Offshore
From Freeradio
Offshore pirate radio is free radio broadcast from International Waters, beyond the legislation of any country. Most offshore broadcasters have broadcast from ships, although a few (notably off the UK coast) have used sea structures such as ex-military sea forts.
To this day, when "pirate radio" is mentioned, many people think of offshore pirate radio ships, such as those used by Radio Caroline etc.
Contents |
The early days
Contrary to popular myth, although Radio Caroline was the first offshore radio station off the UK coast, it was not the first offshore radio station in the world. In the late 1950's, Radio Syd and Radio Nord broadcast off the Swedish coast, and Radio Veronica broadcast to Holland from the 1960's.
Nevertheless, Radio Caroline was the first to broadcast from off the UK coast, and was also the first to broadcast mainly in English. What really made Caroline successful, however, was that it was the first station in the UK to base its programming solely on pop music.
Caroline's popularity led to a number of other offshore pop pirates, including Radio London, Radio Scotland, Radio 270, Radio City and Swinging Radio England. In turn, the success of the pop pirates led to the opening of "square" music or easy-listening pirates, such as Britain Radio and Radio 390.
Swinging Radio England and Britain Radio both broadcast from the same ship, the MV Laissez Faire. This was possibly the first case of a radio ship broadcasting two stations on different frequencies simultaneously. Although Britain Radio was the "second service" and less well resourced than Swinging Radio England, ironically Britain Radio was the more successful and out-lasted SRE.
The success of ship-based broadcasting also led to new stations opening on abandoned World War II forts, mostly in the Thames Estuary. Fort based stations include Radio City and Radio 390.
Unfortunately, the massive success of the offshore pirates annoyed not only the BBC, but the Establishment in general. As a result, the Marine Offences Act of 1967 all but outlawed the offshore pirates, and led to the closedown of all the UK pirates except for Radio Caroline.
Caroline continued until the following year, but the MOA hit Caroline's advertising badly and the station ran into financial difficulties. In 1968, both of Caroline's ships were impounded by a Dutch shipping company, due to non-payment.
Offshore radio in the 1970's
Soon after Caroline was closed down in 1968, RNI (Radio Northsea International in English, Radio Nordzee International in Dutch) started broadcasting from off the Dutch coast. A powerful signal gave good coverage of the UK, especially during the night time.
In addition to medium wave, RNI also broadcast on short wave and FM.
At one point, RNI's ship, the Mebo II, moved location and started broadcasting from off the English coast. The British Establishment were not amused, and RNI's signal was jammed.
Then the British General Election of 1970 came. Partly in retaliation to the jamming, RNI moved to a medium wave frequency near BBC Radio 1, and started broadcasting as Radio Caroline. (Possibly the Radio Caroline organisation were involved with the broadcast.) Tapping into discontent with the British Labour government which had passed the Marine Offences Act, "Radio Caroline" urged listeners to vote Conservative and unseat the Labour government. They got their wish - the Conservatives won the election.
Any hopes that the Conservatives would be kinder to offshore radio, however, were soon dashed. The Marine Offences Act remained in force, and is still in force to this day. In addition, the jamming of RNI continued, and only stopped when the Mebo II moved back to its original position off the Dutch coast.
Caroline continued, for a while in the early 1970s broadcasting as Radio Seagull, while a new Belgian station - Radio Mi Amigo - took over daytime broadcasts from the Mi Amigo. It was during this time that Caroline/Seagull started broadcasting progressive rock and AOR (Album Orientated Rock), a format which was to influence Caroline well into the 1980's. Also during this time, Caroline started promoting Loving Awareness, which again continued well into the 1980's.
The Dutch offshore stations, Radio Veronica and RNI, both closed down in August 1974 following the passing of Dutch legislation based on the MOA. Caroline continued, in time setting sail for a new mooring off the coast of England.
Caroline continued until 20th March 1980, when its ship, the Mi Amigo, sank in a vicious storm.
The 1980s - offshore radio's last phase?
In 1983, Radio Caroline returned from a new ship, the MV Ross Revenge. The frequency was 963 kHz, announced as 319 metres. The format was mostly album rock, and the mostly music format - Caroline regularly played 3 records in a row - came as a welcome change to the speech-heavy format of legal radio at the time.
In 1984, Caroline was joined by Laser 558, with a more populist chart pop format.
In 1985, Caroline moved to 576 kHz - announced as 519 metres. Meanwhile, a new Dutch pop station called radio Monique International started broadcasting from the Ross Revenge, on 963 kHz, during the day. In the evening, religious programmes from various evangelical organisations and evangelists (eg Roy Masters and Johann Maasbach) were broadcast in the Viewpoint 963 slot. Into the night, Caroline Overdrive broadcast album rock, in contrast to Caroline's 576kHz frequency which was adopting a more pop-related format in competition to Laser.
Laser's non-stop pop music format became massively popular. This led to the ire of the radio Establishment, including the bosses of some ILR stations, who feared their listenership and advertising revenue was being lost to the pirates - notably Laser. In response, the DTI launched Eurosiege '85 to try to close down Laser and Caroline.
Laser 558 closed down in November 1985, a few days later Caroline moved onto the (now vacant) clearer frequency of 558 kHz. Within a few weeks, Eurosiege ended, and Caroline and Monique continued.
Over the next few years, Monique changed its name, first to Radio 558 and later to Radio 819.
In October 1987, disaster was to befall the Ross Revenge. The famous October Hurricane so weakened Caroline's iconic huge mast, that it collapsed within a few months. After that, Caroline limped back onto the air with temporary makeshift antenna arrangements, taking many months to regain a decent signal strength across much of its former coverage area.
Then in 1989, the Ross Revenge was raided in International Waters by the Dutch authorities, with help from the British DTI. This led to protests, but was also the beginning of the end for Caroline.
In 1990, London multi-cultural ILR Spectrum Radio started broadcasting on 558 kHz. This annoyed not only Radio Caroline, Spectrum Radio were angry about being allocated an unsuitable frequency. Eventually, Caroline moved to a new frequency of 558 kHz.
By the end of 1990, the Ross Revenge again ran into trouble in a storm. The Ross Revenge was escorted into harbour, leading to the end of offshore pirate radio in the UK.
Epilogue
Caroline continues to this day, using various legal means - satellite broadcasting, frequent RSLs (from the Ross Revenge, harboured at various locations in the UK), and internet broadcasting.
Main category: Pirates
Associated categories: Offshore radio links
