November 2005
Dit is het International Report van Hans Knot voor november met onder andere: de zoektocht naar het eerste lid van de Caroline Club en de opmerkelijke uitkomst, de zoektocht naar RNI DJ Roger Kent, Andy Archer over Ronan O'Rahilly en Abe Nathan, herinneringen aan Veronica's Beatle Dag, op zoek naar Jenny McKenzie (kok aan boord van de Ross) en unieke Radio 390 merchandise gaat naar de hoogste bieder.Welcome to the early November edition of the Knot International Radio Report and thank you for all your e mails and memories as well as wishes.
In our last issue we had an e mail from a departing Caroline deejay as well as an answer on it by Caroline’s station manager Peter Moore. The main reason was Peter Moore’s decision to ban further music from a singer songwriter Nick Barnes from the station. one of the radio sites, Earth Radio UK, which people claim ‘a lot of visitors’ have dropped on October the official link with the Caroline organisation on their site. They also stated that ‘from now on they will remove all links on the Earthradio site supporting the station, this in support to Nick Barnes who deserves to be support.’ I wonder if this is not a too overreaction. Those Joe and friends at Earth Radio have to think about deleting almost every link as if you write just one word on the subject Caroline you have to delete the link immediately. Never forget that publicity, either very positive or negative is always positive for the people on which has been written, unless it has to do something with breaching the law.
From Scotland it was Graeme who sent in an internet address with the advice to have a look on the way to the massive BBC Archive: http://www.bbcgovernors.co.uk/haveyoursay/radioarchive.html
ADVERTISEMENT
Now Available for the First Time on a CD - 40 Pirate Radio Magazines from the Seventies
The CD features digital scans of almost a complete set of the magazines published between February 1974 and January 1978 including:
• Total of 1,548 pages
• 13 editions of Script Magazine (5,7,8,9, 11 to 19)
• 20 editions of Radio Guide (20-31,33,34,37 to 39, 42 to 44)
• 17 editions of Wavelength (1-11,13 to 18)
Also on this CD the ‘London Transmitter of Independent Radio’ Newsletter (1974) and copies of the mail order catalogues of the seventies of Music Radio Promotions.
The digital scans have been saved into a searchable Adobe Reader file. Windows XP and Adobe 5.0+ are need ed to do full searches.
This CD contains an Adobe Acrobat PDF file that can be read with Adobe Reader 5.0 and above. If you do not have a copy of Adobe Reader you can download it free from www.adobe.com
The digital images on this CD have been scanned from the original “office” copies of Script, Radio Guide and Wavelength. The quality of the images varies partly because the originals were printed over 30 years ago. The early editions of Script were printed using low cost Instant Print shops, whilst later editions were printed on colour newsprint that does not scan well. Occasionally you will see handwritten comments on the pages indicating that an advertiser had been invoiced or a contributor had been paid!
Except for the very early editions, most pages are searchable using either the “Find” or “Search” option in Adobe. For example searching on “Caroline” will bring up links to the pages that contain the word “Caroline”. If you open up the tab for “Pages” you can go direct to any particular edition of the magazines.
The Radio Magazines costs just £5.00 plus postage and packaging (£2.00 UK, £3.00 World) and can be obtained from the following website:
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Pirate-Radio-Nostalgia
Some background information about the publications, which were of course also part of the Offshore History:
Script Magazine started as a newsletter of the ‘London Region Free Radio Campaign’ and was produced by art student, Nik Oakley. The first issue was photocopied and was primarily about land based pirate radio stations operating in North London. Script No. 2 was published October 1972 as a 16 page magazine printed by an Instant Printer in London. In February 1973, Script No. 5 was the last issue to be published by the ‘London Region Free Radio Campaign’, as Nik Oakley left the organisation, and Mike Baron, a popular deejay from South London’s Radio Free Caroline and Radio Jackie, joined the magazine.
