Februari 2005
Hans Knot schrijft tweemaal in de maand in zijn International Report over medianieuws en mediaherinneringen. Hierbij staan de zeezenders centraal. Dit is het International Report voor de maand februari. In dit Report uitgebreid aandacht voor Radio Northsea International. Verder staat Hans stil bij het overlijden van Rudi Kagon en is er nieuws over o.a. Radio Caroline en de Communicator.Welcome to another edition of the radio report. one of the mails which came in after last issue of the report was sent out by Jerry Wright on search for someone he hasn’t seen since years: ‘Hello Hans, I don't know if you remember me from my shows on Radio Caroline, I am currently working with Dave Owen (ex Atlantis / Caroline DJ at Radio Jackie in South West London). I was wondering if you had a contact email address for Ad Roland (TROS Hilversum 3 and Euro Parade / Ex Caroline Jock). The reason I ask is that back in 1980’s I was working for the Olau-Line from Vlissingen to Sheerness as the ships DJ on the Olau Brittania.
TROS had organized a Mini Cruise with Ad Roland and I think it was the Pasadena Roof Orchestra. Ad was with his girl friend at the time Alex, but he had mislaid his pass port I had to vouch for him to get him through U.K. passport control so we could go to the local pub and get off the ship for a few hours. The reason for writing to you is that I saw some photos of him at ‘The Radio Day’ that was held in Holland and it would be great to say hi again, I met him a couple years before I joined Caroline in 1986, at the time I told him of my dreams of being a jock on Radio Caroline. I also told him I loved the Dutch band Earth and Fire. A week later he sent me A set of Earth and Fire Albums which I still have in my collection. Can you help me contact the old boy again I'm sure he will remember ‘Jerry from Ferry’. Thank you for your news letter which I always read with interest. All the best to you and your family. Regards Jerry’.
In the meantime the two are in contact again. Ad was known as Ad Petersen on Radio Caroline in 1973 and also worked for Radio Mi Amigo in 1974. It was in his garden shed that his programmes were recorded in a little place called Culemborg. From there they were brought to the tender king, who brought the tapes out to the Mi Amigo. In this little studio it was were Donna Summer for instant made her very first promo for a record of her. She was unknown to the big public and had made her very first record which had to be promoted on the radio. So also the success for Donna started in Holland in the early seventies. Ad was also the initiator of the Euro Parade, a weekly chart compiled out of the charts from several countries within Europe. It was weekly presented on several European radio stations. Ad Roland himself presented the show in Holland on the then National Pop station Hilversum 3. He is still active in radio running his own media advice company with customers in several countries.
‘Hans, Thank you for another great International Report. I am at present listening to Mi Amigo 192 whilst writing to you and enjoying the music. Could you tell me if this station is going to be on the net only or do the owners hope to get on Medium Wave.Best wishes, Mick.’
As far it is known up till now they don’t have medium wave plans at this moment. Anyone who want to listen can go to: www.radio-miamigo.nl
Messsage from a tiny little place, but very nice too at the East-Northern top of the Netherlands: ‘Hi Hans: Thanks for promoting our website http://www.marinebroadcasters.tk in the January edition of your amazing international radio report. To be honest I think the credit for the site is divided into 3 segments: 33,3 % Mark de Haan , 33,3 % Hans Knot for providing us with 85 % of the pictures from your archive and 33,3 % Paul de Haan. Statistics now show that we have about 1000 unique visitors every month, 35 % from Holland and 65 % from countries like USA, United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, Egypt, Senegal, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Belgium. Here's another photo from the legendary Lady Mi Amigo made from matches by Mrs de Haan. I think you took the photo and can tell us where it was taken.
Greetings from Schildmeer Aan Zee. Paul.’
