Hans Knot's International Radio Report - July 2004 (Parts 1 and 2)
Part
1
Hi and a warm welcome to the July edition of the International Radio Report. Of course first some of the responses which came in: "Hi Hans this is Phil Pickering from Coalville, Leicestershire. What a wonderful report as usual I have been reading it now for the last couple of years. How good it is to bring back the memories of Offshore Radio".
"It is now thirty odd years since I first started listening to these wonderful stations and all because we had a short wave and medium wave Radio at the School which I was attending way back in 1969.I was one of those kids who had to go to a special school for Wheelie People (Those in wheelchairs) back then. I well remember the night RNI got a bomb onboard. I was listening on short wave at the time, I think it was a Saturday night I found it most exciting just listening there. It seems now that a lot of commercial radio is quite boring in comparison. I have just got a DAB receiver and there are a few stations which seem to have flavour of the old Stations. Concerning Radio London I am not at all surprised that they have not come on air. It seemed to me either they were dragging there heals or they had know intention of coming on in the first place but that is just my opinion! I wonder what you think. Anyway all for now e-mail you again soon.
Kind Regards Phil."
Thanks a lot Phil for your response. Always nice to see that there are also a lot of listeners having their own memories from the watery days. I hope Ray Anderson and his people still succeed in getting a signal on the air. Now the 1008 kHz has gone to Talpa Radio and their Radio Tien Gold. Still there’s a possibility that one of the other free frequencies could go to the Anderson organisation, so let’s hope the best for them.
Next one is from Rodney Collins who expresses himself in only one line:
‘Wow - Mr Palmer and Mr Tremaine, these memories are wonderful, thanks, Rodney Collins’
Hope Rodney himself can write some memories from the trips he made to the radio ships, when writing on the subject some 33 years ago.
Then I
sent an e mail to the people with the new radio ship in Sweden/Finland. I asked Roy Sandgran how things were going after my contacts warned me that there was trouble between the people working within the project. I simply asked: ‘Is there sill LA or also DA. When will we be able to hearing a thing? I got a lot of emails from people who ware asking what’s really happening. Even the name ‘phoney radio project’ is mentioned. So be honest and tell us what’s happening.
On Friday 25th of June an answer came in from Roy:
‘Hello my great friend, everything is Oké. Mike Spenser make his decision yesterday and will from now on, follow my instructions. The transmitter is moving from the ship to the coordinated antenna/mast at Nabben outside Mariehamn. Later today an expert on AM antennas, atu and tx will try to tune in everything to the best. Perhaps some tests later today with music from some computer. Finally Mike has to accept the rules and regulations of AM-broadcasting on Åland (Finland). It's midsummer day today and like a Saturday, take care of you, Roy.’
He also mentioned that tests would be made on Sunday 28th of June. Personally I didn’t tune in into the radio that day. Who did receive Radio Scandinavia that day on 603?
The radio ship MV St. Paul (copyright Radio Scandanavia)
On the internet site of Wim van de Water: www.mediapages.nl
a wonderful update can be found with hundreds of newspaper cuts from the archive of Jan van Plateringen. Really a very good update.
It was the same day that the 1008 kHz went to Talpa Radio and the Radio 10 Gold transmissions that last issue of the International Report came out. It was Tom Mulder, program director of the station, who got a special delivery of the report before anyone else. I did congratulate him on the success station that in stead of Big L we would now get a Big Radio 10 Gold.’
Of course he came back to me and one of the things he wrote was that a reincarnation of the old Big L would nowadays never been a success again and the quality of British radio is getting worse and worse, without the inspiration of the Americans.
