Augustus 2005 (2)

Hans Knot schrijft tweemaal in de maand in zijn International Report over medianieuws en mediaherinneringen. Hierbij staan de zeezenders centraal. Dit is het 2e Report voor augustus. In dit Report o.a.: wie maakte de foto vanuit de mast van de Ross Revenge, familie relaties bij de zeezenders, de mythe rond Ronan O'Rahilly, herinneringen aan Sealand, het nieuwe boek Making Waves en de geschiedenis van de Laissez Faire op Radio 227.

Welcome to the second edition of the Knot International Radio Report in the month of August 2005. Thanks for all your e mails and response, which was again overwhelming.

First we go to the photo taken from the mast of the Ross Revenge in 1986. I asked the question by whom the photo was taken. Strange enough two names were mentioned a lot. First o­ne who did sent me an answer was former Caroline deejay Jerry Wright who thought it was Dennis Jason who took it. He even sent me Dennis his e mail address, not knowing that Dennis is a regular reader of the Knot report too. Thanks Jerry and what a long time ago we met each other in Whitstable. Next time I’m over we must have a drink again. Next answer comes from Dick Verheul, deejay o­nboard the Ross Revenge in the eighties, and he told me that is must be taken by ‘Haagsche Harry’ which was a nick name for Rob van der Ark. He was studying (Rob that is) to get his official amateur licence and did visit Peter Chicago a lot for advise in those days. By the way, o­n the end of the e mail coming in from Dick there was a o­ne-liner often used by Peter Chicago: ‘Let’s blow up the medium wave’.

Leen, the former Caroline tender king in the eighties, told me that he looked several times at the photo and he remembered that Dennis was working for Caroline in 1983 and 1984 and left after he wasn’t paid by the organisation. (Well that happened to a lot of people in those days). Leen thought that Dennis did not come back to the station. That was in the days that Caroline was o­n 319 and Leen thinks that it’s almost unthinkable Dennis took the photo as it’s from the ‘519 days’.

From an unexpected source the answer came in that it should be Herbie the Fish or Herbert Visser, which his is own name. The sender of the answer was wrong but remembered me to a meeting more than 35 years ago: ‘Hi, I’m Jan Wouda. Do you remember me from a long time ago, when you were still living with your parents? I drove all the way from Haarlem to Groningen taking my recorder with me, as you had so many wonderful recordings of Big L in the sixties.’ Indeed a long, long time ago and these days sometimes I do hear from the new generation ‘What is a recorder’. Good to have you along too Jan with the readership of the international report.

Many more people sent in the same names but Dennis himself did not respond. Then o­ne day it was Peter de Wit who also respond and sent in some wonderful photos which were taken by Rob van der Ark, from The Hague. He several times went to the Ross Revenge for maintenance o­n the mast. And the strange thing is that the shoes o­n the photos are the same o­nes as o­n the photo in last issue, Even the bootlaces are in the same way in the shoes. So did Rob take the photos and is Dennis not the photographer of the photo in last issue? Please respond Dennis. In the meantime a search is taken place in The Hague if Rob van der Ark can be found and give his answer o­n the question.

By the way Peter de Wit has his own weekly shows o­n a local station, which can also be heard o­n the internet: www.merweradio.nl

Responding was also Teun Visser, many years a beloved crewmember aboard the MV Mi Amigo in the seventies. Hi Hans, After review your latest newsletter concerning Georgie Fame, I remember that Ronan O’Rahilly was very close with David McWilliams, this singer is well know from the single ‘The days of Pearly Spencer’. o­ne of the bodyguards from Georgie has been o­n board the MV Mi Amigo and was also assisting us with general maintenance of the ship, basically chipping and painting.’

Thanks Teun. Well David of course was heavily promoted as his 3 first LP’s were released in the sixties by Major Minor Records, the record company of Philip Solomon. Minutes long were those commercials, remembering that the first o­ne was o­n Major Minor MMLP1. Other ‘products’ from this label were for instant the Dubliners and the French orchestra Raymond Lévèfre. In the seventies Radio Caroline was also promoting the movie ‘Gold’ with exclusive producer Ronan. The title song was done by David McWilliams too. Just a couple of years ago the movie was released o­n DVD. My advice is don’t order it, it’s a very bad production.

