Hans Knot's International Radio Report - March 2007 (2)
Welcome to this bumper
edition of the Radio Report. Included is a long story about what
happened on the Mi Amigo more than 30 years ago including some exclusive
photographs by Marc Jacobs. Thanks by the way for all the contributions
and keep them going to the regular e mail address:
Martin van der Ven wrote to me: �Chris
Parkinson, former Hauraki offshore good guy has an own internet
site, including photos of the Hauraki reunion, which took place in last
year:
https://www.parkinson.co.nz
If you want to hear how Radio
Hauraki sounds today in New Zealand just go to:
mms://ac1-bak.streaming.net.nz/trn-hauraki-wlg
Thanks
Martin
and after Germany time for Scotland, where the next e mail comes from
�Hi Hans, This article about Leith FM appears in today's (27th)
Edinburgh Evening News.
The newspaper cut came from Edingburgh and Bob Baird who wrote also: �It
has been said many times before, but a sincere thanks for all your hard
work in compiling the excellent 'Radio Report'. I'm always amazed at the
continuing amount of interesting material you publish in it. I found an
old cassette with some bits of
Radio Scotland from early 1966, which reminded me of the
station's time checks. The end of a Pete Bowman show from 10pm to
midnight was closed with 'Have fun now and keep in touch', with an
invitation to join him again at 6 in the morning for 'Rooster Call', the
breakfast programme. The station I.D. was then given with 'Check your
time by the chime'. This 'chime' annoyed many people as it was a
standard household 'ding dong' door bell! One can only imagine the scene
throughout the land with dogs barking at the top of each hour, warning
their owners that someone was at the front door! After a number of
listeners complained, a compromise was made - only the 'ding' was used
from then on. I wonder if any other readers of the report remember
anything (or anyone) that annoyed them on the offshore stations? Now a
confession - I once had a record played on Radio Scotland by presenter
Paul Young - literally. I found an old small sized 78rpm record which
had belonged to my grandparents and, feeling that it might bring some
fun, sent it to the station. The title? 'He played his ukulele as the
ship went down'! Thankfully, that never came to pass, and, sadly, I
didn't manage to record Paul's show. Take care and best wishes, Bob
Baird.�
Thanks Bob for this marvellous memories. Yes, directly an annoying thing
in offshore radio came to mind and it reflects to one of the four
favourite stations for me in the sixties,
Radio 390 brought the
program �Music from the Organ�. Any reader who also remember annoying
things please share it with us!
Next, talking about Radio Scotland, as Bob did, sad news from Mary Payne:
�Hi Hans, Not unexpected news, as we knew that Alan Black was gravely
ill, but very sad nonetheless we heard he passed away. It was lovely to
meet him at the Radio Scotland mini-reunion in 2005, and Alan thoroughly
enjoyed the entire weekend.
Alan Black, Pirate DJ who
joined Radio 1 Published: 22 March 2007
�Alan Black, disc jockey and cartoonist: born Rosyth, Fife 15 January
1943;
married (one son); died London 5 March 2007. When it comes to naming the
key disc jockeys at Radio 1, Alan Black is unlikely to come to mind, but
for a few years he was part of the fabric of the station and the highly
influential In Concert series was his idea. "I thought Alan Black was a
terrifically good DJ," says the broadcaster Bob Harris, "He had great
warmth on air and that is hard to achieve." Black was born in Rosyth, on
the Firth of Forth, in 1943. He was
educated
locally and had plans to go to art school. At the last minute, he
changed his mind and spent six months with a band of gypsies. He joined
a commercial art studio but became disillusioned with the weekly pay of
�1 10s. Taken again by wanderlust, he took casual labour on coasters and
ocean liners. He developed his talent for drawing cartoons by working
for the D.C. Thomson company in Dundee and contributing to a wide range
of comics and magazines. In 1963, Black moved to London, working for
agencies as a commercial artist. He was intrigued when offshore pirate
radio stations started, and secured a job with Radio Scotland, joining
the ship in the Firth of Forth for its launch at Hogmanay 1965. He
established himself as a popular broadcaster but he then moved to Radio
England, which soon went into voluntary liquidation. He was with Britain
Radio when its ship, Laissez Faire, suffered considerable storm damage -
not helped by some of the crew jumping ship. When the Marine etc
Broadcasting (Offences) Act 1967 became law, the stations were forced to
