Hans Knot's International Radio Report - August 2007 (2)
Well hope you all
enjoyed the Pirate BBC Essex
programs. I tried to listen as much as possible but I couldn’t make it,
due to other commitments, during the last two days. Many reflections
came in of people who enjoyed the programs. Even Eddie Austin reflected
far from his home country Britain: ‘Greetings
It’s been many years since my name was mentioned from a radio ship, but
it’s just happened on Pirate Radio Essex, which is presently
broadcasting from the LV18 Lightship off the Essex coast to mark the
40th anniversary of the anti-pirate broadcasting act which came into
force on 14th August 1967. Needless to say, the station will only be
on-air until 3pm Tuesday. This link from the Keith Skues show (Ex-Caroline
& Big L d-j) was taped off
http://www.bbc.co.uk/essex as needless to say, it’s impossible to
pick up the AM signal here in Asia.
Kindest best wishes, Eddie
Austin (former Radio Atlantis deejay).
It was nice to hear that several stations relayed the BBC Pirate Radio
Essex programs like the local radio station 0511 in the Province of
Friesland. Also I heard, without getting the name of the radio station,
that a Dublin Pirate radio station was relaying the thing. Well what
about that one: BBC doing an imagination Pirate or Offshore Radio
Station which is relayed by a real Pirate Station? Should be a beautiful
one of the Guinness Book of World Records. Later on in this issue of the
Hans Knot International Radio Report it’s the editor of the Radio Review
giving his views on the effect the programs had or maybe not had,
transmitted three years ago, on the industry the last three years.
In
last issue of the Report Alex Bervoets from Belgium told us that the
former Veronica vessel
had a total new painting. Reader Ger Simmons read this to and decided to
take some pictures after coming from his work. You can find them on
www.bloggen.be/zeezenders
Thanks a lot Ger!
Photo Ger Simmons
As told in last issue I couldn’t mention everything which was happening
at the Sugar Reef, where
the Radio Academy presented ‘A celebration of 1960s Offshore Radio.’
Last issue was a very long one so I had to skip some of the things for
this issue. Johnny Lewis, former Radio Caroline offshore, Voice of Peace,
Laser and some of the Irish Radio stations, couldn’t make it. He wrote
to me: ‘Hi Hans. Hope all's well with you. Sounds like you all had a
good time last week. Sorry I missed it, but I was the one who kept Radio
Caroline going on the day, on air from 9am till 2pm. All good fun.
Anyway, see you in November in Amsterdam. Cheers
Johnny Lewis.’
Thanks
Johnny. Good to see you did a wonderful job to get Caroline on air on
the satellite doing a marathon issue of your program. Will be good to
seeing you too on the Amsterdam event. A lot of the former offshore
deejays, whom I haven’t seen before in Amsterdam promised to be there at
our venue. This year it’s the 29th year in a row I organise it with my
two right hands Martin van der Ven and Rob Olthof.
Talking about BBC Pirate Radio Essex several e mails during the
transmission period came in, including some of former Offshore deejays.
Hans ten Hooge, former
RNI newsreader and presenter and for decades ‘the voice of Hilversum for
radio and television’, wrote to me: ‘What a terrific presenter Keith
Skues still is. I think I couldn’t stand in his shadow.’ Well both of
you have your excellent talents and I feel good that I’m in contact with
the both of you for many years.
Several times we already mentioned in the Report the several cartoons,
which were published in the newspapers during the decades about our
favourite subject ‘Offshore Radio’. An e mail came in from Jille
Westerhof who wrote: ‘In my collection cartoon books I found a 32 pages
book ‘We gaan naar Zee’ (
We’re going out to sea). It’s from the Flemish designer/writer Bob de
Moor. It was published in 1975. Main player in the book is Barelli and
he’s the hero as he defeats in the story an attack on the
radio
ship ‘Neptunus’. The story is inspired by the bomb attack on the MEBO II
on May 15th 1971.’
Indeed Jilje that is a wonderful memory. I know not too much of the
readership has this one in their personal library. I bought it when it
was published in 1975 and it’s still there on the shelves with some 700
books about radio and related things in my library. For those interest,
maybe you could search on ebay or other sites where second hands books
are for sale.
Now we go to Sweden and to someone I haven’t heard for ages: ‘Dear Hans,
I am glad you are still going strong. So am I, and I write you from
Landskrona, Sweden, where
Skanska Radio Mercur had it's first studio when the first
commercial programs were taped for broadcast 49 years ago. Next year we
will celebrate the big 50. The 40 year anniversary was celebrated with a
special exhibit at the Landskrona Museum, and got a lot of publicity.
Hopefully we can remind people of the first effort to break the radio
monopoly in Sweden next year also. I think the anniversary is worth a
special addition on your site also. How is your family? We have not been
in touch for a while, so I hope all is well. Regards, Nils-Eric Svensson.
PS There was a large antique car show here recently. One couple won
first price in one of the classes with a Thunderbird and a nostalgic
look at the 50's, complete with a radio blasting old Mercur programs, a
photo display etc. We are getting old. I was 22 then, now 71, and too
often when I discuss the good old days people say "Radio Mercur, what
was that...?"
Thanks for the contribution Nils-Eric and of course we will make space
for an article in the Report as well on our site when you send one.
Well I promised you earlier to give the editor of the Radio Review space
to talk about radio and television from the last three years, so here’s
Geoff Baldwin:
‘Here is the second
of my articles to mark my 30 years of service to anoraks and radio
enthusiasts! It is taken from Radio Review issue 176 published in July
2007. It’s about the BBC and the original Pirate BBC Essex broadcast in
2004 and the lessons that should have been learned from that broadcast
but haven’t. So, again it’s from a UK perspective but with global
implications!
If you would like a sample copy of Radio Review and you live in the UK,
send a medium sized (C5) SAE and we will send you a copy and details of
how to obtain a trial subscription on favourable terms for either six or
twelve months. If you live outside the UK, please enquire by writing to
RADIO REVIEW, P.O. BOX 46, ROMFORD, RM7 8AY, ENGLAND or email:
Geoffrey.John@btinternet.com and we will send you further details or
visit our website at www.radioreview.org.uk for further information. If
you were a RR subscriber in the past but have allowed your subscription
to lapse, you are still eligible for our low cost trial subscription,
provided you have not been a subscriber for the last three years.
Happy listening, Geoff Baldwin. Editor of the Radio Review and founder
of the Caroline Movement.
Note: What I would like to make clear is that this article is not
intended to be critical in any way of the individual BBC Essex staff
that put together the April 2004 PBBCE Broadcast who did an excellent
job. It’s more to highlight the way the BBC is run as a whole and how it
just grown too big and wasteful as an organisation over the last 40
years or so. Of course, even back in the sixties, the BEEB was out of
touch with what the listeners wanted. Otherwise we wouldn’t have needed
the pirate stations in the first place. So perhaps nothing really has
changed!
