Augustus 2005

Hans Knot schrijft tweemaal in de maand in zijn International Report over medianieuws en mediaherinneringen. Hierbij staan de zeezenders centraal. Dit is het Report voor de maand augustus. In dit Report o.a.: herinneringen aan Ronan O'Rahilly, Radio Caroline, de Ross Revenge en RNI. Verder nieuws over de Radiodag 2005, Arutz 7, de Voice of Peace en Abie Nathan en aandacht voor familie banden binnen de zeezender medewerkers.

Welcome in the August edition of the Knot International Radio Report and as always thanks for the response.

First mention is for Harm ten Brink, who spent some time o­n the Ross Revenge during the period that Radio Monique was o­n the air in the eighties. He has made several photos and some of them are temporary o­n line. You can find it o­n: www.harmtenbrink.nl/Ross.html

From o­ne of my music friends, Bert Bossink, I lent 7 LP’s from the sixties and early seventies to record them to CD. In exchange I would dub 3 cd’s which were imported from Germany with rare music from Georgie Fame. The seven LP’s brought o­ne which would forever bring and end to a tale told to us several times by an Irish entrepreneur, who started an offshore radio station off the English coast in 1964. In several interviews in 1964 and the many decades later he told that he started Radio Caroline due to the fact he couldn’t get a record company for his artist Georgie Fame, who he managed. He also told that, before he started the plan for an own radio station, he tried to get air time o­n Radio Luxembourg. He didn’t not succeed as Luxembourg had sold all the airtime to bigger record companies like DECCA and EMI.

One of the 7 LP’s is a live LP called ‘Rhymtn and Blues at the Flamingo’. It has 10 tracks all performed by Georgie Fame and the Blue Fames. The text o­n the cover is written by Johnny Gunnell and tells us that Rik Gunell was the manager of Georgie Fame (not Ronan) and that he had the idea to record a single for Georgie in 1963. o­ne day Ian Samwell visited the club. This record producer heard the sound of Georgie Fame and was very enthusiastic. He offered Rik to record a live album with the group. This took place at the Flamingo Club in Wardour Street in London, a club co owned by Rik Gunnell at the time. Date of the recording was Wednesday September 25, 1963! And to make the Ronan O’Rahilly tale to an end: the LP was released in January 1964 under number 33SX 1599 o­n the Columbia label, owned by the EMI Record Company in Great Britain. Is there more to say about Ronan his fairy tale?

Yes, there’s more as I did sent my comments o­n forehand to some people and here’s what Chris Edwards, Caroline watcher since ages, wrote to me: ‘There's a lot of myth and exaggeration surrounding Ronan and Caroline. Ronan worked for the Gunnell brothers, who were well known 60's music promoters and managers. They are mentioned in most books about 60's music. Ronan was a record plugger, and o­ne of the artists he plugged was Georgie Fame. Ronan certainly didn't "manage" Georgie Fame (or the Rolling Stones as Caroline's official website claims). There was an enjoyable concert by Georgie Fame o­n BBC4 TV a month or so ago, which included a number of 60's artists guesting with Georgie. Also a number of 60's figures in the audience. Significantly no Ronan!, or even any mention of the man who - so the PR version has it launched Fame's career. Another story that is still a mystery is - did Ronan "own" the Scene club, or manage it for someone else, or just simply work there. And still with O'Rahilly - this time Ronan's grandfather - The O'Rahilly. A few years back I read Ronan's fathers book - Winding the Clock - about the Irish revolution, which like the Caroline PR version places "The O'Rahilly" as o­ne of the main figures, and leading the battle charge against the English o­n Easter Monday. I've since read a couple of other books o­n that period, which all of course mention "The O'Rahilly", but not as the main leader, just involved with several small groups and o­ne of a number of people holding out in the Post office in O'Connell Street. Even the famous charge against the English guns was not o­n Easter Monday, but several days later. So there's today’s myths exposed. I'm sure there are plenty more. Chris Edwards.’

A short piece o­n Georgie was already published o­n www.MediaPages.nl and it was former Radio Atlantis and Radio Mi Amigo technician/deejay Will van der Steen who did reflect o­n that article: ‘Let me tell you that I’ve always had the delusion that Ronan was hired by the investors of Radio Caroline in 1964 to be their publicity person or ‘cat catcher’. Probably it would be an idea that someone in London would search for the files of the ‘Planet Productions Ltd to see who are o­n the list of persons within the company and their tasks. By the way, during the time Ronan was involved with Sylvain Tack (1973-1978) he never told at any occasion that he managed Georgie Fame. He o­nly affirmed that he did publicity for the singer. Probably Ronan nowadays has amnesia. Lucky enough it’s you Hans who pricks Ronan’s balloon.

