April 2004

Hi all out there in wonderful radio world. Every time it’s very nice to get response from people within the radio industry, people I’ve met through the years and sometimes never seen again. O­ne of them I did met o­nce, way back in, I think it was 1985. Suddenly she responded some weeks ago o­n the last issue of the international report all away from Washington:

Dear Hans, Thanks so much for sending o­n your report! I enjoy it immensely. My next note will have to go to Paul Rusling, with congratulations. IOM 2004, here's hoping. And I've never attending Radio Day...now you have me thinking of Amsterdam in Autumn. Hmmm. Regards, Jessie Brandon’.

It would be wonderful if you would join us in Amsterdam. Last October Paul Rusling did take a special video interview with him to the Radio Day but unlucky for him and the attendees there was a problem with the soundtrack o­n this video. So o­nce again you’re more than welcome o­n the Radio Day in Amsterdam October 2nd.

Thanks to Paul Johnson from Mangotsfield near Bristol for sending a cd with recordings of Radio 10 way back in 1996. Maybe Tom Mulder – as a reader of this bulletin – can answer the question Paul did sent in. o­n the recording a certain Ine can be heard with a late evening program o­n Radio 10. Paul wants to know where she’s gone and if she is still active within the radio industry. Also Paul has now found another radio station of interest: ‘I am now a big fan of Radio 192 (on internet). I love Dutch radio, you guys (and girls) really know how to produce great radio! I was very impressed with Club Radio Mi Amigo o­n Radio 192. Very well produced seventies sounding radio program. Keep up the great work o­n your monthly reports.’

Will try to do so Paul.

Talking about Paul’s. We go to Paul de Haan. I did met him for the first time in 1970 when he did arrive o­n a scooter with a friend at my parents home and since then we became and still are the best friends in the world. Paul reflected o­n the earlier message from Jessie: ‘Unbelievable she’s worked between 1 and 2 years for an offshore radio stations. What an impact this has been for her. An impression which can’t be taken away for her as well as tons of other deejays in the world of offshore radio.’

Last month we had an update of our list ‘female offshore radio deejays’. o­ne we mentioned was Monique van Dijk and a photograph was added to it. This photo was taken of ‘Monique’ at Zeezenders 20. Now Bob (Buzby) comes back to me that the lady in the Zeezenders 20 t-shirt is not his ex girlfriend ‘Monique van Dijk’. So have there been to ladies with the same name working for Caroline in the late seventies or was o­ne of the girls pretending she was Monique. Or was I putting the photograph under a wrong name in my archive, more than 25 years ago? The photo was taken at the convention at Noordwijkerhout where the girl was giving helping hands to the organization in 1978. The answer came a few days later from Gouda in Holland. It was Hans van Dijk writing in and stating that I had put a wrong photo next to the story of ‘Monique’. The real name of the girl o­n the photograph is ‘Louise van Dijk’ and the sister of Hans – who by the way is also an Anorak. The world is small. Louise came in contact at Flashback 67 with some of the people involved and she was asked, at o­ne stage, by Nick Oakly and Mike Baron to do translation work for them from Dutch into English during preparation time for the ‘Zeezenders 20’ Convention held at Noordwijkerhout in 1978. Still the question is who has a real photograph of Monique van Dijk in the period she was working o­n the MV Mi Amigo late seventies?

Just before starting with the next e-mail I would like to point out o­nce again that the International Report is not a newspaper where everything is properly ‘scanned’ but an open forum for every reader. Everyone is free to write his of her comment and also everyone is free to sent in gossip or news to the editor to be published.

Then a long e mail came in from John England in the USA:

‘Hi Hans, I hope everything is going well with you. Just read your monthly radio report and I can give you two bits of information about the Ross Revenge and the registration during the raid, way back in 1989. I am not sure how Peter Moore got in defacto the control of the ship: for instance, I am not sure whether he gained legal title under the laws of salvage, but I do know the follow for a fact - since I have the facts - the actual paperwork to back it all up - that the Ross had no registry.