THE LESSONS OF PIRATE
BBC ESSEX 2004 THAT STILL HAVEN’T BEEN LEARNED
With the return of PBBCE this summer to commemorate the 40th anniversary
of the passing of the MOA, I thought this was the ideal time to look
back at the effect the first broadcast had in 2004 and the lessons of
which still, seemingly, haven’t been taken on board by anyone either at
the BBC or by the UK commercial radio industry or in the country as a
whole. First of all, I will summarise the principle points, as I see it,
that should have been learnt (but haven’t) from this broadcast. Theses
are as follows:-
A) If you want a proper offshore radio station on the air again and for
that style of broadcasting to flourish then, obviously, you have to
broadcast from a boat (or come to that a fort) and adopt that style of
broadcasting, even if it is just for a short summer season (when the
weather is supposed to be better!) A statement of the obvious really!
You can’t do it sitting behind a computer screen in a nice cozy air
conditioned studio on land! You have to be willing to rough it a bit!
Clearly, some very good programmes have been pre-recorded on land, in
the past, and used as part of the programming on offshore radio stations,
especially the Dutch/Flemish stations, but the tapes were always used as
part of a radio station operating at sea.
B) New computer/internet/satellite technology can’t replace old
technology as far as offshore radio is concerned. It belongs on the
medium wave (even if the medium wave is going out of fashion a bit at
the moment and the “powers that be” would like to scrap it altogether).
However, what is certainly true is that, if such new technology is used
in addition to the medium wave broadcasts, it can enhance the whole
experience so that listeners and enthusiasts can tune in and join in,
not just from all over Europe but from all around the world! So, using
new technology, like the internet, in that way, a new era of offshore
radio could be truly global in its reach!
C) If you are running an organisation called the BBC with something like
£3 billion of public money to spend (from licence fee charges) and you
have access to a huge record archive, numerous am frequencies and you
have the captive audience (like BBC Essex have), not only can you make a
great success of putting on an offshore radio station in the modern day,
you can, arguably, even make improvements on the original “pirate”
stations that operated in the past, or at least add to what has gone
before with “new” offshore radio style jingles and by adding new touches
like “horn blasts” on the hour (in place of the ship’s bell). On top of
all that, you can broadcast freely from a vessel in internal waters (with
all the advantages that this brings) and don’t have to take your ship 15
or 20 miles out to sea!
D) If you are the BBC you can also act as a sort of “honest broker” and
combine facets of the big three pop music stations of the 1960’s, namely
Radio Caroline, Radio London and Radio City into one, without becoming
involved in all the latter day “petty fanaticism” that seems to go with
anoraks and their support for one or other of these stations!
E)
Offshore “pirate” radio isn’t a broadcast phenomenon of any particular
era in history as such, i.e. the 1960’s, 1970’s or 1980’s, as it’s
commonly perceived to be by a lot of people. The actual sound of “the
pirates” itself is always going to be there in the ether and in “our
collective consciousness” (and, of course, it’s history will also be
kept alive and chronicled on dedicated websites for decades to come). It
just has to be “tapped into” and it can be revived or resurrected at any
time in history. However what is true, though is that back in 1964 (in
particular), all the conditions for a boom in thus type of radio were in
place, i.e. the BBC Radio Monopoly (and the fact that it wasn’t meeting
the music tastes of young people) the pop music explosion, the arrival
of the Beatles on the pop scene and, of course, the loop-hole in the law
(as it was at that time) that allowed new radio stations to spring up
just off our coastline, seemingly, overnight from almost nowhere!
The Vessel LV 18 off Harwich
Archive Photo
Bart Serlie, see also www.serlie.nl
Those actual specific conditions of 1964 themselves aren’t going to
return as such, in the future, but that doesn’t mean that the feel for
that whole type of radio and the “spirit of free radio” can’t return one
day. It doesn’t matter whether it’s the year 1964, 2004 or 2024. What’s
important is that the will, determination and financial resources are
there to make it happen and then the offshore radio style of
broadcasting can “rise again” like a phoenix from the ashes, so to speak.
Sometimes, however, those qualities needed to revive this type of radio
are lacking and the will just isn’t there to make it happen and, frankly,
the actual conditions of the commercial marketplace can also hinder any
revival and this is, in effect, what we have seen largely from the
mid-1980’s through to the current day. In other words, there is a
prolonged period where commercial and legal forces seem to be working
against us and the type of radio we love! With tougher laws and
sanctions against offshore radio operators and saturation of the UK
market with the junk radio stations of the Radio Authority/Ofcom regimes,
it’s little wonder that “the spirit of free radio” has, in more recent
years, been almost suffocated out of existence and lost altogether.
However, that free spirit isn’t dead by any means and what goes around
comes around as they say! The winds of change may be blowing our way
soon!
F)The inheritance of offshore radio past is not Modern day UK commercial
radio (as many people mistakenly perceive). Certainly, the one type of
broadcasting did pave the way for the other type to grow and expand for
a while but the two are completely different animals and have gone their
own separate ways. If the UK commercial radio industry thought it was
actually a natural successor to offshore radio, it would be the people
in that sector of radio putting on special broadcasts this August to
commemorate the days of Radio Caroline, Radio London etc. with special
broadcasts, not the people at the public sector BBC! Indeed, when a
better sounding offshore radio station has come along in the past (as
with Laser 558 in the 1980’s), it was mainly people involved in UK
commercial radio that accused the pirates of “stealing their listeners”
and it was mainly them that wanted something done about closing down
this unwanted competition. This was because these ILR stations were
operating in an IBA controlled regulatory straitjacket and they didn’t
want any radio station in “their back yard” operating free of such
constraints because it just made them and their acceptance of all those
regulations look so stupid and showed how poor the programming of their
radio stations was by comparison. It also showed up how silly all the
petty regulations and restrictions were!
G) PBBCE was the most lively radio station heard on the UK airwaves,
certainly for 20 years and, possibly for 40 years and the most important
lesson of all, therefore, from the 2004 broadcast seems to be that there
is a whole audience out there in radio listening land (they may be young
or they may be old) that just isn’t being catered for by the existing
BBC and ILR radio stations, people who just don’t listen to the radio
much anymore. People, perhaps, like me!
A LOOK AT THE DEEPER
ISSUES BEHIND THE SUCCESS OF PIRATE BBC ESSEX
Now I thought we would just take a slightly deeper look at the issues
and implications that also flow from the PBBCE broadcast.
PRESENTERS THAT ARE
TRANSFORMED!
