Hans Knot's International Radio Report - November 2008
First of all a good
day to everyone, and welcome to the November edition of the Hans Knot
International Radio Report. A lot has happened since last issue and also
we have some things, which didn’t make the October issue. For instant
the e mail Martin Kayne
sent me in which he mentioned that 48 photos could be seen on the
following internet link. Martin would like to share the photographs
taken during the Caroline North
Convention, in September.
https://smilebox.com/playEmail/4e4463794d6a4d334d4877354d6a55774e44497a0d0a&sb=1
Thanks a lot Martin, your contribution is always most appreciated.
Then an e mail from former RNI and Caroline deejay from the seventies,
Ian Anderson, who
reflects on a topic in last issue: ‘I was interested to read your piece
from Dutch Media of Ton Lathouwers stepping down from the Sky Radio
Group virtually 20 years to the day of the start of his Sky Radio on
Eutelsat 13 East. No doubt you will have something on Ton's past. I
spoke to Ton several times in the weeks before Sky Radio started, mainly
to discuss the Schafer automation system that he had chosen. This was
based on a bank of Betamax players with video-cassettes of music and a
personal computer to select and to fire them all off. The year before we
had installed another system that had failed to work properly and the
supplier kindly took it back so I was interested in his choice. We at
SIBC never did go for Schafer, opting a couple of years later for the
Pristine system.’
Ian Anderson SIBC, which stands for Shetland Islands Broadcasting
Corporation.
Thanks Ian, yes I remember the enormous rack with Betamax recorders,
when visiting the Sky Radio outlet many years ago. In the late eighties
also the people at Cable One worked with the same system. Still have
some tapes in my archive with many hours of Cable One. Only can’t play
them as the system they used was regulated.
Look
whom we have as third entry this month: ‘Cher Monsieur Hans! Excellent
report as always. I had to read the whole report to find me so rest
assured the tactic worked! You said: He good rocking Emperor, there on
your chair in California, why didn’t you mention the next news: ‘Hi
Hans, You may be interested in this news from Ayia Napa,Cyprus. (with
thanks to Mark).’
‘I think it’s the L.A. Connection (one of my shows). If it is 106.3 fm
is on that station so I got confused! So lets give them a plug: Thanks:
NAPA FM for your good taste and keep rocking @! Real big news next
month! I will send you a photo, that may be a clue as to the direction!
The details next month, but you can use one as a teaser if you like! :)
Take care and have a great radio day! The Hans Knot fan club of the So
Cal Emperor Rosko.’
Mysterious Photo Emperor Rosko
Thanks Emperor and surely you will be back next month with more
mysterious hints. We will have fun on the Radio Day and hopefully you
will drop in one day too!
Last month we had the question where to find an old television
commercial from the Esso Company.
Well within 2 days I had 5 answers and here’s one of them: ‘Hello Hans,
regarding the request for information about the Esso advertisement on
British television: ‘Boom boom boom boom, Esso Blue’. The actor who did
the voice over for those animated advertisements was the Yorkshire actor
Gordon Rollings, who did many voiceovers in the 50s and 60s as well as
appearing in films - he was in Carry on Doctor - and television series
and plays, including Coronation Street. He is best known as the pub
gofer for John Smiths Beers, see
https://theherbs.homestead.com/GordonRollings/Arkwright1.JPG.
Rollings worked a lot in animations. The Esso Blue advert is viewable on
the Whirligig website,
https://www.whirligig-tv.co.uk/tv/adverts/commercials.htm
.Unfortunately Mr Rollings has died.
Hope this helps, Paul.’
Well
Paul and all the others thank you so much sharing your knowledge with
us.
Then an e mail from Willem de Bruijn who wrote: ‘I really enjoyed the
last Knot Report. Also thanks for the link to the recently published
photos of the MEBO II. It
really gives an inside look on how the radio sip was in those days. It
is nice of Hans Hogendoorn that he wanted to share the photos with your
readers. In those RNI days it was always a pleasure for me when Hans ten
Hoge presented the program ‘Driemaster’. A pity it was he was not too
much on the air with the program. Nico Steenbergen, I think, not always
had pleasure doing the show (and he also gave a token about it). The
other Driemaster presenter, Leo van der Goot, was a bit too lively. In
1971, and I don’t know if this question was asked earlier, there was a
certain Mark Stuart on
the MEBO II, who worked for the English Service. He had his own style of
presentation and: 'Can't be bad, could be worse' were his stopgaps And
don’t’ forget his phrase: ‘RNI news... now....’
Mark Stuart: Freewave Archive
I
remember Mark didn’t stay too long with RNI because he felt seasick.
There was a little article about him in Muziek Parade. During the
weekends he was on shoreleave he was also part of the drive in show. One
day he told a few times in his program that he forgot his shoes in Ferry
Maat his car. I think 1971 was a very good year for the RNI English
Service with people like Mike Ross, Dave Rodgers, Andy Archer and Brian
McKenzie, to name a few. My question is what happened to Marc Stuart.’
Trip Tender and Trip Senior in
Scheveningen harbour in 1997 (Photo: Willem de Bruijn)
Thanks Willem for the photo and can I add Paul May to the names for he
was also excellent, that is in my ears. Well I forwarded your question
to Hans ten Hooge and he came back with: ‘Yes Mark Stuart, he was about
18 years of age. Children work it was in those days at the RNI Company
and Strengholt-concern. I remember him as a nice chap. But for the rest
I know not too much. One of the things I found on internet:
https://www.quizquest.fsnet.co.uk/markstuart.htm
I haven't been able to find out much about Mark Stuart, real name Mel
Bowden. He joined RNI in June 1971, from BBC Radio Brighton as a
replacement for Tony Allan. His first broadcast was on June 17th. He
left RNI in October 1971, in protest at the sacking of his friend
Crispian St.John, returning to BBC radio Brighton. Mark's last show was
on October 20, 1971. He later found fame and fortune as the boss of
electronics company MBI, who produced studio equipment, including mixing
tables.’ But I found more as Mark Stuart still, I think, has a running
company with 6 people working for him:
https://www.applegate.co.uk/company/10/56/308.htm
Maldwyn Bowden International Sales Ltd
168 Edward Street
Brighton
BN2 0JB (Road Map)
East Sussex
Thanks a lot Hans Hogendoorn for your research.
Then a certain Steve who wanted some promotion, which of course he will
get: ‘We have started up a web site showing a missing part of the UK
land bAsed pirates 60'-70's that may be of interest to you.
www.radiokaleidoscope.com
All comments welcome. Kind Regards, Steve.
Of course for all readers count that it’s possible to comment at
HKnot@home.nl and if you’ve
photographs or other attachments please use
hans.knot@gmail.com
Then Bob LeRoi with his
monthly feature: ‘Welcome to the Autumn October 2008 Update. In
‘Scrapbook’ we venture to ‘cloggie land’ for the continuation of the MV
Communicator saga, includes the torturous ship owner changes all in
never before published pictures of the ship in Holland
‘One Subject One Link’ asks in a contribution is it right that Kids are
on radio? We’ve added yet more Albums titles to the Record Store with
the Beat, Beck Carmine and Appice. Whilst in the CD Store you can find
Bread & the first of the Beatles CD Albums. To conclude if you’re
interested you can see some National treasures of Scotland with pictures
of the RY Britannia, the Forth Rail Bridge & Tayside Enjoy Your Visits
www.bobleroi.co.uk
Alex Bervoets from Belgium had a short phrase in his e mail station:
Once again I want to congratulate you with the Radio Report. Every time
I’ve hours of reading pleasure. Simply Fantastic.
Then
Oeds Jan from Holland: ‘Maybe the next is of interest for your readers.
From Sunday October 26th I will in my program ‘Anno
1900’, which can be heard on OOG Radio 105.5 on the local
cablenetwork in Groningen, 106.6. on the air and on
www.oogtv.nl from 14-15 hrs Dutch Time
bring back, for a couple of weeks, musical memories from the sixties and
Radio London and Caroline. I will play during those weeks all the number
one hits London and Caroline had between early 1965 and September 1967.