close down. Meanwhile, the BBC had been shaken from its lethargy to
create the new teenage station Radio 1, and Alan Black made his d�but
with Midday Spin in July 1968. Black was one of several animators
involved in the highly innovative film Yellow Submarine (1968) and,
during a holiday in France, he met his wife, Mariepierre, known as
Pierre. One of his producers at Radio 1 was Jeff Griffin, who remembers,
Alan had heard a programme in France in which bands would both play live
and be interviewed about their music, which gave them a certain
credibility. He thought that this would work in the UK and we did a
pilot with Led Zeppelin, who chose Liverpool Scene as their special
guests. Alan introduced the programme and it was broadcast in August
1969. It was well received but the station's management wanted John Peel
to present the subsequent concerts. I felt sorry for Alan Black . . . a
few months earlier, they'd all been criticising John. The programme
later had a number of presenters, each chosen according to the performer,
and Alan did some of those. Bob Harris recalls, I started at Radio 1 in
August 1970 and slotted into a strip of programmes called Sounds of the
Seventies. I took over the Monday programme and Alan was doing the
equivalent programme on Friday night. Each of the programmes had a
different musical style to them, and Alan's great musical interest was
jazz-rock. He is the first person to be playing Chicago and Blood, Sweat
and Tears. We co-presented an album review programme together for about
a year and a half and it was a good combination because we overlapped
very little. I didn't like a lot of the stuff that Alan liked, and vice
versa. This led to us having some heated discussions on air. Black also
presented the What's New programme with Anne Nightingale, which was
produced by Bernie Andrews. He proved a delightful companion: a laconic
Scotsman who would entertain his colleagues with sharply observed
caricatures. However, he never attained the popularity of a Dave Lee
Travis or Tony Blackburn. "You have to have a big ego if you are going
to be a big DJ," says Jeff Griffin, and it's to his credit that he
didn't have a big ego. He was a genuinely lovely man and I don't think I
ever heard him say a bad word about anyone. In the late 1970s, Black
developed new talent for Polydor Records and did some presenting at
Radio 1. In the end, he decided that he had had enough and took jobs
outside the industry, but he continued to draw cartoons whenever the
opportunity arose.� Spencer Leigh�
Mary Payne, Director RADIO LONDON Ltd
Thanks Mary for sending the Spencer Leigh article. Sad to hear another
one of the fleet of offshore radio deejays has gone. One day more will
be gone than be alive.
It�s some time ago I saw Tony
Christian for the last time during a radio day. He�s back with
the next e mail: � I hope you are keeping well. If it is of interest to
you, I will be forwarding some pictures of me while working on Radio
Sovereign to Bob Le Roi for his story on his website. I also have a
video that I have now converted to DVD from a recording of a live show
on the Ross Revenge in the North Sea courtesy of the Southampton Branch
of the Caroline Movement, around 1985,that I believe has never been seen
in anorak circles. Let me know if you are interested in a copy of that.
Also, I have many cassette tapes that I really should convert to CD of
my shows on Caroline, another memory of that little cassette recorder
that used to sit on top of the desk in the 558 studio. As you probably
know, I had to give up my Saturday show on Caroline some time ago, due
to my workload and earning a living with my full time job to pay bills.
I have enjoyed the break, but am back with a new show. The Weekend Warm
Up on Friday nights between 18.00-2.00 GMT which is so refreshing and
fits in with my life now without taking over it. Hopefully you are
enjoying it. I am still working hard with TNI Radio
www.tniradio.co.uk
and a local radio station www.blrfm.co.uk Keep up your good work, I look
forward to your news. Take Care, Tony Christian.�
Well Tony really great to be hearing from you again and also that you
really doing well these days in another part of your life. Good to hear
you back on Caroline these days and of course we wish you with all your
radio work a lot of success. And yes always nice to see Bob�s site too
and he did indeed a very good special on Sovereign. Bob and I, who know
each other almost 30 years, will have some surprises in time to come.
Visit Bob site go to
www.bobleroi.co.uk. Anyway, it would be lovely to sea the �558 video�
and my postal address is PO Box 102 9700 AC Groningen Holland. Thanks in
advance!
