Hans Knot's International Radio Report - October 2007 (2)
Thanks a lot again for
all your response on last issue of the report. Really wonderful again to
see so many people reflecting, mostly only to say that they fo like to
read all the things brought in by others. But also of course many who
did sent in their own memories and special questions. With some of you
I’m sharing old radio recordings and one deejay who came along was
Humble Harve. One of the
last people aboard the MV Mi Amigo, before the old lady sunk – way back
in March 1980 – was Stevie
Gordon. He remembers the good old days of American radio: ‘I've
always loved radio since my early days in Los Angeles listening to the
Boss Jocks. Don't ask. Actually, there was Casey Kasem on one station
and The Real Don Steele (the model for WKRP's Dr. Johnny Fever) on
another. My favorite was Humble Harve, who one day found his wife and
her lover ‘en flagrante, shot and killed them both, hid from the cops
for three weeks, then served about 18 months before he was back on the
air as Humble Harve again. ‘
Thanks Steve for this memory and it came back to my mind that one of the
first versions of ‘The History Of Rock And Roll’ was a 40 hours long
production. It first went out on WOR-FM in New York, way back in 1969.
It was that version which was hosted by the same guy ‘Humble’ Harve
Miller. By the way Humble Harve has portrayed a deejay in three films,
most recently
a 1995 release of Orion Pictures film ‘n There Goes My Baby’. Humble
Harve was elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995! Anyone out
there who has another favourite deejay with American roots? Please tell
your story too. Later on Paul de Haan from Holland will mention some
interesting video’s to watch on internet, concerning American Radio.
Second e mail this time came in from Germany: ‘Hello Hans, do you have (or
have any idea where I can find) the lyrics to
Johnnie Walker’s ‘Men’s
Fight For Freedom“? If so, please let me know. Yours, Ulrich Mittag from
Wuppertal.
Of course it’s possible to listen to any recording in which this famous
piece can be heard. It was transmitted on August 14th 1967 for the very
first time and on the famous Pirate Hall of Fame you’ll find a special
‘spot on Johnny Walker’ page where also the requested ‘song’ is
highlighted.
http://www.offshoreradio.co.uk/spotwalk.htm
And another page to go is the next one where a lot of very unique
photo’s are published, which were sent to me by former Caroline
technician Carl Thomson.
He worked on the Fredericia, as well as the Mi Amigo.
http://www.offshore-radio.de/HansKnot/carlthompson/
Ted Walters Archive Carl Thompson.
Another one came in a few weeks ago from Jan Sundermann, who did visit
the special John Peel
event in Cologne in Germany. Here’s what Jan sent me: ‘Hallo Hans, I
attended the production at Cologne last night, but was not allowed to
make my own photographs. But I expect original photos about by WDR at
the end of following week. So far, here is my report. RADIO PEELINGS
A Live-Feature by WDR , Köln. This 90 minute long production is a homage
on John Peel and was broadcasted by WDR3 on October 22nd and by 1LIVE on
October 23rd. This production was made as part of the public
performances "Hörwelten 07" on Saturday September 29th in the small
auditorium of WDR. As said during their welcome message that evening,
this kind of production would be a premiere within the radio-drama
section of WDR. About 200 guests were standing on the floor of the
auditorium ,surrounded by the three inclinated DJ-posts, a lower stage,
and opposite a row for the video control. The part of the video
installation and the live performance of singer Jim Avignon (a
one-man-band named ‘Neoangin’) are those parts , that were important for
the guests in auditorium and foyer of the broadcasting centre , but
these will not be really ‘visible’ for the later listener on the radio.
John Peel and a hugh record
collection (Freewave Archive).
Air-checks of John Peel were played from the control-room and the
evening was presented by Thomas Meinecke. At the DJ posts were standing
Klaus Fiehe (1LIVE) , Sandra and Patrick Ziegenmüller (FSK , independent
local radio, Hamburg) and Alan Bangs. Latter posted, maybe even at the
time-wise middle part of the feature, his central message: "in radio,
your audience is ONE".
