Hans Knot's International Radio Report - December 2006 (2)
A warm welcome to the
Christmas edition of the Knot International Radio Report and first of
all, may I wish you all a very happy Christmas and all best wishes for
the year 2007 in good health and happiness. I can assure you that this
special Christmas edition will have a very warm message of happiness as
there will be a lovely surprise in this report about ‘a deejay's
daughter found her dad back after decades!’ A lot of e mails came in
again and we
start
with one from the Pirate Hall of Fame, which came in on the evening I
sent away the first bunch of e mails.
‘Hi, just a quick note to let you know I have updated
The Pirate Radio Hall of Fame.
New this month: two pages of fantastic photos taken on board Radio
Caroline North courtesy of the Jason Wolfe collection. The traditional
'Christmas In International Waters' page has been updated with some more
audio. A reminder that the Radio Academy will be announcing the names of
the new inductees to its Hall Of Fame soon. Will a seventh former pirate
join its roll of honour? We will keep you posted. Last month we
announced the re-printing of Paul Harris's ‘When Pirates Ruled The
Waves’. Unfortunately publication has been delayed a couple of weeks. It
will be with you by Christmas - I am told. There is another chance to
hear Paul Rowley's excellent, and award winning, documentary Kenny
Everett: the BBC Local Radio Years on BBC7 on Christmas Day. Highly
recommended. As you know, up until now my site has concentrated on the
offshore broadcasters of the sixties but I regularly receive emails from
people asking if/when I am going to cover the seventies. The answer, I
can now reveal, is ..... very soon. So if you have any information,
contact details, photographs or recordings of any offshore DJs of the
seventies, please let me know. All being well, the first page of the
Pirate Radio Hall of Fame 'Seventies Supplement' will appear from the
start of 2007. If I don't speak to you in the meantime, I hope you have
a great Christmas. All the best, Jon, The Pirate Radio Hall of Fame.
www.offshoreradio.co.uk
Jim Gordon on Caroline North
(Jason Wolfe collection)
Beaten this time by reader Douwe Dijkstra, who was the first to reflect
on the last report by thanking me sending it again, it’s
Rosko who has to be
satisfied with place two and another mention as he wrote: ‘Hi Hans, I
wish to keep my reputation in tact by being the first to read and
respond to the monthly. That tells it like it is, so I shall after this
comment (for once not about me) that you must be using hair dye and had
great surgery for your look so young in your photo. It can’t be, your
readers need to know your secret? Oops I was not watching the screen. I
shall be checking my facts and adding a few thoughts shortly! Stay well
and we await the next months Xmas edition already ! EMP.’
Thanks Emperor, well really there’s no secret. It’s like the old song
‘Saving Cream, be nice and clean, shave every day and……’ Reader Chris
Dannot reminded me that I’ve to say a big congratulations to you Rosko
as you the man this month from ‘When I’m getting older losing my head,
many years from now…When I’m 64’.
Next
one joining in is Duncan Johnson
who reflected on the last issue and the remarks about
Paul Kaye: ‘Hans, Paul
Kaye was on the Galaxy's Big L from start to finish, but Michel (Mitch
the Steward) Philistin was on the Galaxy when it left Florida and
was there at the end and should have a mention for his longevity. Mitch
would have emailed you but he has pressed the wrong keys again - and
can't get his emails working. I'll have to sort it out again! Cheers
Duncan.’ Well lucky enough Mitch could make a good meal! One day he will
learn to contact me. The both of you nice greetings!
Mitch and Duncan (PhoF)
At the end of November as well Martin and I received the next e mail
from Israel: ‘My name is Orly
Morag (Granit) and I was one of the DJ's on the Peace Ship in the
mid 70's, for a short while (I have some pictures I could send if you
are interested). I was not informed of the meeting that took place in
Amsterdam recently.‘ Well we wrote her back that we tried to find back
as much persons as possible during the past 14 months and she came back
with an e mail and several nice photos, from which we publish one:
’Dear Martin and Hans. Thank you so much for your kind reply. Since I am
not a heavy user of the internet, I did not know about the gathering in
Amsterdam until it was reported on Israeli TV. Anyway, it doesn’t really
matter if someone was physically there. As I can see, the good spirit is
present, and that is what matters, isn't it. Eventually, otherwise there
would have been no chance for peace. Just for the record: I broadcasted
on the Peace Ship only three times, during the mid 70's, each period - a
week or so, during vacation from my University studies, and after my
army service as a broadcaster on Galei Zahal, the Israeli Army radio
station. Today I work for the Israel Broadcasting Authority, dealing
with
classical
music and poetry. I enclose some historical pictures with a few names I
hope I still remember ...’