By Script No 7, published in April 1973, Script Publications (a partnership of Nik Oakley and Mike Baron) had become a small business operating out of a flat near Hampstead Common in London, the magazine started selling a number of free radio publications by mail order. Radio was changing in the UK. In October 1973, the first two independent local radio stations, Capital Radio and LBC, started broadcasting in London. The magazine, originally published once every two months, became a monthly publication.
For Script No. 11, August 1974, the print run was increased to 5,000 and a magazine distributor called Moore Harness handled London newsagents. Unfortunately the main retailers W H Smiths and John Menzies could not be persuaded to stock the publication as they were concerned they might be prosecuted for advertising pirate radio stations! Printing of the magazine was moved from a small printer in Portsmouth that was unable to handle the increased print run to the Tamworth Herald in Staffordshire. An advertising agent, James of Fleet Street, took on responsibility for selling advertising space. In September 1974, Script Publications moved to new office premises and a small warehouse, in Kings Langley in Hertfordshire. Script Magazine started carrying news about the rapidly expanding network of independent local radio station as well as the offshore radio stations. Issues No. 20 and 21 were published as “Script – The Radio Guide”.
The print run for each issue was now up to 10,000. Radio had changed considerably by now with some 12 local commercial radio stations on air, and BBC local radio now available on both AM and FM. In the North Sea things had gone quiet! Radio Guide continued to expand publishing regional editions with local radio programme details. Issue No. 22 published in July 1975 had regional editions for London, Birmingham, Swansea, Tyneside, Plymouth, Sheffield and Edinburgh. In January 1975, Radio Guide increased its cover price to 25 pence and the monthly print run was now at 75,000. A total of ten local radio stations were promoting Radio Guide as their official programme journal. This prompted a company called Independent Television Publications Limited, publishers of the weekly TV Times to show an interest. In 1975 there were just two television programme journals, TV Times and Radio Times. Although Radio Guide was successfully increasing sales every month and selling more and more advertising, the cash flow consequences were difficult to manage. When Independent Television Publications Limited offered to buy the business, the directors agreed. After four months of negations, ITP Ltd took over publication. Mike Baron and Nik Oakley became employees of TV Times. What had started three years earlier as a photocopied typewritten newsletter had evolved into a glossy colour magazine, owned by the UK’s highest circulation weekly magazine!Mike Baron resigned from the business when he could not agree with certain editorial decisions made by the editor of TV Times. In November 1976 the production of the magazine was taken in-house. However it only continued as a monthly magazine for a few more issues. The last edition was published in June 1977. Radio Guide then became a page of TV Times until it disappeared a few months later. The second publications Wavelength first appeared in October 1975 as a new magazine for pirate radio enthusiasts. From issue number 9 in February 1977, Wavelength became a monthly magazine. The print run for the mail order only publication was now 5,000. Number 14 was a special Offshore Radio edition timed to coincide with the Flashback 67 Offshore Radio Convention organised by Music Radio Promotions in August 1977. Over 700 radio fans attended the event at a hotel near London’s Heathrow Airport. From issue 17 Wavelength reverted to an A4 format, in November 1977. However during the autumn of 1977, the publishers Nik Oakley and Mike Baron were served a total of 24 summonses under the Marine etc Broadcasting Offences Act. It was alleged that they had published advertisements, in Radio Guide and Wavelength magazines, calculated to promote the interests of Radio Caroline. The actual advertisements were for T-Shirts that stated “Radio Caroline 259” that had appeared in the classified section of the magazine. The summons had been issued following a two year investigation by the Serious Crimes Squad at Scotland Yard. Both Nik Oakley and Mike Baron were found guilty on January 6th at Marlborough Street Magistrates Court. The fine of £16,000 and legal costs of £21,000 effectively ended Wavelength Magazine. Issue number 18 had already gone to press at the time of the court case, so the result was never published. It was to be the last edition ever published. Script Publications was unable to pay the fines. Later court bailiffs called at the offices and seized the mail order stocks of Music Radio Promotions. The company’s bank accounts were frozen following an application from the Home Office who claimed money was being raised through the magazine to finance Radio Caroline. The radio magazines had their roots in the free radio movement and supported the concept of freedom of the press and free expression. However it was the might of an authoritarian administration that brought about the collapse of these popular publications. (with thanks to Mike Baron).