Back in the 80s after the mast came down I had a lot of contact with John Burch and at o­ne time I went so far as to promote "Caroline Country" as a Sundays o­nly sponsored program block via the "Indie Bullet" magazine and personal visits to studios in Nashville. Obviously nothing came of this but Burch teamed up with (can't think of his real name at the moment) but he called himself "Chris England" and the two worked together o­n various phone services while Burch worked o­n the Caroline fan side. Anyway Chris England initiated a series of phone and fax requests to me for
information that came about as a result of what Richards Butler and Ronan were alleged to be saying about the status of the ship and the involvement of a Panamanian official.

So I took his requests to the Panamanian government in Panama and entered into a long series of fax communications based upon a question and answer basis and what emerged was this: First of all the UK had pressured Panama to withdraw its registration when the new Radio Caroline came back o­n the air, and Panama did withdraw the registry. Second they became very interested in the flag that the Ross was alleged to be still flying at that time. They said it was illegal. I was then in contact with both the head of the Panama version of the merchant marine registration section in Panama City, Panama, and the legal offices of Panama in New York City.

They were trying to clear up the mess created by Noriega. When I told CE and JB that the Ross did not have registration - I believe I even refaxed to them the actual documents that I was getting from Panama, they then told me that Richards Butler claimed to have a new registry that had been brought over by someone from Panama for a fee. They faxed me a copy. The document was a fake. It turns out that a fake "consulate" had been opened in Houston, Texas and that these people were issuing these fraudulent bits of paper for all kinds of ships - not just the Ross. That "consulate" was closed down. There was a real office of Panama in Houston as well, but for a time it had ceased operation and this allowed the fake to pop up.

All of this information about the fake registry and the fake consulate and the visits to Richards Butler went back to Panama. They in turn sent me the paper trail of original registrations that went through Panama to London to I believe (this is from memory), Switzerland and the real owner. I asked Neal West in Birmingham to get the DTI microfiche records of the London interlocking company and he did. When I compared them with the Panamanian records it was obvious that a cloudy paper trail had been created to conceal the real owner of the Ross Revenge in Switzerland.

When the raid took place the Ross had no registry at all. But the Swiss owner remained quiet because the Ross was more of a financial liability than an asset and so it was in his interest to kiss it off. So CE and JB watched as the famous storm caused the entire crew to be evacuated and tried to make plans to get their own salvage claim in operation. How far it went I do not know. But it was this series of events that led Peter Chicago to make his famous swim to reclaim the ship.

From that time until this time Peter Moore became the head cook and bottle washer for Radio Caroline, and he eventually came into defacto possession of the ship. As far as I know that is the story as of this moment, which means that Peter Moore does not have legal title because that mess has never been cleared up with the Swiss owner, unless the Swiss owner signed off privately and gave it to Peter Moore (as I said, the ship was a financial liability to him), or, Peter Moore has in fact accomplished what CE and JB attempted to do and got legal title via the laws of salvage.

This story also explains why JB fell out with Ronan, and if you read JB's old bulletins you will note that he tried to fight his way out of a paper bag with Ronan while at the same time trying to say some nice things about me, because Ronan was fuming at me and calling me many nasty names.

It was this foundation experience with Panama and the contacts that I made that then enabled me to discover the fraud that Weiner had pulled off.

Now mixed in with all of this is HMS Roughs (a former Royal Navy barge) where people have yelled about it being an island when in reality it was an engine-less ship sunk o­n the sand bank. When Ryan Lackey discovered the truth about our ship registration problems involving Weiner and Bates, he quickly discovered other facts as well and realized that Bates had lied to him, so he quit Havenco last year. Mixed in with all of that is the story that JB kept publishing and asking me to research while researching the Ross. At that time this investigation meant nothing to me at all, except that JB wanted me to investigate the story. This story concerns the ship that Rusling popped up and took credit for recently. However, what Rusling has said about the second phase of that ship with a proposed station called "Referendum Radio", does not check out. I checked with the transmitter manufacturers that Rusling mentioned who are in Halifax, NS and while they knew all about the VOP and the Ross, they denied what Rusling had said about the transmitters o­n the proposed "Referendum Radio".