In total 80 songs. In between original Caroline and London jingles will
be played and in the last show also we have airchecks of several
stations and their closedowns at August 14th 1967. ‘ Was signed Oeds Jan
Koster.
And the t-shirts, they
just keep on coming! The one you see next is from 1985 and the days that
on the Ross Revenge a Dutch station, called Monique, was the sister
station for Radio Caroline. I don’t know if the girl’s name is Monique
but the photo was found in Amsterdam. Next time more about the ‘Fight
for Free Radio’ t-shirt.
On
Radio 5 the Jewish Broadcast Cooperation in Holland paid attention to
the Voice of Peace in a
one hour documentary produced by Peter Kroon. It featured the stories
from Kas Collins, Bob Noakes, Rabi Soetendorp and I as well as many
jingles and promotional spots from the station. The same week, on
Saturday October 18th, almost a whole page in the Volkskrant in Holland,
paid attention to the humanitarian work which Abe Nathan did 40 years
ago, written very well by Marie Louise Schipper. She is writing a book
in which Abe is playing also an important role.
In last issue we had the wonderful
painting made by Martin
van der Ven’s mother and Mary Payne replied to the question if someone
else has also a painting of a radioship: ‘It was interesting Martin to
see in Hans's newsletter the photo of you and your mother with the
painting of the Mebo II. What a lovely gift! Your mother is very
talented and I'm sure you're delighted with her beautiful painting. Many
members of my family (all now deceased) enjoyed painting and drawing and
I have so many of their pictures that we don't have enough wall space to
display them! However, the only offshore radio picture I have is a
cartoon of the Knock John fort. Here's the photo of the cartoon
presented to me in 1999 on my 50th birthday, by my good friends Pauline
and Dave Miller. Pauline was the person who in 1998 came up with the
idea of us holding Radio London reunions - and look what that led to!
Because I used to run the Knees Club, Barney, the cartoonist, turned
fort Knock John naval fort into 'Knock-kneed John'! (I love 'John's'
rusty shorts!) He has even shown the Ross Revenge on the horizon. As you
can imagine, I was really delighted with this original and very witty
offshore gift. Yours kneesily, Mary Payne.
*******************************************************************
Review
of ‘The Offshore Radio years Volume Sixteen’. From High Sea’s Media
another DVD has been released, this time covering the last year of the
eighties and the time Radio Caroline was on the air from international
waters in the early nineties of last century. I have seen most of the 16
DVD’s in this series but I never was so astonished about the many,
beautiful and very clear recordings, which have been made during that
period. Most beautiful shots taken from an airplane, as well as
recordings made on the 25th birthday, the station celebrated in spring
of 1989. Also a part of this, 60 min plus DVD, tells the story about the
raid on the Ross Revenge by Dutch and English authorities. For the first
time I’ve seen shots from the Volans, the Dutch tug, arriving near the
radio ship. On the DVD it’s told that there were negotiations under
which the Dutch could go back to land without problems. Also it’s shown
that, thanks to Chicago and his efforts, the station came back on the
air in no time after most of the equipment was brought on shore in
Holland. A pity no recordings are used from the Dutch radio, who
reported much on the happenings that August Day. Of course is mentioned
that on one stage that a part of the equipment was brought back on the
ship, however not of the fact that the costs for the deliverance was
paid by Dutch Foundation for Media Communication. As happened many times
before, Dutch money would help the Caroline organisation this time. Also
it’s shown that a lot of listeners donated their own LP question;
equipment came from several ILR stations to help Caroline back on the
air on 558. Of course the problems with this frequency (Spectrum Radio
in London was officially given this frequency so interference would
happen) is not forgotten. In 1990 the ship came in severe problems due
to a heavy storm and all the crew had to leave the ship by helicopter.
When the new UK Broadcasting Act became law in 1991 it was time to go on
legal for the organisation. Dover became the first city to get a RSL
license to have a 28 days broadcast for Radio Caroline. From that point
on Radio Caroline wasn’t anymore ‘Establishment Enemy Number One.’
For more information on this and other DVD’s go to:
https://www.offshoreechos.com/Accueil%20English%20Catalogue-01.htm
**************************************************************
Hi Hans.. Some weeks ago we were asked if we could play a song sung by
children from the Mayflower Primary School in Dovercourt Essex in the UK
on Radio Seagull and also give out there web site address where anyone
could watch the video and download the song (with a £1 donation to the
Charity CLIC Sargent that cares for Children with Cancer). I loved the
song and sent it to Sue Marchant at the BBC as she has a show that
covers the east of England on BBC local radio each evening. She liked it
so much that she had the kids in the studio to sing it live. It’s a
great song sung by a 12 year old young lady "Laura Green" and the
children from the school. The original was sung by the Wiredaisys. The
Web Site is
www.moonbootson.com/rocketgirl Its a great song and the £1 go's to a
very good cause. Hope you can print this in your international radio
report and they can add a few more £ to help kids with Cancer. Thanks
Dave Fox "Radio Seagull" PS a great web site!
*******************************************************************
Now time for Jon’s Pages:
Time for an update to The Pirate Radio Hall of Fame.
New for October..... Over the weekend of 19-21 September, a celebration
of Radio Caroline North took place on the Isle of Man. We have a four
page report packed with photos from this excellent event; Colin Nicol
provides a 1965 newspaper interview with Caroline's founder Ronan
O'Rahilly; and we have another page of cuttings and memorabilia from
Keith Martin's offshore archive.
Jon at The Pirate Radio Hall of Fame
www.offshoreradio.co.uk
*******************************************************************
Remember Mark Stafford
going for a weekend with his lady to London finding out there was
something special with 6
Chesterfield Gardens? Well he came back again with the next spy
information: ‘Hans, thank you for the mention on the recent newsletter
and also the nice comments about my show.
After writing to you I got in touch with Mary & Chris Payne who also got
John Myer involved. Between us we pieced the whole story of Caroline
House at 6 Chesterfield Gardens prior to Caroline moving in. This is
what we found:
We know the following to be true:- 1. In the book, "A Spy's London: A
Walk Book of 136 Sites in Central London Relating to Spies, Spycatchers
& Subversives". There is a clear reference to MI5 agent Tomas (correct
spelling!) "Tommy" Harris Living at 6 Chesterfield Gardens, the quote
being ... "Number 6 Chesterfield Gardens (the home of MI5's Tomas
Harris), the drawing room of which was the scene of roisterous wartime
bashes, attended by exactly the same people!" On top of that No 6
Chesterfield Gardens, is now part of the "SPIES' & SPYCATCHERS' LONDON"
walk, were tourists are told that it has an association with Kim Philby.
2. Tomás (Tommy) Harris was born on the 10 April, 1908 at Hampstead,
London and died on the 27 January 1964 in Majorca, Spain in a motor
accident. On the internet it is eluded that his death was the centre of
some mystery. He was a Spanish-speaking officer with MI5 during World
War II who worked with Garbo, an important double agent for the British.
Together they made up a fictional team of 27 fake sub-agents, who were
created in order to convince German intelligence that Garbo was a
reliable spy. This resulted in what became known as The Garbo deception.
He was also an artist, and an art dealer. In later years he is known to
have had friendships with British MI5 agent, Kim Philby, who defected to
the Russians in 1963.
3. Kim Philby's book ..."My Silent War; the Soviet Master Spy's Own
Story: The Soviet Master Spy's" by Kim Philby 1968 has the following
quotes: Page 43: "During my occasional visits to London, I had made a
point of calling at Tommy Harris's house in Chesterfield Gardens, where
he lived surrounded by his art ..." Other books have also confirmed the
visits to 6 Chesterfield Gardens.... The Climate of Treason: Five Who
Spied for Russia by Andrew Boyle 1979 - 504 pages Page 246 "....or in
the more elegant surroundings of Tommy Harris's home in Chesterfield
Gardens, Mayfair, where good food and wine never seemed to run out."
Philby: The Long Road to Moscow by Patrick Seale, Maureen McConville,
1973 - 282 pages. Page 166 "... into the spy- catching world of MI5,
where his intimate knowledge of Spain and Spaniards was put to good use.