This report is not only to bring you the news, sharing the memories we all have but also to give the reader the opportunity to give his or her view on a certain subject. In came a view from Alan Cook in Kent: ‘hi Hans thank you for your October report, which I have read with interest and dismay. I have been a listener and supporter of Radio Caroline since Easter Sunday 1964. Free radio, jingles, good music and excellent deejays in those days. All have made history including the pioneer Ronan. Now it’s no longer free under the management of Peter Moore. Although Peter has done excellent work in keeping and restoring the Ross Revenge so people can view and board it that is our heritage. but if Peter insists on heavy rock airing, and the likes of Twiggy Day off air, with his humour and excellent presentation, jingles, oldies, that’s fine by me. I have an on-off switch, and Radio Mi Amigo 192 will remain the number 1 station of the nation. Best wishes from Alan Cook in Tonbridge. Kent. UK.
I asked Peter Moore for a comment on this: ‘I read the opinions that you sent but do not quite understand them. Radio Caroline remains free for those who want to listen but do not want to contribute, we don't mind that. Obviously to listen to any radio signal you need a means of receiving it. However if you have broadband and a permanent Internet connection you can listen to Caroline free from that source. If you have Sky equipment you can listen free in that way.
There is a charge for Worldspace of course if you choose to use that service, but Worldspace are still giving away free radio sets to people who will subscribe.
Concerning Roger Day, he is welcome on Caroline any time he chooses, but right now he has paid work and obviously nobody expects him to be so dedicated to Caroline that he turns down a wage and works for us for nothing instead.’
Next an e mail from Peter Tîmmermans from Holland: ‘There is something I do want to say about Radio Caroline and Nick Barnes. In the last report there was some news from Peter Moore about an internal affair at Caroline. The music of Nick Barnes would not be good enough for playing on Caroline. I know that there are a lot of Caroline listeners who just think the opposite. To my opinion Caroline did well by promoting music from artists that otherwise wouldn’t be played somewhere else. The music of Nick Barnes might not be on the level of Bob Dylan or Bruce Springsteen, but his music would certainly brighten up the top 40. And to me definitely was Caroline music. When it comes to lyrics, his subjects are real life and close to everyone. And a lot better for instant than those on the latest Ringo Star album. Although I think Peter Moore wouldn’t mind if Ringo Star came by every week. Although I am not very pleased with what has happened and with the loss of a good presenter as result, I still listen to Caroline. It is an outstanding radio station. Hope Peter will live more by the LA ideals in the future. He still has some credits as he managed to keep Radio Caroline close at the original musical philosophies of the seventies. Peter Timmerman.’
Also on this e mail the final word for ‘the case Nick Barnes’ to Peter Moore: ‘I'm not a ' heavy rocker ' quite the opposite. I don't mind a blast from Motorhead now and again, but I lean towards more gentle music like Cat Stevens and Jackson Browne. I asked the presenters recently why we do not hear much of Stevie Wonder on Radio Caroline. The subject of music leads me again to Nick Barnes. Here I have to say that a manager has to manage. I was not wishing to ban Nick from Radio Caroline forever and absolutely. What I directed was that his music should be used less often. Of course I would be pleased if Ringo Starr would come to Caroline each week. That would be a good publicity coup for us. But sadly, nobody has ever heard of Nick Barnes. However I did mail Nick to say that I did not target him alone. I also stated that I thought that Paul McCartney’s latest single was rubbish as well.