The amazing thing about the original PBBCE broadcast was that presenters
on BBC Essex who normally sound so very pedestrian suddenly seemed to
come alive with enthusiasm! It was like being on another planet! As an
ordinary listener and licence payer, it seems to me that the only
explanation for this is the hierarchical and centrally planned style of
the BBC. It must be because they are working to the BBC local radio
script book most of the time and there are certain types of shows that
have to be presented and certain types of topics that have to be
discussed every day and consumer issues that have to be addressed,
according to the BBC Local radio book of broadcasting rules! At least
that’s the way it sounds from where I’m sitting. In fact, I tune into
BBC Essex purely at specific times of the day when I know the weather
forecast and the sports round-up is coming on. You can virtually set
your watch by these sort of features because everything seems to be
timed almost down to the last second! In fact, until recently, each
morning, the weatherman on that station (from the regional weather
centre) would read out the two day weather forecast but then,
immediately afterwards, the coastal forecast would be read out by the
presenter on air at the radio station itself. The latter admitted on air
one morning that he didn’t know why they did it that way - they just
always had! (incidentally, this has now changed and the weatherman reads
the whole lot out!).
I may be wrong but it comes across that there is an outline agenda from
the BBC hierarchy about the general areas that their local radio
stations have to cover with the detail of how they provide that coverage
being left to the local management at the station itself. The
relationship between BBC senior management and local radio management
seems to be a bit like the relationship between central government and
local government, where the latter has only limited powers as to how it
spends the revenue allocated for its area (some of which it raises
itself, of course, in the form of Council Tax).
Don’t get me wrong, there seems to be a role for this type of community
radio and, probably, some people would be up in arms if it was suddenly
taken away from them. BBC County radio does provide a mixture of public
service broadcasting and entertainment programming and it’s a type of
radio that the commercial radio sector does not seem to be able to
provide - so it fills a gap in that sense. Different listeners with
different interests and tastes get different benefits from it. For
example, some listeners might tune in for the specialist music
programmes (I don’t, myself, care much for that type of approach to
radio) which don’t get much airing elsewhere on the radio. For my part,
I tune into the county station mainly for the sports coverage (that’s
how I first started listening to BBC Essex), especially for the coverage
of the local football teams that I take an interest in, which, without
BBC Essex (and the other local BBC stations around the country),
wouldn’t get publicized at all on the radio.
As I’ve already mentioned, it is the transformation of the regular BBC
staff presenters from how they sound on a week to week basis to how they
sounded on PBBCE on the broadcast from the LV18 that was the most
striking thing about it. They sounded as though they were really in
their element and enjoying themselves and, of course, this enjoyment and
enthusiasm, in turn, radiated itself to the listeners who responded with
their emails of congratulations about the standard of the broadcast.
Indeed, I did that very thing myself! I suspect that what happens in a
huge organisation like the BBC is that, if you work for it, you tend to
become somewhat institutionalised after a while and it’s a bit like what
happens to the inmates in a prison! They may yearn for their freedom but,
if they have been there for many years, they may be living/working in a
comfort zone of a sort, in which life is made easier for them if they
follow a lot of petty rules and regulations and programming stipulations.
With the arrival of PBBCE in April 2004, the presenters were suddenly
freed from that straitjacket of the official local radio programmes.
They were able to throw the rule book out of the window and to broadcast
more or less as they liked, even if it was only for a few days.
GOVERNMENTS DON’T
LIKE US BEING HAPPY AND HAVING ANY REAL INDEPENDENCE AND FREEDOM
Indeed the whole point of real pirate radio in the 1960’s was about
people enjoying themselves. It didn’t cost the listener anything, nor
did it bring in any revenue directly to the government (although,
indirectly, they would have received more in the way of taxation on any
increased sales of products advertised and promoted on the offshore
stations) and there you may have the real reason why successive
governments hated this form of broadcasting so much! Offshore radio
involved ordinary people feeling happy and good about themselves. It
brightened up their everyday lives. It was good to be alive and to be
able to wake up in the morning and turn on your favourite radio station
playing your favourite music! The government of the day didn’t have any
role to play in any of this. None of it depended on the government or
any government appointed quango and that’s what politicians and
governments love most - the rules and regulations, the power and control
these give them and the culture of dependency that they create! Of
course, as soon as this somewhat anarchic form of broadcasting showed
the first signs of beginning to get a bit out of hand as it did in June
1966 (during “the Radio City affair”), the government formulated its
plans to move against the pirate stations. The original offshore radio
boom probably wouldn’t have gone on indefinitely anyway even without
such real “acts of piracy” and the government intervention that followed
to force most of the stations off the air (i.e. as happened in August
1967). Boom to bust scenarios can happen in offshore radio, just as they
can happen in the stock market, the housing market or just about any
other market you care to name, where interest and enthusiasm becomes
overheated!
THE NOSTALGIA FACTOR
The success of PBBCE showed that many people now well into their 50’s
and 60’s are still yearning for those far off days of their youth.
Obviously, a lot of this is to do purely with nostalgia, which is quite
natural and applies to many facets of the past - we look back at old
films, old TV programmes, pop and rock groups and just about anything
else really that we remember from past decades! Of course, at the
extreme, there is also the hardened and entrenched anorak attitude to
this. A favourite opening line that I’ve heard many times from ardent
enthusiasts of offshore radio tends to go something like this: “I’ve
been listening to Radio Caroline since 1964 and I’m not going to stop
supporting them now!” As for the type of people that tuned into PBBCE.
There are reckoned to be about 20 million people over 50 years of age
living in the United Kingdom - 1 in 3 of the population. Of these, 11
million are what would be described as “Baby Boomers”, i.e. those that
were born after the
Second
World War. It seems to be a fact of life that the older we get the more
we regress back to our youth and childhood and the more obsessive we
become about it. I know I’ve started doing this myself in another area
of my early life by collecting toy soldiers, particularly those brands/models/types
that I remember having first time round in my childhood. The difference
now is that I don’t play with them, I just put them on display and I
know that, like a lot of items that people collect, the older and rarer
they become, the more they gain in value. I have even thought about
going further than just collecting mementoes from childhood and trying
my hand at putting together a new model railway layout but I haven’t
really got the space for it. So, that particular idea is on hold at the
moment!
In the case of Pirate BBC Essex I think its success in 2004 very much
proves the point and that there is this very strong need in middle aged
people to go back to their youth and to relive the glory days of pirate
radio of the 1960’s in particular. It’s a sentiment that affects baby
boomers in particular as a group. The reason why this group (especially)
want to go backwards (rather than forwards) isn’t very difficult to
understand. All generations do it but for the baby boomers, in
particular, you could say that life was all round the wrong way for us.
What I mean by this is that, instead of building up gradually over a
life time to bigger and better things so that all our dreams come true
in our more mature years, in many ways, we had it all at a very young
age, packed into our teens and twenties but then it was all over! To
demonstrate what I mean - in my own case, for example, by 1970 when I
was just 20 years of age, I’d seen and heard the pop music explosion,
the Beatles had come and gone, the pirate radio boom was over,
television had taken off in a big way for the first time, man had landed
on the moon for the first time, England had won the World Cup at Wembley
stadium and I’d also seen the team that I supported as a youth,
Manchester United, become the first English side to win the European
Cup, again at Wembley (me and my dad were amongst the 100,000 spectators
and I’ve just found the original match programme!). Although I suppose I
didn’t really appreciate all that was going on at the time it was
actually happening, it couldn’t really get much better than that! So,
ever since, I find that I’m looking for things to happen (anything!) in
life that can remotely live up to all that went on in those early years
of my life in the 1960’s!