Geoffrey Baldwin wants to go back to the issue female deejays:
"Going back to one of your earlier reports, Jessie Brandon said that the photo from the Laser 558 days in the 1980's that everyone saw of her was not very fair on her and she sent you a more recent one. After that, I took a look at the Feature Story News site and there is another photo of her in which she looks a bit like actress Sigourney Weaver (meant as a compliment!)." "So, anyway, I can only agree with her comment and, yes, Jessie is an attractive woman and seems to be maturing well! Some ladies do improve with age like wine! Anyway, the point of this message is on that subject. You have mentioned various female D.J.'s in your reports but I was wondering who your readers thought was the most attractive offshore female D.J.? When I saw the pictures of Brandy Lee years ago (in Offshore Echos) during her days on Laser Hot Hits, I thought she was rather good looking and, with these new pictures of Jessie, it reminds me that Laser did come up trumps in that respect, what with the Laserettes and all!" "So, that's my question: Did Laser have the most attractive women? Of course, there were a number of other lady D.J.'s that worked for stations like Caroline, Mi Amigo, Veronica,
Capital Radio, Atlantis and so on."
So guys let Geoff know what you think about this issue and sent it in to
Hknot@home.nl
The next comes in from Sven Martinsen from Norway and speaks for itself:
‘We refer first to the internet presentation at http://www.northernstar.no/ask.html
This email does not relate to the AM project of
Northern Star though, but deals with an idealist museum radio project near Bergen, Norway. The background is that LKB(call sign) Bergen Kringkaster entire site(formerly the property of NRK) has been bought by the municipality of Askoy and the new owner is looking for interest and sponsors to restore the site. Some of the main points in focus are:
Is it possible to make the 20 kW Telefunken transmitter used on 890 kHz work again? It has not been used since November 1st, 1978.
(A newer 10 kW Philips from 1965 may be possible to bring back.)
Is it possible to make a 1 kW Marconi used on 1115 kHz work again? It has not been used since spring of 1966. From the 40s we think.
Is it possible to make a 250 watts Western Electric used on 1466 kHz work again? From the late 40s. It has not been used since November, 1978.
The two 150 metres masts combined into a "T"-aerial have been taken down, but all the sections remain, stored at the site.
The guy wires as well as the central wire of the masts seem to have to be renewed.
The feeder cable to the masts must be renewed.
We think the earthing may be intact.
Thankful for any input’.
A lot of ideas they have up there in Norway and hopefully they will succeed in realise the plans. If anyone has comments or ideas let them coming in as they’re really needed in Norway.. Good luck to all the guys who are working together with Sven.
Publishers NDC and Koninklijke Boom haven’t found a buyer for their regional station
Rebecca Radio which can be received in the main parts of northern and eastern of Holland, as a full operating radio station. The licence and frequency has been given free to Jan Lagrouw, who is also active within the radio business in Holland with his regional project Sun FM. Also the name can be used and so Rebecca FM will start on August 1st. The programs will be made from studio’s in Rijswijk and it will stay a regional radio station. Less will be changed to the format. All the commercial activities as the advertisement department will be working from offices in Meppel, where they are already. He thinks ten of the former Rebecca people (19) will have a job again form August 1st. Lagrouw and a not mentioned other investors think the station can make profit at the end of 2005.
From Berlin comes the news that the RIAS2 Mega Party will be held on Saturday August 14th. It can be seen as a farewell party to all the more than 23.000 visitors who took part in the RIAS2 Marathon Danceparties in Hof, Dresden, Luckau and Teltow. The Mega Party will be held in the ‘Waldbühne’ near Luckau. one of the presenters will be the in Germany world famous
Dennis King, who the offshore fans remember from Caroline in the seventies. Dennis is next to radio also a television personality in Germany with his show on FAB in Berlin. More information can be get at
http://www.riasparty.tripod.com
Then the IMIB, the Isle of Man International Broadcasting plc came with a very glossy brochure in which the new nationwide radio station promote herself with a start for the station in the first half of 2005, with a flotation on the stock market in the second half of 2005.
It’s possible for everyone, big spenders as well as small spenders, to take shares in the international cooperation. Paul Rusling, Chief Executive for the company, wrote me a personal letter: ‘I know you would want to read this, but if you do know of anyone who might to invest, we are very interested to hear’. Better to have many small groups that I big radio group. Anyone interested can go for more information on.
www.iomib.com where the contacts page has a form to get info for buying shares.