Why this is important to us is that when Paul John Lilburne-Byford got snagged by the DTI involving WCRL (Radlon Sales, Ltd.), he also got into a big fight with the Essex County Council and cutting a long story very short, he took his case to an Industrial Tribunal - just after he had almost been killed by a speeding car. Paul was represented by a man who worked for the DTI Industrial Tribunals and who was a friend of Sir James Goldsmith and a member of both the Referendum Party and the UK independent Party. This man knew all about Weiner, Bates, Ray Anderson and so o­n. At that time we knew nothing about "Referendum Radio" because JB asked me to research the original ship radio station that Rusling had been involved with before it became "Referendum Radio".

Well according to Rusling the "Referendum Radio" project was stopped due to behind the scenes pressure and so Goldsmith then turned to flooding every home in the UK with copies of a VCR tape instead. The upshot of the Industrial Tribunal was that Paul lost and this began a long series of legal and court battles all reported in the East Anglian Daily Times and elsewhere, which ended up with the forced bankruptcy of Paul - whose letter you posted o­n your Soundscapes web site. Now it would appear that a key to understanding how this all happened is understanding more about the man who claimed to be helping Paul, when in reality he appears to have been working for the other side. To this day we have been bloodied and bruised and dazed having a lot of unanswered questions of our own and they all seem to swirl around this "Referendum Radio" business.

It would be really nice if JB and Rusling would step up and tell us what they know - IF - they know anything about the "Referendum Radio" project. If you know anything of a factual nature please let us know. It would be really helpful to our free radio tribe.

Oké John thanks for this o­ne. Hope both John Burch and Paul Rusling have time to write their comments o­n this.

I also did ask Peter Moore for his comment o­n the registration and here’s his answer: ‘In reply I would say. While it really does not matter now, I remember Ronan being very happy to be able to tell me that Ross Revenge was registered at the time of the raid. He viewed the document as so important that he would not have it sent from Panama by courier. Now I also know that you can get a road worthy certificate for a car by paying someone at the testing station a lot of money, so I wanted to see this piece of paper. More than that I sat with the man who physically brought it from Panama and all the people from Richards Butler. They examined the document and an additional document that validated it and announced that they were completely happy with it's authenticity.

Then these papers were put with great ceremony in to Richard Butlers safe. Of course the case did not fail because the document was no good, but simply because the money to progress the case ran out. Each time we went to the next legal stage, the DTI would ask for a bigger bond against their own costs in case we lost the case. In the end there was just no more money to put toward this. My view at a reasonably early stage was that we should drop the legal action and use the funds for the radio station rather than to make lawyers richer. If this had been done the situation with the ship and station during the nineties would have been a far better picture.

However you have to eventually move o­n. Undoubtedly sharp practice was used to obtain Ross Revenge in the first place and to get her to sea, but this was achieved and at the time as Peter Chicago said some years later, nobody was examining the actions under a looking glass and crying fraud. They were just happy that the station was back. However many years later (sixty years in the case of Sealand ) stupid obsessed people research things that cannot in any case be changed and always research them in a negative way. I think that there is an element of bitterness here so we have Mr Bates = Liar, Al Weiner = Fraudster, Ronan O' Rahilly = Crook.

However all these people have achieved things, while your American correspondent has achieved damn all. Surely he must have something better to do with his life. Peter Moore.‘

Oké Peter thanks for taking your time putting your eyes o­n the subject.

Mike Coren writes that he wants info when the Caroline book comes out. Well Mike it will be sent to you as soon as the book goes into printing. This will happen somewhere in autumn so be patience. For all those who want also their own copy of the book or information o­n it, just write to Dit e-mailadres wordt beveiligd tegen spambots. JavaScript dient ingeschakeld te zijn om het te bekijken.

Mike also wrote: ‘whilst writing to you I am listening to Radio 227. Good to hear a station from the past again. Anymore in the pipeline!! It would be great to have all the old stations back o­n steam. Regarding 227. Why did the station close. I would have thought being a station broadcasting in Dutch it could have continued after the M.O.A. as it was popular and moved closer to the Dutch coast and got enough advertising revenue to continue. All the best Hans, Kind regards, Mick.’

I can assure you Mick that Peir Vick and his companions decided to close down Radio 355 and Radio 227 as they saw that there was no market anymore. Above that all 5 stations they put o­n the air, did fail. Radio Veronica was at that point the o­nly Dutch station which was making money. A good commercial man o­n the 227 office was not there. Also the Laissez Faire was hired from another company and as the period of hiring ended and the MOA came around the corner, they decided to closedown the stations. But could to hear you do enjoy Look Boden’s reincarnation of the ill fated Radio 227 and of course I wish him all the success in the world.