Then over to Jon at the Pirate Hall of fame, who I also sent my first piece o­n Georgie: ‘Thank you for this month's excellent report. I think the story of Ronan's involvement with Georgie Fame (and the Stones) has probably been exaggerated over the years. I would love to know the truth and, if you can find it through writing about it in o­ne of your reports, that can o­nly be a good thing.
I think there may be more to say. I don't think you should write Ronan's story off entirely. Although it has certainly been exaggerated and embroidered over the years, I suspect there is a grain of truth there. As I understand it, Ronan worked for the Gunnell brothers. He helped promote their artists and was involved in "plugging" Georgie Fame. However he didn't manage him. The attached article (from the 1982 magazine The History Of Rock) does not mention Ronan but does tell the story of Georgie's struggle to get heard.

In summary, Fame had been around for years and had a large following o­n the live circuit. Ian Samwell, an independent producer who liked Fame's music, persuaded the Gunnells to finance the recording of a live album. This was done o­n 25th September 1963 at The Flamingo Club, where the Gunnells promoted the weekend "all-nighter" events. Samwell then touted the tapes round to various record companies. Eventually the British Columbia label, part of EMI and no relation to the American label of the same name, agreed to release it. However this was after two singles had come out o­n an independent label called R&B. It is perfectly possible that during the time between the album being recorded in September and Columbia agreeing to release it the following year, Ronan, as the Gunnells' plugger, tried to get the singles played o­n Radio Luxembourg and, because R&B did not buy airtime o­n the station, failed. Am I just buying into the myth? Or is the myth true? I don't know - but I don't think you should write it off entirely. All the best, Jon.’

If you want the article which Jon sent me about Georgie just asked me for a copy. Well different opinions and who can we give the next word? Please sent it to Dit e-mailadres wordt beveiligd tegen spambots. JavaScript dient ingeschakeld te zijn om het te bekijken.

An e-mail from Duncan Johnson brought a surprise he wants to share with all the readers.

In last report I told about an e mail I did get of a certain Chris Tetley who passed away recently and had worked for Piccadilly Radio as well as for Radio Caroline. I asked in the report if some of the former deejays of Radio Caroline in the period 1974-1977 did remember him and if he was maybe Peter Haze. Response came in from Andy Archer: ‘I don't think this guy was Peter Hayes, but I will make some enquiries. I thought he went to the Peace Ship or came from the Peace ship to Caroline, I can't remember exactly. There’s no mention of this in the obituary. I've certainly never heard of Christ Tetley o­n Radio Caroline! I'll get back to you o­n this o­ne!’ Andy.

Another guy, who was also o­n the Mi Amigo during the same period was Clive Warner: - Well, Hans, it could be. I have the impression that when I arrived o­n the Mi Amigo, I guess that was October 1974, Peter Haze was o­ne of the jocks who left at the same time. (I arrived with Andy Archer, John B Mair, Johnny Jason and Tony Allan). I also worked for Piccadilly Radio but I don't recall him from there. I'll see if I can find others from Piccadilly. I'm sorry I can't provide any further info.’ Clive Warner.

Of course I informed both of them o­n each others memories and Andy came back for the second time o­n the subject: I'm now pretty certain it is not Peter Haze. There is no resemblance in the face at all. Also Peter was not a rock fan but a soul music fan. It would be nice to track him down sometime, but I don't know if his real name was Peter Hayes (or Haze). Maybe o­ne day I'll get an email in response to my request o­n the website.

I think Clive Warner is right, Peter Haze did leave in 1974 - I'm pretty sure he went to the Peace Ship. He was o­n board the Mi Amigo when it left for England in late August 1974. There’s a photo of Peter o­n page 5 of my website - it's the o­nly o­ne I have ever seen of him - think he was probably always asleep when the pictures were taken!’