THERE IS LITTLE
PROGRAMMING AIMED AT A MATURE AUDIENCE
Of course, the other reason for all this nostalgia is that, these days,
although we have more TV and radio stations than ever before, have you
tried lately finding something worth watching on TV or listening to on
the radio? For any viewer or listener of mature years, it’s like
surveying an alien landscape most of the time! Often, if I want to watch
something, I find myself resorting to putting on a DVD or video and, if
I want to listen to music, I’m more and more thinking I should get an
MP3 player and compile my own little radio station to listen to. I’m
sure I could create a better selection of tracks than the managers of
many UK radio stations! As I haven’t actually got an MP3 player at
present, that’s why, increasingly, I sit in silence with my radio set in
the off position (especially during the daytime). This is a hell of an
admission for someone who has been involved with the radio scene for 30
years and the editor of a publication about radio for nearly 14 years!
Increasingly, beyond the immediate nostalgia that a station like PBBCE
creates, the broader problem is that most of the TV and radio presenters
of today are not talking to those of us over the age of 50 any more, nor
are they talking our language. Many of the people running our TV and
radio are under the age of 50 themselves and are catering for an
audience in the 18-45 age range. The older you are the worse it must
seem. For those of us in our 50’s and 60’s it’s bad enough but for those
in their 70’s and 80’s, the situation is far worse and the choice much
less.
In the commercial sector it’s even more acute and well known that most
TV and radio channels are mainly interested in the 18-35 age group so
loved by advertisers. However, this attitude is also now becoming ever
more prevalent at the publicly funded BBC as well, where the more senior
presenters have either been ousted from their slots altogether, in
favour of younger presenters, or demoted and offered more minor roles,
or slots at the weekend only. In fact, there have been some high profile
casualties on TV recently that have even been the subject of debate in
the national newspapers.
This is all happening just at the time when people are living longer and
(as I’ve already referred to) there are now more people aged over 50 in
Britain than ever before and many of us, myself included, don’t regard
ourselves as being that old or having that “put out to grass” outlook on
life. Many of us in this age group are still young at heart! When we
were actually young, our choice of radio stations (the pirates) were
hated by the authorities and, eventually closed down altogether and
hounded out of existence. Now that we’re all getting that much older, we
find that our preferences and tastes in radio and TV are being largely
ignored and forgotten. This time, though, it’s less to do with animosity
from the government and the authorities and more because a new
generation controls most of the TV and radio and they neither understand
nor care about the type of programming that we like. So, we’ve been let
down twice!
THE MAINSTREAM
BROADCASTERS (INCLUDING THE BBC) DON’T REALLY WANT US ANYMORE
So, while there is a growing demand in Britain for programming that will
appeal to mature viewers and listeners, the BBC, in its wisdom, is still
moving in the opposite direction! BBC1 is now becoming the equivalent of
Radio 1, in terms of TV entertainment and Radio 2 has become Radio 1
1/2! The mature audience is gradually being pushed out of the mainstream
altogether and that’s why many older people are now becoming more
interested in anything that crops up outside that mainstream and why
anorak types are still trying to set up and run radio enterprises which
are outside of the control of the big commercial radio groups and the
BBC!
That’s
the choice really. Either we have to set up our own radio and TV
stations ourselves and make them into going concerns (much easier said
than done) or, if that isn’t realistic, then we need an organisation
like the licence funded BBC to launch separate TV and radio channels
aimed at mature viewers and listeners. In Holland, there does, at least,
seem to be some sort of recognition of this need with the public sector
station Radio 5, which broadcasts on 747 kHz and is aimed at mature
people but, here in the UK there is absolutely nothing like that! It is
true that there is some programming aimed at mature people both on BBC
local radio stations and on digital channels like BBC4 (TV) and BBC 7 (radio)
but the BBC provides no actual dedicated channels for older folk the way
it does for youngsters and ethnic minority groups.
The other point that came out of the first PBBCE broadcast was that a
lot of records exist in the BBC archives that don’t normally see the
light of day and some, it would seem, are never played on any BBC radio
station. In fact, it was suggested on the original PBBCE broadcast
itself that some of the records that they used may not have been played
on the radio for 40 years! A lot of them are what are referred to as
“turntable hits” because they were popular on the pirate stations of the
1960’s but didn’t, necessarily, make it into any official Top 40 chart
of the day. Since that time there has been a growing debate in the UK
about the limited playlists of our mainstream commercial radio stations.
A lot of them now target specific audiences (narrow casting as it is
called) but it still seems to me as though you can switch from one
station to another and hear “that same old tune” you’ve heard a thousand
times before and they just sound like a jukebox that’s taking up
precious air space that could be used to provide a proper radio station!
Frankly, this has all become very boring and that’s one of the reasons
that the on/off switch on my radio set stays in the off position most of
the time! Behind this debate, of course, is the plague of the
computerised playlist and the records that the DJ may have to play over
and over again just to keep his/her job and the fact that some of the
older records may not have even made it onto CD! Consequently, if a
station doesn’t have facilities to play vinyl (which I don’t think many
modern radio stations have), then a lot of these unheard records have no
chance of ever be played on that station! This much was admitted by the
presenter on air on “The Jukebox show” on Capital Gold one evening.
Some of these records that the stations keep playing over and over again
are very good records. There’s nothing wrong with them. It’s just that
you don’t want to hear the same ones several times a week! Again, this
brings me onto the broader issue about modern broadcasting - it’s not
just about radio stations and records. I’ve picked up on the fact that
the same sort of thing is happening on the small screen as well. Now, I
don’t watch that much television these days, simply because a lot of it
is such a load of rubbish! When I do turn on the TV it’s often to try
and find a decent film to watch but, in the age of multi-channel
broadcasting, what I’ve noticed happens is that there seems to be a
limited playlist of films as well! Maybe this is something to do with
different companies having broadcasting rights on certain films for a
certain limited period only - I don’t know. But what I do know is that
the same film tends to keep cropping up several times in quick
succession.
Often,
the same film is aired on more than one channel on the same evening.
This in itself can be helpful, if you turn on when a film is half over
and can then catch up with it from the beginning by switching to another
channel in the same group of stations, which is showing it but running
an hour later! However, you then find that the same film crops up
perhaps twice more the following week and then again a month or so later
on another sister station! Again, I’m not saying there is anything wrong
with the films they are showing. Some of them are excellent films. In
fact, some are my personal favourites and would be in my personal top 50
but the fact is, whether we are talking about playing records on the
radio or watching films on the TV, we do need some variation in the
material on offer!