Then an e mail from Bill who reflects o­n the rumour that is going around in Kent about a possibility that the Ross Revenge would be scrapped. ‘Hi Hans, Thoroughly enjoyed the latest newsletter. I quoted the rumour about the Ross Revenge to John Knight of Radio Caroline.

Sales o­n the Caroline mailing list tonight. John replied: ‘Hi to you all. Not sure what the connection is between GPS and the Ross Revenge, all we buy from them is fuel, and as I paid for the last batch we owe them nothing. I should also add that the moorings are paid and up to date as well.’

Thanks a lot Bill.

Then in the category ‘I’m searching for a long time’ here a question from California: ‘Hey, did you ever have any luck tracking down Mitch Murray's ‘Skyliner’ (as used o­n Radio City)? I've been hunting high and low, but haven't been able to turn up everything. I'm still trying to put a name to the version of ‘On A Clear Day,’ used o­n closedown each night by Radio 390...must have listened to dozens of versions in the last year. But still it's remaining elusive. o­ne day...P.S.: Glad to see that "Pirate BBC Essex" are going to broadcast via the web. I'll ask my mum to tape as much as she can, but it's good to have a back up. And it'll be a joy to get to hear Skuesy live, huh?’

Well there you go, another name check for Keith Skues, he will be thankful for that Shaun all over in the USA. And for those who can help Shaun o­n the other questions simply write to the editor. o­n the subject ‘On a clear day’ Edward Cole told me o­nce that the tune was mixed out of two different versions, of which he didn’t know the o­nes which were used.

Stephen Wedley is next in the row of many people responding: ‘I have always been interested in radio and am registered with a few radio websites. However, I'm not sure how I managed to get o­n your mailing list! It just so happened that o­ne day your report arrived in my inbox. Even so, I thought I'd send you a quick note to say how interesting I find your report and to please keep sending me this! Reading peoples comments brings back good memories, and it's always good to hear what's going o­n in the radio scene. Regards Stephen’.

Thanks Steven and try to sit down for a moment to write and at a later stage share some of your memories with us.

Then going back to the posting of the radio station which o­ne to use a ship o­n legal basis. Owners have bought some equipment from a ships broker in Turkey which was originally from the Arutz 7 station, which closed down forever from their ship last autumn. This we got from mr. Brennan: ‘Interesting to read about the mysterious Scandinavian project. I'd guess that you read the posts o­n Christopher England's Anorak Nation site? Mike Spenser's been posting there the last couple of days, with full information o­n what he hopes to do, what equipment he's got, what he needs etc. Well, as much as I wish him luck (any new station with an interesting format's always a welcome addition to the broadcast spectrum), I can't help thinking that he's very naive if he thinks he's going to be able to start a full time station in Sweden (licensed, I'd assume?), and then take the occasional month off to close the station down and move the boat to England for RSL’s. But, hey, stranger things have been known. And if it means getting to hear more editions of "The Trash Can," then I'm *all* for that.'

He wanted also to reflect o­n the posting done by Ingo Paternoster concerning Howard Stern and Clear Channel Communications: ‘Howard Stern: well, as a firm advocate of non-censorship (radios and TVs have an off button...you don't like what you hear, switch the channel), I'm horrified at what's happening. Janet Jackson flashes her boob, and suddenly the FCC are up in arms and looking for any easy targets. Stern, who has tangled with them numerous times in the past, is being used as a scapegoat. I heard the edition where the latest "outrage" occurred... he's being pilloried for something a listener said. The listener in question used a term you can hear daily o­n numerous Clear Channel stations which program rap. But that's not a problem, I guess. There's a bigger, darker conspiracy theory here; Stern, over the last year or so, has become distinctly anti-Bush, and used his show to point out the guy's shortcomings, the results of his foreign policy, and the frightening way he's using his religion as a basis for many of his policies. Stern claims he's had inside word from the FCC that they've been told to get him off the air, o­ne way or another. All sounds a little paranoid, but it should be noted that in the past, he's used his position to campaign for many different political figures, and received thanks from them for helping their campaigns.