That sentence was daily written on the blackboard by his teacher at the
London Radio School in 1969. And also during his time at that radio
school , it was first that Alan Bangs could visit John Peel at Radio One
during a live broadcast. "You only can act relaxed, when you are fully
concentrated", a clear message against the incidental behaviour of
today’s "fun and joke" society, which is on the radio for quota and just
tries, to add up as much as possible ONE- persons to a group of
destination. On the other hand, Alan Bangs also stated controversy to
the DJ, who tries by numerous information to justify his music selection
in a teacher-like manner.
Consequently , Alan has made broadcasts at WDR, during these he was led
by the flow of his music selection to end up a programme without having
spoken one single sentence in between. All during this broadcast
participating speakers had a personal relation to John Peel. And to say
it right now, the short time with Radio London had no relevance at all
among the decades of accompanying new music at its very front end.
Although for me it was not always clear, if the DJs statements were
their own, or these were of John Peel, it was a very enjoyable evening,
that had earned applause from the guests . Jan Sundermann.´
Well Jan thanks for this wonderful report on the John Peel Event in
Germany. Next to Germany there are also yearly events regarding the late
John Peel in Great Britain and the Netherlands.
Earlier on I mentioned the
Pirate Hall of Fame and there’s a new update: ‘New this month:
Radio Caroline's Bryan Vaughan tells us about the time he met Jack
Spector and appeared on his legendary show. We have a recording of the
programme too. After concentrating on the sixties for the last few
months, we can now unveil the fourth page of the 'Seventies Supplement'
- the DJs with names beginning with D: And we have some more photos from
the Radio Academy's recent Celebration of Offshore Radio, courtesy of
George Hare. Incidentally, talking of that event, the Radio Academy has
now made recordings of all the sessions available for download. There is
a link on the Hall of Fame.
www.offshoreradio.co.uk
Talking
about updates, here’s another one, this time from Whitstable in Kent:
‘Welcome to the October Update. This month’s bumper update with the
second part of John Kenning’s slant on Laser 558 in Scrapbook We’ve
pictures of the Medway FM re-union at the studio building Berkley House.
On the personal pages we’ve some great shots of Whitstable Yacht Clubs
Round Forts Race taken from the top of the Red Sands Fort. ”One Subject
One Link” reflects on how music radio’s gone full circle. There are new
titles added to our book range & one on Guy Maunsell designer of the
Forts & his Company. Enjoy your visits
www.bobleroi.co.uk
June 30th 1973 after Mr. Van
Doorn decided an Act had to be brought in against Veronica and
other offshore radiostations off the Dutch coast, the biggest newspaper
in the Netherlands, the Telegraaf brought an anti Minister for Culture
and Media article, in which also the above cartoon was published
mentioning he made ‘schoon schip with Veronica’. Or in other words make
an end to Veronica in the future. Anyone who has a cartoon related to
Offshore Radio in the past please feel free to send it to
Hknot@home.nl
In several news groups there were discussions on the future of
Radio Caroline and
evening a mentioning that it could be soon an ending for the station.
Station manager, Peter Moore, here with ‘what’s going on at the moment
with Caroline’.
‘Hi all, just to stop
the speculation, we have no quarrel with our Landlords at The Maidstone
Studios and they give us good service, but they have now increased our
rent twice, increased our phone line costs and they will not give us any
more security of tenure than one month. So, when I spend Caroline's
money, bearing in mind that we rely on the goodwill of our supporters, I
am required to spend it as wisely as possible. Thus we have looked
around and found alternative premises that are less costly. Our new
Landlords have asked that their name and location be confidential but I
can tell you what we get for our reduced monthly payment. A fully
equipped and very modern studio. Phone lines and streaming
to
WRN
(World Radio Network) in London. Dedicated parking within feet of the
studio. Our own toilet and a sort of 'green room', where interviews and
live sessions can happen, when people such as Dell Richardson have
guests. The facility is managed 24hrs a day in case of glitches, so that
guys like Patrick or Mike Brill, Dave Foster etc etc, do not have to
drive in to fix any breakdowns.