Well good to see your nice pictures and any memory from your side is
always welcome!
Orly Morag on air on the VOP in
the seventies
I searched through my book and saw the name in connection with
Guy Starkey once
mentioned and so I sent Guy the message that Orly sent in some photos:
‘Hi Hans, and thanks very much. I arrived in December 1977 as you know,
with John Miller who was
beginning his second assignment on the Peace Ship. As stormy weather was
going to prevent us going out to the ship, after spending hours in the
middle of the night at Ben Gurion airport, John suddenly decided we
should go and visit Orly in Jerusalem. So we got a cab there and turned
up on her doorstep. I met her only briefly, but she allowed us to stay
for two days, for which I am grateful and so was John. I wonder where
John Miller is today...? Best wishes, Guy. ‘
And another remembering Orly is
Don Stevens: ‘What a discovery, yes I met Orly many times, she
was a good friend of Johnny Miller, a real jack-the-lad broadcaster, I
think they were very good friends and I knew she made a couple of
broadcasts, heard them too. Never knew she was out on the ship, I met
her at Galei Zahal once. I am not surprised she is with Kol Israel, she
sounded like a Kol Israel broadcaster with a rich warm voice that only
really works on a woman in Hebrew. In English it would not sound as
sensual. I seem to recall that I found her phone number last night while
pulling out old folders with the MBO 1967 which I sent to Martin, what a
small world, I love this radio business, it is so cosy. Bill Danse will
be really pleased to hear from her, she is very intellectual and Bill is
a man who thrives on mental stimulation.’
Bill (Wim) Danse from
Holland is already in contact with Orly too and wrote me in very nice
words about the memories he has with her and that the contacts have been
opened again! Please enjoy all the renewed connections!
I’ve mentioned in an email to Rosko that he was beaten, as mentioned
above and he came back after opening his eyes on December 1st: ‘I just
dawned on me what a clever fellow you are! You have me writing for you!
Oh well I guess it is OK! I wanted to P.S you on the speed of the person
how rendered me second in the answer department. It is time for you to
confess. He must have had inside information I saw your report appear on
my screen and almost answered at once, however nature called and by the
time I replied you had announced Douwe Dijkstra had already done so! Now
I am thinking he is Dutch by the name, so one must also allow that he is
much closer to you than I am, here in the Colonies! He had an unfair
advantage! EMP’
Followed by: ‘Mon Cher Hans, Once again your global reach has sparked
interest, truly the sign of a good report! I lost contact with Tony Hall
many years ago. He would be the first tell you that the Ike and Tina
song River deep Mountain High in your report (produced by Phil Spector)
was started and charted on Rosko's Midday Spin! We could chart a new
song with one play. Without bragging too much, ‘Black is Black’, by Los
Bravos, ‘Kung Fu fighting’ Carl Douglas are just two other examples of
one spin - one win, bang right into the Top 30. This is not to say that
they would not have been hits anyway. However there were many we were
first on. The promo boys would then launch their assault on Portland
Place with the chart figures on Monday to blag all the daily shows.
Right time right place, it was fun. Kenny Everett and I ganged up on
Bowie and sent it skyward with Major Tom. I could go on but it would
sound like bragging! We had an advantage over the shows today, we were
the only show at that time as well as the only station, so it was not as
hard as today's readers might think. We had between 3 and 5 million
people listening, most of them consumers who liked to party and dance,
so, One spin, one win!
Radio was much more exciting back then I think. When you have such
luminaries as Tom Blomberg checking in with a name check, well it does
makes one's day! I leave you with this thought! A new radio record!
Remember we set president this month with the worlds first joint
broadcast on Vixen 87, the first time Hans Knot and Emperor Rosko were
on the same station at the same day!
Check out this link.
http://emperorrosko.wetpaint.com/pageSearch?contains=EMPEROR+ROSKO
Merry Xmas World xx EMP’
Got
an email from Graham Jones
who told me I was recommended by Mike Brand from Israel for sending the
Knot International Radio Report and so I sent out the latest copy.
Graham came back with: ‘Thank you most kindly Hans! Do I take it that I
will be on your distribution list? If you require a subscription I will
be delighted to pay.
Graham Jones on air
I was interested top see
Robbie
Owen (pictured with Abe Nathan) - I took Robbie on when he was 16
and I managed Radio Hertford! He was, as I have always said, worth his
weight in gold in both technical knowledge and his programming skills. I
don't know if Hospital Radio is of interest to you but, at Radio
Hertford (1973 onwards) we were a bunch of free radio fanatics !