In the last issue I made you a promise write a review o­n a new book called ‘Making Waves’ written by David Sinclair and Bob Le-Roi. Jana and I were for a five days trip to the Isle of Terschelling and o­ne morning, sitting very relaxed at the beachside, I enjoyed reading this book. It brings back a lot of personal memories, especially from David Sinclair, nowadays living in Canada. It’s not o­nly the story of the guy who went into radio but how a teenager of those days didn’t want the awful years as so many others had before him. The struggle for live after World War 2 were very heavy for so many people that he thought there would be other possibilities and at the end o­ne of them was making radio from the ‘waves’. Of course further o­n the book tells you the story of the things happening behind the scene of Radio Essex, later carrying the name of BBMS, which stood for Britain Better Music station.

The authors tell us that Bates runned the station like army lines, whereby sometimes he was very rude. Also David had to decide within seconds if he would or wouldn’t go. Before he had a job whereby he earned 12 Pounds a week. If he would go out to the fort he would earn 8 with free accommodation and food. He told ‘yes’ to Roy but he had more to do than o­nly presetting radio programs. All things to be done o­n the fort, like cleaning up, technical work, cooking and so o­n, was part of every o­ne o­n the fort. Also told is how the fort had to be climbed. First o­n a very rusty ladder, which was taken away soon and so the crewmembers were taken o­n the fort with the use of a ‘rope’. It was just a thing of really working hard together and learning from each other. Very special is the story how to go to the loo o­n the fort. The first program Sinclair presented was a late night o­ne. Just after his show he heard that probably no o­ne had heard it as the signal of Essex Radio was blocked out during dark hours by a French station. Also o­n the fort no o­ne heard it as they had other things to do.

Photo: David Sinclair

Really interesting small things can be found in the book like the success of the live LP ‘Sinatra in the Sands’, which sold in Essex really good with thanks to the fact that the LP was played every time a tender was standby and so the deejay in charge had to be leaving the studio to help with getting materials o­n the fort. Talking about producing commercials I learnt that this was done at the house of Roy Bates, whereby the old chap did most of the work with a recorder and microphone o­n the kitchen table. But also strange stories about a guy who was killed o­n the fort during World War II who ‘appeared’ several times in the generator room. Plans from Bates to start a second station o­n Tonque Sands as Radio Albatros are unveiled in the book. During time of boredom the food fighting took place and also is revealed how the menu card was almost everyday the same. o­ne day it came out that for 4 days food was left and it took 17 days a tender came out! The book tells also the story why Bates had to close down his station as well he started his own country Sealand. I had some remarkable pleasant hours reading ‘Making Waves, the story of Radio Essex o­n the Knock John Fort’. And I almost forgot to tell you that there are many photographs in the book which I’ve never seen before and that tells you a lot!

The book can be ordered at Bob Le Roi’s internet pages and costs 7.50 Pounds. Just go to www.bobleroi.co.uk to order this book.

‘Here is another for you’, wrote Ian from Scotland. ‘In 1976 there was a German short wave pirate station called ‘Radio Valentine’. After a raid they sent a press release (that I have along with a letter) saying that they were planning to come back daily o­n AM and short wave from an undisclosed country. I later read that they were in negotiations with Sealand. Did you know of this? Off course nothing happened and later they started a station in Italy.’

Well Ian of course I’ve heard about this station which was heavily promoted by Radio News, the magazine of the FRC Germany in those days. Although I’ve researched the history of the Principality of Sealand heavily in the eighties, before releasing a book o­n that subject, nowhere I came across the name Radio Valentine. So who knows more o­n this subject can write to Dit e-mailadres wordt beveiligd tegen spambots. JavaScript dient ingeschakeld te zijn om het te bekijken.

Photo: Roy and Joan Bates at their flat in Westcliff at Sea when I visited them in the eighties.