Dave Foster (Caroline Archive)
This being so, we can dismantle our two present studios and rebuild them
on the ship. But, this does not mean that we are imminently going to
relocate again to operate full time from the Ross. We do not have a
location for her right now and, in the nature of ships, I think we would
always need a fixed studio on land.
OK, that's the story, nothing that needs agonising about. Cheers, Peter
Moore.’
Thanks Peter, who is followed by Mike Terry
‘There is a really interesting series of high quality videos, including
Pirate BBS Essex. There
is loads of fascinating on board and in studio footage of the Dave Cash
Show and the visit from Gary
Walker of the Walker Brothers. Its at
http://gary-walker.net/piratevideos.html Garry tells some
fascinating anecdotes about the sixties and the legends he knew and
recorded with, and the off air chats and the banter with others in the
studio is an added bonus. Bud Ballou from Caroline's early days makes a
brief visit. Gary was obviously caught up with the enthusiasm of the
station, there is discussion about the future of radio and the need for
a station like PRE. There is also footage on the pier and the ‘pirates’
return. ‘Cashman’ has remained one of my favourite presenters since he
joined Radio London. He has a regular show on BBC radio in the south and
remains a highly professional broadcaster with an extensive knowledge of
especially of sixties and country music (and cooking!).
The programme goes out on BBC Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire,
Northants and 3CR, 21:00 to 0100 (UK time) and on the internet.
http://www.radiolondon.co.uk/kneesflashes/happenings/julaugsept07/julaugsept0701.html
The Radio Day Awards 2007
The Radio Day 2007 will be held on November 10th in Amsterdam
Information about the Program of this years Radio Day, which is the
29th in a row, can be found at:
http://www.offshore-radio.de/radioday |
The Radio Day 2007 will
be held on November 10th in Amsterdam Information about the Program of
this years Radio Day, which is the 29th in a row, can be found at:
http://www.offshore-radio.de/radioday/
Also information how to get at the venue Casa 400 as well as possibility
to book a hotel room is on the mentioned internetsite. We hope to see
you there!
One of the many people who have already booked for the day is Meindert
Dikboom, an addicted Swinging Radio England listener in sixties as well
a follower of American Radio through the past4
decades.
He wrote to me about the SRE reunion: ‘It seems to me to become very
sensational to see and hear after all those years those Swinging Radio
England Boss Jocks. Why not do a live show on stage for an hour or so?’
Well they will do a presentation in memories for more than an hour, I
can promise you Meindert. Also Meindert sent me a suggestion to visit an
radiostation on internet. It’s a Christian station with positive hits.
Really good guitar playing. I can say that it will not bring
Christianity to me but I really get addicted to the music. The station
is KTPT from Rapid City.
www.883thepoint.com
A nickname never
mentioned before in our report is
Dick ´Diederick´ de Graaf.
He worked on Radio Northsea International, Dutch service. The long list
of nicknames can be found at
www.hansknot.com and if you have a supplement please sent it to
Hknot@home.nl
Next one comes from the Shetland Islands and so an interesting e mail
this time from Ian Anderson,
whom we know from
Caroline
as well as RNI days.
‘Hans something has bugged off and on for over 40 years but only today
did I get around to checking. I always thought that the Radio London
mast was very lightly stayed, and light of construction, even for a
tapered tubular type, for something said to be 212 feet long in sources
ranging from Radio London
media releases of the era to Chris Elliot's book. So today I decided if
it was possible to measure the mast from photographs. Most side views of
the Galaxy with the mast complete in the picture are not quite side-on,
and therefore have some vessel fore-shortening. Those taken from sea
level and from the air also have some mast fore-shortening. However,
there are some pictures taken in Hamburg dead side-on and from across
the harbour which would have given less mast fore-shortening. In
addition there are some dead side-on pictures with the shorter ship's
mast and the other structures complete, to compare their height to the
ship's length. In turn those can be compared to the mast's length in
other pictures, with the same fore-shortening applying to all the
vertical structures.
