Radio Caroline is the prototype of the movie "Radio Pirate". Its founder is the Irish music agent and businessman Ronan O'Rahilly. At that time, the record company giants EMI, Decca, Pye, and Phillips joined forces to monopolize and cooperate with radio stations to refuse to play music works released by small music agents. After O'Rahilly was refused by the Luxembourg radio station of Georgie Fame Records to play his music, he was influenced by the Scandinavian and Dutch pirates who were active at the time. Ronan actually raised enough funds to purchase A suitable cruise. In February 1964, Ronan acquired a former Danish cruise ship Fredricia with a displacement of 702 tons and converted it into a radio ship in the Irish port of Glenor, owned by his father. At the same time, Alan Crawford's Atlanta project organization also equipped the radio ship MV Mi Amigo in Greenor, the first two radio ships to be put into service.
Radio Ship’s investment comes from six investment businessmen, including Josephine Stephens of Queen’s Magazine, who owns the number one office in Caroline Radio. On the way to the United States to raise funds, Ronan saw in "Life" magazine the life photos of Kennedy and his children in Oval’s office. The desired effect. Ronan named his radio after Caroline.
First broadcast
Fredericia was renamed Caroline Music Radio. It was anchored in the sea off the coast of Felix, and it was broadcast for the first time on Friday, March 27, 1964. The next day, Caroline Music Radio officially began broadcasting on the 1520kHz band, and Simon Dee hosted its official opening ceremony. Its premiere was hosted by Chris Moore and was pre-recorded. The first music theme of Caroline Radio was the jazz theme "Midnight Melody" by Theronius Munch and sung by Jimmy McGreeffe. In March 1964, the Fortune Band of Birmingham recorded the song "Caroline" and was used by Caroline Radio as their theme music. The midnight melody was limited to the broadcast of the program "Tomorrow's World" and was suspended on North Carolina Radio. The station’s slogan advertises itself as your all-day music station, but its initial broadcast time is seven days a week, from 6 am to 6 pm.
In order to rhyme with the name of the radio station, Caroline Radio claimed that its radio wave length is 199 meters (one nine nine), but in fact its radio wave length is 197 meters (1520kHz). The Dutch maritime station Veronica is 192 meters (1562kHz). The Atlanta radio is 201 meters (1495kHz).
The broadcasting power of Caroline Radio is 20kW, which consists of two 10kW Continental Electric signal transmitters. The broadcast time from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. is to avoid competition with Luxembourg Radio. After the broadcast stopped at six o'clock in the evening, it restarted at 8 o'clock in the evening until late at night. This is to avoid staggering with the prime time of TV broadcasts. The main audience of Caroline’s popular music shows was housewives, and later on, they began to target children. By avoiding strong competition, Caroline Radio has won millions of daytime listeners.
Merged with Radio Atlanta
On July 2, 1964, the companies of Radio Atlanta and Caroline Radio, Atlanta Project Co., Ltd. and Planet Manufacturing Co., Ltd. announced their merger, with Crawford and Ronan as the managers of the joint company. At 8 o’clock that evening, the Atlanta company was closed. The reorganized South Carolina Radio continued to drift on the MV Mi Amigo near the sea near Flington, while MV Caroline broadcasted under the name of Radio North Carolina. . MV Caroline towed from Felix along the British coastline to the Isle of Man, broadcasting all the way. The DJ above is only Tom Rocky and Jerry Leighton. MV Caroline arrived at its new anchor point on July 13. These two sites can therefore cover most of the British Isles. Afterwards, they pre-recorded some programs on land and took them to two ships to broadcast at the same time.
In October 1965, Ronan made Crawford interested in MV Mi Amigo and encouraged Tom Rocky, who is in charge of Radio North Carolina, to make some changes to the program to regain the audience from London Radio. Rocky hired a new DJ team and introduced a new free broadcasting mode. As a result, it was a big success in August 1966, earning Caroline Radio an audience of 23 million.
Before Radio London left the coast of England and began broadcasting, there was a failed merger between Radio London and Caroline Radio.