You can also send an email to Prospectus@iomib.com
and they will send the details.
So go and get your won shares. I still have the shares of the former REM Island, way back in 1964.
Listening to 1008 kHz on July 30th. What a brilliant signal of 400 kW is beaming over Western Europe. E mails coming in from all kind of countries like Scotland, Ireland, Denmark and France stating they’re listening to the stations with a very good reception.
Radio 10 Gold is now Big Ten! Congratulations to Tom and all the others on the station. Even Paul Rusling on the Isle of Man wrote that he has a very good reception at the island. one of the readers told me that the signal was far much better than RNI ever had. 100% right!
In the evening I was listening to some old programs and one came from 20 years ago, June 1984. It were the first weeks of Laser 558 and the station attracted millions of listeners in Great Britain as well on the continent. one of the deejays mentioned himself several times ‘TR’ in the program and so we can add that one to the long list of ‘nick names’ for Tommy Rivers.
Next we go to Germany where Peter Oonk, originating from Holland, is living. He’s from 1985 and since a couple of years interested in the history of Offshore Radio. He has asked me to publish the next: ‘Hi I’m Peter Oonk and I think you will say that I’m crazy but I’ve plans to come with a new offshore radio station. Therefore I would like to come in contact with anyone who has worked on a radio ship and maybe a few of them could step with me into the future project. I’m working within the pirate land based scene since five years and also I’m working for a legal radio station. I got interested in the history on Offshore Radio since three years and it seems to me a very good idea to start such a station. I’ve already found public backers who are willing to take part in the project. Please contact me at
twentekanon@hotmail.com
A few interesting e mails which came in around July 1st up till 8th I will take with me for the next issue of the international
report. Reason is that the sad news came in that Tony Allan died on July 9th at 11.15 at the age of 54. At the end of June I got the information that Tony was taken to an
hospice, the Marie Currie Hospice in Hampstead. Taking care for Tony at his own house was impossible at that
stage. It was already known for 3 years that Tony had cancer of the
throat. At first it was expected he should die early 2002 but his strong character kept him living for a much longer period than
expected. In the early hours of the morning Tony got into coma and died in
peace. ![]() Maybe the most legendary program I do remember was on September 30th 1972 when Tony opened officially RNI2, a radio station which was only on the air for two days. Radio Veronica, the Dutch offshore station, changed frequency to 538 metres and as soon as the old ‘192’ transmitter from Radio Veronica left the air, an other strong signal came on 192. It was RNI2, a toy station from Radio Northsea International, only with the aim to introduce themselves to the Veronica listeners and hopefully to win them for RNI in the then future. In partly perfect Dutch Tony presented with full joy this opening. After his RNI days Tony went to The VOP, the Peace station from Abe Nathan. Together with a team of technicians there was a period of long and hard working in New York, where the MV Cito of the VOP was technically installed. Then came the trip to Europe and hard times in Spain and France. It took months before the station finally came on the air off the Israeli coast and again Tony did open this station. He stayed a long time on the ship, even returned in 1976 after working on both Radio Seagull and Caroline in Europe. When I did research for my book on The Voice of Peace some thirteen years ago I interviewed a lot of former people who had worked for the Voice of Peace and almost every time people started talking very enthusiastic about the way Tony could bring his experience to them. He was a very creative person, not only for the listener but also to share it with his colleagues. When back in Europe on the MV Mi Amigo he even presented a lot of programs in his romantic Dutch when there were no tapes on sister stations like Radio Atlantis and Radio Mi Amigo. For Tony non stop music was a taboo. During the eighties Tony worked on Scottish Television and a few Irish commercial radio stations like Radio Nova , Sunshine Radio and South Coast Radio. With his beautiful voice he could be heard at the same time on Irish Public Radio RTE as a voice over. During the nineties he could be heard again for one day during the 1995 RSL in London harbour. The Ross Revenge was anchored in the Docklands and when I did enter the ship to do my own program one day, I saw Tony for the very first time since years. He was in a very bad mood as the then program director Johnny Reece had told him to leave the ship and never showing up again. Tony had lost his temper on the radio ship after making a program and sour comments on younger deejays. It would take years before Tony