His house in Chesterfield Gardens..." Operation Garbo: The Personal
Story of the Most Successful Double Agent of ... by Juan Pujol, Nigel
West 1985 - 205 pages. Page 192: "... Harris's gallery home in
Chesterfield Gardens and had known Philby, Blunt, ... But had he also
been a Soviet spy?" Philby: the hidden years by Morris Riley 1999 - 198
pages. Page 8: "Once more, access came about through a friend, in the
form of Tommy Harris. He and Philby often met at Harris's home at
Chesterfield Gardens, London ..." I think we have more than enough
substance there to confirm this interesting chapter in the history of
Caroline House.
I spoke to Peter Moore recently, and told him about all of this. It was
something he had never heard Ronan talk about and he is quite sure that
Ronan would not be aware of this. By pure coincidence, he was meeting
Ronan a few days after and was going to pass on the info. I've been away
on holiday and I've not spoken to him since. If anything interesting
comes out of that I'll let you know. Best regards, Mark Stafford.’
Well thanks to you Mark, Jon and also Mary for the additional
information. Great work but I presume you don’t ask me to read all those
books, as I’ve so much other material to read!
It’s
Jam time, a sorry it’s Robbie
Dale time: ‘Good morning from sunny Lanzarote. I thought you may
like to see these pictures from our resent reunion in Dublin. It was a
great joy to taste the “kindred spirit” and see the sun-shiners gel as
they did so many years ago. A radio is only radio, what makes radio
special are the people in it, who create the love, the joy and
excitement we share with them. It was a fabulous experience to be united
again with so many members of my former team, to see at first hand how
well they looked and hear about their continued successes in life,
broadcasting, media and travel. We have one former Sunshine Radio top
jock that traded his love of wearing cans and flying a mixing desk in
Ireland for literally taking it to the heights by becoming a Swiss-Air
Captain wearing cans and flying passenger jets across Europe. Other team
members are presenting programs, in news and management both in radio
and television; across Europe some have become very high profile
personalities other have moved into top jobs in the newspaper and
entertainment industries. They came together to celebrate and rekindle
that golden thread of friendship and passion that binds us radio folks
forever.
https://www..flickr.com/photos/sunshine-reunion/sets/72157607644369596/
Robbie Dale together with his son and wife at the reunion Sunshine Radio
Organiser Roger Lane was heard to say several times “Never Again”
however there are rumours of a 25th reunion being organised in
Lanzarote!
Remember the question two issues ago about a part of a jingle where two
of the lines were "the summer came and the summer went and so did one or
two of our gents" appeared? Robin Richardson wrote to me: ‘I believe
that it was heard in 1973 or 1974 on Radio Caroline and wonder if you
have any more info. Last month we had suggestions from Andy Archer and
Johnny Jason and this time the answer is given by Bob Lawrence with just
one sentence. ........ the line was from a song which Tony Allan made
over a Judge Dread record. It was the superb 1974 Christmas Song and the
title of the song of Judge Dread was ‘Big Nine’. Regards,
Bob Lawrence.’ Thanks Bob
and I sent your answer at once to Robin who just came back with: ‘Hans,
this is the one -excellent! Thank you, Robin.
From Andy Sennit the sad message that
Tim Thomason died: ‘He
was involved with the King David in its brief life as an offshore radio
ship.’ Thanks Andy for bringing this message. As a tribute to the late
Tim Thomason I’ve decided to republish a 2003 interview which was
published before on
www.soundscapes.info
The interviewer was my
brother Jelle Knot:
‘In the 1960s Tim
Thomason and his then wife Berthe Beydals initiated the International
Broadcast Society. Backed by investor Dirk de Groot and his friends, the
IBS realised the plan to start an offshore radio station in the North
Sea. To this end two companies were formed — the Kangaroo Pioneering
Company and the Salt Water Foundation — and two ships were acquired —
the MV Zeevaart, renamed into King David, and the tender Twee Gezusters,
renamed into Kangaroo. The King David was equipped with a strange but
revolutionary circular antenna. On May 1, 1970, Radio Capital aired its
first test programmes. The adventure didn't last long. That very same
year, on November 10, the MV King David broke adrift and ran ashore near
Noordwijk. Recently Jelle Knot met Thomason at his home in
Elisabethgaarde, Bussum — where Capital's studios were situated in the
1970's — and asked him how it all started...
Jelle Knot: As a born Canadian, Tim, what brought you to the
Netherlands?
Tim Thomason: I came to the Netherlands in 1960 to work on the
Wereldomroep, the Dutch World Service, English department. Before that
time I was on the radio in Ottawa, Canada. I was also a radio
journalist. In the Netherlands I ended up with Capital Radio as my own
project; it was an idealistic project, it wasn't completely done for the
money.
Jelle Knot: In our archives we found something — the first reference
dates back to 1965 — regarding the Global Reference Work. Can you tell
us something more about it?
Tim Thomason: During my stay at the Wereldomroep, I was invited by the
then managing director to investigate the usefulness of the
Wereldomroep. To my regret, I was very naïve, not politically correct: I
said what I thought to be the truth. I wouldn't do that again. I arrived
at the conclusion, that the Wereldomroep as an enterprise had no reason
to exist. I thought that, except for children, nobody really was
listening to the station — people only listened to receive QSL-cards. I
didn't make a secret of my conclusion. I gave the report to the managing
director, and he was furious about it. We had a huge argument, and the
result was that I established a society on the international level, the
International Broadcasting Society, aiming at assembling broadcasting
companies over the whole world as professionals. It was not a political
thing: there were Russians, the then Eastern Block and Asian Countries
who were, in those days, unfriendly towards the Western World. It was a
professional association and it had two levels: companies could be
members ... I won't exaggerate, because I don't have the figures
anymore, but I think that we had about 100, 150 organizations that were
members, amongst them companies in Africa, Latin America, Canada,
Australia ... and next there individual members, probably more than
1,000 of them, all broadcasters.
Jelle Knot: Can we see, in the same light, the events in Czechoslovakia?
You were very active, it seems, during the Prague Spring in 1968 ...
Tim Thomason: Yes and no; we had quite a few members in Prague. When
they wanted to leave Czechoslovakia because things went wrong there,
they had evidence that they were allowed to go abroad to pay a visit to
the International Broadcasting Society; in those days they had a legal
cop-out to get a visa. Many people made use of that to leave the
country.
Jelle Knot: I heard, the International Broadcasting Society was also
presenting awards...
Tim Thomason: Yes, the aim was to reward individuals, not companies, for
their broadcasting contributions. Bull Verweij, and his two brothers, is
also a hero in my eyes, for various reasons, not only because he has
established Radio Veronica, it's more than that. When there were
problems, with the bombing of the RNI transmitter ship, he took the
responsibility, though he was not involved personally. I know that by
coincidence. I won't give any names: the guy who performed the whole
operation is a tricky guy, very intelligent. Verweij took the blame and
went to prison. For that reason I very much respect him, as well as for
what he did during World War II and afterwards. He had a criminal past
and, after the war, he wasn't allowed to work for the bank anymore where
he used to work. So he was more or less forced by his brothers to go
working with them. OK, in the end everything turned out well, but it's
all about the man. A first class man!
Jelle Knot: How did you get the idea to establish Capital Radio? Did you
have specific intentions and did you think there was there a market for
the station?
Tim Thomason: I have to speak for myself, yes, I believed in it — if
only we had been on the air for a longer period of time. We had a wad of
contracts, mostly from religious and political circles; each wanted some
time to broadcast. I have no objection against left wing, right wing,
middle wing ... as for me; everyone is allowed some space on the
airwaves. For me, it's not one against the other. In America, at the
beginning of the 1970's, there were many churches with broadcasting
companies and money to pay those broadcasting companies; amongst them
the Baptists. Here in the Netherlands we had Toornvliet. In those days
we were still building up, we weren't ready yet to do business and
acquire contracts.
Jelle Knot: The ideal of the organization was that radio had to be made
in an attractive way, without influence from above.
