Radio Caroline is a British radio station founded in 1964 by Ronan O'Rahilly and Allan Crawford, initially to circumvent the record companies' control of popular music broadcasting in the United Kingdom and the BBC's radio broadcasting monopoly. Unlicensed by any government for most of its early life, it was a pirate radio station that never became illegal as such due to operating outside any national jurisdiction, although after the Marine, &c., Broadcasting (Offences) Act 1967 it became illegal for a British subject to associate with it.
The Radio Caroline name was used to broadcast from international waters, using five different ships with three different owners, from 1964 to 1990, and via satellite from 1998 to 2013. Since August 2000, Radio Caroline has also broadcast 24 hours a day via the internet and by the occasional restricted service licence. Currently, the station broadcasts on 648 kHz AM across much of England and DAB radio in certain areas of the UK: these services are part of the Ofcom small-scale DAB+ trials. Caroline can be heard on DAB+ in Aldershot, Birmingham, Cambridge, Brighton, Glasgow, Norwich, London, Portsmouth, Poulton-le-Fylde and Woking on digital radio. Caroline can also be listened to over the internet.
In May 2017, Ofcom awarded the station an AM band community licence to broadcast on 648 kHz to Suffolk and north Essex; full-time broadcasting, via a previously redundant BBC World Service frequency and transmitter mast at Orford Ness, commenced on 22 December 2017.
Radio Caroline broadcasts music from the 1960s to contemporary, with an emphasis on Album Orientated Rock (AOR) and "new" music from "carefully selected albums". On 1 January 2016, a second channel was launched called Caroline Flashback, playing pop music from the early 1950s to the early 1980s.
1964–1968: MV Caroline
Origins
Radio Caroline was the brainchild of the Irish musician manager and businessman Ronan O'Rahilly, the idea being formulated following O'Rahilly's failure to obtain airplay for the records of one of his contracted artistes, Georgie Fame, on Radio Luxembourg or the BBC Light Programme. At this time it was Radio Luxembourg policy to only promote sponsored programmes funded by major record labels: EMI, Decca, Pye and Philips.
Undeterred by this failure, and encouraged by Scandinavian and Dutch radio pirates, in February 1964 O'Rahilly obtained the former Danish passenger ferry Fredericia which was subsequently taken to the Irish port of Greenore, which was under the ownership of O'Rahilly's father, Aodogán, in order for the vessel to be fitted out as a radio ship.
This was a busy time at Greenore with the work to the Fredericia being carried out in tandem with Allan Crawford's "Project Atlanta", which saw a similar conversion undertaken on the Mi Amigo.
Financing
Financial backing for the venture came from six investors, including John Sheffield (chairman of Norcros); Carl "Johnny" Ross (managing director of Ross Foods) and Jocelyn Stevens of Queen magazine, with which Radio Caroline shared its first office.
Origin of name
There are a multiplicity of stories with regard to how the station became known as Radio Caroline.
One of these centres around O'Rahilly choosing the name on a trip to the United States, having seen a picture in Life of Caroline Kennedy, along with her brother, John F. Kennedy Jr., innocently playing in the Oval Office of the White House whilst their father, John F Kennedy, looks on. It is said that this activity was reportedly interpreted by O'Rahilly as a playful, jovial disruption of government. One particular image conveying unthreatening joy was the cheeky 4½-year-old Caroline hiding at President John F Kennedy's feet beneath the battered Resolute desk.
Another tenable theory is that the radio station was named after Caroline Maudling, who was known by O'Rahilly at the time, and was the daughter of the British government minister Reginald Maudling.
A further theory is that the name was the choice of Jocelyn Stevens, who had played a prominent role in the planning stages of the offshore station. His editor of Queen, Beatrix Miller, is understood to have defined the profile of the target reader, being: "a twenty something, non intellectual who had left school at 16, and was a ‘good time’ girl called Caroline." Stevens believed that the same profile should be the target audience for the new offshore radio station, so the name Caroline was chosen.
First transmissions
Upon conclusion of her fitting out, the MV Fredericia was renamed MV Caroline with her port of registry changed to Panama.
Caroline departed Greenore on March 23, 1964, to a supposed destination in Spain. She passed Land's End on 25 March, at which time she altered course and made passage through the English Channel and entered the North Sea where she anchored off Felixstowe, Suffolk.