was invited again to do programmes on the satellite version of Radio Caroline. A pity his voice was already in a bad condition but still his experience could be heard in the way he was presenting and making his own musical choice. After it became known Tony had cancer I had the luck to meet him once again in November 2002. It was a surprise party as I would met Robin Banks on Piccadilly Circus at two o’clock at a Saturday afternoon for a drink. He was stocked in the traffic and without notice suddenly Tony tagged me on the shoulder. What followed was again an afternoon filled with joy, cigarettes, a good beer and many memories. Memories shared with Tony will remain for always in my mind. May he rest in peace. ![]() It is well known that Tony did not know the meaning of the word "abstemious", and it was during a shore leave from Radio Caroline that he and Graeme Gill visited me at a well-known hotel in Amsterdam. I had been given a room with a very large private bar, stocked with every drink imaginable. During the course of what should have been a highly memorable evening (I wish I COULD remember it) we drank late into the night. It was only when I woke in the morning (late) that I realised the impact we had made on the stock of brandy, whisky, vodka, gin etc. As the remaining contents of the bar were due to be measured, and the amount missing added to my bill, I had no choice but to top the bottles back up again ... the vodka and gin from the bathroom tap .. and the other spirits with various strengths of diluted coffee and tea. When I told Tony afterwards, his only reaction was: "Thank ***** I wasn't the next guest in THAT room!" Sadly Tony and I lost touch for the better part of 20 years but, thanks to our mutual friend Elija van den Berg, we recently met up again and remained in close contact for the last couple of months of his life. We three spent a joyous afternoon together in London which, despite his frailty, was an event marked not by sadness but by laughter. Lots and lots of it. ‘ Next one came in from Robb Eden, who also worked together with Tony on both RNI and Radio Caroline: ‘Hans, I'm sure that you will have heard that Tony passed away this morning. We arrived at the hospice half hour too late. He looked very serene & peaceful. Tony and I have been working on a compilation of unsigned music. Tony has written the sleeve notes. The first pressings will be ready in about three weeks. Profits will go to the Marie Curie Cancer hospice where he was being cared for. I have also interviewed him about his life. When this has been transcribed it will be available for all to see at www.jacobsladder.org.uk (in about a week). Will e-mail when the funeral arrangements are confirmed. Robb Eden. Then from Israël an e mail from media watcher Mike Brand: It was of course with deep sadness I heard of the death of Tony Allan this evening What more can be said that already has been said. I had the privilege of listening to Tony on RNI, Caroline and the Voice Of Peace. Thinking that when I came to Israel in 1976, listening to good radio was over, I was gladly surprised to listen to the voices of Tony Allan and Crispian St John ( Howard Rose once again, through the airwaves of the VOP. Peace was always in the mind of Tony, and radio today has lost a very special person. Tony is the third VOP (amongst other stations of course) presenter to pass away in recent years, the other two being Howard Rose and Kenny Page. Radio Heaven International has a pretty impressive line up at this moment …… Mike Brand.’ |
Well a sad end of this report. Let’s hope we have better news next time. As always you can sent in your comments, news and memories to
Hknot@home.nl
Part 2
A good day to you all and here is the next international radio report.
In last issue we ended with the sad news of the death of Tony Allan who made a fantastic radio career from 1967 on until his
death. After sending out next report a lot of people have written in with
memories.
Marc Jacobs, who worked for offshore stations Radio Mi Amigo and Radio Caroline also reflected his
thoughts: ‘It’s many years ago since I spoke to Tony Allan for the last time but when reading the sad news of his passing away it is getting me a bit
sad. As you know Hans I never had problems with Tony and there are a lot of memories concerning Tony, of which the most are very positive. Thanks to him I got the nickname ‘Marcyparcy’ as he always mentioned me on the
air. He had a lot of energy in him. During many nights he could be found in the production room making
jingles, really beautiful peaces of art. He had also the gift to bring emotions with his voice to other
people. With his own emotions he was at his wit’s end. He drank, far too much
sometimes. The next thing was that he locked himself up in his cabin and stayed there for
days. Nobody dared to go to his cabin in such moments. Except me, and I brought him in those days food and drink and all I found was a pathetic little man. I was always very pity with him but at the same time I did admire him as being the radioman Tony Allan.’