Photo must be taken by Mr. Anonymous in 1994 at the exhibition ‘Dutch language offshore radio’ which was held at the Dutch Broadcasting Museum and organized by Arno Weltens and me. Great the memories are coming back again. Your lady made three of these special Mi Amigo’s way back in the eighties, after the original sunk. one copy was at your place, the second one at my home. one of the Dutch newspapers made a special on me and the lady when Radio Caroline was 25 years on the air and I published a book on it. In the newspaper a photo could be found of this special edition of the Mi Amigo. The third one went to Marc Jacobs and it was him who lent the Mi Amigo on the photo to the Museum. Strange enough, or maybe lucky enough, Marc Jacobs, you and I all got our best earlier radio experience at the same place, the hospital radio station Studio 73 in Groningen. Yes, some odd 32 years ago. And I know some other readers will remember the hospital radio station as Dennis King and Brian Anderson did a very special program there in 1974 and it was Krijn Torringa (Bob from Bob and Brenda on Veronica) who did the opening program of the new studio on August 11th in 1973. By the way if you want to see a very young Hans Knot in the early studio of the hospital in 1971 serving coffee in a yellow tee shirt go to http://www.martiniomroep.nl/ and go to downloads.
Maybe Paul we must be talking some other time about our project at the Helpersingel way back in 1970, featuring some mad people playing their RNI sounds and also write about the infamous guy with the name of Anton Rabeljee?
Down Yonder Colin Nichol had a look in the very long list with nick names we all shared during the past years and has a view corrections as well he remembers some from the time he was on Radio Luxembourg: ‘I can confirm Dave Travis was also ‘the Hairy Monster and Graham (Spider) Webb was spelled that way not ‘Spyder’ was as was Paul (Nutty) Noble not ‘Nitty’. I don't think I used a slang name, although I was one of the Caroline Good Guys, as were we all at an early stage and I had a jingle that went: ‘the Nicol-plated good guy show’. on Luxembourg I referred to myself, for a while, as ‘the real Colin Nicol’. If you're interested in Luxembourg, Don Wardell was ‘that boy’, Stewart Grundy was, I think, something along the lines of ‘your sweet-talking 'guy’ and I can't remember whether Tony Brandon used a pet name. When the four of us were there and something of a team, Tony Brandon referred to us as in a variation of a traditional English public school-type way as ‘Warders, Branders, Grunders and Nickers’(!!)
Regards, Colin Nichol.’
Indeed some beautiful memories from a long time ago. Thanks Colin.
Another nickname which came around while listening to an old tape of Radio Veronica in the mid sixties was ‘Uw Platendraaier’ Cees van Zijtveld. A nickname which can be translated to ‘Your record spinner’. Harry Knipschild also worked for Veronica and adored playing ‘Rhytmn and Blues’ in his program. Joost den Draayer gave him therefore the nick name ‘Hopman’ (scoutmaster).
Next one comes from Martin van der Valk who wrote: ‘Thanks for the nice January edition of the report. I’ve read it with much attention and I like it very much that it still counts by so many people that there was a period within the radio industry we all loved and still love. A pity there’s such a station anymore on the AM. Also a pity that Radio 192 is now a thing of the past. It’s only on internet that there are such stations we love. Nevertheless please go on with your wonderful reports which are appreciated by so many people around the world. ‘
Who can tell me if she or he still has a favorite radio station on AM where the radio is tuned to on a regular base? You know the address where to sent to your answers: Dit e-mailadres wordt beveiligd tegen spambots. JavaScript dient ingeschakeld te zijn om het te bekijken.
The Evening Star, a local newspaper which brought us back some wonderful issues last year with memories from their photo archive relating to offshore radio in the sixties, came in January with news about the MV Communicator: ‘POP pirates could soon be broadcasting sounds of the swinging sixties again from off the Suffolk coast - but this time they would be entirely legal. There would be no need for the authorities to hunt them down and run them out of British waters, or cut off their food supplies or warn people not to listen, as they did in the 1960s when Radio Caroline ruled the waves. For this time the ship would be sending out its radio signal under an official license - as the new radio station for Ipswich, Felixstowe and Woodbridge. Ofcom, the Office of Communications and radio licensing body, has announced it will advertise a license for a new commercial station in June with the deadline for bidders for the license in the autumn. Radio enthusiast Shaun Brown is hoping his proposals for an offshore station will secure the new license.’