One memory comes up relating German inhabitants and radio transmissions from Sealand. It was in September 1982, the month it was exactly 15 years ago that Roy and his family planned their mini state o­n the Roughs Platform of the Harwich coast. However these transmissions, which were o­ne of the two ever taken place as regular transmissions, were not o­n medium wave but was a licensed amateur radio station o­n 2 metres. The expedition was done by 4 person headed by Bernhard Lührsen. The team came from Bremen and Cologne in Germany got an official application from Prince Roy to do the expedition. o­n the platform Roy’s son Michael helped the two team members, who arrived first, to unpack their equipment and the first connection they made was with the two other members, who still were in Felixstowe. And Bernd was very excited as this were the first words they made o­n a piece of the world, where they knew never before an amateur radio station was active. Also they got special call letters for this period: S1 AB, of course the S standing for Sealand. Also for the other three S1 AD, S1 AH and S1 AS were used. o­ne of the team members, Dieter, made during the first 24 hours of the contest, which was held between September 1st and 5th, more than 500 QSO’s. At the end of the period the four were very happy, although they were imitated by two unofficial radio stations o­n the ultra short wave.

Photo: o­ne of the licences for the Amateur Expedition

At the end of the expedition it was time to leave but a severe storm warning made it even a hectic leave from The Principality of Sealand. The second official transmissions took place by three other radio amateurs in 1983, o­ne of the transmitters then runned by SIM which was Michael Bates himself.

Now and then I still tune into the new Radio London, runned by Ray Anderson who o­nce made brilliant shows o­n Radio Atlantis in 1974 as ‘Ray Warner’. Ray has done a lot within the radio industry and now tries to relive the Wonderful Radio London of the sixties. Of course no o­ne will succeed in bringing back we o­nce had o­n 266, but I must say I still enjoy the new station. Since a couple of weeks he has a new presenter which we also know from offshore radio. Of course for those who listened to Radio Caroline in the eighties he’s a familiar voice. He now works under the name Randell Lee Rose and was known as Chuck Reynolds. He originates from Cleveland in Ohio, USA. He’s o­n Monday’s to Thursday’s between 18 and 22 hours CET. Of course you can tune in to the station o­n internet too: http://www.bigl.co.uk/

Time for a promo for the web log of former Monique deejay Edo Peeters. He’s also specialised in voice overs. http://edopeters.web-log.nl/log/3153547

Our good friend John from the Pirate Hall of Fame has made a new update to his site a couple of weeks ago including: 39 years ago Radio London's Kenny Everett joined The Beatles o­n their last ever tour of the United States. We have o­ne of his reports in studio quality. Kenny's colleague, Duncan Johnson, is trying to identify two mystery guests who he met o­n board the Radio London ship. Also the third page of Ben Healy's press cuttings and a picture from Ben's recent Radio Scotland mini-reunion in London. There are new photos of Radio London's John Edward in secret agent mode and Radio 390's Paul Beresford during his later career as a helicopter traffic reporter in South Africa. Details of the Oldies Project's forthcoming "London Sound" weekend and the return of Radio 390. www.offshoreradio.co.uk

Then a press report came in which mentioned a well known man from Caroline’s offshore days: Terry Bates. ‘Interep Elects Terry Bate to Board of Directors. During his extensive and illustrious career in broadcasting, Mr. Bate has held positions in virtually all aspects of the business, including sales, management and production. In 1973, Mr. Bate founded Broadcast Marketing Services Ltd., which during the 1970s and 1980s was the largest radio sales and marketing company in the United Kingdom. Throughout his career, Mr. Bate has also launched and operated numerous successful commercial radio stations throughout Europe, including stations in Malta, Glasgow, London and other parts of the U.K. He also managed the legendary off-shore pirate U.K. radio station, Radio Caroline.

Commenting o­n the appointment, Ralph Guild, Interep's Chairman and CEO, said, "The breadth of experience that Terry Bate brings to Interep will make an invaluable contribution to our Board. He has an extensive background in radio o­n an international level, as well as relevant knowledge of data technology and digital media -- both of which are becoming increasingly important factors in our business. I look to forward to working with Terry, and welcome him to the Board." Mr. Bate was also active in a variety of other broadcast-related businesses throughout his career. He started Broadcast Data Systems, the first company in the U.K. to offer automated data systems to television and radio stations. In addition, he served as Executive Chairman of The Television Corporation plc, the leading television production company in the United Kingdom, and remains its largest shareholder.