Going back to the point about “Turntable Hits” from the pirate radio
days of the 1960’s, however, since I got digital TV last year, I’ve
realised that there is the equivalent in TV terms and it’s called those
TV series that were made in black and white but never get shown! ITV4
have been showing re-runs of excellent series like MAN IN A SUITCASE and
RANDALL AND HOPKIRK (DECEASED) but, I think the only reason they’ve made
it onto this channel is because, like THE SAINT and THE CHAMPIONS, they
were made in colour! If Randall and Hopkirk had been made in black and
white, it would have remained on the library shelf gathering dust! Other
series like DANGER MAN (39 x 30 min episodes and 47 x 1 hour episodes -
two of the 1 hour episodes were in colour), THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD
(143 x 30 min episodes), WILLIAM TELL (39 x 30 min episodes) and so on,
are never shown on any ITV digital station and the only reason I can
think of for this is that the TV executives are afraid that the all in
important (to advertisers) younger viewers will turn off ITV4 (or any
other channel come to that), if programmes are shown in black and white,
the same way that it is thought that they reject am radio for listening
to music programmes, in favour of FM or DAB. This feeling seems to be
backed up by the fact that the only two colour episodes of DANGER MAN
were shown on ITV4 last year! I don’t believe it can be a question of
rights to broadcast these programmes because, as far as I’m aware,
Carlton TV used to own the ITC library of programmes and that company
has since been merged into the current combined single ITV company.
Another series missing from the airwaves is THE BARON (30 x 30 min.
episodes). This was made by Associated Television and it was made in
colour!
However, this is not just an issue about the rights to broadcast old ITC
programmes, there must be countless hours of old black and white
programmes, mainly from the 1960’s, in the archive vaults of both the
BBC and ITV companies. It can’t all have been wiped! Not all of it will
be worth transmitting again, of course (there was a lot of rubbish in
those days as well!) or of sufficient quality to do so but some of it
must be. Likewise, there are numerous old American TV shows from the
1950’s and 1960’s that have been all but forgotten. I believe one or two
old programmes like I LOVE LUCY and BONANZA do make it onto specialist
satellite TV channels but they are just the tip of the iceberg!
Admittedly, with US shows, broadcasting rights might be more of an issue
for our broadcasters over here but, surely, not an insurmountable
problem.
GRAND DESIGNS -
EMPIRE BUILDING AND THE BBC
When I was young the BBC had just three main national radio stations and
one TV channel, which, in 1964, became two TV channels, with the arrival
of BBC2. I don’t know what the licence fee was in those days but it
can’t have been more than a few quid! These days of course, our whole
media has changed out of all recognition and we’re in the multi-channel
age and have hundreds of radio and TV channels but, as I’ve hinted at,
already, that state of affairs does not, necessarily, bring better
programming or viewing contentment! As for the BBC, it’s become,
effectively, a huge business with a £3 billion a year turnover but,
unlike commercial channels, that rely on advertising revenue and
voluntary subscriptions, the BBC gets most of that revenue via a
subscription (currently set at £135.50 a year) that every household in
the UK is forced to pay (or face a penalty such as a steep fine if they
don’t pay up). In other words, it’s subsidised by a form of taxation - a
subscription that the public are forced to pay.
In spite of this huge sum of money the people running the BBC frequently
plead poverty and like Oliver Twist (in the Charles Dickens novel) they
ask for more or, at least, they ask the government to force us to hand
over even more cash so that they can build an ever bigger empire of TV
and radio channels. Personally, I don’t know how many more years this
arrangement can be allowed to continue but I don’t give it that much
longer. It doesn’t make any sense in the age of multi-channel TV.
Although, the claim is that it is an independent organisation, it is, in
reality, like much of the government process, completely unaccountable
to the public - the people just end up paying for it. It is like a huge
government department and really the way its run, its like a sort of
throwback to the Soviet Union era. If the BBC was trying to start up
from scratch today with the budget it has now there is no way the public
would agree to fund it. The same principle applies to other huge
organisations like the EU and concepts like the welfare state. Like the
BBC, they started out on a much smaller scale with a much narrower
agenda and have grown into monsters! If we’d known how vast and unwieldy
they were going to become all those years ago when they were first
conceived they would never have got off the ground but, somehow, over
the years, these types of bodies grow and grow and cost more and more to
run and wield more and more influence over our lives. They sort of take
on a life form all of their own! What the people running them understand
is that, if they don’t keep growing and expanding then they could start
to shrivel and, eventually die off altogether and with all the vested
interests - jobs for the boys and girls - involved, they are bound to go
to any lengths to try and avoid this fate! However, eventually, all of
these artificially created empires do die - it’s the one clear lesson of
history!
The BBC itself, thinks nothing of throwing millions of pounds of our
money at a particular project. For example, last year it spent £12
million on its World Cup coverage alone and took 200 or 300 employees
along (many of whom must have been completely unnecessary for the actual
TV coverage and just went along for a freebie at public expense!). The
corporation is also paying a reputed £18 million over three years just
to secure the services of one particular well known TV and radio
presenter - someone whom I would gladly pay money to see the back of!
Senior managers and other presenters also earn huge salaries and bonuses
at our expense. Short of cash? The BBC has bucket loads of the stuff!
They don’t know what to do with it all! I’m sure there are many
independent operators that could set up and operate a decent radio
station for quite some period of time for the sort of money that the
BEEB throws away like loose change on some of these prestige projects
and overpaid employees! They could even run several offshore radio
stations for a few million pounds, which is nothing to them! Since the
first appearance of PBBCE, we know now that they can do it!
So, why do we put up with this situation? For many people it’s probably
just a mixture of habit and laziness. Most TV licence payers have always
written out a cheque every year for the BBC just as they pay many other
“essential bills” and that’s what the BBC has come to be seen as - one
of those essential services that you have to pay for, even though many
people no longer watch it’s TV programmes or listen to its radio
programmes. For many people, though, I guess the reason they continue to
tolerate the BBC is simply because they’ve heard the existing ILR and
other commercial radio stations, they’ve seen what multi-channel TV has
to offer and they don’t like much of what they hear or what they see!
Also, if you take out the full Sky TV package and the alternative
channels (like Setanta Sports) that are available, I believe you can end
up paying about £500 a year in subscriptions (even though they have all
those adverts to fund their channels as well!) and, so, the BBC licence
fee of £135 a year still looks fairly modest by comparison. In that
sense, at least, the BBC is probably seen by many listeners and viewers
as the lesser of two evils!
If it didn’t exist at all, we would be completely at the mercy of Sky
and the other commercial sharks!
Yes, the BBC still makes some quality programmes and provides some
services that the commercial sector is unwilling or unable to offer but
the real point is that it doesn’t make anything like £3 billion worth of
such programmes! There’s no doubt that a lot of people still want some
form of public service broadcasting to continue (myself included) but
the question has really become whether the BBC and the semi-commercial
multi-channel empire that it has now created is the best way to go about
it and whether the corporation really needs to be trying to compete on
so many different fronts with the commercial sector (e.g. does it really
need to broadcast a 24 hour rolling news service that very few people
watch?).