Tim Thomason: Yes, where the public clearly has a say in programming. I
had specific ideas from experience, I came from the broadcasting world,
I was completely against the Dutch system, I found it incorrect ... it
had to be more American-Canadian. I think, particularly of FM, the
public broadcasting system that it was all right, but difficult to
sustain financially ... but, right, that was good. One doesn't have to
become rich, to have too many staff, like here in the Netherlands. Radio
has to be made by a small group reacting immediately to the public's
wishes. If the public wants classical music, it has to get classical
music, if it wants more pop, it has to get that. In our days, the
1970's, there wasn't sweet music anymore, only pop. I found it
appalling; in my eyes there wasn't music anymore. Thus by programming
American country and western music, Latin American music again, the
station became enormously popular.
Jelle Knot: The station even aired classical music on a Sunday!
Tim Thomason: Yes, and not only on a Sunday, but certainly on a Sunday.
And I was popular. When we went down, the great drama on the sea at
Noordwijk ... who were our supporters? They came in bus loads. The Red
Cross was there, with all staff working there, the police, the fire
brigade; they were all there to say: "We enjoyed it, keep on; maybe you
can be back on the air very soon." It was amazing to see the reactions
to our trials and tribulations. We weren't doing better than Radio
Veronica. They did their thing and we did ours. They reached for their
audience, and
that
was nice for us because we hadn't to do it. We ploughed another field.
Jelle Knot: The MV Zeevaart had been lying at the quayside in Groningen
for years before you bought her. How did you find this particular ship?
At the time you were searching in England too for a good ship to sail
out.
King David in
Groningen Harbour under her former name Zeevaart (Archive Freewave)
Tim Thomason: The Kangaroo was a small trawler from Katwijk; we bought
her, not as a radio ship, but as a tender, for fuel and so on. That was
the first ship, but later, from Groningen, we acquired the Zeevaart,
formerly the Tiny Unitas Veritas. The ship had been build in the 1930's,
she was a coaster. Used by the Germans during the war, she had been
rather seriously damaged by the Allied aircraft. The former owner, ship
owner Van Bruggen, went bankrupt. The ship was offered to us by a
shipbroker ... we had various possibilities. There was a nearly new, but
sunken ship off Delfzijl; she too had been offered. She hadn't been too
long under water — a week or so ... salt does little harm to a ship
providing she's handled quickly — and the main engine too could be
salvaged if cleaned quickly. Unfortunately she had been impounded, thus
I didn't buy her. That's the only reason why I haven't bought her. The
price was only fl. 7,000. Later on, I was really sorry I didn't buy the
ship: for the ship that we did buy, we had to pay fl. 70,000. In those
days that was a lot of money and she wasn't equipped yet. Later on, we
invested yet quite a lot more money in the ship.
Jelle Knot: The ship sails out of Groningen, and then bad luck strikes
for the first time. Murphy's Law definitely was exerting its power over
this ship!
Tim Thomason: Quite right. We had bought that ship in Groningen. She had
to go through the canal to Delfzijl, and then to the sea. On the way to
Delfzijl, I had a pilot on board and he rammed the lock. That's right.
Jelle Knot: Just off the coast the c
aptain
had to leave the ship.
Tim Thomason: Yes, he was so frightened, and he was responsible, because
he was the captain, but it wasn't his fault ... He went to pieces after
the accident.
Jelle Knot: The story goes that he had appendicitis...
Tim Thomason: Indeed, that's what he said at the time, it might be
right; it doesn't matter, he was on the verge of a breakdown.
Jelle Knot: Then you went to Zaandam where the ship was equipped. In the
dock new plates were put on the hull. The ship was not in a bad state,
it was just an old ship. The necessary amount of concrete was poured
into the ship to give it steadiness on the high seas. Which technical
facilities were built then? Where there already studios on board or were
the programs recorded on land?
Studio on the ship
(Photo Freewave Archive)
Tim Thomason: Two emergency studios were built ... In case a message had
to be send from sea to land or vice versa. But in fact ... all we did
... have you ever heard Capital Radio? It was a middle of the road music
station. I didn't want to have deejays, no shouting guys or girls or
whatsoever. Just music and a time signal every hour. My wish for it was
to be 100% accurate. And it was. You get fifteen minutes of unint
errupted
music, then the name of the station in different languages: "Here
Capital Radio." That was it. The aim was to sell blocks of fifteen,
thirty minutes, one hour to the financial backers, in which they could
give their message to the audience ... but only restricted messages, not
an hour of blablablabla. It had to be music.
Tim Thomason
(Photo: Rob Olthof)
Jelle Knot: At the start, there was only one pair of emergency studios?
Tim Thomason: (showing some pictures of the ship) Here, at the right, we
had recording studio's, two. We had a fairly large record library,
because every music producer saw to it that his records were delivered
to the station. The collaboration with the commercial world was
excellent; we were willing to pay all costs to Buma / Stemra, the Dutch
Music Copyright / Performing Rights, but we had no intention of keeping
records in order to justify every minute of the day, and they didn't
care, as long as we were willing to pay. We had made a deal to pay a
particular sum.
Jelle Knot: While the ship was being equipped, were there any signals
from the authorities, letting you know that they were aware of what was
going on and that they intended to take action against it?
Tim Thomason: We're talking about two countries, the Netherlands and
Great Britain; the Dutch government had no objection to pirate ships,
because our enterprise had nothing to do with the Dutch laws. The ship
was registered in Liechtenstein; we were the one and only offshore
station airing from a Liechtenstein ship. And furthermore, as long as we
didn't do it in the Netherlands, it was OK. The British had another
opinion, but they too have a kink in their law. For a device to be named
as a transmitter, it must have a crystal. As long as it's an electronic
device without a crystal, for the British it wasn't a transmitter. I
bought the old apparatus of Radio 270, I bought two brand new generators
with the diesel in England, I collected them with our "Kangaroo," and
then we sailed to Aberdeen. The English didn't like it, they damn well
knew what we did, we made no secret of it, but we had no crystal on
board ... the good crystal had been smuggled to the Netherlands. That
was a funny story. The crystal came from the RCA 10kW transmitter, the
crystal had the shape of a dildo, and you can imagine where you had to
use it. That makes it exciting and funny, we were laughing continuously.
The English impounded us, with the aim to make it impossible for us to
sail out, and at first they succeeded because the only thing that was
faulty with us, was the fact that we had no rocket line ... and there
was a shortage of fire extinguishers. So we bought everything on the
spot. Don't forget that we had capital backing us at that time ... it
was fairly easy to buy out and, still all laughing, we sailed out of the
harbour, to great anger of the British.
Jelle Knot: It has been said that initially the Kangaroo Pioneering
Company had a shareholder capital of one million guilders with Dirk de
Groot as major shareholder. Who was that man?
Tim Thomason: Dirk de Groot was a capitalist. In those days he dealt in
metal: the Mississipi Trade and Investment Company. The Kangaroo Company
too belonged to him, he owned several companies; he was my age, now 67,
in those days around 40. He was adventurous, an honest man, very honest
in every respect. He supported the idea of Capital Radio and he was
ready to put a considerable amount of money on the table. My wife too,
Berthe Beydals, had put the family fortune in it, and she lost it. I
wasn't worth anything, I was only a broadcaster. A broadcaster and
brains.
Jelle Knot: A special construction had been made to finance the whole
enterprise. The International Broadcasting Society would pay a certain
sum to the Liechtenstein enterprise. What about that? Was there already
a shortage of money, even before the station came on the air on the May
1, 1970?
Tim Thomason: Yes, that's when we got an additional financial injection
of Mister de Groot ... Not only him, for he represented a lot of people
who were, we can't say too stupid, but still ... There are people who
have money and want to invest it themselves. Mister de Groot was such a
man, who liked to do it himself ... And while he was doing it very well,
supporters, let's call them parasites, came to him saying: "Dirk, help
me, I've too much money!" So he helped them out with their investments.
Jelle Knot: The Zeevaart, the later King David, with its weight of 359
tons, had only been used for coastal navigation to Scandinavia in parts
of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. Was the ship fit to ride the North
Sea lying at anchor, where the sea is much rougher?
Tim Thomason: That's a good question. I'm not a seaman ... of course I
have some experience; but not enough to say it as an old sea captain. I
presume that the ship was large enough.