Some of us visited
Caroline twice in the 70's and the free radio cause was never far from
our hearts with various emotions expressed and the successes and demise
of big names. Robbie Owen was one of the first people I took on at Radio
Hertford and he is pictured below at his 40th birthday in 1995 in a
reunion photo opportunity. (I'm in the middle of the front row and you
will recognise Robbie).
Yours, Graham.
You see it’s a small but at the same time wonderful in radio land! No,
no payments please,
only memories are welcome at
Hknot@home.nl
On
www.offshore-radio.de you will find the interview which should be
held at the Radio Day but didn’t went on as the man to be interviewed
was delayed. So Martin sent in the questions to
Don Stevens about his
time on Caroline and he answered them all, which led to a beautiful
interview, which can now be read on line. I congratulated Don on the
content and he came back with a very long e mail. I hope you take the
time to read it as it gives all the warmth the Christmas period normally
makes so wonderful:
‘Thank you for the
kind comments and first about the Dutch crew members: it was always a
point of difficulty with my English DJ associates that I enjoyed the
good company of our Dutch crew, the DJ's felt that they were a different
class of person and should not, and would not, associate with common
seamen. My feeling always was, that these Dutch guys had the skills,
knowledge and motivation to save the ship, and the people on board, so
surely it made sense to learn to work and think like these Dutch
crewmen. Call me stupid, but in my country, this is how we learn to
enjoy folks, learn about them, and share their experiences, which I did.
I was rewarded with great memories, a couple of good friends, and an
undying love of Nederland and its people and culture. I figure I got a
better deal than most. Clearly, in my interview of Caroline it becomes
clear that I enjoyed all things Dutch, especially Shocking Blue (I know
Hans, Mariska Veres had Hungarian blood, but oooh man, such an exotic
lady) whose tunes I still play when I'm working in my office, as I am
now. Playing on the stereo (at full volume) 'Blossom Lady' which was
preceded by 'Send Me A Postcard', these tunes remind me, so effectively
of how Radio Veronica kept us offshore listeners in England supplied
with free radio, and I agree with you, without Dutch input, on all
levels, Caroline could not, and would not, have survived.
You can see from my article for Martin, that Dutch sea skills and
manpower made the MV Mi Amigo a very comfortable place to be on the
North Sea in 1975. If these same people had been on board in later years
the ship would never have sunk, well, that’s how Yorkie and I see it,
and I hope my article conveys the affection I had for these fine men,
unsung seamen, who did so much to keep Caroline on the air. As our
Captain often told me, if you have no interest in your life, why should
I waste my life, teaching you how to save yours, when you have no
interest in how your life may be safe. This homily was recounted, with
no prompting from me, as the Captain showed me, in a Force 9 north
easterly, how to keep the Mi Amigo head on to the storm and keep the
strain off the anchor. He was pleased to show me basic seaman’s skills
because he knew it would not be wasted. I recall how he was unaware of
the difference between the Irish and English, he thought we were the
same. He laughed when I said, not all people from Nederland come from
Holland, I think I made a good example, I hope so, certainly he then
cracked open a bottle of his Jenever and we drank a toast, I hope he is
still with us Hans, his skills are the reason I'm here today.’
But Don had more to tell than about his experience how to handle and
work together with the Dutch cloggies as he has the Christmas Story of
2007!
‘Han
s,
I owe you and the team of the Radio Day a very, very big thank you,
because you created a situation that allowed Arbel Eshet to interview
me, an interview that seems to have appeared on TV stations all over the
world. It enabled my estranged daughter Sarit to finally find me, her
father, after she had given up all hope of finding me.
Sarit, Don Stevens long lost
daughter
She introduced me to
my three grand children, I'm a Grandfather thanks to you Hans (you will
ruin my reputation as a swinger Hans :-)..) and her husband Marcel, a
fine man with good values. My ex, my daughters mother, saw the interview
in Los Angeles, she says, and the wheels of contact were in motion. My
daughter has only just relocated back to Israel from Los Angeles, she
wanted her children to have a better education and some social values,
things missing from schools in LA. So, imagine her surprise when her
return to Israel also found her long lost Father. Her Mother, Ronit,
(you have her picture taken on the Peace Ship), is still in Los Angeles
and saw the report of the Radio Day on a local station in California,
she phoned my daughter Sarit, and the rest is total happiness.