As for Loving Awareness, well, it is a fine concept. I could say though that it never put a gallon of fuel in our tanks or a penny in our bank. Conversely in the last twenty years I have met many people who had no reason to help Caroline, but did so anyway. Captain White of Dover Harbour was one. He knew that we were broke and so agreed a very small salvage fee for the ship. Later he let us leave harbour owing a lot of money and trusted us to pay later, which we did.
A.W. Marine, who tow us around, offer lots of extra help that they do not charge for. At Tilbury an executive there, Marion Wollaston, did all sorts of things to assist us. Also there is our friend David from A.C. Lighting. So for L.A you can also use the term 'Goodwill'. People who show goodwill to Caroline get treated very well and respectfully by me. You could say then that some people generate L.A and some do not. Peter Moore.’
With Christmas 1973 there was a special Christmas song with Brian Anderson and Norman Barrington. In this song all kind of crewmembers and staff are mentioned and in the song it’s Andy Archer who gets another nickname for our series, which is Miss Archer. Also I found out that deejays on Radio City had a nick name for boss Reginald Calvert which was ‘Uncle Reg’. In 1987 Richard Staines was on board the Ross Revenge, working for Caroline. He got the nick name ‘Tricky Dickie’. Searching through some old magazines I read that during a night program it was told that there was a visit in the Caroline studio from ‘Ronald van der Mastermind’. Wonder who this could be. Any of the Monique of 558/819 people remember this?
In our last issue we came back to some questions from long time ago including where Roger Kent, former RNI deejay in 1974, is nowadays. It can be partly answered by Peter Ford, former shipmate on the MEBO II, RNI’s transmitting vessel who answers: ‘I must have missed your the question before. I can give you some information on Roger Kent. After the close down of RNI Roger Kent and Don Allen stayed at my house for a few weeks. Against common sense they hoped that the MEBO II would sail out to sea soon after it entered Rotterdam harbour(Slikkerveer). After a few weeks they realized that the MEBO II would not sail on a short notice and they went home, Roger to England en Don the Isle of Man, where he lived at the time. I have been in touch with both of them, Don until his sudden death years ago and Roger up to the end of last year. Then he told me he was moving house and that he would get in touch with me once he had settled but I haven’t heard from him since. But I do know this; he has been doing disco’s in and around London for many years together with Brian McKenzie. Roger Kent still does disco’s but Brian has moved to, I believe, Spain. Roger is doing very well. I have many studio tapes of Roger. Regards; Peter Ford.’
Thanks Peter, who can fill the gap between last year and nowadays? Answers please as always to Dit e-mailadres wordt beveiligd tegen spambots. JavaScript dient ingeschakeld te zijn om het te bekijken.
Mail from Jon in England who wrote to me: ‘Thanks for the latest report. I was interested to read your comment that the very first advertiser on Radio Caroline way back in 1964 was ‘The British Egg Marketing Board.’ I was always under the impression that the first advertisement (on 1st May 1964) was for the Duke of Bedford's stately home, Woburn Abbey. Both John Venmore-Rowland's book ‘Radio Caroline’ and ‘Offshore Radio’ by Gerry Bishop quote it as being first. I remember hearing both advertisers on Caroline but, after all this time, can't remember which was first.’
Thanks Jon and I dived into my archive and found out that even a certain Hans Knot wrote the same in his book ’20 Jaar Radio Caroline’ way back in 1984. So I made a mistake mentioning that the Egg Board was the first. In one of the Advertising Bulletins, which were sent to advertising agency, I read that the first Campaign was for the Egg Board. So maybe I felt into this mistake by reading ‘first campaign’ as the first advertisement. But when searching more about this subject in other books my eyes felt on something very special Keith Skues wrote on page 67 of his publication ‘Pop went the pirates’. The following I read before when helping Skues a bit with his publication as well as afterwards when the book was released 11 years ago, but there’s something to tell to it later on. First let’s go to what Skues wrote about the first members of the Caroline Club way back in 1964.