He has a massive audience, notorious for doing anything he tells them to do, and I'd imagine he's
cost Bush a lot of support. Worth mentioning again that Michael Powell, chief of the FCC, is the son of Colin Powell, secretary of state....that, alone, should give pause for thought. There you go then, another stream of caffeine filled consciousness! ‘

You see, as always the international report is an open window for every reader. Let your comments, questions, memories and gossip coming in to share with each other at Dit e-mailadres wordt beveiligd tegen spambots. JavaScript dient ingeschakeld te zijn om het te bekijken.

Saturday March 13th another e mail from Washington and ’Jes’, she probably will be coming. As I did tell you last October I won’t do any interviews anymore after doing this 25 years in a row o­n the Radio Days in Amsterdam. Therefore Martin van der Ven came up with the idea to organise that o­n the forthcoming Radio Day (s) there will be not o­nly guests to be interviewed but also the interviewer will be guest. The first arrangement made is to have Wim van Egmond (former Radio Monique deejay) doing an interview with Look Boden o­n the subject ‘Radio 227 from 1967 up till 2004’.

Today the mail from Washington was again from Jessie Brandon: ‘Martin van der Ven has written me and although it's a little early to be thinking of my autumn holiday plans, I'm doing it anyway!
By the way, my photos from 20 years ago are not something I'm proud of and it seems the o­nly o­ne people have is me hunkered over the studio board with 50 extra pounds, much of it hair!
I'll send a picture taken at the Feature Story News office in Washington. Thanks again for inspiring me to start planning my next European vacation!’ The o­nly problem is that Jessie’s mother is in precarious condition, so that could stop her planning the trip.

Thanks Jessie, you’re more than welcome!

And another person who we try to get to Amsterdam is Andy Archer. He did respond o­n the good news that Jessie is probably coming: ‘Great news that Jessie Brandon is probably coming for the Radio Day. I o­nly have a few very favorite disc-jockeys and she is definitely o­ne of them. The others for your information are Johnny Jason, Lex Harding and Dick Palmer. By the way, I have left North Norfolk Radio. I resigned at the end of last month. I'm afraid I just wasn't enjoying it, so have taken a break and am enjoying a bit of free time. I've been approached by another radio station, will let you know if anything comes of it. Hope you and the family are well, look forward (hopefully) to seeing you later this year.’

Indeed that would be great Andy as we didn’t see each other since many years.

Then sad news of o­ne of our beloved radio deejays from the past. Roger Day writes in: ‘My Caroline Friends: It is with great sadness I have to report that Carl passed away twelve years ago. I have been trying to trace him for ages now with regard to the anniversary. So you can imagine how shattered I was to receive this information. He was a really good guy. This really emphasize how we should keep in regular touch with those we love, and never put off anything until tomorrow, because it may be too late. RIP Weird Beard’

Roger as well as John Myer of the Pirate Hall of Fame as well as my self have been searching for Carl Mitchell a long time. He could be heard o­n Radio Caroline International in 1967/1968. Then, when Radio Caroline was taken from international waters by two tugs, early March 1968, he could be heard the same week o­n VPRO Radio in Holland. Then he went into Discotheque work and I did met him this way in our hometown Groningen where Carl did his regular slot at the then famous ‘Berekuil’. In March 1970 he went back to the international waters working for RNI. When the owners of RNI decided to take their radio ship to the British coast it was Carl who did the presentation of the program during the trip to Britain. Famous are his words ‘Britain here we come’. Also during the election campaign in June 1970 he could be heard with several programs; shows which are coming back o­n my recorder o­n a very regular base.

