects. Cheers ! Graeme Stevenson
grameotr@yahoo.co.uk
Last time I mentioned the name of
Stevie Gee and his work
on Radio Caroline. Pirate Hall of Fame mentioned that he probably had
worked on
Caroline
in 1967 during a period from around a month up till six weeks. I asked
if anyone remembered him and got several e mails, with a few to mention:
� Yet another full and informative Radio Report. With regard to Stevie
Gee, I cannot recall him specifically, but I recall his jingle. Caroline
used to play the Monkees, 'Wake up Sleepie Jean', from �Daydream
Believer� with the words 'Wake up Stevie Gee, Oh what can it mean, to a
daydream believer.....', or was it 'Cheer up Stevie Gee'? Keep up the
good work.
Regards, Derek May�.
Alan Clarke, Carl Mitchell and Stevie Gee (Hans Knot archive)
Regular reader Stuart Aitken wrote: � Stevie Gee was definitely on Radio
Caroline in 1967/8. I remember him very well. Unfortunately I have no
tapes. I would guess it was early 1968. Best wishes Stuart Aitken.�
To be exactly we go to London: � Just a short note about Stevie Gee on
Radio Caroline. He was on board the MV Mi Amigo from Tuesday 29th August
1967 until Tuesday 12th September 1967. For most of the time he was on
the air from midnight until 6.00 am. Best wishes, Alan Hamblin.� Thanks
Alan, well done! Also we got an e mail from someone who worked together
with him in Amsterdam:
�Mike
Guy wrote: � Your February 2 Radio Report brought both happy memories
and sadness for me. First, the reference to deejay Stevie Gee and The
Sound Discotheque in Amsterdam. I was disc jockey there as a holiday
relief. It must have been around
1970
as I remember playing �The Love You Save� by The Jackson Five a lot
which was big that year. Another of the jocks there at the time was Rory
Storm of Rory Storm and The Hurricanes fame. Rory was to die in
mysterious circumstances at his Liverpool home two years later. Then,
the very sad news that Tom de Munck had died aged only 59. Although I
never met him, we were in touch regularly by phone through much of the
80s and 90s and more recently by email. I see only on 16 December I sent
him best wishes for Christmas via an email. He used to love sending
amusing animations and similar humorous links he found on the internet.
I'm including two photos I took of the
Nannell in Southampton.
Tom knew I lived near there and asked if I could take some pictures of
the vessel for his magazine. It had become known the Nannell was planned
to be a radio ship and she had made a stop-off in Southampton. I
remember it was a bitterly cold winter day with a biting easterly wind
when I walked through the dock gate and on to the quayside without
meeting anyone. I walked alongside the ship but decided to keep a bit of
a distance for photo taking in case I was challenged by someone. It was
a real undercover operation but I got my pictures! Mike Guy.�
Next a new reader: � Hello! Very many thanks for sending your report -
must add, my emailer is part of my cable television, so, it has
limitations - everything has to be in plain text � I�m told, but I can
read some of your sending - often the first part only. No matter what,
many thanks again and I will still look forward to your next mailing -
kindest from Keith Martin in London.�
Well does that name remember me to Offshore Radio in the Sixties related
to Radio Caroline?
Last issue brought the long story from ex Laser deejay
DL Bogart and I wrote
that I had nothing add to it. Well DLB came back to me: �Hello Hans,
Slight typographical error on my e-mail address: It's:
uncledl@ozarktech.com (UNCLEDL)
Great write up, DL Bogart.�
Yes, we have again the Emperor
round the corner: �Hi Hans, Prolific purveyor of nautical music and info
lost to the planet for years ! Johnny Walker did indeed air the Opposite
Lock (a Norrie Paramour production) if I correctly recall. That resulted
in me selling out the wee stock of Cd's I had on hand. I will reorder
just for you! It is called "Rosko sings and Causes Pain" and it is a
masterpiece of rejection and determination. I will agree I am a better
DJ than singer. This CD has 20 years of attempts and no regrets!! For
the masochists out there more info on how to torture your ear drums at
www.emperorrosko.com,
merchandising section! We are building a new site at
www.roskoradio.net
which is a work in progress, we are awaiting a copyright licence to
start audio. EMP�.
Well Emperor you�re great and I had some listening as soon as the cd had
arrived. Some pain, some smiling and yes for the anoraks a must to get!