Then again Don Stevens after he read the last issue of the
report: ‘ I did not know Tony passed on.....he was a man I worked with many
times, and he caused me no end of problems with business partners in Israel, especially with Schmuel Hoogy and the mafia who ran the Karish NightClub in Ramla back in 1978, but he was a unique person and he was always willing to help out no matter what the circumstances of the last
meeting. |
As Tony Allan almost was 55 years old of ages when he died, his former colleague on Radio Scotland,
Jimmy Mack, brought it 15 years longer. Jimmy died on the age of 60 on Saturday July the 3rd in Scotland. Just a few weeks back he presented his last program on Radio Clyde 2. Also he suffered many years from cancer. He was also a talented presentator in many fields within the radio industry. Next to Radio Scotland and the Clyde stations he worked for BB Medway Radio in Kent and BBC’s Radio 1 and 2.
This could be found on the Pirate Hall of fame on Jimmy’s career:
’Jimmy Mack was born in Greenock, Scotland, on 26th June 1934. Jimmy had a job as an insurance representative when Radio Scotland launched but he also worked part-time as a volunteer on hospital radio in Edinburgh. Fascinated by the new station, he did not waste any time. Jimmy immediately sent off a demo tape. Managing Director Tommy Shields commissioned him to present The Hospital Request Show each week. This was recorded on land but whenever possible Jimmy took time off from the day job to visit the ship and present shows live. The following year, with the end of the station in sight, he took more holidays and spent the last three weeks of Radio Scotland's life on board the ship so he was there when it closed down on 14th August 1967. Following the closure, he applied to join the BBC in Glasgow. From there he presented a number of different shows on BBC Radio Scotland as well as network programmes for Radio 1 (Radio 1 Club) and Radio 2 (Night Ride). In 1970 BBC Radio Medway opened and Jimmy moved to Kent to join the launch team. In 1979 he returned to Glasgow to take over the mid-morning show on BBC Radio Scotland. In 1990 he transferred to Clyde 2.
From Mike Brand we received a message on July 5th: ‘Next week, (July 12th) I will be starting the English service of the new Israeli/Palestinian radio station "All for peace". At the moment, broadcasts are only through the Internet, but we hope to be broadcasting on FM very soon. There is a slight disagreement between the Israeli and Palestinian Communications Ministries, as to the allocation of a frequency for the station. As soon as this is cleared up, the station will broadcast with a 5 KW transmitter from somewhere in the Palestinian Authority area. We hope to reach the Central part of Israel, and the Palestinian Authority area.
Programmes at this moment are in Hebrew and Arabic, with English programmes starting this coming week. There are two co-directors of the station, one Israeli, and one Palestinian. Studios are in Jerusalem, so both Israeli and Palestinian Can reach the station to broadcast. All shows at this moment are taped, but live programmes are planned for the future. This station has NO connection to the former Voice of Peace, but sees itself as a successor to the former offshore station. Programmes on the VOP were in English and Hebrew only (mainly in English), whereas AFP will broadcast in all three languages (Hebrew English and Arabic ).
This was the "other group" that was calling itself the Voice of Peace a year back , that was in conflict with another VOP group, with myself, Noam Tal and others involved, with the backing of Abie Nathan. As this group backed by Abie, disintegrated, and out of respect for Abie, the “other group “changed it's name to "All for Peace”. I suggested English programmes to AFP a while back, was politely refused. A month ago, I was told that English programmes were going to start, I made a demo for the station, and official programmes will start soon.