And talking about Bob Leroi:
�Welcome to the March Website Update. In this months Scrapbook a return
to the Sunk Head for the Part 3 of our now 5 Part Series on the
Tower-Radio-Tower adventure. New generators, a Fort clean up & TV
dropped in favour of Radio, but it's too late moneys fast running out.
In "One Subject One Link" the BBC has come under criticism for the way
it's responded to the generous deal to increase TV license fees by 3%.
In the A-Z of Pop & Rock it's the letter (M) with Madness on record &
Bob Marley CD. Plus we launch phase 1 of our new look sales pages, take
a peak in the Offshore Shop, we've more new book titles. Whilst you're
there have a look at Equipment Accessories, Audio Books & leisure Wear.
Enjoy your visits.
www.bobleroi.co.uk
But also the Pirate Hall of Fame
has a nice update: �What's new this month? The last offshore station to
launch off the UK coast during the sixties, Radio 355, commenced
broadcasts forty years ago this month. We look back at the Radio 355
Story; we get an update from one of the mysterious DJs who was heard
briefly on Caroline South after the Marine Offences Act of 1967, Stevie
Gee; and we continue to add to the �Seventies Supplement� with a second
page of DJ biographies. See the contents page and DJ directories of the
sixties and seventies for news of the latest updates.
www.offshoreradio.co.uk
Phil
Crosby is one of the many readers for the Knot Radio Report living in
Australia and telling some more about his background: �Well firstly I
have a fascination with radio that started as a kid building crystal
sets in my home town Coulsdon (about 35 kms south of London). But once
the offshore radio stations started I felt I was a teenager in heaven,
combining my favourite topics of 60's pop music, radio transmitters, and
being a rebel against the government! I developed an encyclopaedic
knowledge of the stations, and of course attended the Free Radio rally
in London. After August 1967 Radio Caroline was my hero, and I watched
and listened as the station's fortunes rose and fell. Meanwhile a group
of us started two land based stations, Thames Radio from my garden shed
(closed down by the authorities very soon), then the more powerful and
higher quality Radio Brittania on 254m and occasionally shortwave as
well, each Sunday from secret locations in the countryside. We financed
the station from a mobile disco, which a friend and I later took through
Europe on an adventure that ended up in Scheveningen, where the
MV Mi Amigo was supposed
to be being prepared as a pirate museum. We learnt that it was really
about to set sail as Caroline once more and agreed to join the ship (I
adopted the very unoriginal DJ name of John Dale), but on closer
inspection conditions were quite bad, and we doubted it was seaworthy. I
then emigrated to Australia, working in various enterprises around the
radio business, and gaining my legal "ham" licence. Marriage and kids
followed, and I didn't give much thought to pirate radio, other than
tuning around the bands on my periodic visits to the UK. Then the
internet exploded and guess what? Here was my old friend Caroline
broadcasting again, re-kindling my interest. Then last year (2006) I
returned to the UK and emailed Peter Moore to ask if there was any way I
could visit the Ross Revenge in dock. He said he could arrange it, and
even though I had some trouble getting past the Security Police, I
eventually got to spend a couple of hours on the ship re-living old
times.
That�s a very short version of my radio interests. I look forward to the
newsletter, Hans. Cheers! Phil.�
In an other e mail Phil asked me questions about
Peter Chicago�s skills
and I sent him an interview I had with Peter many years ago: �I listened
to the interview with Peter Chicago, it was indeed very interesting. It
would have been good to hear more about his technical challenges with
managing high power transmitters in the difficult environment of a ship
on the ocean. And also discover what has happened to him since leaving
the Caroline organisation. Hopefully you will be able to have another
interview one day? Another point that I sometimes think about is the
choice of frequency for the offshore stations. I wonder what factors the
station took into account? In the early days (pre 9KHz spacing) I guess
it was simply a matter of tuning around to find a clear spot day and
night, then locking the transmitter on that frequency (or getting a
crystal manufactured). But generally, there was a trend towards the pop
music formats being above 1000Khz (or below 300 metres), and the easy
listening stations above 300 metres. Maybe the location of the BBC light
program (247m) and Radio Luxemburg (208) originally encouraged this? Of
course later on the shift to
558KHz
for Laser/Caroline broke this tradition. Or was there a deeper technical
reason (later overcome) for choosing higher frequencies, perhaps more
range with less power, or maybe the antennas could be shorter. Has
anyone done any work on the logic of frequency selection? Phil�.