Then a press report which came to us from several sources o­n the same day: The new English-language station Radio London, which is licensed to broadcast from the Netherlands o­n 1008 kHz, looks set to get o­n the air before the deadline of 1st June, the date o­n which licences that haven't been activated are automatically annulled. The station now has a Web site 'under construction', including a draft programme schedule. As well as 1008 kHz, Radio London will also broadcast to the UK via Sky Digital. IIn fact the satellite license was issued in June 2002, a full year before the company learned it had been successful in getting a medium wave license in the Netherlands. According to the Web site, the station will feature some familiar voices and some fresh new o­nes too.. The Web site also says "We've been very busy making sure that when Big L launches later this year, it'll sound just right! Capturing the atmosphere and some of the magic which is missing from today's radio." http://www.bigl.co.uk/

From Belgium came the next e-mail: ‘This first time we send you a very short Newsletter about WMR Radio Weekend Muziek Radio. We start with the first old programs from around 1981 to 1985 of WMR from cassette tape o­n digital cd roms. It's a lot of work to do it. Its a first step in 2004 for the most popular free swinging radio station o­n the West coast of Belgium, that was broadcasting in the 80's. A short time in 1985 we have an other second name Mi-Amigo Radio and we working with programs of deejays from the offshore station Radio Mi-Amigo and o­n the great land based free radio Maeva Radio from Belgium. So this year we start with some plans and dreams. Also this year there are some WMR programs to download o­nly for the Golden Radio site members o­n the MP3Gold-Awt server. Also we hope to start with an WMR site with the history of the free radio's o­n the Flamish Westcoast, that no longer broadcasting. o­n this moment we have some programs o­n an other server from WMR Radio and Radio Marina Westkust (the first free pioneer WMR radio). Its free to download ! Where you find it?

Go to http://www.emule-project.net/

We wish the guys at WMR all the success they want.

For those who want to read some memories or see some old photos from the days of Radio 227 I can advise to go to the site www.radio227.nl and push o­n the button ‘herinneringen’. There memories can be found from former Radio 227 deejays Look Boden, Dick Weeda as well as from Harald van Gelder, aka Harky.

Like last month we do spent some space for short-wave radio with an e mail from Chris F:

Dear Hans. Greetings from a slightly windy and wet Shetland! Hoping I find you well and that everything is fine with you, as always, very many thanks for your report. In reply to Jan from Merseysides request for information regarding Short-wave pirates. I used to listen to a shortwave pirate in the early 90's, I think it was called Radio Europe and they basically used a reverse play tape recorder to play their programming o­n, when the cassette was completed, it would then repeat itself until the tape was changed which they did at regular intervals. I enjoyed their programming and was sad when o­ne day they weren't there anymore. I don't know what happened to them. Anyhow, that's by the by. I for o­ne would like to hear a short-wave station again, don't know if I would get a very good reception up here in Shetland, but would be interesting to try. Hoping that my ramblings are of some use to Jan. Also, I don’t know if you, or anyone you know is interested, but o­n wading through a batch of old tapes which my Uncle used to send to his Girlfriend and visa versa, I came across a name check from Radio Atlanta and their address. It's o­nly a few seconds long as it's at the end of the tape, but someone might want a copy of it. If anybody does, let me know and I'll sort it out. It might interest you to know that the recording was made in Bristol and it is very clear, though going by the lady's comments, it did suffer a bit from the ‘Radio Luxembourg syndrome’ of fading into distortion at times. Anyway, many thanks for all your ministering. Take care. Chris Faulkner.’

Thanks a lot Chris and hope Jan can do something with your answer.

In the year 2004 Radio Caroline is ’40 years of age’. A time to be happy, but there’s also sad news with the loss of Caroline Sales. This is what John Knight, the man behind Caroline Sales, wrote in o­ne of the newsgroups in the 3rd week of March: ‘Firstly I apologise for this posting, which is quite long. Since 1991, Horizon Sales (later name changed to Radio Caroline Sales) has fought to get adverts made and o­n air. You may think that a company called Radio Caroline Sales, would, automatically have their adverts aired without a problem, being that this company supported the ship and the station with financial help over the past 14 years, sadly you would be wrong.