You can listen to AFP at the following address : www.allforpeace.org
Mike Brand
Then an e mail from Paul in Kent: ‘Hi Hans. This is the first time I have written to you, I do read your monthly reports and really enjoy them, I am a collector of Radio Luxembourg (208) shows but also really liked the RLI show which was an half hour show in the early evenings but am struggling getting hold of any apart from two, do you know anyone who may have some for trade or something, I don't seem to be able to get any Tony Prince Top 30 disco shows from 1983 either. Any help would be most appreciated. Many thanks, Paul Bedford (Kent UK)’.
It is really a problem to get in touch with people who have recordings of
Radio Luxembourg, I know myself. Strange, that I did record since 1961 about 15.000 hours of offshore radio and maybe 12 hours of Luxembourg. Anyway, if there’s anyone who wants to be in contact about Radio Luxembourg or who has recordings of the station can get in touch with Paul by mailing him at:
radiomann@btinternet.com
An e mail from a former Carolinedeejay who never before wrote to me,
Martin Fisher from the seventies period of the good old lady:
‘Hi Hans, I have not written to you before, although I have often seen your reports appearing on various web sites. I recently stumbled across your ‘very strange episode in the history of offshore radio’ on the radiolondon.co.uk web site. I very well remember the day that the Mi Amigo's wheel was stolen. I remember being extremely annoyed at the time; I just could not believe that they could have removed the wheel without anybody seeing what was going on. I also seem to remember that the tender left in a bit of a hurry that day, I was not even alerted to the fact that the tender was leaving, which was unusual, but after visiting the bridge and discovering the wheel missing, I could see why they did not hang around. Although it was distressing at the time that anybody could steal anything from our beloved ship, in the long run, it possibly turns out to be a stroke of luck if an artefact from the Mi Amigo, does indeed survive to this day, and how amazing for Marc Jacobs to have discovered it and actually have it in his home. I thought you might like this rather posy picture of me at the wheel taken either in 1977 or early 1978. All the best, Martin Fisher’
Thanks a lot and for you and all the other readers, your memories are always welcome to include into the international report. You can sent them to:
Hknot@home.nl
The plans from Sietse Brouwer and his companions to start a radio station for the tourist visiting the isles during the summer are not going well. First it was expected to open the station early July, and then August was mentioned. The question is however if the station will come on the air this summer. Officially the place for the arial was Stiens, near Leeuwarden. They thought it would be better to go for a location near Harlingen and did, versus the Broadcast Partners, a request for it to the Board of Telecom Agency in Groningen. Permission was not granted. As the owners of
Radio Waddenzee want to place the mast 22 kilometers to the west and therefore allowance must be got from an English radio station which uses the same frequency but is 400 kilometers away. Waddenzee would only use small power. Although they can’t be on the air as promised earlier, they will be on internet as soon as possible. Will keep you informed.
One of the e-mails I had to save for this edition came in from
Don Stevens, who worked on both Radio Caroline as well as the Voice of Peace off the Israeli coast: ‘ once again, my compliments on the newsletter, it has become a welcome part of my mailbox and provides an opportunity to forget work, brew a coffee and relax while enjoying the news. As promised, I have been searching out photographs from the Peace Ship to place in high quality on a 'Voice of Peace the Golden Age' website, but a few need to be seen sooner. For example the colour image of the late Crispian, enjoying an afternoon chat on the main deck of the Peace Ship from 1976, and the black and white shot of rarely seen James Ross, Phil Mitchell and Richard Jackson just dressed after a sunbathing session on the forward hold hatch. I also enclose a thoughtful pose of Stevie Gordon a few weeks before he left the Peace Ship and I believe he went straight to Caroline, so its an interesting study.
I have Radio Jackie on in the background and it’s like the good old days of land based piracy in London. It sounds really good, tight links and an original playlist, lots of fresh tunes, great oldies you should tune in Hans, they are online at
www.radiojackie.com
and they have a couple of ex-offshore people involved, including Tony Collis.