Galaxy in Hamburg harbour
collection Chris Elliot
I am aware that some of the mast went down into the decks of the Galaxy,
but I have never read by how much. So what was the result? The above
deck length of the mast appears to be about 145 feet, maybe up to 150
feet, assuming the galaxy was 185 feet long (the overall and the
waterline length would differ by only a few feet). Assuming that the
mast passed though at least a couple of decks, the overall length of the
mast would have been about 170 feet. And that seems more like it to me
for such a slender, tapering structure, with so few stays. Get out your
slide rule (well, we are talking about a pre-personal calculator era)
and a ruler and let me know what you think.’
Hi Ian, Good to hear from you again. Interesting topic you're writing
about. What I will do is sent the question to my readership and see who
will answer it. I was not in a scouting group and don't have too much
with masts, although I know the mast with the most of course! Greetings,
Hans’
So there you go a question from Ian to you the readers: What do you
think about London’s mast length and so give your answers to
Hknot@home.nl
A few issues ago I mentioned that at the Sugar Reef some of the former
Big L deejays chatted about
nicknames and I mentioned in the report the ones I haven’t
mentioned before through the years. For those who don’t know I’ve to
tell you that I have ‘hearing problems’, probably due to heavy radio
listening. Lucky enough I have many extra ears within the readership.
One couple of ears are from Jon at the Pirate Hall of Fame, who wrote to
me: ‘I think Norman St.John is also muttering in the background that he
was known as ‘Sheila’ St.John. I have some more nicknames for you. When
I update the PRHoF at the end of the month, I will be including some
information about Eddie White of Caroline North and Radio Scotland. I
have recently been contacted by a relative of Eddie's. He says that
Eddie died in 1990. I never heard him on air myself (I lived too far
south) but, according to my correspondent he was known as ‘the Iron Man’
because of a marathon broadcast he made during a storm, ‘The Whispering
Giant’, because of his laid-back delivery and ‘Yogi Bear’, because of
his trademark fur coat. Three more to add to your list.’
Well Jon, thanks a lot for your contribution to this edition of the Hans
Knot International Radio Report.
Johnny Lewis brought
together two people in a very special broadcast. Proposing from outside
Europe while on mission a guy asked his girlfriend to marry him. Well I
think when ‘morning lad’ Lewis started his career way back in the late
seventies, he never would believe this would happen during one of his
programs. See what one of the newspapers wrote about it:
www.kentonline.co.uk/news/default.asp?article_id=35199
While being on internet I advise you to see what happened decades ago on
the MV Bon Jour, later
known as MV Mi Amigo and also the host of the radio ship which was the
house of the most radiostations, concerning ship based.
http://www.radionord-story.com/galleri.htm
Poem time for the very first time in the Hans Knot International Radio
Report. Hello, ‘I do like your web site. Excellent. Recently I wrote
something, I thought you might like to read it.
An Ode To The Pirates
With Apologies to Mother Shipton.
In those wondrous far off days,
The Radio Dealers did adopt a craze;
To shout into mics and headphones wear,
And to grow their locks of hair.
Tossed at sea three miles off land,
To transmit pop in the medium wave band.
Ronan O'Reilly and Screaming Lord Sutch,
The BBC found it all too much.
Peter Stuyvesant and the tunes of the day,
They petitioned Ted Short to send them away.
They couldn't replace the pirates,
It just couldn't be done;
They were tied up on land and missing all the fun.
Scripted announcers, light music and more,
The listeners found it a bit of a bore.
Their audience really got indented
When the likes of Tony Blackburn got invented.
Johnnie Walker, Simon Dee and the Caroline Bell,
Some do say they remember it well.
The Pirates made the BBC sound remote;
So why was it never
Put to the vote?