MV Caroline began test transmissions on 27 March 1964 at 6:00 pm GMT and 10:00 pm, and on 11:55 pm on 201 metres (1495 kHz). On 28 March, it began regular broadcasting at noon on 1520 kHz (announced as 199 metres) with the opening conducted by Simon Dee.
The first programme, which was pre-recorded, was hosted by Chris Moore. Radio Caroline's first musical theme was Jimmy McGriff's "Round Midnight", a jazz standard co-composed by Thelonious Monk. In March 1964, The Fortunes recorded Caroline, which became the station's theme, and "Round Midnight" was confined to closedown on Radio Caroline North after The World Tomorrow. The station's slogan was Your all-day music station. The Dutch offshore station Radio Veronica was on 1562 kHz and Radio Atlanta broadcast on 1493 kHz.
Radio Caroline's transmission output, in the region of 20 kW, was achieved by linking two 10 kW Continental Electronics transmitters. Broadcasting hours were 6 am to 6 pm to avoid competition from Radio Luxembourg, which began transmissions at 6 pm. The station returned at 8 pm and continued until after midnight to avoid competition with popular television programmes. Most of Radio Caroline's pop music programmes were targeted at housewives, and some later programming was aimed at children. Without serious competition, Radio Caroline gained a regular daytime audience of some 7 million.
Merger with Radio Atlanta
On 2 July 1964, Radio Atlanta and Radio Caroline's companies, Project Atlanta and Planet Productions, announced the stations were to merge, with Crawford and O'Rahilly as joint managing directors. Radio Atlanta closed at 8 p.m. BST that day. It was renamed Radio Caroline South and MV Mi Amigo remained off Frinton-on-Sea, while MV Caroline broadcast as Radio Caroline North.
Following the consolidation between the two companies, Caroline weighed anchor and sailed from Felixstowe en-route to the Isle of Man, broadcasting as she went. The only broadcast staff on board were Tom Lodge and Jerry Leighton. Caroline took up station at her new anchorage on the southern tip of the Bahama Bank, Ramsey Bay, on 6 July 1964, at a position formerly occupied by the Bahama Bank Lightship. The two Caroline stations were now able to cover most of the British Isles.
Whilst the two Caroline stations transmitted separately, some programmes were pre-recorded on land and broadcast simultaneously from both ships. In October 1965, O'Rahilly bought Crawford's interest in the Mi Amigo and engaged Tom Lodge from Radio Caroline North to make programme changes and regain the audience from Radio London. Lodge hired new DJs and introduced free-form programming.
When the US-backed Radio London arrived off the coast of England, there was an unsuccessful attempt to merge its sales operation with that of Caroline before Radio London started transmissions. The new station introduced British audiences to slick American-style top 40 radio with electronic jingles produced by Dallas-based PAMS, and was an immediate success.
Broadcasting personnel
Radio Caroline's first programme, on 28 March 1964, was presented by Chris Moore. Presenters Tony Blackburn, Roger Gale, Ray Teret, Simon Dee, Tony Prince, Spangles Muldoon, Keith Skues, Johnnie Walker, Robbie Dale, Dave Lee Travis, Tommy Vance, Tom Edwards, Bob Stewart and Andy Archer became well known. Some DJs from the United States and Commonwealth countries, such as Graham Webb, Emperor Rosko and Keith Hampshire were also heard. DJ Jack Spector, of the WMCA "Good Guys" in New York, regularly recorded for Radio Caroline. Syndicated shows from the US and recorded religious programmes were also broadcast. BBC Radio 2 newsreader Colin Berry started his career reading the news on Radio Caroline South.
In May 1965 Rick Wild, lead vocalist with The Overlanders, spent a week on board presenting mainstream pop and country music, and mid-September 1965, the crew and DJs on Mi Amigo were joined for the weekend by 1960s pop singer Sylvan Whittingham, who visited the ship to promote her single "We Don't Belong". Whittingham was unable to leave on the tender when a storm arose, and so spent the time helping present programmes, make jingles, and close the station at night.
Mi Amigo runs aground
On 20 January 1966, the Mi Amigo lost its anchor in a storm, drifted and ran aground on the beach at Frinton-on-Sea. The crew and broadcasting staff were rescued unharmed, but the ship's hull was damaged and repairs were carried out at Zaandam, Netherlands.