PIRATE BBC ESSEX -
THE FINAL SUMMARY
Going back, however, to the PBBCE broadcast, the point I’m really trying
to make is that, if the people in their ivory tower at the BEEB were
really in touch with their listeners, they’d have picked up instantly on
the success of this broadcast and quickly put a plan of action into
place to try and provide some sort of more permanent service to cash in
on its success and to provide a service that would meet the need that
PBBCE so obviously demonstrated isn’t being provided by the existing BBC
radio stations. For example, they might have had a big shake-up at BBC
Eastern Counties Radio (the local stations in this region occupy enough
different frequencies to provide another service of some sort. This is
proven by the split frequency programming that they already provide on
frequent occasions). Instead, following the success of PBBCE 2004, the
regional BBC bosses sanctioned one solitary new 3 hour programme on a
Monday evening devoted to the pirate radio era as part of Keith Skues’
weekday evening schedule but then, the next year, they got rid of his
main weekday (and much better) programme altogether and, more recently,
have axed his Monday night slot as well (all in favour of a “bog
standard” oldies show with another less talented presenter) and Keith’s
one remaining “region wide” weekly programme now goes out on Sunday
evenings only. In other words, it’s the usual BBC dogma that this type
of programming is just another minority interest and that once a
presenter reaches a certain age, he can no longer manage to run a
programme five days a week and should be confined to an obscure weekend
slot!
A report without Rosko? No, Steve
Szmidt made this one in Harwich
I
suppose
the final point that I should make is that, if there had been a real
offshore “pirate” station broadcasting off the Essex coast in April 2004
or August 2007, would the BBC management have been sanctioning PBBCE at
all or would they have been complaining to the government that it was
stealing their listeners?! Geoff Baldwin.’
Many thanks Geoff for this wonderful story with impressions and thoughts
from your side. Of course everyone in the readership who wants to
reflect on this subject feel free to sent an e mail to
Hknot@home.nl
********************************************************************
Advertisement: On
Saturday August 4th 2007 there was a gathering of deejays and other
people working on the offshore stations in the sixties. The stations
based on the Forts as well ships like Radio Caroline, Radio London and
the smaller stations. A remarkable event. SMC filmed it.
You can obtain the DVD for 5 pounds sterling of € 8,-- No cheques please.
Send it to: SMC PO BOX 53121 1007 RC AMSTERDAM THE NETHERLANDS
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Seeing the above advert from SMC (Rob Olthof) I’ve to tell you that Rob
was in for one of his practical jokes towards Caroline founder
O’Rahilly. Rob always
intents, seeing Ronan, to see if he can say something to him while
standing behind Ronan. It was at Driftback 20 for instance that he told
to Ronan that Mr Ben Bode (a conflict situation between the two had
occurred in the early eighties) would like to speak to Ronan. Ronan’s
face became grey when hearing this. On from of the Sugar Reef again hit
the button by seeing: ‘Mr. Wijsmuller wants to talk to you.’ Wijsmuller
Comp. was responsible for taking away both Caroline ships from
international waters in March 1968.
Very sad to hear from Robbie
Owen that the medical situation with
Abe Nathan, founder from
the Voice of Peace, is declining. Let’s all think a few minutes of all
the good thing this here has done in his life. He certainly deserves it.
Nice article about the August 4th reunion can be found on internet:
www.digitalspy.co.uk/radio/a70665/weekend-spy-a-pirates-life-for-me.html
One
of the people who have watched the pages with photographs made by Martin
van der Ven and me on the reunion is former Veronicadeejay Klaas Vaak,
also known under his own name
Tom Mulder: ‘With astonishment I’ve watched the many photographs
taken in England. I was mostly surprised to see how time paid it’s toll.
I know it’s 40 years ago. The deejays from the swinging sixties seem to
be all old men, even the Emperor Rosko. I can remember it very well
meeting him and shaking hands with him in the Radio One studio’s at the
Beeb, while I was visiting Kenny Everett. This isn’t a negative ordeal
but just a conclusion. Some of them on the photos and in the past like
Duncan Johnsan, Ed Stewart and Tony Blackburn were meters above (also in
length).’
Tom Mulder (middle) and Dutch
Singers Albert West and Gerard Jolink in 1999 - Photo: Jana
Knot-Dickscheit
Thanks Tom for your comment and we stay in touch. If all goes well Tom
Mulder aka Klaas Vaak from Veronica will be special quest at the Radio
Day in Amsterdam November 10th and Jelle Boonstra will be interviewing
him about his career in radio, which started in 1969.
Still some weeks after the August 4th reunion there are certain things
coming up. For instant the granny, about 83 of age, who stood for about
20 minutes in total silence at the entrance of the building. She was
tracing the audience to see which deejays were in the building. I asked
her where she was looking for and then she told me she came all the way
from Romford as she heard all her favorite deejays from the sixties,
including Keith Skues and Johnny
Walker were in there. I told her that there would be a break for
tea, so maybe she could have a bit of talk then. No she said, I’ve
already had the day of the year as I was standing on the corner of the
street seeing them all walk in into the Sugar Reef. Then she asked me
where to address a letter to Skues to say how important he has been to
her with his radio programs. Maybe the letter already arrived.
Also it sprang into my mind how lovely it was to meet for the first time
Patrick Starling as well
as Carl Thompson, both
technicians. Carl had two nice photo books taken with him and one showed
excellent pictures from the days the MV Mi Amigo was in Zaandam (1966)
and the other had excellent, never seen before, pictures taken on Radio
Caroline North. So if you have some spare time Carl, maybe you can make
some scans to share with us. It would be also nice to receive in an
email in your own words the story about those numbered transmitters.
While typing this it’s August 13th in the evening and I’m listening
again to the Pirate BBC Essex. Unique moment as Johnnie Walker is on at
the moment. He’s playing a request for someone on Lanzerote:
Robbie Dale. The later
one sent in an email to the station. Walker and Dale were of course
together on the Mi Amigo when Caroline became international in 1967.
Some six months ago we heard from
John Macdonald and this
evening he e mails me to tell me how he celebrates August 14th: ‘As my
contribution towards 14th August we have taken a slightly different
tack. The first documentary I have ever attempted is the story of radio
in Glasgow. An amazing amount of Radio professionals have taken part in
the story and it will be broadcast for the first time at midday 14th
August. Here it at
www.sunnygovan.org where it may also be made into a podcast later
this week. Hope you enjoy it. John Macdonald.’
Thanks John and hopefully the podcast is still there when my readers
wants to have a listen too!
August 13th brought me also the news from Jim Henderson at the Orkney
Islands telling me that it’s empty now at the Hope Pier in Orkney. That
means that the Communicator,
former radio ship of Laser 558, Laser Hot Hits and other stations now
has gone. It’s not know if it went for scrap or it has been taken to
another place.