Best regards,
Michael
bandwagon4@tesco.net
well done and for everyone who has also a poem please don’t hesitate to
send it to Hknot@home.nl
Then
time for Tim Chase who wrote: ‘Hi Hans! Thanks for another fascinating
radio report. There's something I've been meaning to find out for ages
now. I've just visited the Offshore Echoes website, and read the tribute
to Ronald 'Buster' Pearson.
That prompted me to listen to my recording of Radio Caroline's 21st
birthday 'party' from 1985, in which the DJ's were talking about Buster,
and how they aimed to get him aboard the Ross Revenge to show him around.
I read in the tribute that sadly Buster died in December that year, but
do you know if he actually made it out to the Ross? I would like to
think he did.’
Buster ‘found in his own newspaper
archive’
Well Tim, I know he went out with an airplane to the Ross Revenge in the
days Caroline came back in 1983. Next to Offshore Radio Ronald C
Pearson, better known as Buster, had a second passion which was aviation
and airplane spotting. When there was another show his friend Don, who
later also live at Buster’s place in Essex, often brought Buster to the
shows and when it became known Caroline would come back a friend brought
up the idea to spot the Ross Revenge from a plane. I don’t recall
hearing that Buster ever went out to the radioship.’
Tim came back to me just a day later, after he re-read last issues
report in which I had another cartoon featuring the MEBO II from RNI.
‘Hi Hans, it's me again! Reference to Marc Walker's pirate radio/lifeboat
cartoon mystery in your last report, I believe I've found the answers!
I'm pretty sure the signature belongs to Keith Waite, who was the
cartoonist at the Daily Mirror at the time of Radio Northsea (early
Seventies). Tim Chase.’
Dear Hans, please publish this, thank you! On
Laserhothits these weeks
special recordings of old offshore stations, including a unique
recording of a listener who recorded the last minutes of Radio London,
than you hear him tuning and get Caroline with a special 'chicken skin’
program saying they will continue etcetera. All this and more on
Saturdays this month on Laserhothits, 6275 KHz during daytime.’
Another one reflecting on last issues report came in from
Wouter Verbaan. He
assisted his brother in the early seventies a lot when running the FRC
Holland, based in Scheveningen. ‘Dear Hans, Thanks for the regularly
sending of the Hans Knot International Radio Report. Nice to read all
the old stories again and to learn how it goes nowadays with people
involved in the past. I do read the report with a lot of pleasure. Last
time you published a photograph with my brother Hans on it, made during
one of the Radio Days way back in the eighties. I think this is correct,
it must have been around 22 years ago. The girl next to her is his
oldest daughter Yvonne. I’ve already forwarded the photo to her. We both
like to see photos from Hans again. As known Hans isn’t anymore with us.
I’ve got some rare photo’s still lying on the loft from Veronica Days.
One must have been taken around 1964 as no arial line can be seen but a
storm awning can be seen. Another shot shows the bringing of a new
anchor. I will forward them soon!’
Talking about Veronica, here’s another memory from
Tom Mulder, aka Klaas
Vaak in Veronica years: ‘Today some memories came up from my last weeks
on Radio Veronica way back in 1973. As Rob Out, as programme director,
sometimes made a mess of it, it could occur that at one stage I was
allowed to be the technician for the program ‘Muziek terwijl U werkt’
(Music while you work). All announcements for this program were recorded
on forehand and mixed together with the songs. I wasn’t a big star in
mixing the program, which was recorded a week before transmission.
When
hearing the program a week later I was still lying in bed as I had
afternoon shift at the Veronica studio in Hilversum. I can reveal now
that I was 100% awake when the show started. While music was heard
already the next announcement could be heard, as I had forgotten to
close the fader of the text recorder. Lucky enough nobody knew, up till
now, I was the technician of that program that day!’
Thanks Tom and we would love to hear a lot of your memories on the Radio
Day in a few weeks, See you there!’
Willem de Bruin is already years an avid reader for the Hans Knot
International Radio Report and wrote: ‘With a lot of interest I always
read your Knot Report. Things I always wanted to know are published.