A number of good friends from Reitzes Advertising and also Tavas have
been in contact, old friends of Keith Ashton have renewed contact, old
radio friends from my time at Galei Zahal and the disco scene have been
in contact too. CBS Records old team who started the disco boom in
Israel have contacted, a number of Israel's leading artists of the
1970's and mid 80's have wrote to me, all because of Channel 2 Israel,
who appear to have been very cooperative in issuing my email and phone
number, thanks The Great Maker they did. Old girlfriends and club owners
have been in contact, amazed (they say) that I have not changed and look
the same, they recognised me straight away from the TV images, all
inviting me to Israel. A journey to Israel is now on schedule, it was
never in my plan to return, the country holds too many memories for me,
and I was afraid to rake over old embers, but, through you and the Radio
Day, I must travel to Israel.....I will keep you informed, I know it
will be a fascinating journey, full of discovery, I will share the
adventure with you Hans, you are, after all, the author of this journey
of destiny.
Honestly Hans, it is going to take me months to catch up with all the
letters, and I still wish to write to Kas Collins (I have a scan of the
postcard he sent me from Cairo, and I wish to send it to him), Gil
Katzir, Noam, Arbel for sure, I have pictures for these fine people, and
a host of others to write to. I have had a couple of negative emails
regarding my comments about the running of the Peace Ship and my little
bit of friction with Robbie, but, a huge volume of emails have regarded
my comments as constructive and logical, fully understanding the needs
of the many to benefit from Abie's work. I love a controversy don't you
Hans? ‘
And on his current work in this December month Don wrote: ‘
The
other picture is myself during a break in one of my Father Christmas
presentations, with the Good Fairy of Christmas, and we do look swell
LOL :-) I do the Father Christmas every year as a way of giving
something back to the children and spreading the joy of Christmas to all
the people of the world. It is glorious to see the smiles on all peoples
faces when I walk up and wish them Merry Christmas and the blessings of
the Almighty and pass out chocolates and presents. It is very tiring,
the sacks are very heavy, but I normally hand out six big sacks of
goodies everyday, and by Christmas Eve, I'm at least 20kg lighter. My
daughter thinks it is so crazy, when she showed a Santa picture of me to
her youngest daughter the little one said 'Oooh, you are special Mummy,
Saint Nick is your Daddy, so we are all special'...needless to say Sarit
is still trying to work out how to explain all of this to the child. She
still believes in Santa. Hans, God Bless You, Jana and Your Family, Don
Stevens.'
Father Don Christmas
Next on Sunday morning December 3rd this came in from Simon James: Good
Morning Hans. Just a short note to let you and everyone know Radio
Phoenix is streaming since yesterday evening around 10pm uk/11pm-cet and
still going strong ,we finally ironed out the bugs and now listed on
shoutcast. There are two ways to listen, first is by visiting our
website
www.phoenix-am.nl and click the embedded player under the clock!,
the other way is to click on the winamp logo and if you all have winamp
you should be able to hear us?, the stream is running at 48kbs so those
on dial up should be able to listen as well as broadband users. What we
would like is audio reports from around the UK, Europe and anywhere else
through out the world, please send to our temporary email address;
radio.phoenix@yahoo.co.uk
,the nl email address will be back in use very soon. Thanks Hans and
keep up the good work. Well were still hunting anyone who's interested
in joining us with there brand of music ect, at the moment no replies
still there is lots of time next year. Phoenix will be on line from the
20th December with mixed music and recordings as for actual live
material. Radio Phoenix crew
Also nice to get an invitation to come to the first showing of a
documentary about Radio Nord,
which was held in Stockholm. It took place on December 13th and in a 90
minutes program next to the documentary, which is specially produced for
an exhibition in the Technical Museum in Stockholm, there were speeches
including from one of the former Radio Nord deejays. Later next year
another documentary will appear on DVD and I hope to get a review copy
so I can tell all the readers about the contents. I had no time to go to
Stockholm, which was a pity.
Monday December 4th the next e mail came in: ‘Dear Mr. Knot,my name is
Mcclellan Hackney and
from January 1989 to December 1990 I worked on the Voice of Peace.