Between 31 January and 1 May, Radio Caroline South broadcast from the vessel Cheeta II, owned by Britt Wadner of Swedish offshore station Radio Syd, which was off the air because of pack ice in the Baltic Sea. The Cheeta II was equipped for FM broadcasting, so it was fitted with the 10 kW transmitter from the Mi Amigo, feeding a makeshift antenna. Whilst the resulting signal was low-powered, it did ensure that Caroline South's advertising revenue would continue.
On 18 April the Mi Amigo returned to its Frinton-on-Sea anchorage with a redesigned antenna and a new 50 kW transmitter and attempted to resume broadcasting, nominally on 259 metres to enable the same jingles as Radio Caroline North on 1169 kHz to be used, but actually 253 metres. Initially the transmitter was found to be too powerful for the antenna insulators, however by 27 April the Mi Amigo was fully operational.
Radio Caroline South's 259 metres signal was now near those of Radio London on 266 m (1133 kHz) and the BBC Light Programme on 247 m (1214 kHz). Radio Caroline North subsequently moved to 257 m (1169 kHz) but still called it 259 metres.
Radio City affair
In October 1965 negotiations began for Radio Caroline to take over Radio City, which broadcast from Shivering Sands Army Fort, a Second World War marine fort off the Kent coast. One of Radio Caroline's directors, Major Oliver Smedley, formerly of Radio Atlanta, entered into a partnership with Radio City's owner, pop group manager Reginald Calvert and installed a more powerful transmitter on the fort. However, according to Gerry Bishop this transmitter was antiquated and failed to work. Smedley later withdrew from the deal.
On 20 June 1966, Smedley boarded the Shivering Sands Fort with ten workmen to repossess a transmitter that he had supplied, but had not been paid for. The next day, Calvert visited Smedley's home in Saffron Walden, Essex, to demand the departure of the raiders and the return of vital transmitter parts. During a violent struggle, Calvert was shot dead. Smedley's men occupied the fort until 22 June.
Smedley was charged with Calvert's murder on 18 July, but this was reduced to a charge of manslaughter. Smedley's trial opened on 11 October at Chelmsford Assizes, where the jury acquitted him.
Legislation
In 1967, the UK Government enacted the Marine, &c., Broadcasting (Offences) Act 1967 (Marine Offences Act), outlawing advertising on or supplying an unlicensed offshore radio station from the UK. In an earlier House of Commons debate (in June 1966), the government had said that the pirate ships were a danger because of radio frequency interference to emergency shipping channels, and to overseas radio stations and the pirates were paying no royalties to artists, composers or record companies. Furthermore, it was stated that the pirates' use of wavelengths also broke international agreements.
The Manx parliament, the Tynwald, attempted to exclude the North ship from the legislation, appealing to the European Court on the legality of the act being applied to the Isle of Man. Two (Radio 270 and Radio London) of the remaining four UK-based offshore stations closed, but the two Caroline ships continued with their supply operation moved to Netherlands waters, where unlicensed ship-based broadcasting was not outlawed until 1974.
When the Marine Offences Act become law on 14 August 1967, Radio Caroline was renamed Radio Caroline International. Six weeks later, the BBC introduced its new national pop music station Radio 1, modelled largely on the successful offshore station Radio London, and employed many of the ex-pirate DJs. The BBC Light, Third, and Home programmes became Radios 2, 3 and 4 respectively.
On 3 March 1968, the radio ships Mi Amigo and Caroline were boarded and seized before the day's broadcasting began. They were towed to Amsterdam by a salvage company to secure unpaid bills for servicing by the Dutch tender company Wijsmuller Transport. Caroline was broken up for scrap in 1972.
Because of the rise of land-based pirate stations after the Marine Offences Act became law (usually stations run from bedrooms or outdoor sheds with small wattage transmitters), at least two stations later broadcast using the Caroline name, one based in Dublin. Those broadcasts took place between 1970 and 1973.
1970: Radio North Sea International
On 24 March 1970, a radio ship named Mebo II anchored off the east coast of England during the UK general election campaign, broadcasting as Radio North Sea International (RNI). RNI operated on medium wave, short wave and FM. Its medium wave transmission was jammed by the UK authorities and on 13 June, RNI changed its name to Radio Caroline International with co-operation from Ronan O'Rahilly. Radio Caroline lobbied against the Labour Party, for the Conservative Party and for the introduction of licensed commercial radio in the United Kingdom. Following the election, RNI resumed its original name but jamming continued under the newly elected Conservative government. It was not until RNI returned to its original anchorage off the Netherlands that the jamming ceased.