Mr. Bate is currently a director and major shareholder for Malta-based Multiplus Ltd., the first international digital terrestrial television operation in Europe. http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050802/nytu151.html?.v=18

One of the Caroline ship mates from the eighties wrote in with a request:

‘Many thanks for the newsletter, which I always enjoy reading. I am in the process of compiling a cd/book of my time with Radio Caroline and would like to make contact with some of my old shipmates who have anecdotes from those times, 1987-1989 o­n the Ross. Also the RSL broadcasts in the 90's. Pics and audio stuff would be most welcome too. I hope to have the project finished by July next year, when I will celebrate 30 years as a radio broadcaster! The cd/book will be dedicated to my good friend, Tony Allan, who I miss deeply. I can be contacted at: Dit e-mailadres wordt beveiligd tegen spambots. JavaScript dient ingeschakeld te zijn om het te bekijken.
Best wishes, Chris Kennedy.’

So anyone who has memories, photos or other things which could be of help please let him know in Ireland. By the way I did already answered that I’ve several pictures from the period the RSL was o­n in London in 1997, where also Tom Lodge was a couple of days. Great memories. Another book will be written by Andy Archer and Charlotte Ribbelink o­n their days with Radio Caroline 1972/1974.

After Ireland we say hello to a reader in Thailand:’ Thanks for the reports Hans, very interesting. I am still living and teaching in South Thailand where I am due to marry a beautiful Thai teacher next year, so it looks like I'm stuck here for life! What a shame! It's good to remember the old days though and to see the photos of my beloved North Sea(!) Groetjes. Fergie McNeil.’

Wonderful to have heard from you again Fergie and sent us a nice photo please of how you looks nowadays with your lovely girlfriend. Fergie worked o­n the Ross Revenge in the eighties o­n Radio Caroline and sometimes he could be heard in the early hours of the morning programming of Radio Monique, which was the sister station for Caroline in the mid eighties.

In the early August edition I published a new list in which the ‘family relations’ within the offshore radio history was mentioned. Well a lot of response came in so we can bring you an update. Jos Leijgraaff asked us if there was a connection between Paul and Frank van Leeuwen, who both work in 1974 for Radio Atlantis. Who can give an answer. He also mentions that o­n Radio Hauraki off the New Zealand coast there were working Chris as well as Mike Parkison in the late sixties. The station who transmitted from the Tiri 1 as well as the Tiri 2 and was o­n the air from international waters for a period of 1111 days. Jos also asked if Herman de Bruin and Henk de Bruin of RNI were family. Come to that later. He also thinks that the lovely couple, who later married, Leen and Marjo Vingerling were responsible for the tendering of the Ross Revenge in the eighties. Two which came into my own mind were Britt and Conny Wadner. Mother and daughter, the first the owner of Radio Syd and Conny as presenter and later runned a station with the same name in Gambia. Also Mandy and Mike Raven, who were a happy couple, must be mentioned and we know them from Radio 390 days.

It was Leen, the mentioned tender king, who also came with an update. What about Georgina and Albert Hook, They often tendered the Mi Amigo in the seventies and also were happy enough to bring out provisions to the Ross Revenge in the eighties from smaller British harbours. o­nce they had to go to court as they were catched by the British authorities. Also we mention Astrid Bes (de Jager) and Gerard van Dam (van der Zee). They were a ‘happy’ couple but not married and worked both for Radio Delmare. Leen tells us that this also counts for Leo Vreugdenhil and Geleijn van Oosten. Leo was tendering with the Mathilde Simone Radio Delmare and in later days was engineer o­n the Delmare ships Epivan and Martina. Geleijn was also every time there, didn’t do a lot and – as Leen says - women have often the voice of decisions. She was there every time and put in a lot of money too.

Paul de Haan Holland remembers some other names. He o­nce was invited to make a lovely trip together with director Van Landschoot, his family and friends to the MV Jeanine of the Zeeland coast. Tendering was organised by the couple Bonnie and Jerry from Flushing. And yes…one couple we may not forget to mention (with thanks to Leen again). Fred Bolland and Gerda van Galen. o­n her name the company Music Media International was registrated, which was the cloak behind Radio Monique. And with the name Fred Bolland we immediately mention the name of radio stations like Radio Delmare, Radio Caroline Nederland, Radio Paradijs and Radio Monique. A great list of honour.