Going down yonder with an e mail from Graeme Loveridge: ‘Hi Hans,
This email is simply to pay my respects and admiration to you for your dedication. You are an awesome guy. I worked o­n Caroline for 9 weeks over Xmas/NY 1985/86, and have had no connection whatsoever with the radio scene in Europe since then when I returned to Down Under. So my knowledge of the people and the circumstances are very, very limited, though no less empathetic. However, I really like reading your reports, partly because of the sense of history that they give me, and partly because I empathise so much with those people who've dedicated their lives to radio like you. My deepest respects, and please keep sending me your reports. Graeme Vega (Graeme Loveridge).

Well it was already warm, cause it’s summer in Europe Graeme but your e mail gave another ‘blow of warmth’. Thanks a lot for your nice words and keep enjoying the reports.

Next an e mail from Holland with Martin van der Valk responding: ‘Thanks for another terrific radio report from July 2005. Very interesting to see the photographs from Radio Waddenzee and their light ship. I’ve plans to travel to Harlingen o­ne day to make some photos for myself. I know they have also a tx-site in the Provence of Friesland. Will this be used in wintertime in the future? I know that when they using a transmitter o­nboard the light ship o­n water, their signal will be much stronger. I wish all of them a very successful radio adventure. Greetings Martin.’

Time for an e mail from Alan Cook: ‘Hi Hans......thanks for all the recent reports that I have received over the recent months. I have thoroughly enjoyed them. I am sorry Hans, although I have a lot of respect for you and what you have achieved I must take you to task o­n your reply to Derek Mays letter and your reply in July’s issue. Firstly I have been an offshore radio since the beginning 1962, then o­n to Caroline. Now since we lost our final offshore radio station Laser, my cd collection had grown. Why you may ask Hans. Radio has finished in the United Kingdom. Money and shareholders are coming before the listeners. The deejays have to adhere to the program directors. The deejays seem dead and there’s no atmosphere whatsoever. So all what we fought for in the 60s and 70s has been lost. Thanks to our Dutch friends we now have Mi Amigo 192, and God bless them. They are fulfilling us beyond our wildest dreams. Still I suppose some idiots in governments when we are no longer o­n this earth will try and outlaw that, as they receive no money. So I enjoy Mi Amigo as much as I can...best wishes Alan Cook.’

Another response o­n Derek May’s e mail from last time came in from Rob Veld: ‘Thanks Hans for another terrific report. This time I found in this also the e mail from Derek May in which he gives compliment to the radio industry in Holland. o­n the other hand he complains about Ofcom as well as the British Government as a reason why Dutch radio stations have more ‘fire’ than British o­nes. Maybe he is correct in that. Now and then I do listen to Virgin Radio and of course Big L. And so I can’t say if there is a lack in a good radio service in Britain – as I do not listen to any other stations than the 2 above o­nes. However I do listen a lot to Dutch radio stations and I don’t think they really bring more ‘fire’ into the programs. Also in our country there are people who think they’re far more important than the music and the listeners. Radio 10 Gold for instant would be far better off when some of their deejays would profile themselves lesser. Also the many needles eruptions in their program like ‘the hidden telephone’ and some of their insufferable sense of humour. Big L and Arrow for instant have a far much better way of straight to the point presentation. Of course this is a main part of their format. In the past there were stations who were really there to make the format like Radio London in the sixties, Radio Veronica, RNI and sometimes Radio Caroline and Radio Mi Amigo. Needless to say that although you have a wonderful swinging format but not the best deejays for that format, the station will not be successful. Nowadays the used formats are not so strong anymore and the deejays teams are not solid as in the past, with exception of some stations. Some of the smaller radio stations in Holland gave and give a positive flow. I mention the late Radio 192 during a period they were o­n the air. But also nowadays stations Radio 227 and Radio Mi Amigo 192 which are positive examples. I have to add Public Radio 2 as they have a positive afternoon program. And I think there is the answer to Derek’s question: a good solid team of presenters combined with a good format really takes you to into ‘fire’ o­n the radio. Rob Veld.’

And yet another o­ne: ‘In your July report, Derek May said:
> the stations must have so many ads...
> we get individuals who like the sound of their own voices, in preference to music... So he might like this: www.oldiesproject.com. No ads, no voices (no presenters !) With Real Player you can even right click to repeat or skip tracks.
And o­n 'steam' satellite (i.e. an old Astra 1-B 19.2?E analogue system), there's Eurospar Music at 11.64125 GHz / Horizontal, Subc. 7.56 MHz (0400 - 2300 BST). No ads, no voices (no presenters !) Cheers, Gerald Gray.’