Well who can help me out in answering this technical questions from
Australia? It will be most welcome to get it on
Hknot@home.nl
Next news from Sietse Brouwer,
once the guy behind Radio Caroline Holland from Harlingen. �Yesterday,
after a long and thorough preparation the mast was erected on the
LV Jenni Baynton (a.k.a.
LV 8). Today most of the guy wires were put into place. The coming weeks
will be used to increase tension as the guys will no doubt stretch. A
the pictures proof, it looks immaculate. All of the crew were completely
knackered from both physical strain and enormous stress. We were lucky
to choose the two days with the best possible weather to do this. The
ship will be relocated tomorrow. One more reason why it had to happen
when it did. We were rapidly running out of time at our present moorings.
Thursday the dredgers will come in. We are moving back to our previous
location. Thought you might like to know, regards Sietse Brouwer
Photo Sietse Brouwer
Norway and Svenn and his ever lasting love for The five from the Olga
Patricia brings the next: �Dear all associated with
Radio England/Britain
Radio/Radio Dolfijn/Radio 227/Radio 355 and their "cousin"
station Radio London: You may already have noticed, but here comes a
quick note about another update to "The Radio Rose of Texas." This
edition coincided with the 40-year anniversary of the demise of the
most-missed Britain Radio and Radio Dolfijn at 12.45 pm on February
28th, 1967. The last known recording is that of Look Boden on February
26th, 1967 on 1322 kc from 1400-1502. The new web reference, with a new
layout is at
www.northernstar.no/olgapatricia1322845.html The first sound
recordings are on
www.northernstar.no/sound.html. You may access both these pages and
their links (best way) as well as many others via
www.northernstar.no/heritage.html
Back to England: �Hi Hans Knot from Peter Tankard in Sheffield. I
totally agree with your letter about the state of radio in the UK .I was
15 when Laser 558 and Caroline were on the air in 1984 I could get them
very strong in Sheffield south Yorkshire day and night even though we
are 80 mails inland from the sea the signal was even strong in the built
up Sheffield city centre I have got many hours of Caroline and Laser
which I recorded on my workman, which I will always keep for the rest of
my life. It is very fine to play them back it brings back the 1980�s and
the wonderful sound of Laser and Caroline into my living room. Very good
deejays and the wonderful Laser and Caroline jingles of the time.
Laser 558 and Caroline
were very popular in my school and Charlie wolf was a house hold name at
our house. I used to go to town from lower Wincobank in the north east
port of Sheffield next to the M1, were I lived, on the bus and I would
regularly hear a bus driver or someone on the bus with a radio listening
to Laser 558 or Caroline on 576 or 963 they where very strong even on a
bus. Even some of the busses had Laser 558 and Caroline car stickers on
them and I even once saw a Laser 558 car sticker stuck in one of the
windows of Sheffield town hall. Radio Hallam on 194 MW was the local ILR
radiostation at the time and I have to say it was boring and still is
today as Hallam FM. BBC Radio Sheffield was just as bad and still is
today. I used to see a lot of Laser 558 and Caroline car stickers in car
windows and in many shop windows around Sheffield many more than Radio
Hallam or Radio Sheffield car stickers, most of my friends were Laser
558 or Caroline listeners. We all had Laser club cards but I can not
remember wining any thing with mine. I still have got mine. I wish Laser
558 and Caroline would come back on air. I listen to Big L now on 1395
AM it is very strong in Sheffield day and night. It goose distorted from
time to time but it is a very good station. But I wish they would play
more music from the 1980s and the 1990s.
I
listen to Arrow Classic Rock a lot on 675AM and Radio 10 Gold on 1008AM
Both signals are very strong in Sheffield. I would not listen to any of
the British radio stations even if you paid me. Offcom is killing radio
in the UK today it is all about the fat cats making lots of money and
the listener comes last these days. I get sick of listening to Capital
Gold, Magic AM and Classic Gold all playing the same old rubbish, day in
and day out, it is time to bring back the offshore stations. PS if you
come across any Laser Hot Hits AM 576 or Caroline 558 car stickers from
the 1980s, please do let me know I will pay very good money for some
Caroline 558 and some Laser Hot Hits car stickers from the 1980s that
are in mint condition. M email address is
peter.tankard@bigfoot.com
if you can help me.�
Thanks
Peter for you e mail explaining the love for Laser and Caroline and of
course your walkman, which recorded a lot for you in the sixties. I must
admit I loved the stations in the sixties like you did in the eighties
and still the stickers are left too! Only my recorder has changed
through the years. Hope any one of the readers can help Peter by sending
him some of the wanted stickers. By the way Peter sorry to hear you were
never chosen by the Laser deejays with the Club Card. I must confess
that I was the very first person mentioned as a Laser Club Card Member
and that I got three LPs sent from New York to Groningen!