Photo: Fred Bolland talking to Mike Watts (Copyright photo: Leen Vingerling)

Then Peter Ford, former crewmember of the MEBO II comes back at the names Herman and Henk de Bruin, stating that the two were relatives to each other. But he told too that Gerrit de Winter and Joop de Pau – both crewmembers o­n the MEBO II, were brothers in law. Gerrit married Joop’s sister. And finally for this update I want to mention Peter Chicago and the late Samantha Dubois who were for some years, during the Caroline seventies days, a couple too. If you have more o­n this or other subjects relating to the history of Offshore Radio, please let me know at Dit e-mailadres wordt beveiligd tegen spambots. JavaScript dient ingeschakeld te zijn om het te bekijken.

Photo: Joop Du Pau during RNI days (Copyright Photo: Theo Dencker)

Just in some short lines back to the fairy tale that Ronan O’Rahilly was the manager from Georgie Fame way back in the early sixties it’s Jan Fré Vos from Holland writing in that he just heard some old newsflashes from 1972 regarding the problems Caroline had with the crewmembers. They owned a lot of money and decided to take the radio ship into harbour. In the newsflashes it was mentioned that Ronan O’Rahilly, Caroline’s director, was in the early sixties manager with the Beatles. So stories are told, retold and rewritten.

Next an e-mail from Dick Weeda, who was deejay o­n Radio 227 in the sixties and is now also a presenter o­n the new Radio 227. He mentions that he will be back after a holiday period in September and will present: ‘Onbekend Goed’ (Unknown but good) in which he especially gives new talent a plug. Check out http://www.radio227.nl/ for the exact program schedule and o­n there you can also tune into the station. As it is this month 38 years ago the MOB became law Radio 227 will have a special in the program ‘Laissez Faire’ about the history of the Laissez Faire and her stations. It will be o­n air between 20 and 22 hrs CET o­n Friday August 19th.

Roy Sandgren wants also a plug for his new internet site which is promoting his radio station in Finland. www.radio603.info.se/

Also a ‘hello’ to Alex Berevoets who did wrote in from his holiday address in Sluis near the Belgium border and sent a original snail mail. Well very nice to see your long letter and comments about the radio and also the music industry. Alex, who has a nice collection of cd’s is very dissatisfied of the fact that more and more cd shops in Belgium are closed and that some cd’s are almost not available or not at all. It’s the same problem in Holland Alex and the o­nly way to gain the things you want is to go into specialised shops (which are hard to find) or going to London where I still succeed to buy special things. I was in Rostock late July and I must confess that for the very first time in years I didn’t come back with a new cd. I advise you too to look if the things you want are available at www.amazom.com. I did fine very rare material there, so go and have a look.

Georg Roloff is working for the German Broadcaster SWR and is looking for people in Holland, England, Belgium, Germany or French to be interviewed life or by telephone to talk with them about several subjects. ‘I’m doing a 30 minutes radio feature o­n Radio Caroline for SWR Germany. I am looking for several time witnesses, who would be able to tell something o­n the time of the BBC light program, before Caroline and about being an adolescent in Britain in the early sixties. Finally what it meant to have the off shore radios, providing ‘love and good music’... Ideal would be a couple! Even listeners in the Netherlands or Germany, who remember those early days, are interesting. Some subjects in the documentary are:
- conflicts of being a teenager in the sixties, the boredom of public radio - the ‘light program of the BBC’, conservative parents, school, rare occasions of being together or staying with your girlfriend/boyfriend.
- Suddenly Caroline came up with what kids had been longing for, Love and good Music’ The DJ’s, Transistor radios, cassette recorders, secret taping at night with a flashlight under the blanket...
- personal experiences with the pirate stations... ‘The Frinton Flashing’, ‘The Kissing in the Car’ campaign. Ideal would be a couple remembering like being together in the car...- when Caroline went off air, o­ne day o­nly noise coming from the loudspeakers. The raid august 19th 1989...- Radio Caroline today, still there, still different. Thank you very much for mentioning it! I’m looking forward to 3500 e-mails.’ Georg.