Then a step to the south and an e mail from another former Voice of Peace deejay: ‘Hi Hans, Many thanks for the excellent work you put into each report, a real labour of love me thinks! There is definitely an additional benefit to your reports, it keeps people in touch with each other! I would be interested in attending the reunion of the VOP to catch up with the old tarts I used to work with all those years ago (1976).Best wishes, Norman Lloyd.’

Well Norman great to hear you want to join in too. We’ll put you o­n the list.

Then from Belgium it’s Philip Taghon writing in: ‘Hello Hans. After a durable holiday at the French ‘Azuren’, where I could listen in to my WorldSpace radio to Caroline as well as Caroline South (with the great and o­nly Mark Dezanni) I was especially happy to come home and to find another radio report. Thanks for the maintaining efforts and I hope that I can read together with all the other Anoraks your reports in the years to come. Here in the western part of Flemish Belgium there is some news to be told about former Radio Mi Amigo as well as Radio Maeva deejay Ron van der Plas. Currently he is working for Extra Gold and after severe heart problems last year he is really getting better these days. Extra Gold is transmitting here o­n 94FM in Torhout. The station has also the official rights for transmitting the Veronica Top 40 Gold for Belgium and this is transmitted every Saturday afternoon between 4 and 6 by Ron van der Plas. Philip.’

Question time. The next photo shows a wonderful view o­n the deck of the Ross Revenge taken from above. The man who took it in 1986 was climbing o­n the highest aerial mast ever built o­n a radio ship. You see o­ne of his shows o­n the photo. Now here’s the question: who took the photograph? Answers can be sent to Dit e-mailadres wordt beveiligd tegen spambots. JavaScript dient ingeschakeld te zijn om het te bekijken.

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THE RADIO NEWSLETTER 17th July 2005 A UKRADIO LTD PUBLICATION
©2005 ukRadio Ltd All Rights Reserved
SPONSORED BY Arqiva
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Liam Gough is sending o­n a weekly bases a newsletter about the radio industry in Great Britain, which is worth well to read. If you want a copy just sent an e mail to Dit e-mailadres wordt beveiligd tegen spambots. JavaScript dient ingeschakeld te zijn om het te bekijken.

And then a plug for the annual radio day, which will be held this year for the 27th year in a row. Organised this year by Rob Olthof from Foundation for Media Communication in cooperation with Martin van der Ven from The Offshore Radio Guide and Hans Knot it will be held o­n October 22nd in Amsterdam. A really nice program with many guests will be held and Martin has made a very informative page o­n his site with information o­n the program of the day, the quest which will appear as well how to find where the Radio Day will be held as well were to find a nice but reasonable payable hotel. I advise you to go at o­nce to:
http://www.offshore-radio.de/radioday/

And of course Rob, Martin and I hope to see a lot of our readers in Amsterdam.

Back to England we get in touch with Colin, o­ne of the many British chaps who are visiting our radio day o­n a regular base: ‘Again many thanks for the July edition of the Knot International Radio Report, and as always lots of interesting reading, I picked up o­n the report from Derek May who says that UK Radio is CRAP...I totally agree, o­ne can drive the length of the country and tune o­nto different stations and they all are playing the same songs, the songs we have heard time and time again. Here where I live I can pick quite a few BBC Local radio stations and also ILR stations, all very boring and o­nce again all playing the same songs we have heard a 1000 times, so when I am driving around as I do in my job, I listen to tapes, its better than the local radio. When at home I listen to radio via the internet, its amazing the many radio stations that are broadcasting via the net. We have off course the much loved Radio Caroline, now we have Radio London, also Offshore Music Radio which plays all 60's & 70's music, but o­ne station which I listen to quite lot and plays all 60's music all day, and plays songs you won't hear o­n any UK Radio Station is REAL OLDIES 1690 which broadcast from Chicago, just go to www.realoldies1690.com and click to listen, you will be surprised. Another station which seems to broad cast o­nly o­n Sundays, and is o­nly o­n for a few hours, I listened today and from 9.30 to 10.00am they play offshore radio theme tunes, then from 10 am till midday its all rare 60's tracks, they do play some good tracks with also offshore radio type jingles. The station can be heard o­n www.radiopoplar.co.uk. It's worth a listen. Any way Hans hope all is well with you and hope to see you in October.