During my first trip to Israel the chairman of the Peace Foundation,
Abie Nathan, was in prison for visiting the PLO, he was released shortly
after my arrival. There seemsto be a dearth of information for the years
1989-1990. my work aboard The Voice of Peace included the Peace program,
Soul Train, the Jazz program ,Twilight Time, however my forte there was
Late Night Affair, which they insisted I do even though John McDonald
was the regular deejay. During my work there the advertising revenue was
always high. What is also missing in all your reports is that in 1990
the Armenia earthquake occurred, the Voice of Peace under Abie’s
leadership undertook to collect money, clothes, and medical supplies to
send to that quake torn area. The other story is that for the first time
in over 47 years a Russian vessel was allowed into an Israeli port to
collect the supplies donated to the effort, the entire ceremony was
broadcast live on the Voice of Peace, which included the Israeli
president and prime minister. There is much, much more information
available regarding this time period in the history of the Voice of
Peace. I am African American and I am told I am the first African
American to work at that station. Some of the personnel at that time was
Kenny Page, John McDonald, Ofer Nocshaun, Tony O’Riley, Dave Lee, Ricky
Marks, Chris Edwards, Richard West and a lot more. I do hope this will
help to fill in the gaps that some seem or choose to forget.’
Thanks dear Hackney. I presume you think the Knot International Radio
Report is a complete story about the VOP. Although the VOP is the
station which got the most attention in 2006, the report is mainly for
people who have been working within the Offshore Radio World to share
memories, photos and news. In no way it is meant to be a complete
history on one of the stations. Therefore books have been or will be
written. On the Radio Day a new book was released on the history of the
Voice of Peace as well about the person Abie Nathan and his Humanitarian
Work with his Peace Foundation. The ‘forgotten things’ you mentioned are
really written in the book and pre publication of some of the chapters
can be read at
www.soundscapes.info and just go to Volume 9 to get a good
impression. Please feel free to sent in more memories so we can also
read your kind of the history. By the way, the name Chris Edwards isn’t
correct in my opinion, he is the final editor of the English language
magazine Offshore Echos and knowing him very well since 1971 I don’t
remember he ever set a step on the Peace Ship.
From
Belfast the next one: ‘Hans, early seasonal greetings to you and Jana,
and all the best for 2007. A question which I would ask your thoughts
on. There are now some Veronica cd’s on the Stichting Norderney site
which I would like to get in due course, early in 2007. The trouble is
they don't answer my e-mails, and to become a member of their site or
buy things costs a fortune in bank charges - they couldn't make it more
difficult if they tried. They only appear to be interested in Dutch
people. Compare with Chris Visser's site, which couldn't be easier to
join. They didn't answer my e-mail you kindly passed on to them earlier
this year. Will anyone next year be selling their cd’s for example Rob
at SMC, or anyone else that can get them for me. I will pay profit to
anyone who can get the ones I want. Any help would be greatly
appreciated. Those Stichting Norderney CDs I wish to get are;
CD01 100 jingles & hoogetepunten uit Veronica programma’s
CD02 Sorry Veronica
CD03 Veronica Documentaire
CD05 Fop Out (U spreekt met...)
If you, or colleagues can get them for me in 2007, I will of course pay
your required price. The Stichting are charging 15 euro each. In the
meantime don't be eating too much at Christmas - unfortunately I do each
year. Finally, sad to read on the media.nl site of the passing of Marika
Veres. David Wilson, Belfast.’
Well is there anyone who can help David Wilson in one way or another?
His e-mail address is
dw@utvinternet.com
Of course to you David also best wishes for the Christmas period. And
yes a very sad message early December with the passing of
Mariska. She was 59 years
of age and of course we all know her from Venus and other Shocking Blue
hits which were heavily played on Veronica and RNI. Only a few weeks ago
she was still touring with the New Shocking Blue, a group in which she
was the only original member. The news was made known by Willem van
Kooten. She died from cancer.
I had a marvellous ‘first’ in Amsterdam by meeting
Rick Randell, earlier
this year. Here’s another e mail from the former Swinging Radio England
Boss Jock: Hi, and Happy Holidays from America, Hans - As always, I
appreciate hearing from you and learning about what's going on in the
endlessly curious world of pirate radio. I have a slightly irregular
request to make of your readers and fans, especially anyone who may have
been associated with Radio London at any time in the past 40 years or
so. I am in touch with a group of musicians who perform in and around
Colorado in the western USA, and who have adopted RADIO LONDON as their
group name. I am forwarding a copy of an email (below) from a woman
named Marsha who is somehow connected with the band. She was under the
mistaken impression that I had been with Radio London when I was in
England in the '60s, and was asking me for some insight about the
station's history and current activities. I am passing her request along
to you in the hope that you may be able to help her out. I will send her
a copy of this note so that she may be prepared for any responses you
may generate. I suggest you contact her directly at
radioband@earthlink.net.