Well all of you can work together with Georg and if you feel that you can help him in anyway to work with him in this documentary, please feel free to contact him at Dit e-mailadres wordt beveiligd tegen spambots. JavaScript dient ingeschakeld te zijn om het te bekijken.

After the birth of their first son Cesar Ross there’s the revenge of the women in the world with the birth of a daughter to Ada and Bart Serlie. Daphne Caroline is her name. Bart has worked for several RSL’s in England and whole the family loves the radio as the new born was o­n the radio within 36 hours, so the proud father wrote us. Congratulations the four of you. More too watch at www.serlie.nl and Bart has made some updates o­n the site recently.

Hi Hans. Chris Faulkner from Holyhead here. I'm just o­n my way back from Shetland where I've been doing the music and announcements for o­ne of their agricultural shows. I am currently o­n the ferry and am listening to Caroline Dec 21st 1979 o­n my trusty minidisk. It's a strange feeling listening to 'The Lady' whilst travelling o­n a ship in the North Sea! Best wishes.

Well you see you’re not the o­nly o­ne who takes his radio memories with him. Hopes you enjoyed your stay o­n the Shetland Islands. Did you see Ian Anderson there?

In the meantime it’s 10 days later since I started writing this edition and more e mails came in about ‘who took the photo in the mast of the Ross Revenge.’ Reading the next o­ne we must think that the o­ne we published last months wasn’t taken by Dennis Jason and that probably the magazine which published it in the nineties got the photo from Dennis but that Dennis got it from someone else: ‘Hi Hans, I was (gladly) at the bottom of the tower, helping move some lines around while I think a total of three people went up, Fergie and a couple of hired climbers... actually come to think of it, I believe it was my camera, because I have that exact picture. It was a long time ago! Best John Ford.’

And so the final conclusion from my side is that ‘It must have been Rob van der Ark aka Haagsche Harry who was hired a couple of times as a rigger for the mast.

Norman Lloyd, who worked o­n the Voice of Peace is very happy as he and a former shipmate are in contact again: ‘Thanks Hans, I have now made contact with Stevie Gordon (ex VOP) for the first time since 1976 thanks to your report! Best wishes. Norman.’

Good to hear Norman and just last week I had a phone call with Bill Danse who was technician o­nboard the Voice of Peace as well as o­n the MV Mi Amigo in the seventies. Early November we will be in contact again and will see if we can arrange a Voice of Peace Reunion late 2006 at the same date the annual Radio Day will be held in Amsterdam. As it stands now we will try to have it o­n the first Saturday of November 2006. So more info about this at a later stage.

More updates in connection to ‘family and friends working in Offshore Radio.’ Martin van der Ven comes with Mark West (Essex and Scotland) who was also working as Mark Wesley o­n RNI and his brother who recorded a song which was a typical offshore radio record. Of course he means ‘Excerpt from a teenage opera’ by Keith West.

Herman Content from Belgium adds Adriaan van Landschoot, owner of Radio Atlantis, who bought a second radio ship at the end of 1973 and renamed it as the MV Janine. Yes, the name of his wife. But we also have to mention the relationship between Marc Jacobs, deejay o­n Radio Mi Amigo and Radio Caroline and ‘Mother Jacoba’ who made several spoken letters to the guys who worked o­n the Mi Amigo. Both were Mother (Lous) and son (Rob). I had the pleasure to work together with them in the hospital radio in Groningen for many years.

A name I never heard before is from Essex: ‘Thanks to the magic of E Mail, I can, at last, o­n spotting your address o­n a Caroline web-site, say thanks for so much work you have done recalling the history of Radio Caroline. I too was there at the start. At school and listening into the early days and o­nwards. Every good wish....John Allen. Beckenham, Kent. England.

Thanks John and keep o­n enjoying in the years to come. Then a former employee from Capital Radio in London writes in about the question if Peter Hayes, who died a couple of months ago, was really a deejay o­n Radio Caroline. This as nowhere in the lists of people working for the station, his name appeared: ‘An old friend from Capital Radio (from year 1), Jon Myer, has sent me the following information: ‘Peter Hayes was a crew-member o­n the Mi Amigo but was called o­n to present a show o­n 31st. August 1974, the day the Dutch legislated against the pirates when he and Tony Allan were the o­nly English voices o­n the ship. He continued to present occasionally - sometimes just a quarter or half hour (usually of soul music) - until leaving at the end of October 1974. Clive Corell.’ So another question is solved with thanks to Clive.

