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61-566: 1970s : Album format 1980s: (i) 963 kHz : unformatted free-choice album format, with news. (ii) 576 kHz: continuation of above, with slightly more singles played. News service at peak hours. (iii) 558 kHz: strict pop and oldies mainstream format (no presenter music choice) with strict adherence to format clocks. DJs could choose ordering of oldies – all current pop hits in strict rotation. News at peak hours: 7, 8, 9   am, 1   pm; 5, 6, 7   pm, with headlines at 6:30   am, 7:30   am and 8:30   am. Radio Caroline

122-473: 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's book Offshore Radio this transmitter was antiquated and failed to work. Smedley later withdrew from

183-529: 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

244-517: 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

305-506: A mistake". O'Rahilly also appeared in Lazenby's film Universal Soldier where both men were credited as executive producers. O'Rahilly briefly managed the American rock band The MC5 in the early 1970s. Later in the decade, claiming that people "found it easier to talk about hate than love", and influenced by spiritual leader Ram Dass , he developed the philosophy of "Loving Awareness", which

366-630: 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

427-525: A practice that was almost unheard of at the time. He took the record to the BBC to try to get it played, and discovered that the record industry was dominated by EMI and Decca . He then tried to get it played on Radio Luxembourg and again found that the shows were "owned" by major labels EMI, Decca, Pye and Philips . They were essentially " payola " shows, featuring only music from labels willing and able to pay for them to be played. He then set about creating

488-464: A second channel was launched called Caroline Flashback, playing pop music from the late 1950s to the early 1980s. Caroline 319 = from 8kW to 25kW 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 and

549-405: A variety of edgy writers, and elaborate fashion photography, in particular David Bailey ’s pictures of Twiggy . Elizabeth Smart , author of the prose-poetry classic By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept , was Queen ' s books editor and columnist, and wrote all the fashion copy for two years in the 1960s. The history of the magazine and the history of the pirate radio station under

610-525: Is a British radio station founded in 1964 by Ronan O'Rahilly and Alan 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

671-526: 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

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732-519: 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,

793-687: 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. News stories appeared in Europe announcing the start of Caroline Television from two Super Constellation aircraft using Stratovision technology. One would circle over

854-500: 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,

915-493: 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. In 1972, MV Mi Amigo was bought for her scrap value at auction by enthusiast Gerard van Dam, who intended to use her as

976-602: 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,

1037-475: The pirate radio station Radio Caroline , which began broadcasting in 1964 from a ship, the MV Caroline, anchored in international waters off the coast of Essex , eastern England. The idea for the station was based partly on a plan by Australian music publisher Allan Crawford (who had spent almost two years planning the launch of Radio Atlanta ) and also on Radio Veronica , which had been broadcasting off

1098-493: The 1969 James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service , O'Rahilly talked Lazenby into refusing a seven-film Bond contract on grounds that the James Bond character was out of touch with the times, and would not successfully continue into the 1970s. Of this advice, Roger Moore said in his autobiography, My Word Is My Bond , "George took some bad advice ... I knew George then and have met him many times since. He admits he made

1159-482: 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

1220-501: 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

1281-719: The Caroline name, one based in Dublin. Those broadcasts took place between 1970 and 1973. 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

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1342-527: The Netherlands since 1960. Radio Caroline was largely funded by financier John Sheffield (great uncle of Samantha Cameron ) and Carl Ross (creator of the Ross fishery frozen food business and grandfather of David Ross , the co-founder of Carphone Warehouse ) and publisher Jocelyn Stevens . In 1965, the Caroline and Atlanta companies merged under the Radio Caroline name, their two ships giving greater coverage of

1403-693: 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, &c., Broadcasting (Offences) Act 1967 become law on 14 August 1967, Radio Caroline

1464-476: 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. Radio Caroline's first programme, on 28 March 1964,