One other listener to the Pirate BBC Radio Essex was Andreh van der Kolk
who wrote me that it was so nice that Roger Day wrote him back and that
even in Day’s e mail address are memories to his Caroline days. By the
way, Andreh has the sound of the Caroline Bell on his computer and every
time an e mail come in it’s ‘ding ding’ at his office.
A sad e mail from the people behind the
Imagine 963 internet
radio project: ‘Hi Hans, well it's been a very disappointing time for
Imagine 963. Although we had streamed for tests purposes we've been
badly let down by several people. We were to have done programs for
August 14th but certain people our side have not been in touch with us
by phone or email despite there former email offering pirate radio
material. They were asked at least three times how much they were asking
for material that was for sale but never recieved a reply.
Then two pc's decided to give up, so no recording was able to be done!
So one has been rebuilt ,now sharing expense to rebuild 2nd pc!. We had
one working pc so decided to record Pirate BBC Essex until they closed
down on the 14th. I'm not 100% sure what is happening across the
internet, Flare Radio has a working website but their radiostation is no
longer streaming? It also seems to be happening with a few other
stations as well, seems like LHH (Laser Hot Hits) is searching for
suitable frequencies across the shortwave in desperation at remaining on
air. So think Imagine963 may be finished as there's very little cash now
to continue paying the hosting company when the next payment is due.
Anyway Hans many thanks for the promotion, but unfortunately it's going
to take a miracle to get it together again! I think it's lack of
interest? Who knows?
Who
does remember Dave the Fish?
He was for a part responsible for tendering the MV Ross Revenge after
the raid in 1989 and so on. I can tell you that the Caroline
organisation was very happy with his work. I met Dave a few times and
yes he’s a fanatic follower. One summer day, a few years ago, he went
out from a Kent harbour with his fishing boat, an aerial, a transmitter
and a recorder and not forgetting some good and enough bottles of beer.
He then went into international waters to transmit as Laser radio. Maybe
his mother could receive it as well as all Seagulls in the surrounding
could hear the music played. Sadly enough Dave lost his ship. He was
caught on illegally fishing and went busted. The authorities took him to
court and next to a money fine he also lost his ship.
Dave the Fish (photo Rob Olthof)
I was very surprised to get an e mail from a reader that he found on the
morning of August 13th the next few lines on internet: ‘Big L ...The
Return Of The Pirates. On the morning of Monday 13 August,
Big L 1395AM returns to
its pirate roots (for a couple of days anyway). Mike Read will commence
broadcasting from an American gun-boat off the Frinton and Walton coast
at 9AM to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the demise of pirate radio.
Expect Big L's usual fun and frolics and a few special guests to
celebrate this historic occasion..’
It seems that Big L wanted to make a festivity too of the 40th Annual
MOA thing. But why in the world Ray Anderson and his companions don’t
sent out any press reports so on forehand publicity is made. Now
everyone is already listening more than 5 days to Pirate BBC Radio Essex
it’s nonsense to start a second station, only miles away from Harwich to
the Frinton on the Naze area. Ray should be shaken awake that publicity
is very useful. Two years ago I visited the Big L office in Frinton on
the Naze and then it was promised to send out regular things but nothing
came in at my computer or in my Post Box. Really strange to hear on the
Reunion on August 4th from Ray Anderson that I was right that it was
better to sent more news and he promised to do so. Even when it’s bad
news we can speak of promotion for Big L Ray, never forget that!
It’s just like Richard Sharpe wrote in Anorak UK: ‘Why does Big L always
do things so half hearted? Last year they did the road show thing with
no 1395 signal and no way for Joe Public to listen to it on a portable
or in their cars. Now they are doing this with no previous advertising
and a rowing boat.’
I didn’t listen to the programs as I had other things to do, but somehow
it went wrong with Big L as on their website was the next report: ‘Big
L's commemoration of pirate radio took a dramatic turn on Tuesday
evening (14 August) with a handful of its top presenters lucky to escape
with their lives.
Following two days of broadcasting from an American gun-boat on the high
seas off Essex, Mike Read, Steve Garlick and co were forced to abandon
ship after torrid weather battered their vessel. The Big L team, marking
the 40th anniversary of the shutdown of illegal, offshore broadcasting,
had been wowing its audience with nearly 48 hours of great radio off the
coast at Frinton. And then the weather turned. Like something from the
film, Master And Commander, a violent storm laid waste to the station's
floating studio. Roger Davis fought his way through fifteen foot waves,
Mike Read kept spirits up with an impromptu sing-song and Steve Garlick
sat around sipping tea. Thankfully all the Big L team made it back to
terra firma safely.’
Well Caroline was celebrating August 14th in a different way the passing
of the Marine Offences Act with a special 60s and 70s show. A show
presented by Cliff Osbourne. There have also been some excellent shows
during the weekend 11 and 12th of August, from
Doug Wood and
Mark Stafford on Radio
Caroline to mark the 40th anniversary.
It was like old days on August 14th when in the afternoon staff and
deejays from Pirate BBC Radio Essex returned from the ship to Harwich as
some 500 people where there to welcome them. Even the Harwich mayor was
there. On the other hand he got a massive free publicity as it was so
often mentioned that they were transmitting there. Worldwide more than
3500 e mails came in at the station and it was far more interesting to
me than in 2004. Hopefully it won’t be the last time.
Next one: ‘Thanks again for your monthly reports - particularly enjoyed
the look back at Caroline in
1976 a couple of months back (photos of Ed Foster, Mark Lawrence
etc). You readers might be interested in this page of Listeners'
Personal Top 30s from around 1978 - kindly sent in from Holland. I've
certainly (re)discovered some musical gems from the past.
http://www.geocities.com/memories963/personaltop.html All the best,
Steve Pragnell
Again some internet sites to have a look at, provided by Herman Content
in Belgium:
http://members.aon.at/wabweb/radio/listen/LWMWeu31.htm
http://www.transdiffusion.org/rmc/offshore/the_politics_of.php
http://history-switzerland.geschichte-schweiz.ch/switzerland-radio-station-beromunster.html
and
http://www.oneillselectronicmuseum.com
But he has a question too as on Monday August 13th there was a special
about the MOA and the special broadcasts on CBC News in Toronto, and
probably other places in Canada. Who of you did hear it and record it as
Herman would love to hear the item. Please inform me at
hknot@home.nl
A memory to 40 years ago written by Oeds Jan Koster: Hi Hans.
Unbelievable that it’s already 40 years ago that we had to say goodbye
to the finest period in radio there has ever been and will not appear
again. It was the day most of the then offshore radio station went off
the air. Around three I was standing in the Snack shop at Brakzand
Camping at the isle of Schiermonnikoog. I had my transistor, as always
with me and listened as always to 266. Never during that period another
frequency was on. I have now to be very honest that after the closedown
of Big L at 15.00 hours I had to get into a toilet to let my tears flow.
