Radio Caroline

Radio Caroline is an European radio station that originally commenced transmissions as offshore radio station broadcasting from a ship anchored off the coast of South East England in international waters. Originally unlicensed by any government for the majority of its life it was labelled as a pirate radio station.

A number of unlicensed radio stations have been located on ships anchored off Britain's coasts. However, Radio Caroline was the first such station to broadcast all-day using the English language. This, together with the station's tenacity in surviving for some forty years has established Radio Caroline as a household name for offshore radio.

History

The station has seen four distinct stages:

1. 1964-1968: its founding on March 28, 1964 through to 1968 when its two ships were impounded by the shipping company
2. 1972-1980: the return of Caroline in 1972 and survival up until 1980 when the ship sank in a storm
3. 1983-1991: the second return of Caroline, using a new ship in 1983 until 1991 when this vessel was shipwrecked and brought into harbour
4. 1991-present: Caroline's move onto land, operating as a primarily on-shore station broadcasting principally via satellite.

This article examines each of these four phases in turn.

1964-1968

Radio Caroline opens

Radio Caroline was founded in 1964 by Irish music industry businessman Ronan O'Rahilly. It began broadcasting on 28 March 1964 from the ex-passenger ferry MV Fredericia, anchored in international waters three miles off the coast of Essex, southeast England. The station took its name from Caroline Kennedy, daughter of President John F. Kennedy.

O'Rahilly hs said in interviews that when he flew to Dallas Texas to buy the transmitters for the radio station, he was reading a copy of Look magazine. That issue contained a now famous photo essay about the president and his two children John and Caroline who were playing with him in the Oval Office. Ronan recalled a picture that showed young John crawling through a miniature doorway away from the President's legs. Ronan changed the subject in his retelling of this story from John to Caroline and that his how both his ship and station gained their names. In many homes within Ireland it was not uncommon to see a picture of both the Pope and President Kennedy hanging on the wall, such was the Irish fascination with the president and his family.

When Radio Caroline started in March 1964, its first theme tune played at close down was Jimmy McGriff's Round Midnight (an LP track on I've Got a Woman, Sue ILP 907 1962 UK; Sue 1012 USA). During March 1964, a Birmingham band called The Fortunes recorded the song Caroline (the B-side of You've Got Your Troubles, which entered the British charts in 1965, on Decca F11809), and this later became the station's theme song.

Radio Caroline quickly became the most popular radio station in the UK with some seven million listeners at a time when all-day pop music radio was unknown in Europe.

Caroline was not the first offshore station; the first ship-based radio station reportedly broadcast from the casino ship Rex, moored off California in the 1930s. Later, offshore radio ships were anchored off the coasts of Denmark and Sweden in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and since 1960 Radio Veronica had been broadcasting successfully to the Netherlands from a ship off the Dutch coast. The US Navy also operated radio stations from some of its vessels.

Radio Caroline chose a channel at the highest end of the medium wave band, 1520 kHz, which was announced as 199 metres, to rhyme with Caroline, although this actually corresponded to a wavelength of 197.3 m. Transmitter power was initially 10 kW and broadcast hours were limited initially to 6am until 7pm daily.

Creation of Radio Caroline North and South

Other offshore radio ships soon followed Caroline's example and began broadcasting off the British coast. A few months after launch, Caroline merged with the new competitor station Radio Atlanta, and until 1968 broadcast from two ships – the original vessel Fredericia, which moved to the Isle of Man to become Radio Caroline North – and the MV Mi Amigo, the ex-Radio Atlanta ship, which remained anchored off the Essex coast and took the name Radio Caroline South. Together the two ships were able to cover most of the British Isles and the westernmost parts of continental northern Europe.

The first programme heard on Caroline was presented by Simon Dee. Other DJs who went on become nationally famous included Tony Blackburn, Roger Day, Spangles Muldoon/Chris Cary, Keith Skues and Andy Archer. There were also a number of DJs from the USA and Commonwealth countries, such as Rosko. . Syndicated shows from the USA as well as prerecorded religious programmes were also broadcast.