We stay in England to hear from Mark Aston: �Hi Hans, Reading Geoffrey's
interesting article reminded me that 1989 was not the first time the UK
government had used 558KHz as an unofficial "jamming" signal for
offshore radio stations. Radio Veronica was also blocked when the IBA
station Capital Radio started it's transmissions, in fact the same
transmitter as Spectrum (500W) was used from Lotts Road power station in
Chelsea, this electricity generating station was used to partially power
the London Underground Railway System. The antenna was a "T" strung
between the buildings' chimneys. There was a noisy demonstration outside
the offices of Capital Radio at Euston Tower to protest against the loss
of Radio Veronica reception in the London area, I was there, and
remember (the late) Tommy Vance, very embarrassed, pushing his way
through the protesters to get into the building. Attached is a letter of
excuses received at the time from the IBA in response to the complaints,
later of course Capital Radio moved to 198m.
The British
authorities have always used the argument about either lack of
frequencies or interference against Free radio stations, the number of
local stations nowadays using every available channel proves they were
wrong. Mark Aston.�
Thanks a lot, with all our memories history is getting completer and
completer. Also thanks for the letter.
THE LAST TIME THE MI AMIGO ENGINE WENT ON
Back to the news as a brand new English language radio station launched
officially at 2pm on Thursday 1st March.91 FM RADIO ATLANTA,
which
has already run test programmes launched its 24-hour a day programming
from its new studios in La Uni�n. The station
features a line up of top British broadcasters including
Carl Kingston, who has
previously worked for Radio Caroline and radio stations in the USA,
Israel and the UK, Keith York ex-Atlantic 252 and Glenn Pinder from
Radio Aire. The station will serve the Costa C�lida with a staple mix of
the best of today's contemporary hit music together with the best from
the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s. Programme and Operations Director Carl
Kingston informed us that in the near future regular features are to be
introduced to the station's programming including the latest UK, Spanish
and worldwide news. The station uses state of the art technology and is
also able to bring programming live direct from the UK. Andy Wilkinson
will be responsible for co-coordinating outside live broadcasts for 91
FM RADIO ATLANTA and says: "we intend to bring live remote broadcasts
from along the Costa C�lida coast throughout the summer of 2007". Steve
Warren who heads up the 91 FM RADIO ATLANTA Sales and Marketing
department is looking forward to working with local businesses in the
area. The international feature of 91 FM RADIO ATLANTA is the music.
Even though speech will be in the English language, Spanish listeners
along the Costa C�lida will understand the music as the message. 91 FM
RADIO ATLANTA has a format that is aimed at 25 - 65 year olds and is
best described as a mix between CHR (Contemporary Hit Radio) and the
Gold format featuring the best of today's hit music and the classics
that make up the music of your life. The 'more music, clutter free
format' will include concise coverage of news events of the day as well
as the latest weather and beach reports. Throughout the week, and at
weekends, you will hear experienced broadcasters from such famous
broadcasting organisations as the BBC, Radio Luxembourg and Radio
Caroline plus new talent on 91 FM RADIO ATLANTA. 91 FM RADIO ATLANTA'S
studio includes the latest state of the art computerized broadcast
playout system used by radio stations worldwide and houses a library of
thousands of songs.�
Well Carl and the gang good luck and who knows, maybe readers to the
Knot Radio Report will be on holiday in the area and can tune into the
station the forthcoming summer!