Caroline Television
News stories appeared in Europe announcing the start of Caroline Television from two Super Constellation aircraft using Stratovision technology. One would circle over the North Sea in international air space near the United Kingdom, while the other remained on standby. Presentations were made to US advertising agencies. These stories continued and included supposed co-operation by a former member of The Beatles and a sign-on date of 1 July; the station failed to appear. The TV operation was later found to be a publicity stunt.
1972–1980: Mi Amigo rescued
In 1972, MV Mi Amigo was bought for her scrap value at auction by enthusiast Gerard van Dam, who intended to use her as a free radio museum. O'Rahilly promised financial backing if van Dam could return the ship to broadcasting condition.
The ship anchored off the Dutch coastal resort of Scheveningen and was serviced and operated from the Netherlands. That autumn various tests, consisting of continuous music, were made on 259 metres. The station restarted just before Christmas as Radio 199 but soon became Radio Caroline, with a Top 40 format. DJs Chris Cary, broadcasting as Spangles Muldoon (who was also station manager), Andy Archer, Paul Alexander, Norman Barrington, Steve England, Johnny Jason and Peter Chicago (real name Peter Murtha) manned the station.
In late 1972, Radio Caroline had money problems. On 28 December, unpaid crew cut the Mi Amigo's generator fuel line and departed. Later that day, the Dutch Royal Navy returned the crew and fighting broke out on board. Two days later, Mi Amigo was towed to IJmuiden and seized because of unpaid bills. Because of the Christmas holidays, no solicitors were available to issue a writ and the ship lay in Amsterdam harbour until O'Rahilly arranged for it to be towed back to sea. The ship was further delayed by hull damage, and repaired before writs could be issued.
Between 11 and 20 April 1973, the ship broadcast for Radio Veronica while its ship, the MV Norderney, was aground. Caroline DJ Norman Barrington acted as technician, whilst news readers Freek Simon and Arend Langenberg continued the live news service. Tom Collins and Freek did live programmes on occasions the taped shows were unavailable, whilst Norman played the music. Because of a law that allows pirates in distress to come ashore without arrest, the running aground had no consequences for the crew. During summer 1973, it broadcast separate stations in English and Dutch simultaneously, on 773 kHz (389 metres} and 1187 kHz (253 m, announced as 259 m). Two aerials and twin transmitters were used for about six weeks until the aerial mast failed. To accommodate the second aerial, a second short mast, just in front of the bridge, was employed as the other end of the aerial fixed to the main mast.
Radio Atlantis and Radio Seagull
Around this time, O'Rahilly decided Caroline should adopt an album format similar to FM progressive rock stations in the US, an audience not catered for in Europe. This service was Radio Seagull and broadcast live during the evening.
Since Radio Caroline could not find enough advertising, it shared its nominal 259-metre wavelength (actually 1187 kHz or 253 metres) with Dutch-language pop stations. The first was a Belgian station called Radio Atlantis, owned by Belgian businessman Adriaan van Landschoot. Programmes were recorded on land and broadcast between 6 am and 7 pm. Rough weather sometimes prevented tapes from arriving and old programmes had to be repeated. Later in 1973, when the contract with Radio Caroline ended, the crew of Radio Atlantis moved to their own ship, the MV Jeanine.
Radio Seagull became Radio Caroline on 23 February 1974, retaining the album format. Throughout most of the 1970s, Radio Caroline could be heard only at night, calling itself "Europe's first and only album station".
Radio Mi Amigo
Another Belgian station, Radio Mi Amigo International, launched on 1 January 1974; it was run by Belgian businessman and Suzy Waffles owner Sylvain Tack. The station's offices and studios were in Brakel, Belgium, but moved to Castell-Platja d'Aro, Costa Brava, Spain in March 1975 after a raid by Belgian police. Here they produced programmes for Dutch-speaking holidaymakers, mostly Europop, Top 40, MOR and Dutch language popular music presented by Belgian, Dutch and occasionally English DJs with frequent commercials. Because commercial radio was prohibited in Belgium, Radio Mi Amigo had little competition from the former BRT State Radio and TV (now VRT Flemish State radio and TV) and became very popular in Belgium, the Netherlands and the UK. For the first years, advertising on the station was in demand. When Radio Veronica closed in 1974, some presenters moved to Radio Mi Amigo.