More on this topic you can read at this website.
Talking about Communicator we come automatically on Laser 558 and Laser Hot Hits, which used the radio ship way back in the eighties. Well the name is still there as I found it back in a press report: ‘Dear Radio amateur after 5 years of preparing www.RadioLaser558.nl is ready, the homepage of Radio Laser 558. Laser 558 was the best radio station of the 80’s transmitting form the North sea. Just look at our internet site and see the history of the once so big radio station.
Concerning the Ipswich plans I also got the next e mail:
‘Dear Hans, At just 8 days short of my 18th birthday, I must be the youngest anorak in the world. I live in the Ipswich area of England and some of the other readers in this area may be aware that Ofcom, the Office of Communications and radio Licensing Body in the UK have announced that in June they will be advertising a new local radio license for the Ipswich/Woodbridge/Felixstowe area. I would therefore like to draw yours and your reader's attention to the attached article that appeared in Ipswich's 'Evening Star' newspaper on 25th January, concerning a local man who wishes to bid for the license, saying that if he gets it, he will set up his radio station on a ship, anchor it four miles of the coast of Felixstowe and legitimately broadcast the sounds of the sixties to the South Suffolk area. Since there doesn't appear to be a totally sixties station on the air at the moment and there does appear to be a market for one (look at the massive response 'Pirate BBC Essex' generated - 300000 hits on their website in the first five days!) I would like to suggest that the readers get in touch with Ofcom and urge them to award the license to this station - especially since there is at least one other competitor, and this could be the only opportunity we have to revive this style of radio on a full-time basis. Ofcom can be contacted on:
Phone 0044 845 456 3000 or 044 20 7981 3040 Email Dit e-mailadres wordt beveiligd tegen spambots. JavaScript dient ingeschakeld te zijn om het te bekijken.
was signed Chris Brisland.
Thanks you young anorak and praise to you that you have written in and for all readers come on and reflect to this e mail!
In a time there was no internet. DVD or satellite radio. Laser558 was on air for around the 9 million listeners. In the UK Holland Belgium and Germany. The RadioLaser558.nl website is on –line fore keeping the historic value of this station alive fore the old listeners it getting the great feeling of radio an fore the younger people it’s a nice view of radio in the 80e. on the site there are pictures ,audio, video and free downloads. The RadioLaser558.nl website is owned and operated by voluntaries
It’s 35 years ago our tranny got a regular use again, that’s when you lived in Western Europe. RNI came on the air and brought us some wonderful years. If anyone has special memories on that period please let me know.
From Scotland a long story, send it by Ian from Scotland. He was, like me and many more readers, a RNI lover: ‘In the four years that Radio Nordsee International was on the air, the station employed more that 50 presenters on the International Service. I am sure that we all remember names like Andy Archer, Alan West, Stevie Merike and Don Allen to name but four. However there were some who were either with the station for a one stint or had been recruited but never made it on air. Let's see how many of the following that you can remember.
Johnny Scott :- A name from the very early days of the test transmissions, Johnny was heard on RNI from February 19th – 24th 1970 . Listening to the short recordings that I have of the man, it is apparent that he was no radio presenter. It has been suggested that he was a club deejay signed up my Meister and Bollier and not by Roger Day! The last sighting of him on the MEBO II was reported by Andy Archer as he arrived on board and spotted a very green Johnny heading towards the tender. Just where he ended up….who knows!Photo: Roger Day and Johnny Scott
Elke :- Although technically not a presenter on the International Service, Hans Knot said you can't do such an article without mentioning this lady. She appeared on the early German language tests from the MEBO in January 1970 with recorded programmes, normally co presented with Horst Reiner. She certainly was not heard after the commencement of full programming on February 28th.