Several people have written to me about the press reports in the
newspapers that there are plans to bring the
Ross Revenge from
Southern England to Scotland. Well I had a very big smile when reading
it. Maybe the next e mail tells the truth:
�Hans, please see the attached newspaper article about berthing the Ross
in Leith beside the Royal Yacht 'Britannia', a major tourist attraction
for Scotland. There is mention of this on the Caroline Newsline. I don't
think it will happen, but it gives both Radio Caroline and the new
station 'Leith FM' some good publicity. Cheers,
Bob Baird.�
https://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=239912007
Prime Time Radio was a
super hit in �Knot Home�, till it closed down last year. Both Jana and I
loved to relax on Saturday and Sunday morning for hours doing breakfast
and reading newspapers as well as books. One of the main man there was
Gavin McCoy, who is suddenly back writing to the report with the next
press report:
�After
the recent departure of Programme Director Mark Walker from Smooth FM in
London, owners GMG Radio have announced his replacement. From Tuesday,
former Head of Presentation at Primetime Radio
Gavin McCoy will join as
Programme Controller. GMG Radio boss John Myers is having a change of
on-air talent too. It has been reported that breakfast presenter David
Prever and mid-morning host Kevin Greening are just two jocks who are
not having their contracts renewed. New blood who can relate to the new
target audience of over 50 year-olds will fill the schedule instead. As
a former presenter on Primetime Radio, Gavin McCoy may even end up
on-air himself. Speaking of his new role at Smooth Radio, Gavin says:
�This is a fantastic opportunity to be joining GMG Radio. I can�t wait
to launch the new format to a very under-served adult audience in the
world�s most exciting city. We�re hoping that the combination of great
music, intelligent speech, and lots of entertainment, Smooth Radio will
break new ground in the capital.� John Simons, GMG Radio�s Group
Programme Director said: �Gavin knows this market inside out and back to
front so he is the perfect man to drive the station forward. He has the
background of a presenter and the skills in management too, a great
combination". You may remember Gavin's voice as Sid the Manager and
Gervaise the Hairdresser and other memorable characters on Steve
Wright�s Radio 1 show.
Gavin McCoy
102.2 Smooth FM will switch to the Saga-Style programming on March 26th.
At the same time, 100.4 Smooth FM in the northwest will also see an
on-air re-brand to Smooth Radio, despite record audience figures. In
Broadcast Magazine, John Myers talked about the new format for Smooth FM
in London: "You have people whingeing saying we are going to take on
Magic, but it's bollocks. We would lose if we tried to take on Magic.
Our job is to position ourselves slightly older than that. "SAGA Radio
presenters in the East Midlands, West Midlands and Glasgow are already
introducing 'Smooth' into their vocabulary, identifying as "SAGA, Smooth
Radio for [insert location here]"
Well Gavin and the rest of the gang good luck. Will you also be on
internet. If yes, forward us the address.
Jan van Heeren sent us a cartoon with a
Veronica ship from April
19th 1990, which was published in the Algemeen Dagblad. The program
mentioned �Zeezicht� was all about a very small Isle. Probably the last
cartoon including Veronica.
Next an e mail from Germany and Ingo Paternoster who advised me to have
a look on the next internet site:
www.countryfolk.de/en/AndereSendungen/ACC.html
Jan Fr� Vos listened to an old radio program on Caroline from 1979 and
sent in two nicknames for the Dutch deejays which were Ad �koffie�
Roberts and Paul �Top 50� de Wit. Thanks for that Jan Fr�.
Marcel Poelman wrote: � KBC is back on shortwave. In the eighties it was
a regular shortwave station during weekends. Now they�ve hired airtime
on a Lithuania transmitter on AM 1386 kHz as well as on 6255 kHz in the
48 metre band with 100 kW. Can be heard daily for one hour from 23.00
LT. Their e mail address is kbc@planet.nl
From Belgium Ettienne Hermans, who asked if I remembered offshore radio
stations who did transmit in another language than which is was
officially aimed at. First in mind came the well loved programs from A J
Beirens, Pierre Deseyn as well as brothers Peter and Werner Hartwig from
Germany, AJ was a must to listen to for all the languages, including
Esperanto, he brought in his shows. Pierre was also in French and the
two from Northern Germany in German of course, when they were heard in
the program �RNI goes DX�. And the second one in mind were the English
language program Radio Mercur aired. Of course there are more and to you,
the reader, to respond on the question from Ettienne, who mentioned one
himself.
�On Mi Amigo there was a promo spot for a new French language program.
It was December 1976 and it was heavily promoted to go on air on January
15th 1977. However it would last two weeks more to get into the Saturday
programming. However, it was only aired for two weeks in a row as
complaints were coming in from the listeners. The most of the Flemish
listeners didn�t like at all the French language and there�s always a
�languages fight� in Belgian. Partly the inhabitants are Flemish
speaking and the other French speaking. Just a very small group in the
Province of Limburg is German Speaking. To come back to the program I
can recall that the first hour was a mix of French and English songs. It
was followed by a three hour program with the Top 30 and Flashbacks,
which were co presented by deejays Coco and Leon. Advertisement in the
show was mainly for artists and LP�s, as well as for the heavily
promoted Pop Magazine Joepie, which was owned by Mi Amigo director
Sylvain Tack. But after two weeks it stopped.�
Thanks Ettienne and if anyone can remember more programs other than the
aimed original language on an offshore radio station, please share you
memory with us at: Hknot@home.nl
In this edition also a longer story from
Australia, which was written decades ago but will now be published
for the first time completely.
Copyright for this Cheeta II article Colin
Nichol 1968 / 2007.
Well that rounds up this first edition for the month of March. Later
this month I come back to you. Thanks to all contributors and your
comments, news, memories and photos are always welcome at
Hknot@home.nl
Offshore Radio Programme Names - Programmanamen Zeezenders 1958-1990
Read Hans Knot's former report