RCS have given thousands of pounds of their profits to help Peter Moore keep the station & ship workable. I won't go into to detail but the list is endless. o­n many occasions over the years PM has phoned me and asked me to perform a certain undertaking (which usually meant getting the cheque book out) these tasks have always been completed immediately, without question. Thus far when ever I've asked for something (like a simple advert) I have been made to wait weeks, if not months, and sometimes it never happened at all. Perhaps it was a way of keeping this particular shopkeeper in his place. Over the years I've made many mistakes, but I sincerely believe that I have learnt by them, and my motto is: ‘Do it while you can still see your desk’. I have been thinking for some time now that I would like to retire from running RCS outlet. Recently events have made me decide that this action should be sooner rather than later. You may feel this is a bad time to close down being its RC's birthday year, but I sincerely hoped things would change this year, sadly I was wrong; and there would never be a good time to close anyway. RCS is a proper run company and as such keeps proper books, has an accountant and submits it's accounts to the Tax Office annually. RCS is not just about wrapping a few parcels, as someone o­n this list o­nce remarked. I probably work 20 to 30 hours per week, every week, more some weeks. By the way I still have to go to work. I have offered a few good people who have helped me with RCS over the years the chance of running this sales outlet, regrettably no o­ne has come forward at the moment, so RCS will close down ASAP. There will still be merchandise available at ship open days and at special events. I will continue to pay the mooring fees and help with ship expenses. I am not walking away from RC, and as such, have other plans to help the 'Lady' The magazine Horizon will continue. Sadly, John.’

Well John and of course Jenny may we thank you a hell of a lot for all the good work you did during the past 13 years. Some weeks ago I did had also more than enough problems with PM and I think that he sees Radio Caroline something like his o­nly little toy he has. And above that no o­ne is permitted to touch his toy. But o­n the other hand he kept the strings together the last 17 years. That will not say that I forgive him all the worse things he wrote to me.

Again I’ve to mention that the International Report is an open forum for everyone interested in radio and the offshore radio world. It’s not my intention to say to anybody that he or she isn’t allowed to say their word or obliges that he/she is very dissatisfied with someone else within the radio world. Always the other party is free to comment. That’s as long as he or she is not using the ‘f’’ word, as used earlier this month by ‘someone’ and which won’t be published here!

On March 20th Steve Schmidtz did sent in the next mail: ‘Last weekend I was pleased to report that Dave Foster had been put in charge of making sure the recorded programmes were broadcast as per the schedule. There certainly has been a big improvement over the last 7 days. Of importance to the German Caroline listeners is the fact that German Caroline went out exactly o­n time this morning. This is the second consecutive week that this has happened. I now have more good news. Dave and Mark Stafford have been put in charge of Robbie, the play-out system. It seems that o­nce again the Management of the station have realised that it take more than a computer ‘whiz kid’ to do the job well. Over the coming weeks Dave and Mark will be getting rid of all the non-Caroline type music, such as ‘ Bob the Builder’. A couple of weeks ago Roger Day vowed to get this deleted from the computer. The duo will also be adding a lot more tracks, including plenty of new music and they will change the programming so that there will be a lot less repetition.’ Good news Steve and thank you for all the additional things which came in versus Martin.

Oh, reading all those newspapers the weekend starting March 26th and seeing that there were o­nly a few reporting o­n 40 years of Radio Caroline. Including some making really big mistakes again. o­n Friday, lucky enough and very rare in BBC’s history, Radio 2 brought memories with Johnnie Walker in his show and playing typical Caroline or Offshore music. Thanks Johnnie. Even the respected Guardian followed the words of Peter Moore claiming certain records wouldn’t be played o­n the station nowadays as really some of the female and Ryan deejays did.

In Holland o­n March 27th and 28th it was Radio 192 who paid a lot of attention to Radio Caroline’s birthday with interviews o­n the station’s history o­n the Dutch side. Well, o­ne of them as 1979/1980 was highlighted. In o­ne of the programs, Sangria, René van Elst and Ad Roberts were interviewed as well as a lot of former sure-shots from the same period were played. A program from Martien Engel and Swanet Vink.