Last May I lost my beard after 28 years and still people reflect to it:
�Hello Hans, l love your web site, l have been going to your site for
the last few years and l am glad you shaved your beard off as you now
look very younger. l hope you like my new web site at
www.radio390.de.ms
Erick
Soon there will be no more Radio
10 Gold on the air on AM. The owner, Talpa International � who
bought the station in 2003, has decided to dismiss most of the
deejayteam including Jos van Heerden and Peter Holland. A minor part of
the programming is still presented. Soon the AM will be switched off and
only the station can be heard in Holland on the cable networks and on
internet. With 19 years of age Radio 10 was the oldest commercial
radiostation in Holland. A pity the work for so many years has be thrown
away, especially after Tom Mulder became ill some years ago. Good luck
to all the guys who have left the station.
Now we go to Israel and a message from
Noam Tal. �I'm very busy
now a days on organizing several events for Abie. Jim Jonson- the DJ
from Radius 100FM in Israel - is visiting Abie every week or 2 and there
are several other new visitors that come to him. He wasn't very well for
few weeks but I hope that now he is getting better. There is a group of
250 kids that learn in a naval school in Israel and want to organize a
cruse with several ships and yachts on Abie's Birthday day from the
northern part of Israel to the south and back. About 30 of them will
visit him soon, and you will get all the pictures and info ASAP. Another
thing: 30 of the most important Israeli painters will make and devote a
picture for Abie and the opening will be in A Gallery in the Tel-Aviv
Area on April 20th. We will also celebrate his B-day with all the good
friends. I'm doing my best to gain some PR for that, but its more
important for me to make him happy then to waste time on convincing
people that don't care. I'm still working on the Archive but its too
slow. I hope that on the Jewish feast of Passover. I'll be able to do
more. Again I want to thank you Martin, Hans and Rob, for all you did
and still doing for Abie and the memory of the VOP. I hope you feel
good. Best regards, Noam�.
Thanks
Noam for all the good work you�re still doing for Abie. May I already
ask you to congratulate Abie on the day he�s getting 80 years of age!
And for our readers: please sent a congratulation or wish for Abie�s
birthday too and I will forward all wishes so Abie get them on his
birthday party. Let�s make it an international birthday by getting
wishes to him from as much as possible countries around the world. Like
Abie, who helped with his humanitarian work people all over the world
too in the past! Please sent the wishes to
Hknot@home.nl
Capital Radio Crew in 1970 after
floating with the King David
Got
a very rare photograph from Vincent Schriel and also an e mail from
Martin Streefkerk who wrote: My mother was in 1970 part of the crew of
the transmitting vessel King David. Enclosed a photo shot at the police
office, probably in Noordwijk, after the King David ran aground at the
beach. Part of the crew was taken to the police office. On the right
downside my mother Florence Pijnacker with ships dog Batscheba. My
mother was cook/deckhand on the ship. The man standing on the right must
be Bob, originating from Great Britain. The Asian girl on her knees is
Sanny Hsiang Hsiang Fa, and next to her Gerry Preus from Amsterdam. The
other lady next to Bob is Lisa from the USA.�
Well Vincent and Martin thanks a lot. Another photo from the MV King
David was sent to me by Coaster Lover Paul de Haan from Schildmeer.
Another e mail: �Just a note to say we're testing online at
www.northcotswoldonline.com click on listen to hear some of the
unsigned acts I am working with. We're inviting all the unsigned acts
from around the world to send their music. We want to establish the area
as the first stop for unsigned music. I have been trying to persuade the
BBC (via my own website
www.jacobsladder.org.uk to do this since 1999, they seem to think
that commercial music is part of their brief. It's up to other stations
to take a lead. At some point we will establish a stand alone service
that other radio stations can opt in and out of. Happy for other
stations to take our music output (subject to notification). Regular
programmes will start Easter weekend. Studio base is in The Cooler at
The Old Police Station in Chipping Campden (that's in the cells). With
best wishes, Robb Eden�
So to everyone put on the calendar to have a listen soon, maybe on
Easter Sunday! Good luck Robb!