Ed Moreno :- A veteran of the 60's offshore stations, Ed was signed up for RNI to present some pre recorded programmes and also act as a London agent. Unfortunately his stay with the station was very short, first being heard on March 1st 1970 with the final programme on March 8th. The latter was his famous Dorothy Squires interview that resulted in the lady in question being under government scrutiny for alleged offences under the MOA. After RNI Ed returned to the medical profession, but unfortunately passed away in 1980.Photo: Ed Moreno
Ray Cooper :- Ray was an American and former Radio Caroline South deejay for a short time in September 1967. on Radio Caroline Ray was mainly heard on the after midnight slot and he also used the name Ray Sebastian. He re-appeared on RNI in March 1970 with a series of pre-recorded reggae programmes sponsored by Bacardi rum. These were aired on a Monday night between 1900 - 2000. This short lived show was last heard on April 12th 1970.
Bob Mackie :- Another American who appeared on the ship on 12th June 1970, in fact the same day as Larry Tremaine. This prompted me to wonder had ‘The Geeter’ used another name for his first RNI appearance. However I am assured that they were not one and the same, Bob apparently was a former presenter with AFN. Last report of him on air was June 19th and then he was back from whence he came!
John Denny :- Another man who apparently, according to Monitor magazine, just appeared for one stint from July 24th to August 5th 1970. However there was a report in the Sunday Mirror about the Kees Manders incident, that happened on August 29th 1970 featuring a photograph showing some of the dj’s on the MEBO including John Denny! The question is was this a library photo, or from the day in question and therefore was John indeed on board during this incident which means he did more than one stint! Anybody know???
Roger Kirk :- Into 1971 and Roger appeared for just one RNI programme on April 29th 1971. The old ‘mal de mer’ being the problem meaning that Roger's offshore days were rather short. However he must have plucked up the courage to give it another try in summer 1973, as he applied to join Radio Caroline International, the short lived 389 service. However on being told that he wouldn't be paid he thought better of it! A career in ILR followed, as an engineer at Capital Radio and later a presenter with Pennine Radio in Bradford. In the 90's I heard Roger Stray FM in Harrogate, where I was living at the time. Sadly Roger passed away in 2000.
Jane Vallentine :- This lady did slightly better than Roger, making three appearances on RNI's World Service in November 1971. The first programme was live with the subsequent two being pre recorded.
Barry Martin :- In the Spring of 1972 there were strong rumours that RNI was planning a second all English service on either 773 or 1115 kHz. Tests were certainly carried out on the former frequency. A programme line up was announced at the time and a new recruit by the name of Barry Martin was included. In the evening English programmes the jocks even played the Barry Martin hit pick! As it happened Barry never appeared on the RNI airwaves, but soon it was announced who this presenter really was, none other than ex Big L man Paul Kaye. Paul had been working as a Television continuity announcer with the BBC and Yorkshire Television. He was later back on the radio with Pennine Radio in Bradford and Radio Hallam in Sheffield. Paul died in 1980.
Steve Berry :- Although Steve was on the MEBO II for some six months, he made very few appearances on air. This was because his main function was as a transmitter engineer and really only presented programmes in times of staff shortage. An American with a laid back presentation style, Steve first appeared on November 28th 1972 and was last heard on the Skyline programme on April 22nd 1973. He left the ship on May 12th ’73 and as far as I know returned to the USA. Photo: Steve Berry
Peter Young :- Peter arrived out to the radio ship in November 1972 at a time when the sea was not behaving itself particularly well. Consequently he spent all of his time in his cabin looking and feeling very green! After a few uncomfortable days, he left the ship never to return. However this was not the end of Peter's radio career as he went on to spend many successful years with Capital Radio, GLR and Jazz FM in London. Peter did fulfil his offshore ambition in 2000, well almost, by appearing on the Radio London RSL broadcast.