Zionist radio station Arutz 7 plans to market Japanese-made personal devices solely designed to play its internet broadcasts after an almost two-year-old government ban o­n its radio frequencies. The station originally started her broadcast from a radio ship off the Israelis coast, way back in 1988. They used sometimes land based relay transmitters to get the signal better into certain parts of the country. In 2003 the owners decided to stop transmitting from the radio ship after the Knesset and Israeli Justice had decided the station was illegal and action would be taken to get the station off the air. All the equipment and the radio ship were sold to a broker. Since then the station brought her propaganda to the listeners versus internet.

Photo: Arutz Sheva (Copyright Photo: Mike Brand)

Critical voices say that the programs of Arutz Sheva are not o­nly broadcasting propaganda for the right wing people but also are inciting against the government and the courts in Israel. And now they have planned to bring a custom made new product o­n the market to get more listeners. ´A new hand-held device will allow it to be heard over large frequencies without interrupting radio signals´, said marketing director Hezki Baruch. “It looks like a radio, but it broadcasts o­nly o­ne station – Arutz 7,” he said. “It works by internet but does not require a computer. There are people from the religious and Haredi sectors who don’t have computers and internet and are a target audience of the station. “Baruch said Japanese manufacturers created the device especially for the station, which plans to market them this week for NIS 580 apiece. He said more than 1000 people have already ordered o­ne.

Thanks to Herman Content from Belgium you can have a look at a nice internet site relating to British Radio History, as he did found in o­n the net: CLICK HERE

It is Leen Vingerling, the tender king in days of Ross Revenge and Communicator who remembered me that I was so happy making lists like ‘Female deejays’, ‘nick names’ from deejays or ‘Singing deejays’. He brings in the idea for a new list that of ‘brothers’ in the world of Offshore Radio and starts the list for us: ‘I do start with the brothers Van Heerden in the eighties. Both did work as a deejay for Radio Monique o­n the Ross Revenge. This as Bart Steeman and Nice Stevens. Nico nowadays is working for Radio 10. Next we had Ron van der Plas and Erwin van der Bliek (Radio Monique and Radio 819 and Erwin also working sometimes for Radio Caroline). o­n Radio Caroline in the late eighties and early nineties we had two brothers from Ireland: Steve Conway and Chris Kennedy. Also I want to mention Bull, Jaap and Dirk Verwey – at o­ne stage the owners of Radio Veronica.

Photo's: Bart Steeman (above) and Nico Stevens (below). (Photos: Leen Vingerling)

Within the Delmare organisation there where the Brothers Ten Berghe and we must not forget that the Brothers Weismuller were responsible for the tendering of the MV Galaxy (London), Mi Amigo and Fredericia (Caroline) as well as the MV Laissez Faire (SRE and other stations). Next I mention Brother Hendriks. Ruud is known as Rob Hudson o­n Radio Mi Amigo and Radio Caroline while his younger brother Fred was known as Fred van Amstel o­n Radio Monique.

Of course I may not forget Jelle and Hans Knot who both write for decades about offshore and other forms of radio in several magazines. I will finish with myself and my brother Pim Vingerling. He worked for two weeks for Radio Delmare o­n the MV Martina as I worked for Radio Delmare too (Jan Olienoot). ‘

Thanks Leen but there are more. What to think mentioning the names Peter and Werner Hartwig, both active within the German Free Radio Campaign and both presented programs about offshore radio o­n RNI in German. Hans and Wouter Verbaan where brothers too and were the people behind the Free Radio Campaign Holland.

We have a discussion groep ‘Zeezenders’ o­n internet for the Dutch and Belgium fans and some of the above appeared there and within a day several others did sent in their comments. Although we started the list by Leen’s idea of ‘Brothers in Offshore Radio’ it seems to me a better idea to mentioning it ‘Relationship within families with a connection in offshore radio’. And so we can add more names like the o­ne sent in by Jan van Heeren: Tony and John Whiters. Tony also known as Tony Windsor. He worked for Offshore stations like Radio Atlanta, Radio London, Radio 355 and Radio 227. His brother was working for the last two stations. Andy Anderson and his brother worked for the ill fated Gunfleet Tower project. Ment and Piet van der Toorn were brothers and crewmembers aboard the MEBO II from RNI in 1970.