Thanks Rick and I know already that our mutual friend Mary Payne did
sent her an e mail and I request any other former Big L deejay in my
readership to sent the lady an e mail too. Rick went on with: ‘The
Christmas season in Florida is marked with sunny skies and warm
temperatures as usual. I am now living in a condo that directly faces
Tampa Bay where I watch the cruise ships heading out, or returning from
their trips into the southern Gulf of Mexico. My website -
www.MusicTampaBay.com - is encountering some network bandwidth
problems at present, but otherwise is progressing nicely, with a lot of
new original music from local artists coming in to make up my playlist.
I am forever indebted to Steve England and his S2Blue recording studio
for providing me with my signature jingles. I have a couple of radio
friends here who are interested in helping me to develop this as a
format for local radio - if and when the web project ever becomes well
established. I'll keep you posted on these events as they transpire. Of
course, I loved meeting you all during my visit in Europe earlier this
year. I do believe I will be making a return journey to your part of the
world again sometime in the not-too-distant future, and will certainly
hope to see you again. Regards from your friend in America, Richard
(Rick Randall) Crandall’.
And here’s the included text of the lady Marsha Rick was talking about:
‘I was wondering if you would be interested in telling us about the name
Radio London and how that came about, and how your time onboard was
spent, the kind of music that you played (if you had any favourites),
some of your adventures. We are working on starting a new
webpage(myspace/radiolondon.com) and will be doing as much to promote
the band and its music. We do have one CD under our belt and have been
working on #2. A lot of our fans have been with us for years, and I know
they would enjoy hearing about the real deal! So any time you have and
would like to send some input our way, that would be great. If we quote
you, would you want us to use your name? Hoping that you will enjoy this
project and waiting to hear from you, Marsha.’ So once again her e mail
address in the USA
radioband@earthlink.net.
Well Rick it was for me also a very enjoyable moment never to forget
meeting you, more than 40 years after I traced you on the radio and the
t shirt you offered me is a good memory to the meeting. Of course I will
do a little promotion for the site you're developing in my Christmas
bumper edition. You well deserve it by renewing a radio friendship,
which earlier went through the AM band and now versus internet. I had a
dinner some weeks ago with some 45 radio people from past and present
and it was Graham Gill sitting nearby. First thing he talked about was
the very emotional meeting early this year in Amsterdam with you Rick
and your girlfriend. It really was if we sat there that morning in the
breakfast restaurant, as we did see each other every day in one
family. Good memories. Big ways to share memories in radio. Anyway 2006
was a very special year of seeing people for the first time, doing some
reunions but above all a very warm year of seeing honest people. Please
enjoy the Christmas period as good as possible with all best wishes for
the Christmas season.‘
December also saw new names inducted to the Hall of Fame. The Radio
Academy added the following persons, who all made a career within the
British Industry: Tony Windsor
was inducted along with Simon Mayo, Jimmy Saville, Anna Raeburn, Brian
Matthew, Linda Smith, Eamonn Andrews, Hattie Jacques, Jimmy Clitheroe,
Al Read, Barry Alldis, Betty Marsden, John Timpson, Peter Brough and
Archie Andrews, Peter Jones and Pete Murray.
Time to say hello to Jan
(Captain) Harteveld from RNI’ days. I’m sure that all the former
RNI deejays and crewmembers, who are reading the Knot International
Report, (and I can say that there are a lot who do), are 100% behind me
as I say that we hope you will recover soon from your heart surgery and
that you may have a long life! We all have good memories to you as a
person.