Like a few times ago when you described what happened on the
MV Mi Amigo, way back in
1976, when the good old lady once again went adrift. Herewith a send you
a photograph taken by me around 1980. Just some time ago I found it back
and it shows the two Tender ships from Campany Roos in Scheveningen.
They both were used for tendering the MEBO II in the seventies. ‘
Thanks a lot Willem and nice to see that also a small part of the
MV Fortuna can be seen.
This one was used a lot by us for visiting the offshore radio stations
with the members of the Pirate Radio News in the seventies. Great days
those were.
Scheveningen harbour 1980 Photo
Willem de Bruin
From Offshore Echo's, the
continuing, story of Radio Caroline has been updated, with new pages for
the 1970's. Covering Radio Seagull, Atlantis, Mi Amigo, the Dutch MOA
and the return to the English coast. Complete with photo's, audio clips,
documents and press cuttings including large article from the "underground"
paper International Times. Visit Offshore Echo's at
www.offshoreechos.com
Talking about surfing here’s one brought in from Jean Pierre Legein from
Belgium and it’s all about Australian Radio
http://groups.google.com/group/ausytaliaradiobroadcastingmoderated
I told you at the start of this issue of the Hans Knot International
Radio Report that we should hear from Paul de Haan about
American Radio. He sent
an internet address and I can advise you all to go to that site and have
15 minutes pleasure by watching a few of the big stars in American Radio
from the past. You will watch it twice, you can count on it!
http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=mYviKWyvX_g
I thought I knew a lot on the subject radio and had written on all
stations ever been on the air from international waters, till I got last
issue of the Radio Heritage Newsletter. In that issue an interesting
story about a small offshore
station in the Pacific,
Radio PROSH
http://www.radioheritage.net/Story127.asp
Radio
Mi Amigo 192, a station till now only on internet, can be heard
twice weekly on AM too. The frequency of 1386 AM will be used with a
power of 500 kW. It will be an English language show aired from 23-24
hrs CET and the show will be presented by Marcel Strücker, Michael
Bakker, Bert van der Laan, Frans van der Meer, Peter de Vries en Jaap
Jansen. In the press report from Mi Amigo 192 it is claimed that the
station is a follow up to the offshore radio station ‘Mi Amigo’. In my
opinion it’s only a revival of the well known station from the seventies.
Peter de Vries is the only former offshore radio deejay from the team
and worked in 1979/1980 on Radio Caroline.
www.radiomiamigo.eu
Peter de Vries (on the right) near
the Veronica vessel in Antwerp (Photo OEM)
It's with deep regret that I have to tell you about the death of "Dave
the Fish". He died on Sunday October 14th. Living in Hernebay
Dave was an avid Caroline supporter. He not only listened to the station
but did many ‘illegal’ tendering trips to the radio ship in the late
eighties and early nineties. For profession he was a local fisher with a
small boat who did the tendering, although there was the Marine Offences
Act. His dream was always to be a deejay on offshore radio. Two years
ago, during summer, he went out with his own ship, a cassette recorder,
some tapes, a transmitter and arriving in international waters it
appeared Dave the Fish had also an aerial mast with him. Transmitting on
very low power his version of Laser Hot Hits became
reality.
Just a few month ago it became known that authorities had caught Dave
for illegal fishing and got his boat. Dave, who was in his forties, was
a heavy diabetic person. Without Dave I think that Radio Caroline would
have finished a lot earlier in 1990. He was mainly responsible for
tendering during the last period on international waters, after the
Dutch station had left the Ross Revenge as co partner for Radio
Caroline. A warm and nice chap has gone and although a lot of people
never heard of him, I never shall forget the times I met him in the
Whitstable area.
Dave The Fish Photo: Rob Olthof
Next to my photo collection and the newspapers cuts, the many magazines,
books and other material I’ve a big audio archive and whilst working on
the Knot International Radio Report I tend to listen to old offshore
recordings to get in a better mood. Yesterday I took another bunch of
oldies out of my archive and this time it was ‘Caroline Time in the
Sixties’. One of them was dated January 24th 1965, yes a long time ago.