Jelle Knot: The ship was 43 meters long, 7 meters wide, with a draught
of nearly 3 meters. For the antenna installation a very special
construction had been chosen: a ring antenna, with all kinds of problems
involved. It had to be folded, while sailing through the harbour, and so
on. What was the advantage of this antenna, offshore? How is the
polarization of such an antenna?
Tim Thomason: Remember that we were an idealistic group, not only in the
sense of broadcasting our music ... I have to give a broad answer ...
Our crew composition, for instance ... we had a mixture of men and
women, we were in those days in favour of a mixed crew, half women, half
men. That was one of our little breakthroughs. The ring antenna ... we
had in our group of the International Broadcasters Society some
BBC-engineers who were wildly enthusiastic about specific technical
developments. The law in Europe stipulates ... they regulate who has the
frequencies, they restrict that very strongly to avoid competition ...
we said, that's all bullshit, that isn't really necessary, you can also
have a city radio that can broadcast on low power with high quality, in
FM or AM, technically spoken that can be very easy on very low power.
Prove it, everybody says, well, we did it. The ring antenna had the
following advantages: with an AM-broadcast you get nearly FM quality
within a certain distance; quality was super, really good. We used a
10kW transmitter, but we used less than 1kW; energy saving, good
broadcasting power, all possible thanks to the ring. The broadcasting
radius was limited, I have to admit that. As you're on the high seas,
however, that is no problem. Five kilometers off the coast of Noordwijk,
we could easily
cover
a large part of Zeeland, Rotterdam, Den Haag up till Amsterdam, somewhat
more north maybe. In that area reception was good. In England on the
East Coast reception was good as well. That was from the high seas,
however. If we had been on land, the limitations would have been far
much greater. In political terms, though, that means that it would be
interesting for a city such as Utrecht, for instance, to use a ring
antenna with low power that could be covering the whole city.
King David in
international waters (Freewave Archive)
Jelle Knot: You could broadcast with only 500 milliWatt?
Tim Thomason: That is to say ... that has to be tested ... that was part
of our message. We wanted to prove that a ring antenna, as developed by
the BBC, could be made to work. Besides, there was the fact that both
transmitters on 270 meter couldn't give interference, because the one
was far away in the north of Norway, the other one the south, in Italy.
Jelle Knot: When things went wrong with the antenna ... why did they
keep on trying to use that ring antenna over and over again? Why did
they not just simply put up a normal mast on the ship?
Tim Thomason: The problems we experienced were not electronic problems.
They purely were engineering problems: the ring was too slack, soft, or
light, you name it. It had to be able to go up and down rigidly. That's
were the problem was. The last time we went to sea, it went good, even
during the storm. The initial structure was wrong.
Jelle Knot: So the idea was good and the realisation faulty. Now, let's
go to the May 1, 1970. At that date, Capital Radio aired its test
transmissions using some BBC World Service tapes. The station also used
the well-known opening of Beethoven's Symphony Nr. 5 c-Moll Opus 67.
Tim Thomason: As I said before, we had BBC engineers ... I have no idea
where the tapes came from. In respect to the Beethoven Symphony: don't
forget, we felt like freedom fighters ... we had the impression that the
whole world was against us. Well, Winston Churchill was such a fighter
as well, and every Englishman knew the opening of this symphony:
"ta-ta-ta-tam" was "V" in Morse code, with "V" standing for "Victory."
It was used by the BBC in World War II and at the time it meant
tremendously much for people. Today it doesn't mean anything, it has
become just a little bit of Beethoven music ...
Jelle Knot: Initially, it was said there was no interference. Then the
ship is offshore, broadcasting, and all of a sudden the PTT — the Dutch
GPO — says that there is interference. Was this a political inspired
move or was the station really interfering with other stations?
Tim Thomason: I don't know. The PTT never came to me with that story.
And, we were always in official contact, with other broadcasting
companies as well. Officially they were against us, but unofficially
they had enormous respect for what our people did. The PTT never
complained and there has never been any serious interference, as far as
I know.
Jelle Knot: Next to man, you said, there was an equal number of women
forming the crew. Many people were skeptical about that innovation. Did
it prove to be a good idea afterwards? I know the crew members had to
sign a contract prohibiting sexual excesses, and so on ... but was it
pleasant to have three men and three women on board instead of six
males? Did these women perform typical gender-specific tasks, like
making breakfast in the morning, washing the dishes, doing the laundry
...
Tim Thomason: Oh no, not at all. It was not gendered at all. Man and
women were all doing the same things. All what the boys did was also
done by the girls and vice versa. Tim Thomason: Oh yes, and they did! I
have pictures of the girls working. There's even more to say about this
topic. Have you ever noticed, in movies or TV, when there's a panic
scene, that the men are always acting brave while the women go
screaming? In reality, you will see nothing of the sort! If you ever
have to live a disaster, take women with you! They stay cool; they know
exactly what they have to do ... as in our case they did. We've noticed
that on several occasions on the high seas. One time a man had a severe
accident on the ship and the women took care of him. Meanwhile, one of
my male officers ran downstairs, screaming, because he couldn't take it,
he couldn't face the sight of blood, he couldn't handle the disaster,
while we were busy talking in a helicopter above the foredeck in order
to lower a man from the Sea King helicopter and to take the injured man
from the ship. The women gave coffee, made soup and helped everyone,
while the others were broadcasting. The women stayed cool. That's only
one example, but they were always cool. When the ship was lying on the
beach, the panic level also stayed low.
Jelle Knot: Each ship has to carry a flag of a particular country. By
all means, how did you end up in Liechtenstein? That country is totally
surrounded land: Switzerland, Germany and Austria. At its borders, there
are neither seas, nor waterways at all. The MV "King David" was the
first vessel ever to fly the country's flag. What was the reason for
that and did it gave way to any comic situations?
Tim Thomason: It has created enormously comic situations ... Mister de
Groot who was our financial backer and we ourselves; we have always been
a little bit pioneers. Now he's dead, but he knew the former Prince of
Liechtenstein, and he asked him: "What do you think of putting a ship
under the Liechtenstein flag?" and he said: "I have no objection, if you
comply with all the laws of the other countries." These laws concern
ship's safety, insurance; there are two large insurance companies:
Lloyd's and the Scandinavian circuit. With that we had no problems as
our ship was insured. So we got the permission to fly the Liechtenstein
flag. It was decided over a cup of coffee and a joke.
Jelle Knot: At one stage, the ship sails out and there's no
Liechtenstein flag. Then at once the Swiss flag is raised. Why did this
happen?
Tim Thomason: That was because we couldn't find a Liechtenstein flag.
That was an emergency situation for two or three days.
Jelle Knot: Were all crewmembers on board by definition also members of
the Liechtenstein Navy?
Tim Thomason: We made it that way, because there is no Liechtenstein
Navy. Everybody believed it, so it was OK.
Jelle Knot: There still is a picture of you as a Commander of the
Liechtenstein Navy. It seems that Paul Harris, the author of the book
When pirates ruled the waves also had a rank ...
Tim Thomason: Yes, Paul Harris was a Lieutenant Commander. We were
showing off, because we were very suspicious of the other offshore
stations. Radio Veronica was no problem, but Radio Noordzee was a
unknown factor. I knew both owners, but there was a shady thing, and I
didn't know what it was. I know one thing of the sea: if you're outside
land, and you need help, you've got to help yourself. That's why we were
armed, not heavily ... we had a German machine gun, some stenguns,
pistols ... but we made a lot of fuzz about it, so much that when we
finally was towed into IJmuiden harbour, the marechaussee — the Dutch
State police — were awaiting us with a whole string of trucks. They
thought that we had guns and cannons on board. We wanted to frighten our
pirate colleagues. Now, I'm not talking about Bull Verweij and Radio
Veronica, I mean Radio Noordzee and the others, who would gladly take
over something if it was there for the taking. On sea, there's not much
you can do against it. So, we took care to have some arms and more so to
make some fuzz about it to make sure they would think twice before
taking any action.
Jelle Knot: If I'm well informed, there were two stenguns, two machine
rifles, a Browning machine gun and a number of nerve- gas bombs. The
arms were taken on board when the ship was in IJmuiden harbour in
September 1970 for repairs. The arms were mainly provided to deter
others in case they had plans to take-over?