Brian Cullen :- That same stormy November 1972 Brian was signed up to join RNI. He was a friend and colleague of Don Allen from BBC Radio Merseyside who took up Don's offer to join RNI. However as this was the same stormy November of 1972 and Brian, after arriving in Holland, spent a few days in Scheveningen waiting for the sea to calm in order a tender could transport him out. In the end Brian decided that the offshore life was not for him and returned home. His radio career continued in later years with Marcher Gold in Wales, Radio Maldwyn and KCR on Merseyside.Photo: Triptender next to the radioship
Bill Chrisp:- The same scenario applies to Bill as mentioned above for Brian. They were together waiting to go out to the ship but thought better of it. Bill was a well established broadcaster with Manx Radio, where one of his colleagues was Don Allen. The two shared a love of country and western music and again it was Don who gave Bill the chance to join RNI. on returning to the Isle of Mann, Bill returned to Manx Radio where he remained for many years presenting the afternoon programme. He is now retired and still living on the island.
Trevor Campbell:- Another one of Don’s contacts, Trevor from Northern Ireland was a big country music fan. He went out to the MEBO in April 1973 along with Dave Johns to do an article on RNI for Deejay and Radio Monthly. He presented one early morning Skyline show during his short stay on board on April 15th. Trevor, or Big T as he is known, was one of the presenters on Downtown Radio in Belfast from its launch in 1976. He used ‘Man of Action’ as a backing track and loads of other offshore jingles. As far as I am aware he is still with the station in 2005. Photo: Trevor Campbell
I did not include Mark Slate as he did a few stints on the MEBO. I think that I read that he had left to take up other work in Liverpool. As far as I know he did not work in radio again.
That’s all the names that I can remember from people who were mostly unknown. If there is anybody I have missed please let me know. Do sent in your comments at Dit e-mailadres wordt beveiligd tegen spambots. JavaScript dient ingeschakeld te zijn om het te bekijken.
But Ian also sent us a complete list of all those who worked for the international service between 1970 and 1974: Presenters on the International service of RNI (inc German and World Services) in no strict order:-
Horst Reiner
Hannibal
Elkie
Axel
Roger Day
Johnnie Scott
Andy Archer
Alan West
Carl Mitchell
Mark Wesley
Ed Moreno
Ray Cooper
Duncan Johnson
Larry Tremaine
Bob Mackie
Michael Lindsay
John Denny
David Gregory
Spangels Maldoon
Peter Chicago
Stephen Ladd
Robb Eden
Mike Ross
Dave Rogers
AJ Beirens
Steve Merike
Martin Kayne
Crispian St John
Tony Allan
Roger Kirk
Bruno Brandenburger
Mark Stuart
Paul May
Brian McKenzie
Terry Davis
Jane Valentine
Arnold Layne
Pierre Deseyn
Don Allen
Steve Berry
Mark Slate
Steve King
Ian Anderson
Kurt Baer
Sheila Ross
Graham Gill
Trevor Campbell
Peter & Werner Hartwig
Robin Banks
Jason Wolfe
Roger Kent
Bob Noakes
Louise Quirk
During the years a lot of photos, stickers, posters, t-shirts and other memorabilia has been released by the Offshore stations. Of course we do all remember the trannies which were for sale by stations like Veronica, Caroline and Radio 390. Sometimes a surprise has been sent to me consisting of memorabilia I’ve not seen too much or not before. The next photo has been sent in by Burkhard Nowotny and is one of two he did sent with Veronica buttons on it. He got hold on the buttons during a visit to the Veronica studio’s at the Zeedijk in Hilversum during the summer of 1968. A year later Veronica moved to the Utrechtseweg, villa Laapersveld. Who has more special things which isn’t shown too much?Photo: special Veronica buttons
During the last days of January I was working on an article for another magazine and I thought some swinging radio programs would help me to get ideas. Some rare recordings from Swinging Radio England would help me and in the end I noted two new nick names we haven’t mentioned before: Boom Boom Brannigan ´the greatest lover of all time´
Boom Boom Brannigan also known as ´Uncle Boomer´ In one of his announcements during the program he mention his colleague Bill Berry, the all night pride. on RNI Brian Mc Kenzie had another nickname next to the ones we mentioned already: Brian ‘BMK’ McKenzie.