‘A number of times disc jockeys tried to find out who was Caroline Club member number one. Apparently the original three names had been lost from the register as they were overseas members. But thanks to Mrs Olive Burgess, who now lives in Houghton Regis, Bedfordshire, the name and address is now on hand. He was Martin Groenhorst of Boerhavelaan, Schiedam in Holland. In a letter to Caroline in November 1964 Martin wrote: ‘Radio Caroline is the favourite station to me and many other Dutchmen, and that’s why I’m member number one of the Caroline Club. The reception is very good in a very big part of Holland, and the programmes are for many people more pleasant than those of our national ship ‘Radio Veronica’. I am convinced that it should be a great pleasure for many Dutch people if you would broadcast a bilingual programme for a few hours a week. If you need a Dutch disc jockey it should be a great honour to me, if you would engage me for it. I am twenty years old and studying mathematics at the University of Leiden. Yours faithfully Martin Groenhorst.
Since a couple of years this Martin Groenhorst is also reader of the Knot International Radio Report, but till then his name didn’t say a thing to me. Exchanging some mails with him learned me that he was, for a short period, deejay on Radio City using the name Martin Green. So in the end he became what he wanted to be on Caroline. I’ve sent this item to Martin and let’s see if he responds.
Enclosed is the envelope which was sent in by Dave Clow from 22 Brookline Street Pepperell Mass. USA to Veronica on July 7th 1972. He wrote: ‘Back in April I had the pleasure of hearing your station’s MW signals during a period of late-winter skip conditions. I regret that my report to you of reception is so tardy, but I only have recently completed my education. Would you kindly check the detail of my reception and please send your verification card if correct. Thank you for your time and cooperation. Best ’73. Dave Glow, registrated Shortwave Listener. ‘Then a run down what followed in 29 minutes of listening. He used a Hallcrafters receiver SX-122a. An antenna 200 feet wire facing east/west and the signal strength of Veronica was at that moment good to excellent. The location of reception was 50 miles from the East Coast of USA.
In those days Veronica was transmitting on 192 metres medium wave. RNI was transmitting on the 49 metres Shortwave as well as the FM and AM. In those days a lot of reception reports came in from all around the world. I remember, when I was Final Editor of the Pirate Radio News and we released also the RNI double album in cooperation with the station (way back in May 1973) we got a lot of new members from outside Europe, including South Africa, Gambia, Japan and the USA. So the North Sea Offshore Stations reached far much more than their target. Question: who of the former offshore deejays reading the report do recall such letters to the station. All answers to Dit e-mailadres wordt beveiligd tegen spambots. JavaScript dient ingeschakeld te zijn om het te bekijken.
Just hours after I mailed to Martin Groenhorst about him being the first member of the Caroline Club in 1964 he sent me an answer: ‘Hi Hans, very nice to be remembered to this from anecdote from the 60’s. The story is very known to me and it seems that everything is correct, however I didn’t know till now that I was the very first member for the Caroline Club; but that I was an early one I remembered. The open application for a job on Caroline wasn’t successful but later on I had the privilege to become a Radio City deejay for a while. The less photographs I have from the period are nowhere to find at the moment but several photos of mine can be found at http://www.bobleroi.co.uk/ScrapBook/SutchCityPics5/SutchCityPics5.html
As the first mention of the early membership from Martin Green was published in ‘Pop went the Pirates’ I also sent the first email to Martin Groenhorst in copy to Keith Skues who reflected: ‘Greetings Hans, How lovely to hear from you. Thank you for sending me the 'coincidence' story about Martin Groenhorst. You see if you put your mind to an ambition it may well come to fruition. I was very pleased to learn that Martin became a broadcaster in the 1960s. Is he still in the business? I hope he replies suitably to your write-up. Please give him my very best wishes. A listener in Cambridge sent me extracts from a CD you put together about Radio London. I have been broadcasting various 'bits' over the last few weeks. Sadly it has now finished. Kind regards, Cardboard Shoes.’