1525-501: The United Kingdom. Broadcasts ceased in 1968, the ships' operations having been hampered by UK legislation in the previous year, which also saw new competition from the BBC's Radio 1 . O'Rahilly was involved in the reappearance of Radio Caroline in several forms during the 1970s and 1980s. In 1966, O'Rahilly gave businessman Phil Solomon a share in Radio Caroline, and with him set up Major Minor Records , whose acts including The Dubliners and David McWilliams were then promoted by

1586-632: The age of 17. Before he founded Radio Caroline, O'Rahilly started training in method acting in London, frequented nightclubs and became acquainted with such entertainment industry figures as Giorgio Gomelsky and Simon Dee . He then ran a night club, the Scene, off Great Windmill Street in Soho , London, where in 1963 the Rolling Stones played, amongst others including Zoot Money and Chris Farlowe . He became

1647-463: The air (from a ship that was also renamed Caroline ), it operated from the editorial offices of Queen . The Beatrix Miller style sheet for Caroline was given to contributing writers to the magazine because it gave authors an idea of whom they were writing for. Miller left the magazine to edit Vogue shortly after Radio Caroline began broadcasting. The magazine retired the Caroline style sheet under

1708-429: 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". Ronan O%27Rahilly Aodogán Ronan O'Rahilly (21 May 1940 – 20 April 2020) was an Irish businessman best known for the creation of the offshore radio station, Radio Caroline . He also became manager of George Lazenby , who played James Bond in one film. O'Rahilly

1769-462: 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

1830-582: 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

1891-414: 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. On 20 January 1966, the Mi Amigo lost its anchor in a storm, drifted and ran aground on

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1952-527: 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,

2013-466: 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, &c., Broadcasting (Offences) Act 1967 became law (usually stations run from bedrooms or outdoor sheds with small wattage transmitters), at least two stations later broadcast using

2074-542: 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

2135-473: The direction of its new editor Jocelyn Stevens himself. When the radio station moved from the Queen magazine offices, a new explanation of how and why the name "Caroline" came to be used by the station was offered to the public in order to divert attention away from its original source. Queen was celebrated in this period for its society column "Jennifer's Diary" (written by Betty Kenward ), its astrologer "Celeste",

2196-526: The focus of the Swinging 60s , Jocelyn Stevens embraced designers including Mary Quant . He embarked upon a project to reverse the 1962 Pilkington Report that denied any demand for commercial radio in Britain. Stevens helped to finance a pirate radio ship project that was also named Caroline , with the initial intention of extending the targeted reader as the targeted listener. When Radio Caroline first went on

2257-456: 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

2318-406: The influence of Jocelyn Stevens more or less conclude with the passage of the Marine, &c., Broadcasting (Offences) Act 1967 . In that year, Stevens decided to sell his interest to Michael Lewis of Oxley Industries, at the same time appointing Hugh Johnson as editor. The magazine changed from fortnightly to monthly publication and nearly doubled its circulation. By 1969, however, Oxley Industries

2379-403: The late 1950s, under the editorship of Beatrix Miller , it was restyled to serve a younger readership defined by Miller in a style sheet. According to Clement Freud , who wrote for the magazine, Beatrix Miller's targeted reader had long hair, was named "Caroline", had left school at age 16, was not an intellectual, but she was the sort of person that one ended up in bed with. When London became

2440-462: The manager of musicians, such as Alexis Korner and Georgie Fame , and helped to persuade the Animals to move to London. Alan Price said of O'Rahilly: "Ronan knew how things were done; he was very hip, he really fancied himself, but he had a lot of 'get up and go' and verve. He helped to launch the Animals". He tried to persuade radio stations to play a promotional acetate record by Georgie Fame,

2501-473: The other end of the aerial fixed to the main mast. 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

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2562-451: The running aground had no consequences for the crew. During summer 1973, it broadcast separate stations in English and Dutch simultaneously, on 389 m/773 kHz and 253 m (announced as 259)/1187 kHz. 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