The Mi Amigo runs aground

In January 1966 the Radio Caroline South ship MV Mi Amigo drifted in a storm and ran aground onto the beach at Frinton-on-Sea. Transmissions ceased as the boat entered British territorial waters and the crew and broadcasting staff were rescued unharmed, but the hull was damaged and had to go into dry dock for repair. While the repairs were being carried out, Caroline South broadcast from the vessel Cheeta II, which was normally in use by a Swedish offshore station called Radio Syd, but which was off the air at that time, due to severe weather in the Baltic.

The Cheeta II broadcasts brought with them a change in frequency from 199 metres to 259 metres (actually 253, but called 259 to rhyme with Caroline). This was an astute move for the station, as it meant that Caroline's channel was now just a hair's-breadth away from the highly popular competitor pirate radio ship Radio London on 266m on the one side of the dial, and the BBC's Light Programme mainstream music and entertainment service on 247m on the other. This gave Caroline a higher profile and helped the station capture new listeners away from these other two channels. Radio Caroline North subsequently moved to 257m but also called it 259. Caroline would continue to utilise the "259m" wavelength until the late 1970s.

The Radio City murder

In June 1966 Radio Caroline embarked on a joint venture with rival pirate Radio City, which broadcast from an old World War II marine fort off the Kent coast, seven miles from Margate. One of the directors of Caroline, Major Oliver Smedley, agreed to pay for a new transmitter to relay Caroline's programmes from the fort, while Reg Calvert, the owner of Radio City, would continue to run the operation but this time on behalf of Radio Caroline.

However, Radio Caroline then withdrew from the deal when it was heard that the government intended to prosecute those occupying the forts, which were still Crown property. Major Smedley, however, had received no payment from Calvert for the transmitter.

A raid on the Radio City fort was subsequently launched by Smedley, and the station's transmitter was put out of action. Calvert then visited Smedley's home to demand the departure of the raiders and the return of vital transmitter parts. A violent struggle developed during which Smedley shot Calvert dead. During the subsequent trial, Smedley was acquitted on grounds of self-defence.

The 1967 Marine Offences Act

The British government responded to the presence of Caroline and the other offshore stations in 1967 by passing the Marine Broadcasting Offences Act which made it an offence to advertise or supply an offshore radio station from the UK. All the offshore stations off the British coast closed, with the exception of Radio Caroline, which moved its supply operation to the Netherlands where offshore broadcasting had not yet been outlawed. She was the only UK offshore station to do so. However, the expected advertising revenue from overseas sources was not forthcoming, and less than a year later the station was forced off the air when the Dutch shipping company which tendered the two Caroline ships seized the vessels on grounds of non-payment.

Six weeks after the Marine Offences Act was passed, the BBC introduced its national pop station Radio 1, modelled largely on the successful pirate competitor station to Caroline, Radio London. The old BBC Light, Third and Home channels became Radios 2, 3 and 4 respectively. It was to be another five years until the first on-land commercial radio stations began to appear in the UK.

1969-1971

Radio Caroline International

When the original two ship stations of Radio Caroline International eventually ran out of money in early 1968, a salvage company towed them away for unpaid bills. For a time nothing more was heard of Radio Caroline, then a new and very powerful offshore radio station aboard the MV Mebo II anchored off the coast of Southeast England in time for the British General election.

It was at that moment in time when this station which was called Radio Northsea International - (RNI), suddenly changed its name to - Radio Caroline International and it began to lobby for the introduction of licensed commercial radio in the United Kingdom. As a result of this development the British Government resorted to Jamming the station with a succession of increasingly powerful transmitters on the same frequency. After the election Radio Caroline International fell silent once more and the radio ship moved back to Holland where it became Radio Northsea International once again.