Steve Young, once the curly headed kid in the third row, thought in Canada that all readers of the international report should have some fun and so he did sent the following lines: ‘ 40 years on here's my latest Countdown of Sound featuring some of the artists from the 60's and 70's who are re-releasing their hits with new lyrics to accommodate us ‘oldies but goodies’. .Okay....you can sing along to these if you want to.
Herman's Hermits - "Mrs. Brown, You've Got A Lovely Walker"
The Bee Gees - "How Can You Mend A Broken Hip"
The Temptations - "Papa's Got A Kidney Stone"
Ringo Starr - "I Get By With A Little Help From Depends"
Marvin Gaye - "I Heard It Through The Grape Nuts"
Procol Harem - "A Whiter Shade Of Hair"
Johnny Nash - "I Can't See Clearly Now"
Leo Sayer - "You Make Me Feel Like Napping"
ABBA - "Denture Queen"
Paul Simon - "Fifty Ways To Lose Your Liver"
Roberta Flack - "The First Time I Ever Forgot Your Face"
Commodores - "Once, Twice, Three Times To The Bathroom"
Rolling Stones - "You Can't Always Pee When You Want"
Bobby Darin - "Splish, Splash, I Was Havin' A Flash"
Who has more to add to this list from Steve Young?
On February 1st the sad news came in of death of Rudi Kagon, one of the technicians of RNI, between 1971 and 1974. Rudi, who lived during the last period of his live in the German place called Korschenbroich, passed away at the age of 80. He suffered for some time due to cancer. Rudi was a very sympathic man, who was loved by most of his former colleagues. He left a son and daughter and one grand child.
Here some of the memories from Rudi´s RNI colleagues, starting of with Hans Hoogendoorn: ‘Rudi was a nice guy, with friendly eyes and put his heart into the work and above all always wearing his orange airplane overall. In those days he already looked old for his age, a bit tawny, such a guy from which you suspect he’s a heavy smoker. Sometimes it looked if he was a bit simple almost looking dull. Later I understood it was a game. The story goes he was on the MEBO II as watchman to report to the Swiss owners or their backers? God have his soul!’
Next one is from Kent and Martin Kayne: ‘Hi Hans, I am very sorry to hear this sad news, unfortunately with the passage of time I am finding it difficult to remember Rudi, my memory is not what it was, and it was not fantastic even then. I am keeping my fingers crossed that you will find a photo of him to put in your International Radio Report, which will jog my memory. I am sure all the guys on RNI will feel very sad at the thought of losing a former colleague from those days on the North Sea. Best regards,
Andy Cadier. (Martin Kayne) www.offshoremusicradio.com
I go over to another former RNI lad, Robb Eden who wrote in: ‘Hans, so sorry to hear the news. Rudi was one of the kindest people you could ever meet. He was always there for all of the disc jockeys and crew. Always willing to help in anyway. I can still hear his laugh. He was fond of a joke, trouble was he seldom understood the English humour but he laughed along anyway. He will be sincerely missed. Robb’.
Here are Robin Banks his memories: ‘Hi Hans, I was deeply saddened to hear that Rudi Kagon has passed away. I had not spoken to him either since New Years Day 2004.We had religiously gotten in contact almost every New Year since the closure of RNI. The last time that I saw Rudi was at his home near Düsseldorf during 1975. I can remember him clear as crystal, always chirpy and lots of fun. He loved every minute of his work on RNI and I know that he missed the ship terribly after we closed down. Although Rudi never mastered English, you'd never have any trouble understanding him, he'd make sure of that, Ja! Whenever we talked on the phone it was like being back on the MEBO II, the hybrid language we had developed out of English, Dutch and German was usually quite hilarious, and we often featured the novelty phrases in our programmes. I guess it was all part of the team spirit on the boat. Most of the jocks involved the crew at some time or another in their shows which I thought helped to give the station the personality that it had. Rudi was a real treasure, a wonderful man and will always be fondly remembered.