DJ celebrities
On March 28, 1964, Caroline Radio’s first project was hosted by Chris Moore. After that, Tony Blackburn, Tom Rocky, Ray Trett, Roger Dee, Simon Dee, Tony Prince, Sbagel Multon, Keith Scu Johnnie Walker (Johnnie Walker, now the name of a famous cocktail), Robbie Dyer, David Lee Travis, Tommy Vance, Bob Stewart, Ann DJs such as Dee Archer have become very famous. Some DJs from the United States and the old British Empire, such as Graham Weber, Tom Rocky, Ambera Rothko, Steve Young, Keith Hampshire, Colin Nico and Norman St. John is also widely known. DJ Jack Spekt, the host of the "Good Man" program at WMCA in New York, USA, also regularly records for Caroline Radio. At the same time, they also broadcast programs jointly recorded with the United States and pre-recorded religious programs. Klin Bailey of BBC2 and Nico Bailey of Classic FM started their own business by listening to news from South Carolina Radio.
In mid-September 1965, the staff and DJs of MV Mi Amigo ushered in the famous pop singer Hilvan Whitingham in 1960. She came to the ship on the weekend and released her new single "We don'" "t Belong", due to a storm, she could not leave the ship and was forced to spend the night on the ship. She was the only singer who spent the night on the ship and helped to record songs, spoke eloquently, and eventually shut down the show.
Mi Amigo drifting
January 20, 1966, MV Mi Amigo was torn off the anchor rope during a storm and drifted along the seaside Felington for a long time. The crew was eventually rescued, but due to severe damage to the hull, the ship had to be parked in Zaandam in the Netherlands for repairs. Between January 31 and May 1, South Carolina Radio broadcast on the Cheta II. The ship belongs to Britt Wadner of the Swedish maritime radio station Sid. Radio Sid is in a dormant period due to ice floes on the Baltic Sea. The Cheta-2 is equipped with FM radio, and the 10kW signal transmitter on the Mi Amigo can barely be used as an antenna. Although the signal is very weak, it at least ensures that the advertising revenue of South Carolina Radio is maintained.
When the Mi Amigo returned to the sea at Felington, it was re-equipped with a new 50kW signal transmitter and is expected to resume broadcasting on April 18. It has a wavelength of 259 meters and uses the same frequency of 1169kHz as North Carolina Radio, but the actual wavelength is 252 meters. Initially, the power of the signal transmitter was too strong for the antenna insulation. On April 27, Mi Amigo was fully operational. The 259 wave frequency of Radio South Carolina is very close to the 266 meters (1133kHz) of London Radio and the 247m (1214kHz) of the BBC Dawn. In the end, Radio North Carolina moved the frequency to 257 meters (1169kHz), but it Still called the 259 band.
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urban radio event
since October 1965, Caroline and urban radio stations began to discuss matters related to the former took over the latter. City radio broadcasts from the sea fortifications left over from World War II on the trembling beach. The former director of Radio Atlanta, Major Oliver Smedley, who was one of the directors of Caroline at the time, entered into a partnership with the boss of the city radio and the band manager Reginald Calvert, and installed a higher power signal transmitter in the fortification. Device. However, according to Gerry Bishop's book "Radio on the Sea", this signal transmitter was very old and unusable, and Smedley later cancelled the transaction.
On June 20, 1966, Smedley took 10 workers to the military fortifications on Shaking Beach and snatched away the signal transmitter that Smedley funded the purchase but was never able to redeem the funds. The next day, Calvert came to Smedley's home in Essex, Saffron Walden, and asked him to let the group of robbers leave the military fortifications and return the important signal transmitter parts. After a violent fight, Calvert was shot. Smedley’s men occupied the fortifications until June 22.
On July 18, Smedley was charged with murder and was later charged with manslaughter. Smedley's trial opened in the Chelmsford Circuit Court on October 11, and the judge subsequently acquitted him.
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illegal of
1967, Britain enacted the marine broadcasting offenses Act, an offshore radio station announced funding or advertising in offshore radio station is illegal. In an earlier discussion in the House of Representatives in 1966, the government claimed that pirate radio stations interfered with the normal maritime rescue channel and had no loyalty to artists, record companies, and creators. What's more, the pirates' occupation of the radio frequency band violated international regulations. The Isle of Man Parliament tried to exclude the North Caroline from illegalization and appealed to the European Court of Justice that the bill was imposed on the Isle of Man. Two of the four remaining offshore radio stations, Radio London and Radio 270, were forced to shut down, but the two Caroline hid in the Dutch waters and continued to broadcast, where it remained until 1974 without a license to broadcast ships. Was declared illegal.