It was that day that Caroline started its British good export drive as
from that Sunday a weekly spot, between 9.00 and 10.00 was started under
the name ‘Caroline Continental
Hour’. When hearing the air-check I remembered that it was
heavily highlighted in the press and part of it was the promise that in
the programs the listener would get a central place. Either Holland,
Belgium, Germany or French the listener would be number one. Requests
would be played and announced in English as well in the language of the
listener. British advertisers were promised an 80% discount, which meant
in those days a price of only 12 Pounds for a 30 seconds commercial. It
was promised that the commercial would be announced in four languages.
Just a month earlier the Dutch Music Magazine Muziek Express announced
that Caroline programs held place four in the most popular programs
listened by Dutch people. By the way, many continental magazines and
newspapers carried the Caroline programmes. If you do have special
memories to the early days of offshore radio don’t hesitate to mention
them to me at Hknot@home.nl
Now we come to a very early publication from May 1964, yes, only 2
months after Radio Caroline made her very first transmission from the
MV Fredericia. Already in
those days several times in newspapers could be read that soon the
British Government would make an end to Offshore Radio. What should have
happened if they had chased the station and made an end to Offshore
Radio in 1964? We wouldn’t be this massive group still talking and
reading about this part of the Radio Industry. Anyway the Postmaster
General surely wanted to act against Caroline in May 1964 as he asked
his assistant to answer questions. Here a small report: ‘Answering a
question from Roy Mason, Labour member for Barnsley, and shadow PMG Ray
Mawby, the Assistant PMG, confirmed rumours that action is pending
against Radio Caroline currently broadcasting from 6 am to 6 pm and
Radio Atlanta due to begin test transmissions soon. `New legislation
which would effectively deprive pirate broadcasters of material support
is the most suitable action to take,' he replied. Bevins' draft Bill is
being considered by a Cabinet committee in a few days time. It could
receive Cabinet approval by next week.’
Thinking back that it was only May 1964 that this was reported the PMG
must have worked hard as – what was later the main structure of the MOA
– he knew already what to do: ‘While the Government cannot exercise
control over ships not in British territorial water- the Bill could make
it an offence for British subjects to work aboard such ships or to
supply them with stores or services, and sponsor advertisements for
transmission. What support this would have in the House is uncertain.
Labour MP Roy Mason made no bones about his opinion: 'We will kill these
stations stone dead. I cannot see opposition to the Bill of any
consequence from either side of the House.'
The Advertising agencies seemed to be on both sides in those days
reading their comments: ‘The ISBA was as frank as Roy Mason. `We have
always recommended commercial sound radio,' said a spokesman. `The
listenership which Radio Caroline has attracted has disproved a
Pilkington Committee misstatement that there is no demand for it.
Perhaps things might happen now.'
The Advertising Association was openly hostile to the `pirates.' A
spokesman stated that the AA has always circulated the PMG's opinions
and supported his views on this matter: `To have done less would be
encouraging people to break the law.' Brian F. MacCabe. President of the
Institute of Practitioners in Advertising, said `We would be
disappointed if legislation were introduced without the Government
giving any undertaking to re-examine the possibility of a properly
controlled system of commercial radio in this country.` The operations
of Radio Caroline have shown that, despite the Pilkington committee's
opinion, there is in fact widespread public interest in, and demand for,
additional radio programmes. And, if it were also found that there was
sufficient advertising support the programmes would be provided without
cost to the public.' The National Broadcasting Development Committee
members are sure to use this occasion to press for the licensing of
commercial radio experiments. Resentment is felt at the intrusion of
people's liberty of action which the Bill involves.’
The journalist also tried to get comments from people from the mentioned
stations but neither Radio Caroline nor Radio Atlanta would comment.