Thanks for responding Keith and good to hear you’re still plugging my productions on Offshore Radio on good old Auntie BBC. Sadly I couldn’t tune in the evening we had e mail contact as there were problems to open the Three Counties audio centre by internet. Till another time, all the best. Hans’.
In the meantime a new book ‘That’s entertainment’ has been written by Keith Skues and all info can be found at
http://www.thestage.co.uk/opinion/opstory.php/8759
And just a few days after we exchanged e mails I heard that Keith did talk for 5 minutes in his program on the BBC about the above mentioned Martin Groenhorst story!
During the past years a few so called Caroline RSL’s were held on board the MV Ross Revenge moored at the Southend on Sea Pier. I don’t think however that this will be the case in the future as during the night from Sunday 9th up Monday October 10th a heavy fire. It destroyed a part of the world’s longest pleasure pier. The fire broke out in the main entertainment area at the end of the Pier. It was the fourth fire in 50 years.
Mail from reader Tom Blomberg who has a new idea for our readers: ‘Thanks of course for the last issues of the Knot Radio Report. I’m listening at the moment to American Oldies station WMTR in New Jersey and hear suddenly the well-known slogan from Radio London days in an American hit song from The Duprees from 1963. The words for the jingle are almost completely taken from the song ‘Have you heard’ from the Duprees which had number 18 as highest position. By the way, the version from The Duprees was not the original that belongs to Joni James, who had a success with it way back in 1953. Who has more examples from jingles who are original songs?
Of course there’re also jingles in which the idea is borrowed from other songs. I think the jingle ‘ C A R O L I N E Caroline Caroline Caroline’ is borrowed from ‘V A C A T I O N’ a song from Connie Francis in 1962.’
Thanks Tom and hopefully a lot of people will help us to find more. However I don’t think we must think that the idea was ‘ stolen’ from Connie Francis as there was really a song by Roy Hastings, C A R O L I N E, whereby on board the Radio Caroline ship the iron blade has been used very good in 1964.
One nickname again and that is the one Tony Blackburn got from his colleagues as he had so many one liners who where a bit on the edge. They called him Tony ‘King of the corn’ Blackburn. In the list of female presenters we can mention that co presenting was in the early days of Caroline for a part of the program the French singer Marie Vincent and she did it with Skues on Caroline! Other co presenters were in those days Elsie Hatchett and Jackie. We also have to mention Cilla Black as she did co present together with Keith Skues the program ‘Around the world’ with Christmas 1964 on Radio Caroline. on Veronica there was also a female presenter we missed up till now so we have to add Stella Priest to the list there.
Richard Teversham is looking for a special song and he wrote in: ‘hi Hans, back in 1966 a record was played on Swinging Radio England. I’ve got a recording of the station. I have tried all sorts to get the record by Danny Williams called ‘Since you set me free baby’. Does anyone else remember the record. Or can get hold of the record. Even the BBC have not got it or heard of the record yet. Swinging Radio England, used to play it and I must admit SRE was my favourite station back in 1966 on 227 metres medium wave. Yours, Richard.’
So anyone can help him sent an mp 3 to Dit e-mailadres wordt beveiligd tegen spambots. JavaScript dient ingeschakeld te zijn om het te bekijken. and I will forward it.
An e mail from Mr. Anonymous coming in: ‘Hi why is it you are not saying anything about Radio London not on 1395 kHz anymore. I hear that they will use the old Laser ship soon in Holland and use a 50 kW transmitter.’
I answered Mr A: ‘Hi, why are you not putting your name under an e mail? I get about 150 mails a day, try to answer them and always put my name under it. Also the report is a subscription free report so as editor it's to me to decide whether to write on a certain subject or not. I'm not angry about you but it's more on the fact that the organisation behind Big L isn't answering e mails and so news for them in the report. I don't want to go into rumors for next to all the rumors on the Communicator there are more. So when something is for 100% sure I will mention it. The same counts for news about Music Mann. Lot's of rumors. I know more and I will be invited as soon as official press conference will take place. After that more news will follow in the report.