2623-633: 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's Light Programme on 247 m (1214 kHz). Radio Caroline North subsequently moved to 257 m (1169 kHz) but also called it 259. In October 1965 negotiations began for Radio Caroline to take over Radio City , which broadcast from Shivering Sands Army Fort ,

2684-540: The same profile should be the target audience for the new offshore radio station, so the name Caroline was chosen. Upon conclusion of her fitting out, the MV Fredericia was renamed MV Caroline with her port of registry changed to Panama . The MV Caroline departed Greenore on March 23, 1964, to a supposed destination in Spain. She passed Land's End on March 25, at which time she altered course and made passage through

2745-473: The ship broadcast for Radio Veronica while its ship, the 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,

2806-425: The station an AM band community licence to broadcast on 648kHz 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-oriented rock (AOR) and "new" music from "carefully selected albums". On 1 January 2016,

2867-628: The station broadcasts on 648 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 including via music players such as Amazon echo (Alexa). In May 2017, Ofcom awarded

2928-563: The station. O'Rahilly also attempted, but failed, to set up a Caroline TV station. In 1968, he became involved in the production of a number of films, including as executive producer on the Marianne Faithfull film The Girl on a Motorcycle and on Two Virgins featuring John Lennon and Yoko Ono . O'Rahilly became manager of the Australian model-turned-actor George Lazenby , who played James Bond in one film. During production of

2989-534: Was a Belgian station called Radio Atlantis , owned by Belgian businessman Adriaan van Landschoot. Programmes were recorded on land and broadcast between 6   a.m. and 7   p.m. 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

3050-529: Was aimed at children. Without serious competition, Radio Caroline gained a regular daytime audience of some 7 million. 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

3111-572: Was born in Dublin, the third of five children. His parents owned the private port at Greenore , County Louth , on Carlingford Lough . His grandfather Michael O'Rahilly ( The O'Rahilly ) was an important figure in the quest for the independence of Ireland , a leader in the Easter Rising , who died in the fighting in Dublin in April 1916. O'Rahilly described himself as a rebel who had been expelled from school seven times. He started living in London at

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3172-526: 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. In 1967, the UK Government enacted the Marine, &c., Broadcasting (Offences) Act 1967 , outlawing advertising on or supplying an unlicensed offshore radio station from the UK. In an earlier House of Commons debate (in June 1966),

3233-771: Was diagnosed with vascular dementia and returned to live in County Louth , Ireland, in sight of the port of Greenore where Radio Caroline was "born" in the 1960s. He lived in a nursing home at Carlingford . He died on 20 April 2020, at the age of 79. O'Rahilly married Catherine Hamilton-Davies in 1993. After his dementia diagnosis, he lived in County Louth with Inês Rocha Trindade. https://flashesandflames.com/2024/03/15/how-a-radio-ship-and-7-men-shook-up-britain-in-1964/ Queen (magazine) The Queen or The Queen: The Ladies Newspaper and Court Chronicle focused on aristocratic women in society beginning in 1862. In

3294-450: 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

3355-441: 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

3416-595: 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

3477-445: 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

3538-410: Was renamed Radio Caroline International. Six weeks later, the BBC introduced its new national pop 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

3599-404: 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

3660-820: Was then heavily promoted on Caroline. In 1976 an album of songs based on the concept was recorded by the Loving Awareness Band, a group assembled by O'Rahilly for the purpose. Several members of the band went on to form the Blockheads . In December 2007, O'Rahilly was inducted as a Fellow of the Radio Academy . O'Rahilly was inducted into the Hall Of Fame at the PPI Radio Awards, held at the Lyrath Hotel, Kilkenny , Ireland, on 12 October 2012. In 2012, O'Rahilly

3721-691: 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 . Financial backing for the venture came from six investors, including John Sheffield (chairman of Norcross); Carl "Johnny" Ross (managing director of Ross Foods ) and Jocelyn Stevens of Queen magazine, with which Radio Caroline shared its first office. There are

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