In the early December edition I mentioned that with Christmas the
interview Tom Mulder did, way back in 1976, with Paul Kaye would be on
internet in the programming of the Oldies Project. But due to too much
work on several things the programmer is unable to include it in the
program. However it will be on internet to download before Christmas
with a lot of thanks to Chris and Mary Payne at:
www.radiolondon.co.uk
December 5th, during night hours, ZDF television repeated a documentary
from 30 years ago in the serie ‘Persons, persons’. This issue brought
‘Between Shalom und Salaam’, a portrait of
Abie Nathan. A 35 minutes
special which highlighted the humanitarian work from Abe as well as his
work with the Peace Ship. Saw a lot of known people in the program
including Don Stevens, Crispian St. John, Bill Danse, Steve Gordon,
Buck, Robin Banks and others. Want a copy just write to
rob@mediacommunicatie.nl
This month it was 30 years ago another wavelength change happened aboard
the MV Mi Amigo, then the
home for Radio Mi Amigo and Radio Caroline. It happened on the 11th of
December and Radio Mi Amigo went from 259 (1187 kHz) to 192 metres
(1562kHz). They hoped to get the signal better into Holland and Belgium
for a longer period of the day. My logbook tells me that there were a
lot of small and bigger changes within programming and the deejay team
around that period. Some mentioning to refresh the memories of those
living in mentioned countries and to the avid Radio Mi Amigo listeners
in England. Just a week before the wave length change Jan van der Meer,
newsreader, made his departure after working almost a year for the
station. He was later arrested and had to appear for court after
‘illegal’ broadcasting in the town of Hardewijk and had to pay a fine of
1000 guilders, which was a lot of money in those days. Jan van der Meer
was, next to newsreader, also live broadcaster almost for the whole of
1976 next to guys like Tim de Ridder (Bart van Leeuwen), Marc Jacobs and
Frank van der Mast. Same month we saw also the departure of Joop
Verhoof, long time station manager and the last one left from the
original team, who start the station on January 1st 1974. Prior to that
the late Joop Verhoof worked on Radio Caroline as well as on Radio
Atlantis. It was on Friday December 10th he was heard for the last time
in the program ‘Stan Haag Vandaag’ which he presented as stand-inn.
After his program finished the voice of Peter van Dam, program director,
was heard saying goodbye to all the listeners on 259 metres which was
followed by a lot of the ‘259’ jingles. At 12.04 CET it was silence on
the Mi Amigo frequency. The next day at 12.00 CET again it was Peter van
Dam, this time to be the first voice to be heard on the 192 metres. Very
surprising to hear were beautiful new jingles recorded by three
different groups: Rogue, Catapult and Octopus and it gave again a fresh
new sound for the station. In the week before Christmas the lads on the
ship were very busy as the taped programmes from the studio’s in Playa
de Aro hadn’t arrived and so Marc Jacobs and Frank van der Mast
presented a lot of hours live from the Northsea. Christmas day started
with non stop music until 11 in the morning when special Christmas shows
commenced with Stan Haag, Peter van Dam and Bart (all recorded in Spain)
and a long and well remembered program from the lads aboard the MV Mi
Amigo. Just after Christmas we heard the very first news reader from
Belgium, Hans Brouwers and he was the last new one to come aboard in
1976! Yes, all memories from 30 years ago, seeming just round the corner
of our memories.
I
was however not the only one thinking back to 1976 as Theo van Halsema,
who runs a memory site on the subject ‘Radio Mi Amigo’ wrote to me: ‘I
still remember that on the 4th of December that year, it was my mother’s
birthday, I was – after visit left – helping her with the washing up. Of
course the radio was on and the 259 spot was a regular one in those
days. It was around six in the evening the signal was fading but I kept
on listening. It was during the time in the kitchen I heard for the very
first time the promotion spot for the wavelength change. I was 15 years
of age and on December 10th I arrived at the end of the morning from
school to switch the radio on to listen to the very last hour on 259
metres. In those days I also had, together with a lad out of the
neighbourhood, an additional job bringing vegetables and fruit around on
a bicycle carrier. I lived in a small place near Bolsward in the
Province of Friesland. On the carrier of course we had also a transistor
radio which was always tuned into the signal of Radio Mi Amigo. However
on Friday December 10th we listened with dislike to the program from
Hilversum 3. The wave-length change from 30 years ago is for me one of
the most impressive moments out of the history of Radio Mi Amigo. ‘
http://members.home.nl/theovanhalsema/index.html
Talking about Mi Amigo, a station which has transmitted on several
wavelengths in the seventies, will be remembered by internet radio Radio
Mi Amigo 192. Next to their normal programming there will be two other
‘Mi Amigo’s’ ‘on air’ this Christmas. One will be called
Mi Amigo 259 with a non
stop programming with Christmas atmosphere and a
Mi Amigo 319 which will
be programmed with original shows from the station in the seventies.
Thanks to modern techniques the voices from Mi Amigo legends like Peter
van Dam, Marc Jacobs, Ad Roland, Ferry Eden, Dick Verheul, Ton Schipper,
Peter de Vries, Kees Borrell, Ad Roberts and Maurice Bokkebroek will be
heard again.
www.radiomiamigo.eu
Radio Phoenix were
mailing around they would be on air without mentioning the internet site
where they would be on so I reflected and got an answer back from the
team on December 11th:
‘Good Morning Hans!, Yes your quite right! What a mistake to make! Ok
here is web address if you like to update before print/re-print.