Who does remember those sponsored programs in the sixties? In those days you sometimes turned the radio to another station but also enjoyed the shows. one of them I heard back which was The Disc Centre Show with Lorne King on Radio London, way back in May 1966. I can’t remember if I had heard this a lot in the Sixties. He played a lot of new records which would be for sale in the special Big L Disc Centers, which windows were plastered with Big L stickers. Mentioning were of: Jordan Music Centre Ltd, Music Land in Brixton, Woodford Music Salon and Travel Agency, Ryan’s Music Shop in Ilford as well as Popular Record Shop in Kentishtown. Who does remember more of those sponsored programs and why?
Hello to two new readers by e mail: Stuart Cocker as well as Graham Brown. Stuart was reading my message about Herman Content asking for a series of programs transmitted by the BBC in the seventies and answered Herman. Stuart, by the way, was internet reader of the report. Herman asked me to thank Stuart in the report, which I did in my last issue. To my and surprise an e mail came in from a Graham Brown, which name I never heard before. Graham had read Stuart’s name and asked me to contact him. For many years ago they had worked together at Radio Lynn (King's Lynn Hospital Radio). It’s a small radio world!
Phillipe Chapot sent from France the internet address where the happening ‘Le Radio’ will be held from February 12th up till the 16th and where all info about the program can be found.
http://www.le-radio.com/upload/ressource/r1127904170.PDF
Saturday October 8th I took a visit together with some radio friends to the harbour of Harlingen, where a former lightship will be rebuilt into a multi functional place, where also a radio station will be having her space in the future. It’s called Radio Waddenzee. I wrote an article about the visit and together with photographs taken by Martin van der Ven and Juul Geleick it can be found at www.offshore-radio.de
On October 13 on the age of 88 years former radio presenter Gaston Huysmans died. He started to work for Radio Veronica in 1962 and kept on presenting several programs till the station closed down in 1974. He also could be seen and heard in a lot of other television programs in the seventies and eighties in Holland.
During the past months a few times we came back to the subject ‘the management connection between Ronan O’Rahilly and Georgie Fame’. It’s Andy Archer this time, who brings us a step forward to the truth: ‘I had a long conversation with Georgie Fame today. Ronan O’Rahilly was part of his management team, although not his manager. Ronan suggested to Rik Gunnell that he manage Georgie as he thought that he could be a big name in music business. Rik Gunnell did sign him up as manager, he also asked Ronan to be a consultant to help direct Georgie's career, publicity and trying to get his music played. So now we know!! He also told me lots of other stories which will be in the book! Andy.’
Thanks Andy. He’s writing a very interesting book about his years in the world of offshore radio. We will keep the reader in the future informed about the release of this publication.
Next an email from Faringdon in Oxfordshire: ‘Hi Hans, I read your latest International Radio Report [October 2005 (1)] with much interest, as I do all of your reports, especially as I'm old enough (61) to remember not only the first broadcasts by Radio Caroline in 1964, but indeed programmes from Radio Veronica as early as 1961. In those days I was a 17-year-old sixth former at school in Folkestone, Kent, and I remember a number of us being intrigued by this unusual radio station playing all day 'pop' music at a time when such a thing was unheard of in the UK. We could receive Veronica quite well in east Kent, and I remember being told it broadcast from a ship somewhere in the North Sea. At the time, I don't think any of us thought much more about it - little did we know what was to come!
However, somehow we must have known something was in the offing in March 1964, because we knew where to tune our radios to hear Caroline's first broadcasts at Easter. I can recall jumping up and down with enthusiasm in my room at Hythe in Kent saying 'they've done it, they've done it!' when Caroline came on the air. My father, being knowledgeable about marine matters, didn't think they'd last because of the dangers of their exposed anchorage off a potential lee shore. Whilst the North Sea anchorages gave several radio ships severe problems over the years, how wrong he was!