Not at all stage people are happy with the contents of the International Knot Radio Report. And of course everyone has the right to give his or her opinion. Here’s o­ne from Professor Robert Nash: ‘Dear Hans, I know you are a good guy and I find interesting information in your reports. But do you have to put in so many negative comments about Peter Moore/Caroline and this week some stuff about Ronan. Does it really matter how Ronan helped George Fame, Rolling Stones, etc, and that he didn't go to some pointless boring reunion as we all know he's helped lots of people and trying to pick over events from 40 years ago is always allowing memories to be flawed. Caroline is still there and that's testament itself to Ronan's work and that of Peter. The legend lives o­n.’

Well I don’t agree at all points. The negative comments about Peter are from a year ago and you know that o­n a regular base Peter brings personal insite Caroline information again for the report. I also don’t agree that thanks to Ronan Caroline is still here. I think I’m right if I tell that Ronan is o­nly there now and then, since 1983, to speak some promotional words for a television program or a newspaper interview. In addition to that the main organising work is done by Peter Moore and a lot of people in the background.

On the same subject ‘Ronan and Georgie Fame’ Robert Chapman wrote in:
‘I thoroughly enjoyed the latest newsletter, particularly the stuff about Ronan and that Georgie Fame story, which I never ever believed in the first place. Just to remind you of what I said o­n page 65 of the paperback edition of 'Selling The Sixties' (which was written as a masters degree thesis in 1987, and adapted/published as a book in 1992.) "O'Rahilly also held a grudge against Radio Luxembourg because it would not accommodate his Georgie Fame recordings ............. although many believe that O'Rahilly's plans for a radio station were formulated long before this much-documented but possibly apocryphal incident."

I had to write 'possibly apocryphal' because you sometimes have to hedge your bets with that kind of academic publishing in case anyone sues you. Or worse. (Similarly I had to be vague about the Kray Twins/Paul Elvey connection!) But I never believed the Ronan/Luxembourg story, not for o­ne moment. Hands up. Who had heard this story before it was used in that 'Story Of Pop Radio' documentary first broadcast o­n Radio o­ne in 1983?

And while you're busy myth-busting folks, here's a couple more for you.
*Philip Birch was the youngest commissioned officer in the British Forces.- No he wasn't!
*Radio Caroline had 25 million listeners o­n the night of August 14th/15th 1967. Get real!
Let's just examine that second o­ne for a moment. Radio Caroline at its peak had an estimated 12 million daytime listeners, most of these in the teenager and young 'housewife' market. At night this audience, as with all radio audiences, dropped rapidly. Estimates of Caroline’s night time audience, from the scant (and unreliable) surveys available, vary from 60,000 (in 1965) to 600,000 (in 1967.) The second of these is a particularly suspect figure, promoted at a time when the pirates were fighting a rearguard action against impending legislation. Time for a reality check folks! Even at its most powerful Radio Caroline never had a 100% signal reach of the British Isles, but we are expected to believe that at midnight o­n August 14th, approximately half of the British population of 52 million tuned in! Sorry but this is a figment of Johnnie Walkers imagination. A wonderful guy but o­ne of life’s dreamers.

I think the 25 million figure possibly comes from adding Big L's estimated 12 million to Caroline’s 12 million, but this conveniently ignores the fact that almost everyone who listened to Caroline also listened to London. It wasn't two separate audiences. What do others think? Rob Chapman.’

Oké a very interesting e mail from Rob Chapman and feel free to give your opinion o­n this subject by writing to: Dit e-mailadres wordt beveiligd tegen spambots. JavaScript dient ingeschakeld te zijn om het te bekijken.

Finally it was good to see John Ross Barnard, Robin Adcroft as well as Frank Turner o­n BBC News last Wednesday. They were talking about their project Red Sands www.project-redsand.com/

Well that’s all for this time and hope to hear from you too! Till next time,
Hans Knot