From Belgium some names which came in from Bart van Peer: o­n Radio Noordzee (Dutch service RNI) Willy (father) and Willeke (daughter) Alberti had their program for a short period and talking about RNI Father and son De Mol worked there as director of the Dutch service and John jr as technician and presenter (Branding). Ger Anne was the daughter of Jaap Verwey and presented o­n Radio Veronica in the early sixties ‘C’est la France Qui Chante’. During the last program of Radio Veronica o­n August 31st it was mother Geleick who showed here indignation about the law against offshore radio in the Netherlands. Her son Juul was working as a technician o­n Radio Veronica. Back to Delmare we can mention that Gerard van Dam his girlfriend Astrid de Jager was working for the station too. o­n Mi Amigo we had the married couples Haike Debois and Maurice Bokkebroek as well as Stan Haag and his wife Michelle. RNI gave us Mike and Sheila Ross and o­n Radio Atlantis also two couple were active in radio. Linda and Andy Anderson as well as Steve and Debbie England.’ Thanks Bart!

Some other names coming up were Tineke and Tony Vos (Veronica) as well as Krijn Torringa and Brenda (Veronica) who were two married couples too. o­n Radio Caroline in the eighties there was a relationship between Fionna Jeffries and Dave Richards which resulted in a baby. This also happened between Caroline Martin and Dave Asher. o­n the Norderney, the Veronica vessel, there was technician Ruud Doets. His brother Gerard also did volunteer work for the station o­n land. Well if you have an update to this bizarre list please sent it in to: Dit e-mailadres wordt beveiligd tegen spambots. JavaScript dient ingeschakeld te zijn om het te bekijken.

Photo: Gerard and Ruud Doets (Photo Martin van der Ven)

Guernsey o­nce again appearing in the report, this time versus memories to the Ross Revenge when she was still a trawler, instead of a radio ship.

From Victor Hartman, somewhere in the UK. Thanks for the latest report. It was interesting to read about the Ross Revenge before her days as a radio ship. I used to work for a firm of fishing vessel owners in Grimsby in the 70's, called Consolidated Fisheries. I had a ship’s radio in the office tuned to Radio Caroline/Mi-Amigo in those days, and often the Belgian beam trawlers from Zeebrugge and Oostende would land their catches in Grimsby. it wasn't unusual for them to be listening to radio Mi-Amigo as well! But I digress. I well remember the Ross Revenge when it sailed under the British United trawlers flag, which was a conglomeration of Ross fisheries and Northern Trawlers. It used to break a lot of landing records, as it was such a huge vessel. Those of you who've been in the transmitter room o­n the Ross will know how large it is. Well, that is half the size of the fish room, as it was partly filled with concrete to ballast it as a radio ship. The last time I saw the Ross as a fishing vessel was in 1980, when it was tied up o­n the North Wall in Grimsby docks. I still have some photos of it taken then, not realising what it would end up as. Grimsby docks now are a sad sight since the busy days when I worked down there. Most of the fish landed comes overland from Aberdeen, with the odd Seiner landing. Victor Hartman.’

Eytan Harris his name I did mention a few issues ago relating to a new documentary he was producing o­n Abe Nathan, the founder of the Voice of Peace. Here’s the internet address were more information can be found: http://www.abie-nathan.com/main-en.html

A few weeks the documentary was first shown o­n a film festival in Jerusalem and special guest was no o­ne else as o­ne of my heroes Abe Nathan. It was Yaniv Dayan who was so wonderful to sent me a photograph of this event and you see Eytan talking to Abe. Good to see him again. Thank you for sending it in! Surely all the former VOP deejays who’re reading the report will love it too!

A first impression o­n the movie came in from Tel Aviv: ‘I saw the film about Abie Nathan o­n Tuesday. All in all it was quite a sad film. The Voice of Peace was of course featured quite a bit, but was not the main theme of the film. I would say it took up no more than a 1/3 of the film. But there were some very nice shots of the Peace Ship, from the sea, and o­n the ship itself. o­ne thing that was missing at this special showing were the broadcasters. Either they weren't invited (the hall was nearly full), or they didn't turn up. The o­nly DJ that I saw, was Tim Shepherd. There were mostly friends of Abie or prominent figures of the left wing in Israel. Abie himself was there, in his wheelchair. I took pictures, and as soon as I finish the film, and have it developed, I'll scan some for you. By the way, looking at the credits at the end of the film, both your name and mine appeared. All the best, Mike’.

Thanks Mike, very much appreciated and we hope to receive a copy of the movie from Eytan. Hope you Eytan have a lot of success with the promotion of the movie in the months to come!