Send you more stuff soon Hans, I've found a photo of the MV Odelia, the Israeli pirate television ship that caused so much hassle in 1977/78, and a shot of MV Norderney and MV Magda Maria side by side in Amsterdam...I think in 1986...but you will know for sure once you see the shot. Keep up your excellent work Hans, you are the glue that binds us together...Buster Pearson was like that in the 1970's and held the offshore family together. Thanks again Hans. Live Long & Prosper, Don’
In name of all thanks a lot for the photos and also for the compliments. By the way, it was an honour to have worked together in the eighties together with Jean, Buster and other persons within the Monitor Magazine team. Here’s a current shot of Don and really he’s now a gentleman. But how many days a year you’re have your hat on?
Jan van Heeren wrote in that he found in his archive some newspaper cuts from 1964 and 1965 including a program schedule for Radio Veronica and this brought some
female deejays we did not mention before. Madelon Heyen presented ‘Chez Madelon’, Linda Goedhart presented a sponsored program for grocery ‘De Spar’, Annette was the one for ‘Favorieten Express’ a record label from the Fontana Company and Calvo Roderiquez was with Veronica to do her weekly Spanish program.
An e mail form the USA: ‘Hans - saw your website and was wondering if you'd have any advice for an American DJ with EU passport who wants to move to E.U. Are there any agencies you know of that would be worth contacting to get work over
there? Ideally a club residency, ideally in Copenhagen. I have played in 16 countries with most of the big names in the biz. Thanks for any help you can offer. Jas’.
I answered him telling I’m radio related and have no contacts in the club circuit and advised him to put a note in the report. Second answer was:
‘That would be great Hans. I play on radio here as well and actually I like that better than club stuff, if there is anyone looking for an American DJ. You can hear my shows on the net - links to that and all my bio stuff is here if you want to include it in your newsletter mention.
www.groovetribe.org/jas.html
You are to kind - thank you very much for replying. I'm sure I could learn a lot from you regarding radio.: groovetribedj@hotmail.com
So anyone who want to answer Jas can do in on the above e mail.
And before we forget to mention: Paul de Haan mentioning that one of the world best radio stations is back on Internet after three years so go and have a listen to
www.wlng.com
It brought me to the idea listening to this station during the day on July 13th and during the evening I tuned in into an old recording from Radio Caroline with one of their American deejays. Recording in New York, Jack Spector could be heard in the sixties on Radio Caroline in Western Europe. I now hear how bad he was, but he also mentioned a few time his own given nickname: ‘Your main man Jake’. For people who are fresh readers of the international radio report ‘nicknames’ for former offshore deejays is one of the topics through the past years and if you want a long list with the names we have found just e mail me and ask for the list: hknot@home.nl
There’s one other I would like to add. I read an old interview with Cees van Zijtveld, from 1963 when he worked for Radio Veronica. one of the topics was a new presenter on the station in those days: Gaston Huysmans. He was from Holland but his parents from Belgium and had an interest in playing a lot of ‘polka and Dutch language’ music in his program. And Cees told in the interview that Gaston already got a nickname in 1963 as he was called ‘Nonkel Gaston’ by his colleagues.
Listening to programs from the very first week of Radio Atlanta in June 1964, a station that started 40 years ago and merged with Radio Caroline in July of that year, it occurred to me that the American deejays almost only read slogans on the air and had less social talk to the listeners. ‘This is the mast with the most’, ‘This is living loving radio’, ‘This is friendly Radio Atlanta’, ‘Radio Atlanta, your station for a brighter sound’, and ‘This is Radio Atlanta playing music, the only language that every body knows’, are just some of the examples I did hear a lot today (July 15th). What we didn’t know by then that a lot of radio stations would be boring to listen to some 30 years afterwards with deejays with only ‘liner carts’. But we can also add, due to listening to the old programs, two nicknames we didn’t had in our list of nicknames. Mike ‘Your very own deejay’ Raven and Bob ‘Little fat boy’ Scott are the two to be put into the list. on Radio Noordzee, the Dutch language station on board the MEBO II there was a program in which two persons had a nickname, we didn’t mention before. Each Saturday the program was broadcast and Ferry de Groot became Ferry ‘meneer de’ Groot and André van Duyn became ‘Dick voor
Mekaar’.
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Read Hans Knot's former report