Robert Cooke, in those days an outspoken Conservative member for Bristol
West who lent his name and presence to commercial radio tests made in
Bristol, refused also to give an opinion until he knew what was afoot.
‘While all this tension and expectancy is being maintained news comes
from Frank Gillard, director of BBC Sound, that after the general
election the BBC will start six experimental radio stations and give
them a 12 months test. He predicted that with another 5 sterling added
to the licence fee the BBC could establish 100 local stations.’
The same month of May 1964 already listening ratings were known as the
Social Surveys (Gallup Poll) Ltd reported that: ‘In the first three
weeks of broadcasting 6,840,000 people have listened to Radio Caroline,
36%, of the 19 million adults age 16 and over in the area covered. Of
this total 5,900,000 listened at some time during the past seven days on
three separate days. This is 31% of the population in the area. Over 3,5
million listened in the last twenty-four hours at least twice per day.
This is 20% of the population in the area. Almost half of the 16 to 24
age group in the area listened in the last twenty-four hours. Over half,
53% of the 16 to 24 age group in the area, listened during the past week.
On the average three days out of seven. Listeners are almost equally
divided between men and women.’
After this information from the cellar of Offshore History we go back to
a reader, which is Lee Morrison who wrote: ‘Hi, Hans. Just read your
October 2007 (1) Report, and I was interested that you mentioned the 'Offshore
Radio Remembered' documentary. I happened to catch it myself when the
station was streaming, and I was quite surprised because it had a
familiar ring to it...
The documentary is actually derived from episode 4 of the 6-part series
The Story of Pop Radio
which was originally broadcast by the BBC in 1982 and repeated with some
revisions in 1983. The whole series is available on azanorak.com at:
http://azanorak.com/pub/Documentaries_&_Tributes/The_Story_of_Pop_Radio/
The Swinging Radio England site abridged the episode and dubbed music
over some of the spoken sections. And where did they get the recording
from? Well, they downloaded it from azanorak themselves, of course. And
why am I so sure of this? Why else but because I was the one who
uploaded it in the first place, of course. I originally recorded the
entire series on 7 & 1/2 ips (19cm/s) reel to reel when it was
originally broadcast. My old reel to reel decks broke down in 1991, but
I finally got a replacement secondhand deck about 2 years ago and set
about transferring my recordings to digital. The reason I'm so sure the
SRE version is taken from my tapes is that 1) I'm pretty sure they
wouldn't have got hold of the original BBC tapes, and 2) without wanting
to sound smug or arrogant, I think the chances of anyone else having
such a good quality off-air recording, and transferring it to digital
with the same amount of care and attention as I did, is pretty slim.
Anyway, it's interesting to think that if I hadn't bothered to upload
the series, SRE would have had to find something else to put on,
although I really wish they hadn't plastered all that intrusive music
over the narration. All the best, Lee Morrison.’
Well Lee you have described a real Act of Offshore Piracy, I agree. Well
this ends up this edition of the Hans Knot International Radio Report.
Of course you can send all memories, photos or other material as usual
to me at Hknot@home.nl
It’s another week to go in the month of October 2007 and then some 10
other days to the annual Radio
Day in Amsterdam. And ‘yes’ I’m very proud that I am part of it
during all those years. I know it will be an unforgettable day. A very
good program this time with a ‘thank you so much’ to Martin van der Ven.
I’m delighted to present, together with Robbie Dale the Radio Day Awards.
He was one of the people attending on the very first Radio Day, then
called Zeezenders 20, way back in 1978. A weekend presented in
cooperation between Music Radio Promotions, RadioVisie and Freewave
Media Magazine. The latter came out during the Convention for the first
time with me as Final Editor as a monthly. Lucky enough I’m very happy
that the readership for the magazine is still there after 30 years and
more readers were found for the Hans Knot International Radio Report
during the past 7 years. Let us all have a remarkable day at Casa 400 on
November 10th. See you there! Hans Knot.
Offshore Radio Programme Names - Programmanamen Zeezenders 1958-1990
Read Hans Knot's former report