Stuart Dobson wrote in: �Colin
Ward has asked me if I could find out
Nigel (skull) Roberts
address, phone number or e mail address and I wondered if you had any of
these. Thanks!� Well sorry I met Nigel Roberts for the last time in the
Boddington Hotel in Russell Square (London) in August 1987 and never
heard from him again. So anyone knowing where Nigel Roberts, ex
Caroline, is living nowadays, please contact me at:
Hknot@home.nl
Hi Hans, You probably have this link already but I'll pass it on anyway:
https://lost-in-tyme.blogspot.com/2007/03/radio-caroline.html
Regards, Steve Pragnell
Next time for Ad Tervoort in Heemskerk Holland who wrote: �Dear Hans I
read with much pleasure your reports. My second passion next to Offshore
Radio are The Beatles. Already 11 years long I present every Friday
evening The Beatles Show on
www.radioheemskerk.nl They must have been very thankful to those on
the offshore radio stations for playing a lot of their material. However
I think the Beatles haven�t done to much promotion for the stations. On
the web I found an interview from Tom Lodge with the Beatles which could
be heard in a Bob Stewart
Show on Caroline in the sixties. The interview took 22 minutes but it
was not too interesting. Just two weeks after the program went out The
Beatles went into the studio to record the Revolver LP. A pity no
questions about the forthcoming project were asked. Do you know where
this interview has been recorded?�
Thanks Ad, well maybe the question can be answered by
Tom Lodge himself as he�s
reader of the Knot Radio Report too! I think we must not forget John
Lennon offered Abe Nathan �Give Peace a chance� as station tune. Also
George Harrison did put some interest as well as money into Caroline in
the seventies and I remember, when Laser was 1 year old, Linda and Paul
McCartney had special wishes for the team on the MV Communicator.
From Pat Edison and Radio Caroline the next: �Hi Hans, I am putting
together a video documentary on the conversion of Ross Revenge, from a
famous trawler into an even more famous radio-ship, and would welcome
some of your readers help. When the Ross Revenge was being converted at
Santander in Spain there must have been many opportunities for people to
film the proceedings and I wonder if anyone knows if this was the case
and who may be approached to get the rights for using some in my project.
We know of some photographs of the mast being erected but to date no
footage has materialised. This is a serious project which is being
filmed on behalf of Radio Caroline and will be released on DVD in due
course. My I also put a crafty plug in for my landbased pirate
documentary DVD �Free Radio �
The Story of Clandestine Radio in the UK� which is still
available from the Radio Caroline Web Shop! Best regards, Pat Edison,
Radio Caroline.
patedison@radiocaroline.co.uk
www.radiocaroline.co.uk
Next we go to Germany
and Harald Hummel: �Dear Hans, my Dutch is not too good so I write in
English to you: �I listened to
Stevie Gee in 1967 on Radio Caroline. Right down here in
R�sselsheim in Germany, which is between Mainz and Frankfurt. There was
a jingle "Stevie Gee�s happening" or perhaps it was he himself
continually saying that. I cant quite remember. I didn�t like his show
very much, because he sounded rather unprofessional. Perhaps I even have
got bits of his programmes on old tapes I haven�t listened to for at
least 30 years. But I don�t know. Your site and your news are absolutely
=fantastic. We all should be very thankful to have someone like you
doing such a marvelous job. By the way, I also met Buster and=his mother
and Jeanne in 1975 or early 1976 when I went to Benfleet twice. And its
always great to hear of Andy Archer, whom I met on the MEBO II or later
in Caroline House. Did you listen to his sitting in for Keith Skues some
months ago? Do you remember the name of
Dorothy Stigwood of
Newmarket? I think her name was the most mentioned on RNI. I wrote to
her and still have her letters (I think of 1971 or 72). But we lost
contact.�
Thanks Harald for this info and �yes� I listened to the Andy Archer
sitting in for Skues, very relaxing and entertaining shows. But Harald
had another question:
�Dick Klees did some live
night time shows from the Norderney for Radio Veronica in early 1971. Do
you know what he is doing? I met him in 1970 on the motorway between
Amsterdam and Den Haag, when we both had giant "Fight for free
Radio"-Stickers in our cars and had a talk on the parking place. He
invited me to see the Veronica Villa in Hilversum where we were welcomed
by Bull himself. Memories, memories. Thanks again, Harald Hummel from
R�sselsheim.�
Well Harald Dick worked after his Veronica days for Radio Netherlands
and the AVRO. Due to his age he�s not working anymore and enjoying life.
Anyway that�s all for this bumper edition and news, memories and so can
be sent to Hknot@home.nl
You�ll hear from me in April and may I wish you a Happy Eastern?
Hans Knot
Offshore Radio Programme Names - Programmanamen Zeezenders 1958-1990
Read Hans Knot's former report