I have corresponded with AJ Beirens and we both feel that this event will draw the MEBO II crew from that period a little closer. No bad thing as most of us have remained elusive since 1974. In fact it was Robbie Eden who called me immediately he'd seen your email. This was to break the news for me. Robbie had remembered that I had a lot of time for Rudi and always enjoyed socialising with him. Rudy would like it if we would all remember him with a phone call to each other. I'll let you know how we get on. God bless Rudi. Please keep us informed Hans. Grateful thanks for letting us all know so promptly. Best wishes, Robin.’
Sharing internet addresses which each other is a very nice thing and from Belgium the next one came in with all kind of information about the music starting in 1950: http://getretro.com/
Pieter Damave is a former RNI technician and was on holiday at the Isle of Aruba in the Caribean. By surprise he found a street name which has something to do with the live programming of the Dutch Service of RNI, called Driemaster.From Germany it’s Wolfgang Buchholz: ‘Dear Hans Knot, It might be, that you have heard or read my name somewhere in the "pirate scene. I'm a big fan of Big L and the music of the sixties. I guess that you are engaged in the oldies project and especially in the Fab 40 section on Sundays. Several E-Mailers quote, that the show should be repeated during the week in the evening hours, because a lot of people cannot listen on Sunday high noon. This is a very good idea! I think, Monday would be a good time. Would be nice to hear from you! Wolfgang Buchholz, Meckenheim, West Germany.’
Well thanks a lot Wolfgang but Monday is not a good idea as Keith Skues is on the Internet too versus Eastern Counties Radio from the BBC too. But those very nice people from Offshore Music Radio, David and Llynn, are reading the report too so maybe they can reflect on this topic.
February 9th brought us the sad news of the passing away from Jimmy Smith. He was the one how played the Organ Grinder’s Swing, which was for years the station opener at Radio Veronica. Also he was responsible for the live concert on deck the MV Mi Amigo in 1964, when his Hammond Organ was brought aboard and couldn’t pass the gangway to the studio. He played a couple of numbers, after being introduced by Simon Dee, including ‘Hip Ship Blues’
And finally the latest news about the Caroline organization, which came in from Peter Moore: ‘Radio Caroline are loaning their ship to the BBC this Good Friday which is on March 25th. Both they and BBC Essex wished for a longer co-operation, perhaps up to five days as happened with Pirate BBC Essex last year, but BBC management would not allow this to be repeated. Thus, local presenter Steve Scruton will be broadcasting from the Ross Revenge on Friday only.
To allow the weather to improve, Caroline are not opening their ship for visitors and for broadcasting until 26/27th February and then all over Easter 25.26.27.28th March. There is no cost for going on board.
The stations broadcasts via Technisat on Astra are now encoded, listeners can get the signal for Caroline and other stations by paying Tecnisat a small fee, thought to be 20 Euros a year. New listeners can buy Technisat equipment with Caroline etc already programmed in. The station is also part of a package of specialist broadcasters assembled by Eric Wiltsher for a new operation that is said will eventually be Pan European. Called Radio Talasa International ( R.T.I. ) the first transmissions will be in high power FM ( 100KW is mentioned ) aimed at Slovakia. Talasa is the name of the 5.500ft mountain on top of which the transmitter is installed. Radio Caroline will be the sustaining service through the night. Observers looking at the proposed programme schedule will see that it is all but identical to that of Merlin Network one in that almost all of the organisations who took time on Merlin are now back for R.T.I. Eric Wiltsher is now said to be at the other end of Europe in Latvia, securing AM and SW frequencies. R.T.I launches at Easter time.’
Little has been heard of Caroline's Peter Moore this year. Some may know that Moore who has no children, loves animals and treats his pets as though they were indeed his children. His most cherished dog called Jill became unwell and died in late January and Moore abandoned all his Caroline work during January tending for and grieving for his pet. We wish him all the best and I hope he can carry this loss.
Well as always you can sent in your news, memories, photos and other material to Dit e-mailadres wordt beveiligd tegen spambots. JavaScript dient ingeschakeld te zijn om het te bekijken.. Till next month I wish you all the best, Hans Knot.