Tim Thomason: Absolutely, and the uniforms too.
Jelle Knot: Once, when the tender was in Scarborough, four Landrovers
came on board. What was the joke behind those four Landrovers, or wasn't
it a joke?
Tim Thomason: No, it was serious matters. We bought a double- deck bus
in Aberdeen and we bought four Landrovers. We even had been negotiating
with the British authorities, a British government institution that had
gone bankrupt, to buy a fleet of trawlers. The reason was that we wanted
to establish a program of developmental aid by means of radio in
Colombia, off the coast of South America. We knew someone in Colombia,
who wanted to make use of the radio for distant learning. I believed in
the concept; I knew the man for many years and he knew me — we could
cooperate very well. For a start, we had to show that we were serious
about it. It never materialized, however. The project was enormous and
the financial means were rather scarce. I bought four Landrovers; they
were put on the deck of the tender "Kangaroo" ... to show the outside
world that we were busy buying material so we could get some more
funding.
Jelle
Knot: To show that there was more to Capital Radio than an offshore
radio station near Noordwijk?
Tim Thomason: Yes, that's right.
Jelle Knot: Capital Radio cultivated its own club of listeners, the
"Vrienden Van Vrije Radio" — Friends of Free Radio. In his book Paul
Harris wrote, that within one month the association already counted
5,000 members. Is that a fairy tale? And, is there more to say about the
association?
Tim Thomason: I know it only from memories ... if Paul Harris says there
were 5,000 members, OK, and then it's true. However, I don't think there
were that many of them, but not much less either. The response of the
Dutch listening public was enormous; if I remember well one had to pay
five guilders to become member. There was no program magazine, no
nonsense. There was just that one goal, to prove that we had as much
support as possible so the Dutch government would not take any action
against us. That was our greatest wish. We have had bad luck on the high
seas, but the aim was to establish the kind of following Radio Veronica
had.
Jelle Knot: Paul Harris played an important role in the events around
the King David and Capital Radio ...
Tim Thomason: Yes, Paul Harris still was a young man; I didn't know him
before we started, but I knew his book When pirates ruled the waves. I
found it, I read it and I phoned him. It clicked almost instantly
because his knowledge of the so-called piracy was huge, and my knowledge
was nearly nill. I wasn't interested in pirate radio, I was interested
in radio, free radio ... it's a matter of interpretation, of words. Paul
Harris had the knowledge and he has given me a tremendous amount of tips
and advice, but in the end I was the one who acquired the necessary
equipment like the transmitter and I was the one who made the necessary
supporting contacts all over Europe.
Jelle Knot: In those days, when one phoned Capital Radio in Bussum, it
was very often Paul Harris who answered the call. What were his tasks in
the Capital organisation?
Tim Thomason: At one stage the Capital Radio Project started employing
people, girls for instance for the studio's here downstairs. When
everything started running, Paul Harris joined my group at the service
of the International Broadcasters Society; his salary wasn't high, mine
wasn't high either, that's not the point, we worked together officially.
Jelle Knot: When you talk about the accident, then you are referring to
Noordwijk, where the ship ran ashore. However, there were some other
serious problems or incidents. When the ship sailed out for the first
time, on April 25, 1970, there was a force eight gale. The ship had to
return within a few hours with the aerial all twisted. On September 10,
1970, the ship again had to seek refuge, first in Zaandam and then in
IJmuiden harbour for repairs for almost a whole month. There were also
some personal accidents...
Tim Thomason: Oh yes, several ones. Two incidents concerned our third
officer, Arie van der Bent; one time he felt out of the mast, when he
was retuning the antenna; because of his weight the whole thing
collapsed, but there was also a more serious incident
Jelle Knot: That's the accident you referred to earlier when talking
about the women keeping and cool and the men panicking...
Tim Thomason: Yes, in fact Van de Bent was a fisherman that was his
profession. The man knew the sea, he could do welding work, and he was
very good at it. He was one of the few guys who could go in such a
saddle to do the job. I had long forgotten the story, because there were
no real consequences. Yes, indeed, he slipped and fell ... The other
time was far more serious. We went to sea with a very heavy anchor, our
ship was 350 tons and we had bought an anchor with a chain for, let's
say, a 10,000 tons ship. The thing was hanging on cables from the side
of the ship; it was so heavy that the ship went over to one side. When
we arrived at the spot where we intended to anchor the ship, we had to
cut those cables to let the chain go down. Unfortunately one of the crew
members, Van der Bent hadn't made his position clear to the others. They
didn't know were he was on the deck. That chain ran back and forth and
he had to stay out of that area. But he stood there and when the chain
went down into the water, it hit his left foot and the foot was almost
torn off. He wasn't dead, but it was extremely painful. That was the
serious accident.
Jelle Knot: He was then taken off the ship by a navy helicopter to a
hospital?
Tim Thomason: Yes. His foot was amputated there.
Jelle Knot: An important side to a commercial offshore radio station is
the advertisers. Did you have many advertisers at the start?
Tim Thomason: Promises, yes ... but not very much real advertisers. We
didn't need much, though, initially. Four advertisers for one hour would
yield a lot of money and our salaries were low. Fuel in those days was
very cheap ... believe it or not: one liter of diesel in those days only
amounted to ten cents for us, on the high seas. So you can understand
... we only needed a small income. We hoped to establish something good
by taking little steps at the time.
Jelle Knot: Each day, over a period of twelve months, I read that
advertising at prime time amounted to a prize of only fl. 1,000 ... that
is not a prohibitive sum at all.
Tim Thomason: Oh no, compared to our colleagues of Veronica ... we were
nothing; we were asking throw-away prices. Again, idealism was the main
driving force behind the whole project. Sure, we were out there to make
money, but we were not that poised to have it all at once.
Jelle Knot: Let's go back to September 1, 1970. At that date the station
had just officially started. Then the ring antenna breaks again. On
September, 11, it is clear that the ship has to return to harbour for
repairs. Next, the ship sails to Zaandam and there you get an official
visitor: Mr Neuteboom. Tim Thomason: When we heard that name, we knew
that something was wrong; he was the man of the Radio Controle Dienst,
the Dutch Radio Detection Service.
Jelle Knot: He boarded the ship with his men, do you still remember
that? What did he find there, and why did you leave the Zaandam harbour
so secretly?
Tim Thomason: He found that some things weren't right at all and he said
that he would make a report and that fitting measures would be taken. So
we decided to leave in secret. The ship left Zaandam at 5 o'clock in the
morning covertly, to use a German saying, "bei Nacht und Nebel." It's
only an anecdote, but I remember us sailing in the middle of the night.
On board we had a cameraman of the NTS — the Official Dutch Television —
and we were aware of the fact that there was a very large navy ship, I
believe it could have been a minesweeper, in IJmuiden harbour ...
seemingly it was not there for us, but somehow we were suspicious of it
... I asked the crew of our tender, the Kangaroo, to block out that navy
ship when we should sail out ... that what I asked them, saying that
everything must be done nicely, no arms, no threats ... You could hang a
black ball halfway the mast, meaning that you were busy doing underwater
activities. Other ships then wouldn't be allowed to come in your
vicinity because there are people working under water. So I told the
crew of the Kangaroo to go and lie in front of that minesweeper at the
harbour entrance, to hang up the black ball and just sit there till we
were back on the high seas. They sure weren't enthusiastic about it.
They were all Dutchmen and they knew the laws. But they were prepared to
do it. In IJmuiden, we repaired the damage, brought the weapons on board
that we talked about and also the heavy-weight anchor and the chain that
was to be the cause of the accident. Then we sailed out again ... in
fact, it appeared to be a bona fide spot ... nobody associated us with
Capital Radio. That's the whole story.
Jelle Knot: On October 10, Radio Capital was back on the air with its
regular programmes. Only one month later, on November 10, 1970 things
went wrong again. That's what you called Capital's bad day. What exactly
did happen on that day?
Tim Thomason: Well, there was a powerful storm and the ship lost her
anchor. There are some well-known pictures of the ship where you can see
that ship had two anchor chains; in reality there was always one chain,
because two chains twist and turn into each other, and that's not good.