Caroline Television

There were several major news stories in the European press announcing the start of Caroline TV from two aircraft using Stratovision technology. One plane was set to circle over the North Sea in international air space near the coastline of the United Kingdom, while the other one was kept on standby to take over duties. Although these stories continued for some time and included details of cooperation by a former member of the Beatles and a sign-on date was given, nothing more was heard of the venture once that date came and went. It has been suggested that the entire event was a publicity stunt in an effort to keep the name of Radio Caroline in the news, but the technology behind this story was both valid and perfected by the Westinghouse company which invented Stratovision.

1972-1980

Radio Caroline returns

Caroline made a comeback in 1972, this time from the smaller of the two ships, the MV Mi Amigo, anchored off the Dutch coastal resort of Scheveningen and serviced and operated from the Netherlands. Ronan O'Rahilly decided Caroline should adopt a rock album music format similar to that found on "FM progressive rock" stations in the USA, as this radio market segment was uncatered for in Europe. This service was initially broadcast using the name Radio Seagull.

Radio Atlantis and Radio Seagull

Radio Caroline could not expect to find substantial advertising revenue in the UK nor big business backing, and so the station depended mainly on the work of dedicated volunteers. To survive, Caroline shared its 259 metre broadcast frequency (actually 1187 kHz, corresponding to a wavelength of 253 metres) with Dutch language pop stations, the first of which was a Belgian station called Radio Atlantis, which used the frequency during the daytime to broadcast pre-recorded programmes. Radio Seagull broadcast during the night live from the ship's studio.

Radio Mi Amigo

Once the contract with Radio Atlantis had come to an end,Radio Atlantis moved to their own ship "The Janine". Daytime programmes were provided by another Belgian-run operation called Radio Mi Amigo. In contrast to Caroline in the 70s, this station was a commercial success, with a wide listenership in Dutch-speaking Belgium and the Netherlands. Radio Seagull then changed its name back to Radio Caroline. Throughout most of the 70s, Radio Caroline itself could only be heard at night, under the banner "Radio Caroline — Europe's first and only album station", which it still usess to this day.

Caroline's daytime partner station Radio Mi Amigo was run by a Belgian businessman (Sylvain Tack) who also owned a large waffle bakery (Suzy Waffels) near Brussels, as well as a pop music magazine and recording company. The station's offices and studios were based on Spain's Playa De Aro coastal resort, where it produced programmes for Dutch-speaking holidaymakers. Most of the programmes of Radio Mi Amigo were taped and rebroadcast from the Caroline ship by day and were a mixture of Top 40/MOR together with native Flemish/Dutch language popular music, presented by Belgian, Dutch and occasional English DJs. Land-based commercial radio was prohibited in Belgium at that time; thus Radio Mi Amigo had little competition and so enjoyed a wide popularity in Belgium and to a lesser extent in the Netherlands. Thus for the first few years there was a big demand for advertising on the station.

Loving Awareness

Caroline's chosen format of heavy album tracks rather than top 40 now meant that, although the station served a market gap, overall listenership was smaller than in the 60s. Caroline also promoted the concept of "LA" or Loving Awareness. This was a far-eastern inspired philosophy of love and peace defined by the station's founder Ronan O'Rahilly. Some of the station's DJs were embarrassed at the idea of promoting love and peace on air, but some were fascinated by the challenge of promoting an abstract concept in the same way that they might promote a brand of detergent.

O'Rahilly set up a group called The Loving Awareness Band, which released one album, Loving Awareness on Morelove records, #ML01. It was, of course, promoted heavily on the station. This might be seen as a cynical marketing ploy except that the album was professionally produced and even pressed on heavier vinyl than most rock albums. All the musicians who played on the album went on to work with Ian Dury — from Loving Awareness to Blockheads!

Caroline's constant plugging of "LA" — which it promotes to this day, together with the progressive rock album music it played — bands such as Pink Floyd, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Led Zeppelin, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and Hawkwind, gave the station an unusual and distinctiv