Then a very nice package was sent in by Nick Barnes from Eastbourne in East Sussex in England. He is a wonderful singer songwriter who did a little trip to Holland a couple of months ago. When over he enjoyed especially his visit to a town called Enkhuizen. o­ne of his new songs, ‘Beautiful town’ describes his joy of the visit to Holland. Earlier this year Nick wrote a song about his favourite radio station, Radio Caroline. For more information o­n Nick Barnes and his work go to www.nickbarnes.does.it

Martin van der Ven got response o­n his site www.offshore-radio.de where also my reports since May last year can be found. It came from the USA and reads as follows: ‘I was in the US military from 1971 to 1973 in Germany and enjoyed the broadcasts from RNI. I often worked overnight and listened to the close of the Dutch service and the entire English service until close down at 0300. Weekends were great because the service went all night. I enjoyed RNI's world service o­n Sunday at 6,235 kHz short-wave. What a wonderful era for British and European broadcasting! What wonderful memories were made from those tiny little storm tossed ships and what an influence they must have had bringing about change. It is now almost 35 years later and I have been employed in radio broadcasting for over 25 years. Great site! Best wishes! Larry Selzle, KUNC Chief Engineer, Community Radio for Northern Colorado. www.kunc.org

Well Larry, good to see you’ve enjoyed the programs of RNI and surely a lot of former RNI deejays feeling proud now, as they are reading the International Knot Radio Report too.

Last month NOS employee wrote about o­ne of his memories o­n radio and a response came from Leicester: ‘Dear Hans, It was interesting to read the article written o­n Brian Matthew DJ by Tom Blomberg in your most recent bulletin, which I read every month. I recall Brian Matthew's Radio Luxembourg 15 minute sponsored programmes as being 'The Speedy Disc Show' and 'Pop Parade' o­n Thursdays and Fridays at 11:00pm. I've forgotten o­n which days each programme was featured, recorded of course in Radio Luxembourg studios in London, and as the voice over said at the end before the famous Luxembourg gong, that they were 'a Pye presentation!' .

Matthew was the DJ man of the moment o­n the BBC at the time immediately prior to the pirates (Radios Caroline/Atlanta etc) commencing in 1963, 'comparing' besides 'Saturday Club', 'Easybeat' (your Sunday best) o­n Radio 2/The Light Programme (1500m LW and VHF). He was also compare of the BBC Light Programme's 'Top Gear' in its early days, and as most listeners recall his famous interview with the Beatles - just as they were famous (which every listener of Radio 2 is treated to by the BBC every anniversary of Radio 2 every 25 years!). o­n ITV he compared ABC TV's 'Thank Your Lucky Stars' which came weekly from jointly owned ABC/ATV Alpha studios, Birmingham (recorded o­n the previous Sunday, the Ampex video was kept in the can all week, for showing at 'five-to-six' pm window the following Saturday!) and latterly the Teddington studios (later inherited by Thames). However my view, although an Uncle and o­ne of the best and still is (respect), He is part of the establishment of the BBC and now has an endearing distinctive style.

I apologise for 'banging' o­n about dry land broadcasting i.e. the 'enemy'! Having said all this, the pirates, and let us not forget this, gave broadcasting in Britain and its sleepy licensing authority a wake up call to change the course of history in popular music broadcasting and presentation, o­n which today's broadcasters can be proud. Long live the pirates (including Radio City!). All of this said millions of times before? Yawn! I've said it again and will go o­n saying, even though I have had no active role in broadcasting apart from introducing a BBC UniverSity Student Radio ('USSR') programme in Sheffield in the 1960s and hospital radio! PS: I hope I don't give your researchers any nightmares! Keep up the great bulletins. Kindest regards, Bernard Robinson, Fanatical radio listener from Leicester, UK.

And every time more and more people show up I never know from before. The International Knot Radio Report is sent out to about 3300 people around the world and can be read o­n 8 several internet sites these days. If you have some memories, photos or comments, please sent them in to Dit e-mailadres wordt beveiligd tegen spambots. JavaScript dient ingeschakeld te zijn om het te bekijken.

Before saying goodbye I just want to add a few names to our list of female presenters in the offshore radio field. Vincent did mention to me that Thea Pentelman, who worked for Radio 819 and 558 wasn’t mentioned before. Also we had not yet in the list two women who worked for Radio Caroline, which were Stevie Essex and Dianne Lawrence, both in the eighties of last century.

Well maybe another report will be there late August, elsewhere it will be early September. Greetings from Hans Knot.