We had that very, very large chain of a very large freight ship and to
my great surprise it broke during what I would call a hurricane,
force-twelve if my memory serves me well. It was a heavy storm for two
days, and during the storm that large chain with its bulgy links broke
down. At that moment the ship was adrift, the engine was still in
working order, but there was no rudder anymore. The rudder had gone and
it wasn't our intention to sail as the ship was without any control. We
could start the engine and go in circles, but we would have no control.
They haven't done it, and here I return to the attitude of our crew
ladies; the female crew stayed cool, you never know what could have
happened. The ship easily could have capsized, you name it. The girls,
however, stayed calm, made coffee and warned the men: "Stay calm, sit in
the mess room and wait."
Jelle Knot: Were you still on the air at that time? Tim Thomason: Yes
and no, we were on the air when we lost our anchor, but we stopped the
transmissions as soon as we realized that they were within the borders
of the three-mile zone.
Jelle Knot: The stories in the press saying that the ship ran aground as
a result of sabotage of the engines, are totally unfounded? Tim
Thomason: Yes, that's pure nonsense! The rudder had gone and so the ship
couldn't sail properly.
Jelle Knot: When the ship had ran ashore on the beach at Noordwijk,
several attempts were made to pull her loose. How did she in the end
come loose rather quickly?
Tim Thomason: First of all, the MV "King David" was a small ship.
Moreover, she was flat-bottomed and she was lying in the sand. You don't
need a lot of power to pull a ship like that free under these
conditions. There was no heavy damage ... Wijsmuller pulled us loose.
One of the Wijsmuller brothers is an acquaintance of mine, and they
pulled us loose quickly. In the end Wijsmuller impounded the ship. I was
both shocked and amazed about this, because Wijsmuller had promised me
personally not to impound the ship. The company's management, however,
demanded that it was done. The world of ship salvaging is a hard world.
Wijsmuller already had set an example by taking the ships of Radio
Caroline in 1968, because Caroline hadn't paid them for tendering. Both
Caroline ships then were impounded too by Wijsmuller. At the time, I
didn't know that ... I was amazed, because I had made an agreement with
one of the Wijsmullers. Later on, he told me there was nothing he could
do about it. The decision had been made by the management. He wasn't up
against me. He just needed his money, his claim wasn't unreasonable, and
if I had been in the position at that moment to come up with the
requested sum of fl. 10,000 or fl. 15,000, we would have been set free.
Jelle Knot: There has also been an inquiry about Capital Radio's
activities by the Officier van Justitie — the Public prosecutor — in The
Hague ... Did this have any consequences?
Tim Thomason: I never heard of it. Indeed, there was an inquiry on the
whereabouts of our weapons, but I haven't told them were they came from.
The man of the Rijksrecherche — the Criminal Investigation Department —
who was with me, here downstairs in the office, said: "You don't have to
say nothing, and it's better to say nothing than to tell lies." He was
curious about the weapons
and
how they came on board; he wanted to know if the weapons were boarded in
the Netherlands, and I said: "No, they came from Belgium." They asked:
"And how did it come on board?" "By ship," I said, "with another fishing
trawler." He said "That's the way it's mostly done." And I said: "OK,
that's good! I won't say anything anymore." I don't remember any
details, it all happened a long time ago. I never told the police where
the weapons really came from ... but I can tell you now ... there was a
very well-known arms dealer in Amsterdam, nicknamed Pistolen Paultje —
Pistols Paul. I got the weapons from him. He was a very nice guy with a
good sense of humour!
Pistol Paul
(middle) [Archive Freewave]
Jelle Knot: You couldn't acquire the necessary funds for Wijsmuller to
let you have the ship again? A sum of fl. 15,000 is not that big for a
fully equipped radio ship. Weren't there any financial backers left
ready to pay such a relatively small sum?
Tim Thomason: I just made an estimation of the amount we would have had
to pay Wijsmuller to release the MV King David. I guess that a sum
somewhere between fl. 10,000 and fl. 15,000 would have been sufficient.
I think that if we have had that sum at our disposal, Mr. Wijsmuller
could have said to his fellow managing directors: "I can free the ship."
But we were totally broke. Those Liechtenstein companies, or the company
that backed us, already had paid us twice; in both cases they hade come
up with some ten thousands of guilders. From Mr. de Groot's point of
view, it was a just and well-considered decision to say: "No, we don't
go on like this." Maybe he had lost confidence in the whole enterprise
after we had run ashore. I don't know it for sure, but it might be so. I
myself don't think so, because we are still good friends, and every two
months I see him here when he is over from Switzerland. As a good
businessman, at a certain stage he's inclined to say: "Thus far, and not
any further." Probably we had reached that point, where he had to say:
"OK, not a penny anymore, sorry!"
Jelle Knot: Do you have any idea what happened next to the ships of
Radio Capital?
Tim Thomason: The MV "King David" was towed into IJmuiden, then to
Amsterdam Noord. There I've stayed on board as long as I could. Nothing
has been paid, there was no money anymore. At a certain stage the people
who stayed on board and I left the ship and we lost sight of the ship. I
have been told that she has been towed to the South of the Netherlands
and was sold as scrap.
Jelle Knot: Yes, the MV King David was towed to the Betuwe in the
province of Gelderland. There it was used as a provisional warehouse for
a steel company. In 1972 the ship was auctioned and sold to a ship yard
in Heerwaarden. The ship was then towed to where the rivers Maas and
Waal cross each other. In 1981 a new shed was built on the wharf, and
the ship was moved to another mooring between the villages of
Heerwaarden and Kerkdriel where the remainder of the hull was filled
with concrete and used as the base for a floating pier. In 1984 the hull
was sunk in seven metres of water and is used by a local diving club for
practicing under water swimming. Do you still have memorabilia of those
days? We talked about uniforms?
Tim Thomason: We're talking about things that happened many years ago
... and you ask for uniforms of the Napoleonic era ... I don't know, the
flag has gone, one of my children has inherited it years ago ... but
uniforms: thick jackets and so don't fit me. Why should I walk around in
a captain's or commander's uniform? The caps are gone, I lost one cap in
Thailand, I still have the other one, that's a relic ... it's a beret.
Jelle Knot: We are now living more than thirty years later and now
you're in your late sixties. Have you been involved in radio since the
Capital days?
Tim Thomason: No, it has cost me years to overcome the shock and the
loss of the station. I put a considerable amount of love and energy in
my career and later on in Capital Radio. It was an huge disillusion to
see that it was all lost.
Jelle Knot: Do you have a message for all people who listened to free
radio and who in the past also listened to your Capital Radio?
Tim Thomason: The only message I have for whoever it might be, is that
if you strongly believe in something, for instance in free
communication, in free radio: "Keep it up, carry on, because those
people who are not in favour of free radio — and sadly enough that's
about ninety percent of the population — those people are just too idle
to fight for their rights, they won't do anything, so keep on!"
Another sad message came from China:
Dear Hans, It is with deep regret that I have to inform you that Fergus
Penman was found dead at his apartment on October 4th 2008 at around
3pm. He had been working for me in
Tianjin
China since June 1st this year where he was embarking on yet another new
adventure. Mr. Penman was one of my most respected teachers and had
already made a string of friends and colleagues that will miss him. The
cause of death has as yet not been confirmed only to say that there was
no evidence of foul play and that he died peacefully while sleeping. My
deepest sympathy and regret go out to his family and his daughter
Valery. I personally will miss him as both a colleague and a friend.
Thank you, yours sincerely, John Savage, Heping Director of Studies
English First, Tianjin China
Fergie McNeal in Caroline studio.
(Photo: Leen Vingerling)
The mentioned Fergus Penman and I were in contact for many years and he
was one of the Caroline deejays in the second part of the eighties under
the name Fergie McNeal.
Just some six weeks ago he wrote me how happy he was since he went to
work in China. Before that he worked for a school in Thailand. It’s not
yet known when his body will come to Europe. It will be either buried in
England or Holland. Fergus became 51 years of age.