After that I switch my tranny to 259 and remember very well that it was
Johnny Walker being very busy to bring dramatic calls to the listeners
to support the Fight for Free Radio. And the rest, of course, is history.
To talk with Don Mclean: ‘The day the music died ( although he talked
about another dramatic event on February 3rd 1959, when an airplane with
on board Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valence, The Big Bopper among others
crashed near Mason City in Iowa. How time flies. Oeds Jan Koster.’
One of the readers wrote in to complain about the changed format and the
smaller letters we (didn’t) had in last issue. As many of the readership
are above 55 I always use Comic Sans MS 12 and as happened before,
something possibly went wrong when the e mails were sent out. I’ve no
control on my provider or the one who receives it. The best way if it
comes in wrong to go 2 days later to
www.hansknot.com. My
webmaster Martin put the reports on line in big letters so readable for
everyone too!
.jpg)
Welcome
to a near reader: ‘Dear Hans, I was given your email address by a mutual
friend, Don Stevens. I 'met'
Don on the social gathering website Facebook last week. Don in turn, is
a long term friend of one of my lecturers at University in Sunderland,
in the North East of England. There I am doing a degree in Media
Production (TV and Radio), and I am specialising in radio production. I
am also the current News Editor at Utopia FM, the in house radio station
whose studios are within our media centre. I have had a passion for
radio and all that makes it so for many, many years now! I remember
listening; or attempting to, the likes of Radio Luxembourg and Radio
Caroline. I remember with much fondness the late great Scots jock Stuart
Henry. God rest his soul, he was amazing, not just because he was a Scot
like myself, but that his shows were a joy to hear.......as long as the
signal held long enough. My hope and great desire is to be a part of the
BBC one day before too long! I do hope that it will be okay to be on
your mailing list for future Radio Reports?! Respect to you sir, and
best wishes from the UK, from Dave Mackenzie (49), Newcastle on Tyne.’
Well Dave you’re on the long list and I hope you will enjoy reading the
report in the years to come.
I recently was scanning a lot of photographs and thought to sent one of
the scans to a reader in Asia. Mail from Richard Buckle, who we know as
Richard Jackson on
Caroline in the mid eighties. ‘Hi Hans. Hey many thanks for the picture,
obviously a long time ago and I can't remember who took the pic, but
much appreciated. I Have been catching up on some of the 40th
anniversary broadcasts and forums, there still seems to enormous
interest in offshore radio not just with anoraks but many over 40's who
still have great memories of how radio of the 60's changed their lives.
Recorded a few hours for the online radio SWE / Britain Radio, the
website was streaming both radio stations until August 19th, I really
liked the Britain Radio stream, must be getting old eh... .Also many
thanks for your International report which is always a great read All
the best from sunny Bangkok. Richard.’
Richard Jackson Photo Rob Olthof
Paul from Essex is next: ‘Hello Hans, My friend Peter and I were talking
about the start of BBC local
radio 40 years this November. These stations were supposed to
replace the pirates! At first they were only available on FM but in 1972
the government released some of its ‘deferred’ facilities which allowed
the BBC local radios to gain AM coverage. These were emergency radio
transmitters and masts that were hidden in buildings like hospitals and
factory chimneys to be used in case of invasion during the cold war.
Peter wondered whether there was a similar system of standby emergency
transmitters in Holland, and do they still exist? Just after it opened I
visited the first station to open, BBC Radio Leicester. The first
station manager, Maurice Ennals, had lived next to my mother and had
gone to the same school as her and I used that to gain an introduction.
I commented to him that I had expected a radio station, in the middle of
the day, to be a lot of noise and have a lot going on. The place was
silent and deserted and reminded me of a museum. Thinking back that is
exactly what it was; it had no listeners, and was full of old equipment!
Best wishes, Paul Bailey Basildon, Essex.’
Thanks Paul, yes we had them but not too many and all very low power.
Local radio did not start before 1985 and so these transmitters were
never used for real radio. They were there with the BB (Bescherming
Bevolking- Protecting the Inhabitants) in cases of big accidents and
wartime). BB however has disappeared after the Cold War.’
Often people asked me why Caroline and other offshore stations were
important for German people. I think a truly honest answer came in an e
mail from Burkhard Nowotny: ‘For me Radio
Veronica,
Radio Caroline etc. were the only alternative to poor public radio in
Germany. I used to listen to BFBS and Radio Luxembourg (English) in the
sixties. This is why I did research on commercial radio in the UK at the
university. My PhD was published in early 1982 and I think it influenced
a bit the thinking in Germany about alternatives. I wrote the first
draft (1979) on how to introduce Commercial Radio in Lower Saxony. At
least I became the first Managing Director of the Commercial
Broadcasting Association Germany in 1985. Beste groeten van Burkhard.’
If you have any question or memory to share please feel free to mention
at hknot@home.nl
Another one from Germany comes from Harald Urbig: ‘Hi Hans, there are
some movie clips on the website "you
tube" concerning pirate radio. You can find them with the search
function on this site. Here for example is one from Radio Caroline:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nPZnRH9X9c&mode=related&search=
Radio London:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gy3cC2Its4
Radio England:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0KJhMji1nA
It’s possible that not all readers of your Radio Report know this so it
could be helpful to give an information. Keep up the good work. Best
wishes Harald / Germany.’
Thanks a lot, most appreciated Harald!
Mike from England wrote: The excellent news feature filmed for Canadian
TV at Pirate BBC Essex is
now available online at
www.radiolondon.co.uk
This Canadian production is superb with much onboard footage and
interviews. Of particular interest is the interview with Canadian Gordon
Cruse. Born in Calgary in Canada, in 1942, he joined Radio Caroline
South as a newsreader in August 1966 before transferring to the Caroline
North ship. Here he continued to read the news but also presented
programmes. Gordon stayed with Caroline until March 1967 and then
returned to Canada. He came back to England to read the news on Pirate
BBC Essex and thoroughly enjoyed himself. Other Canadian jocks on the
ship include Dave Cash and Keith Hampshire. There is much more at this
excellent Radio London site
http://www.radiolondon.co.uk about recent and past events from the
world of offshore radio.’
Thanks Mike and may I congratulate Chris and Mary as the site was chosen
to the site of the Day at BBC Radio 2. Well done!
Well last plug this time is for my own page as on
www.hansknot.com is a new series of
photographs: ‘Caroline in
1985/1986’. Most of them were never published before and are or
taken by Rob Olthof as well coming from his archive.
Jan Veldkamp and Walter Simons and
the daily wash on the MV Ross Revenge (Photo Rob Olthof)
I’ve far more in stock to bring you so in a few weeks time there will be
another edition with nice stories, memories and surprises. Take care and
as always feel free to send your memories too to
Hknot@home.nl and photos to
Hans.Knot@gmail.com
Offshore Radio Programme Names - Programmanamen Zeezenders 1958-1990
Read Hans Knot's former report