When the Marine Broadcasting Crime Act was established on August 14, 1967, Radio Caroline was renamed Radio Caroline International. Six weeks later, the BBC began advertising for Radio 1. Using the highly successful pirate radio London Radio as a template, Radio 1 employed a large number of former pirate DJs. The BBC Light Music Channel, Channel 3 and Family Channel were renamed accordingly. Radio stations 2, 3, and 4.
On March 3, 1968, the Mi Amigo and Caroline were landed and captured before the broadcast began. They were dragged by the salvage company to Amsterdam as collateral for the arrears of the Dutch tendering company Wijsmuller Transport.
1970: North Sea International Radio (RNI)
On March 24, 1970, during the British general election, a ship named Mayber 2 departed from the east coast of the United Kingdom and began broadcasting under the name "North Sea International Radio" (RNI). RNI has medium wave, short wave and FM radio stations. But its medium wave channel was blocked by the British government. On July 13, RNI collaborated with Ronan O'Rahilly and changed its name to Radio Caroline International. Radio Caroline advertises for licensed commercial radio stations, does political propaganda for the Conservative Party, and opposes the Labor Party. After the general election, RNI was restored to its original name, but it was still blocked by the newly elected Labor Party government. The shielding was not lifted until RNI left the Netherlands and returned to its anchorage.
1972-1980: Mi Amigo rebirth
In 1972, Mi Amigo was bought at auction by enthusiast Gerard van Dam as an abandoned ship. He originally planned to transform the ship into a radio museum. O'Rahilly promised that if van Dam can return the ship to a broadcastable state, he is willing to repay all the money van Dam paid for this. The ship set sail from the Dutch seaside resort of Scheveningen and began broadcasting to the Netherlands. It was called Radio 199 when it reopened, but soon changed its name back to Radio Caroline and gathered a gorgeous top team. DJ Chris Carey, he used the name Spangles Muldoon during the broadcast-he himself was a radio owner himself, Roger "Slim" Day, Andy Archer, Paul Alexander, Steve England, Johnny Jason and Peter Chicago (real name Peter Murtha) hosted the radio .
At the end of 1972, Caroline Radio suffered an economic crisis. On December 28, the employees whose wages were in arrears cut off the power cord of the Mi Amigo and disbanded themselves. Later, the Royal Dutch Navy escorted the employees back to the ship, and there was a fight on the deck. Two days later, the Mi Amigo was towed to IJmuiden and detained due to unpaid debts. Since it was Christmas time, no lawyer was able to provide a lawyer's letter, so the ship continued to dock at the port of Amsterdam. O'Rahilly tried to return it to sea, but due to damage to the hull, the Mi Amigo was repaired and sailed offshore before the lawyer's letter was signed.
The Mi Amigo sank
On March 20, 1980, just after midnight London time, during a storm, the Mi Amigo drifted and sank due to a disconnected anchor rope. It continued to enter the water, and employees fled in lifeboats. Although the generator was still running, the pump was already overwhelmed and the ship sank 10 minutes later. Three Englishmen, a Dutchman and their canary (named Wilson, named after the former Minister of Labor, Harold Wilson) were rescued. The last announcement of Mi Amigo came from Stevie Gordon and Tom Anderson:
(Gordon): "Uh, we are sorry to tell you that due to the extreme weather and the lot of water our boat has entered, we are going to suspend business, and everyone is currently fleeing. This ship. Obviously we want to be able to re-announce it to you as soon as possible, but for now we have to say goodbye for the time being." (Anderson): "This is really not a good situation. We have to finish the announcement as soon as possible. The lifeboat is waiting for us. We are. It didn’t leave and didn’t disappear. We got on the lifeboat, hoping that the pump would be able to withstand the torrential rain. If it really did, we would come back immediately. If not... well, can we not talk about it." (Gordon): "I believe we will come back no matter what." (Anderson): "Well, I think so too!" (Gordon): "But now, we have to say goodbye. God bless!"
The crew on the lifeboat Helen Turnbull owned by Sheerness was commended for rescuing announcers Tom Anderson, Stevie Gordon, Nick Richards and Hans Verlaan when the Mi Amigo sank. The feat of approaching the sunken ship 13 times in huge waves and ferocious northeasterly winds earned Coxswain Charles Bowry a silver medal from the Royal Lifeboat Association. Each of his crew received a parchment certificate of appreciation from the Royal Lifeboat Association.
The 49-meter mast of the Mi Amigo remained erected in the sea for 6 years.
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