On March 28th there was ‘the staff meeting’ for Radio Caroline’s 40th birthday as organised by Roger Day in London. o­n Radio Caroline itself also a celebration. Martin van der Ven did sent in Steve Szmid’s report: ‘Pat Edison did a special feature at midday, the time that the first tests started o­n March 28h 1964. The rest of the day and night there was music, features and radio extracts presented by Martin Fisher, Jim Ross, Mark Stafford and finally Mark Dezanni. It was disappointing that during the "on air" celebrations (if you can call them that) there was o­nly o­ne presenter who had actually worked o­n Radio Caroline when she was o­n the high seas, namely Martin Fisher, and his programme was pre recorded. So why wasn't there any champagne corks popping or any offshore DJ's in the studio to celebrate this milestone in the ex-pirate's broadcasting history? It may be the fact that the real party was taking place in a pub called the "Red Lion" in Walverton Street, London. This pub was the former "watering hole" of many of Caroline's 60's DJ's, because it is close to Chesterfield Gardens, the o­ne time location of the station's Head Office. The London party was organised by Roger "Twiggy" Day and I have been informed was attended by around 60 people, including partners. The guest list included Ronan O'Rahilly (the founder of Radio Caroline), Peter Moore (the current Station Manager) and DJ's Keith Skues, Johnnie Walker, Robbie Dale, Gerry Wright, Paul Rusling, Simon Dee, John Aston, Dave Williams, Mark Sloan, Greg Bance, Martin Kayne and Dick Palmer, to name but a few.’ Well thanks a lot Steve.

Next an e mail with a surprise from Andy Cadier, better known to radio listeners as Martin Kayne: ‘Hi Hans, I went to the Radio Caroline staff 40th anniversary celebration last Sunday 28th March. While there Mark Sloan gave me this photo of myself o­n Radio355 aboard the Laissez Faire. I had a lot of hair then! Thought you may like a copy for your archives, see attached. Regards Andy Cadier.’

More can be found o­n the Party o­n www.offshoreradio.co.uk , the site from Pirate Hall of Fame.

And than an e-mail from Ipswich: ‘Thank you for sending me your reports which are always read avidly, even if I don't always contribute to them or reply to you. Just thought you'd like to know there's a 12-page Souvenir Special in tonight's Ipswich Evening Star (30/3/04), featuring some quite good articles and a library-worth of pictures from the great Dave Kindred (still working for the local rag after all these years - a great offshore radio aficionado who has done much to Keep The Dream Alive). No doubt your network of contacts will get you a copy, but I'm happy to get o­ne for you if you need. Graham Newman.’

Thanks Graham and hope you will get a copy for me. By the way, it would be impossible to read every e mail if everybody responded each time the report comes out.

A long e mail from Steve A in England. Just o­ne subject I did pick out of the e mail in which Steve complaints about o­ne of the Dutch stations he loves to listen: ‘today, Radio 192's streaming media went down, so I listened to Radio 10Gold instead. I didn't enjoy it at all and preferred to listen to Belgium's Radio 2. I don't know if you've ever listened to it. It's not bad, but nothing compares to Radio 192. You may be interested to know, and it may be worth telling people in your report, that I rang Talpa Radio o­ne day and was told: 'Radio 10 Gold is for the Dutch – not the English!' I got a very different response from Michael Bakker when I spoke to him at Radio 192. When I told him that I was English, and how much I enjoyed the station, he said 'That's what we like to hear'. I think Radio 10 Gold, like so many other stations, is in business for money, but Radio 192 is in business for the love of radio and the listeners of the offshore radio stations. As I sign off now, I have Radio 192 blaring out. It’s much better than television. Thanks for this Steve and both bosses are reading the report, so maybe next time you do ring in Radio 10 Gold they will be friendly to you.

It was Dutch singer Marco Borsato who did receive during the presentation of his new DVD in Amsterdam the Sky Radio Airplay Award. It was given to him as his songs were played more than 17.5000 times o­n Sky Radio. He now is the all time most played artist o­n the station, run by program director Ton Lathouwers and his people. Other artist who did get the Award are George Michael, Shania Twain and Phil Collins.

Finally who of the people involved within the Radio Caroline or Radio Monique organisation do remember the name of a guy called ‘Rusty’. It was not his real name but the name he worked under when he was working together with Fred Bolland arranging all kind of tenders and other work from the British harbours? Well next month I will have some own memories which came back some days ago when I did get an e- mail from a guy working at a radio station at the Isle of Corfu.

Also next month I will be featuring the new book by Robert Preedy, which is all about Radio Caroline North. Till then as always I do finish with all best wishes as well as the message that you always can sent in your memories, news and other things to Dit e-mailadres wordt beveiligd tegen spambots. JavaScript dient ingeschakeld te zijn om het te bekijken.