http://www.phoenix-am.nl and of course email address as well-
radio.phoenix@yahoo.co.uk
which is good idea to add as well. I had fun over the weekend, I don’t
know if your heard us? We had a few problems here and there. We did
announce web addy and the email addy, after total count after
transmission...(always keep the log) through out the weekend there were
20 ip addresses that stayed with us from Friday evening all the way
through until close early this morning. I counted 8 ip addresses that
kept calling back and remained for approximately 2 hours each so Hans it
was not bad at all, quite enjoyable playing the music and the free radio
programs etc. At the moment there will be just my self and Gary Drew
running programs and looking for fillers to put into playlist to cover
lack of deejays. Anyway Hans, that’s how far we've made it, between
today and the 18th will be test programs. As we both agreed the project
should really have been put together at least 12 months ago ..but we'll
keep going until we get it right. Thanks for memory jogging!, The
message was sent out in the early hours so being very sleepy at the time
answering that question.
.By the way we did give you a mention!, Ok Hans thanks again bye for
now. Best Regards. Simon James.’
Thanks lads and good luck with your project. One thing I don’t during
the weekend is listening into radio. Reason is I’m always busy writing
with several things including the reports, so the weekends are for
playing a lot of music!
Surprise
as Roger Day is going
Auntie: ‘Firstly Happy Christmas. Now the big news. I'm changing
direction from January 1st 2007. After 40 years of playing commercials
I'm joining the BBC. Based at Radio Kent in Tunbridge Wells I'm on
19.00-22.00 Mon -Friday. It will be music based and broadcast over
Surrey, Sussex, Hants, Oxford & Berks. So a huge TSA. The way I look at
it, if it's good enough for Johnny Walker and Kenny Everett I'll be OK.
I will also be doing a Sunday programme 14.00-17.00 but that is only to
Kent, and I shall continue my Fifties and Sixties programme at Saga,
West Midlands. So I'm a busy boy, but it is all very exciting. Be nice
to be living at home and not out of a suitcase again. Hope you can catch
some of it. Seasons greetings. Roger Twiggy Day.
Surprise it was receiving a photo from
Mike Hayes. A few years
ago one of the guests on the annual Radio Day and he was in London
lately to meet another former Radio 270 guy,
Guy Hamilton. Still going
strong those two!
Guy Hamilton and Mike Hayes 2006.
Well time for an update for the long list with
nicknames. This time from
RNI as well as Radio Caroline. Thanks goes out to Rob Hudson for
mentioning a few in his last program way back in 1979: Tom ‘Right’
Hardy, Tony ‘Yahoo’ Allen’, Stephen ‘Ding Dong’ Bishop and Herman ‘onze
baron’ de Graaff. Johnny Jason named himself ‘the friendly ugly prum’. I
heard also in an old program from 1973 Tony Berk from RNI Dutch service
mentioning that Jack Aalten was named ‘Alie’ by the people on land.
I
asked Johnny Jason why he
used this nickname and he came back with: ‘Hans, marvellous to hear from
you...however, I don't know where you got that strange name from, maybe
it's referring to some other Johnny, certainly nothing I've heard
before!? Otherwise, I haven't won the lottery, so still doing my bit
here at BBC World Service and thoroughly enjoying it as well. I had a
very pleasant surprise the other night, when I went along to the Chelsea
Arts Club for supper with my sister, the first person I met on arrival
was none other than the great man himself, Ronan! We didn't spend too
much time together, but it was super to see him again, he didn't seem to
have changed at all in all these years. Those were the days! Have a
lovely Christmas and hope to see you when the next reunion comes along.
JJ’.
Thanks JJ and have a good Christmas too. Anyway the recording is 161 Mb
and far too much too load up to you versus internet. But it’s realy the
only Johnny, better known as ‘JJ’. Anyway another memory came to me
today that is Andy Archer or yourself phoning me in 1973 if I had a
proper recording of yourself as you want to sent a demo-tape to an
American radio station for a planned interview. Do you remember, let the
memories flow. As always Hknot@home.nl
and if you want to sent photos please use
hans.knot@gmail.com
Well I want to finish this last report for 2006 and won’t be back to
soon as I really want to slow down a bit during the Christmas period and
the first week of January. So I wish you a very merry Christmas and a
Happy New Year with a lot of memories to 2006. Really this was a big
year and once again all the Voice of Peace guys, I won’t forget the
marvellous reunion we had this year. And soon we hope to reveal which
will be one of the guests for the next Radio Day on November 10th 2007.
Till next year, all the best, Hans Knot.
Offshore Radio Programme Names - Programmanamen Zeezenders 1958-1990
Read Hans Knot's former report