From Radio Netherlands the next report: ‘Struggling UK broadcaster
Big L announced on air
this morning that it is to become part of a ”newly formed company.” The
name of the new company was not disclosed, but it was described as one
which is expanding, and appears to involve a group that currently holds
FM licences in the UK. Details of what exactly will happen, and when,
are still sketchy, but presenter Mike Read said that some Big L
programmes will be on FM (Cheltenham, Gloucester and Swindon were
mentioned), and the plan is to “build up the brand”. Big L will make use
of a new studio facility currently under construction (location
unknown), but some programmes will continue to come from the station’s
present studio in Frinton-on-Sea. The station may reappear on Sky
channel 0190, but if this is no longer possible there is another Sky
channel that will become available in January. No decision has been made
about the future of 1395 kHz, but that remains an option. The station
has so far not issued an official statement.
(Source: Mike Read show on Big L).
Then we go back to the Anorak
term. Who came up with the idea to use the name, I once told who it was
in an older report and Ron Murch is reflecting on it: ‘Just been reading
you story on the term 'anoraks' and how it belongs to the history of
offshore radio. I would disagree with your comment that "During the
1970s there were hundreds of 'wankers', gluing themselves to their
radios", surely this should be 1960's! By 1970, all the offshore
stations had closed down, with only the newly opened RNI braving the
North Sea, broadcasting from some 12 miles out, 9 miles outside British
Territorial Waters - way to far for the boatloads of anoraks who would
have technically had to have required passports to travel so far out to
sea. Although the RNI signal was illegally jammed by the UK Labour
government, it was possible to minimise the effect by changing the
orientation of your radio, or running a mains lead over it. For the 1970
General Election, RNI, in agreement with Radio Caroline, renamed itself
Radio Caroline International, pushing for changes in UK legislation.
It's uncanny, but on that night I had been DJ'ing at a 21st Birthday
party, where I played Man of Action segued into The Fortunes Caroline,
and made a comment about how good it would be to have Caroline back.
Then on the way home from the gig, RNI announced their name change.
Regards, Ron Murch’.
Hi Ron and thanks for your comments. Of course Free Radio Fans where
there in the sixties but the word 'Anorak' really was used for the very
first time when a boat with wankers was near the Mi Amigo. Most had
Anoraks as a coat whereby Andy Archer made for the first time the
comment that there were Anoraks nearby. Ron can be heard on the radio:
Wednesday evening - The Midweek Music Mix - 6-8pm (UK) - CRMK Online -
www.crmk.co.uk - From the heart of
the universe to the ears of the world.
The answer given by me, was also send by email to him and he came back
with: ‘You certainly are a prolific writer, and very informative too.
Personally I credit UK offshore radio with giving us the radio we have
today. I'm not too sure if that's a good thing or not though:) I heard
the story years ago as an anecdote, and read it recently on a site here
in the UK. Googling the terms "Anorak" and "Wankers" led me to
https://www.offshore-radio.de/HansKnot/may2005b.htm, where I found
your e-mail address.
Your answer mentions Andy Archer
and the Mi Amigo. As I recall, that was the name of the Caroline South
ship, RNI's vessel was sarcastically named after the Labour governments
Marine Etc Broadcasting Offences Act - MEBO II. Radio Caroline, last of
the original offshore stations ceased broadcasting in 1968, and it was
not until 1970 that RNI began transmissions to the UK. RNI was to far
outside territorial waters for 'day-trippers', hence my query over the
decade. Regardless of the date, it is still a good story. As a side
note, I was actually in a BBC Radio 2 studio on the night of Saturday,
15 May 1971 when news broke of the attempted bombing of RNI and the BBC
relayed the Mayday message, probably the first time the BBC carried a
broadcast from any of the offshore stations. Regards, Ron’
Mary Payne asked me to give as much publicity to a question she got from
the BBC, so here we go: ‘I’m producing a series for BBC Radio 2 called
‘Wish You Were There?’ taking four musicians back to a gig in history
they would have loved to have been at. For one of my programmes Cerys
Matthews is going back to the ‘1967 Stax Revue Tour’ at the Finsbury
Park Astoria, recently released by Concord as ‘Otis in London and
Paris’. The idea of the programme is to speak to as many people who
might have been present that night, or who were involved in the scene,
so as to collect stories to build a picture of what the night would have
been like, and, why it was important in musical and social history.
Would you know if anyone who was broadcasting on Radio London in 1967
covered the gig during a show, or who may have been a fan and went along
to that gig? I’d be grateful with for any help you can offer, Kind
Regards, Gemma.’
So if you were there on that gig don’t hesitate to mention it to
HKnot@home.nl Certainly the e mail
will be forwarded to the BBC.
Next person is on search for a magazine or a copy of a magazine: ‘Dear
Hans, Yesterday evening, when trying to find some definite information
on the status and future plans for the 1395 transmitter, I thought I'd
try your web site. I didn't find any news about Big L (presumably
because there isn't any!) but was amazed at the extent of your September
newsletter! There was a lot of information I was unaware of. Someone
queried the availability of a free radio magazine (I think it was
'Wavelength') so I wonder if you know where I can get hold of a copy of
'Script no. 3.' About
nine years ago someone came to see me, discovered I had the above
magazine and asked me if he could photocopy it and promised he would
return it - that's the last I saw of it! When I queried it he said he
thought his wife must have accidentally thrown it away! I'd also like to
obtain 'Scripts 1/2' but I'm particularly interested in no. 3 as it
includes a good comprehensive report of the Caroline mutiny of 28/12/72
plus some good photographs of the towing operation. If you can help I'd
be very grateful and if you have any news on the 1395 position that
would be a bonus! With very best wishes, Ian Godfrey.’
Well Ian the Big L info was earlier on in this issue of the report. I
hope someone can help you with copies of the requested issues, so if
anyone can make copies please inform me at and I’ll forward the info.
More request time from England. Former Caroline deejay from the eighties
Dave Windsor, who’s now
working already for years at BFBS, with a special search for songs: ‘I
wonder if you can help
me with the last few
songs I am seeking to complete my collection of Dutch/Eurosongs. These
are: ‘ZOVEEL’ from the Belgium Group ‘Elegasten’; ‘P.S. I LOVE YOU’ from
Macduffs Dimension; ‘Huil maar niet kleine meid’ from Ciska Peters;
‘Surprise surprise’ solo single from Mac Kissoon and an LP track from
1975 from Rob de Nijs called ‘Zo vaak’. Also I love to have the song
played by Gerard Smit on August 31st 1974 when he said forever goodbye
to his listeners. I don’t know the title. Thanks a lot and many
greetings from Dave Windsor.’
Well
maybe Gerard, who is also a reader of the report, can help with the
title. Anyone who has a song wanted please send the mp3 to Dave Windsor
at: Dave.Windsor@bfbs.com
Then from France we have Paul Ciesielkski: ‘Tell me, Hans, have you some
news on the wreck of the MI
AMIGO! At the last meeting in Calais; I heard a rumour: maybe,
this wreck could be refloated, or extract off the sandbank, this
operation could be directed by a Dutch enterprise?’
Well Paul if you go to
www.hansknot.com you’ll find the old editions of the Hans Knot
International Radio Reports. The latest issue is first and at the end of
that report you can click to the older edition(s). In the September
issue there is information about the diving to the Mi Amigo including
the sonar photograph.
But Paul has more: ‘I've read your rapport, and I've seen a article on
model radio ships. Please, see on www.luc.de.groot.com ,and, you could
see many photos of a big model, that I've realised in2007, for Calais'
meeting
Many greetings. Paul Ciesielski.’
Nickname time and first
we have Brendon ‘Brenge’ Powder on Radio 270 and in 1979 Steve ‘G I A’
Gordon on Radio Caroline. Well that’s all we have this time.
Hope to see a lot of
you on November the 8th. I know that there will be coming people from
America, France, Germany, Belgium, Scotland, Ireland, Scandinavia and
even from Holland. Surprises are always there so see on
www.offshore-radio.de/radioday for more info on the 30th year in a
row for the annual Radio Day in
Amsterdam.
Till next time all the best,
Hans Knot
Offshore Radio Programme Names - Programmanamen Zeezenders 1958-1990
Read Hans Knot's former report