I quickly became a fanatical offshore radio fan, and remained so through the sixties. The towing away of Caroline in 1968 divested me, so the advent of RNI in 1970 was tremendous. I used to listen to both RNI and Veronica between 1970 and 1974, as well as Caroline when she returned in 1972 - only my work-related travels from 1974 onwards took me away from the offshore scene, otherwise I would have stuck with Caroline throughout the seventies and eighties. My travels did however give me the chance to hear Abe Nathan's Voice of Peace whilst in Cyprus in 1974/75. Nowadays, the internet has brought me back to Caroline as well as to stations such as Mi Amigo from the lively Dutch radio scene which keep the dream of free radio alive. I even do my little bit helping paint the Ross Revenge at Tilbury.
To go back to Radio Veronica - I'm trying to track down one unique historic day in her long life, 29 February 1972. This being the leap day of a leap year, Veronica devoted her entire broadcasting day to The Beatles - 'Veronicas Beatle Dag'. Each hour was introduced by a trailer saying which hour it was, for example 'Dit is het tiende uur' for the tenth hour. I listened to much of the day from my then home near Stansted Airport in Essex, and I did record some of it, but over the years and my travels the tapes have gone missing. I want to know if anybody recalls this event or possesses recordings of it? I am particularly interested in the hour which includes an interview of the Beatles by Steve Race. Here's hoping someone can help. Although I'm not able to write in Dutch, I can read the language, so a reply 'in het Nederlands' will be perfectly acceptable.
The offshore days may have gone, but they'll not be forgotten as long as there are people like yourself who remember what we had then and help keep the memory alive via the internet. Offshore radio will never return, but I believe that we stand at the dawn of a new era of free radio in Europe, with stations like Caroline, Seagull and others continuing to broadcast the message of love, peace and good music via satellite and the internet. They'll never stop us as long as we remember what radio was like then, and what it still can be today as long as we have faith. Keep up the good work! regards, Rod Davis, Faringdon, Oxfordshire. ‘
Veronica’s Beatle Day Ad Bouman and Rob Out Photo: Veronica (Already Decades in the Archive of the Freewave Media Magazine)
Thanks Rod and a wonderful flashback walk through your years with Offshore Radio and surely there will be a respond to your question about the Beatle Day on Veronica far before the Knot International Radio Report is ready for publishing.
Yes, before I forget: many of my international reports, way back to April 2004 and other articles I’ve written about the history of Offshore Radio can be found back on an internet site, which has been very kindly offered by my very good friends since decades, Martin van der Ven. So if you want to look something back please go to www.hansknot.com
During the past weeks I’ve started to write the first chapters for a forthcoming book on the Voice of Peace and Abe Nathan. This will be done in cooperation with people who have worked for Abe in the period 1967 – 1993. Also I’ve a lot of contact with Andy Archer to help him a bit with his forthcoming publication and sometimes we walk some side-paths and so Andy remembered something special about Abe: ‘I always laugh when I think of Nathan. Ronan sent Charlotte to the Hilton in Amsterdam (I think it was the Hilton, could have been another hotel) with some money in 1974. He was in Holland on hunger strike and was trying to raise money and get some publicity for the station so that it could open again. Charlotte was waiting in the sitting room of his hotel suite and she noticed some crumbs on the floor which she thought was strange as he was on a hunger strike. She then opened a drawer and discovered it was full of chocolates and biscuits!’
Thank you Andy and if anyone of the readers have also memories, comments or news to share you always know where to find me: Dit e-mailadres wordt beveiligd tegen spambots. JavaScript dient ingeschakeld te zijn om het te bekijken.
Richard McKay wrote in and asked if I knew what happened to one of the female cooks from the Ross Revenge, which was mentioned a lot in the programs in the mid eighties. To be precisely he wrote about Jenny McKenzie. Who knows the answer? Photo: Jenny McKenzie in the galley
The Chelmsford Amateur Radio Society (CARS) is fortunate to have as one of its members Carl Thomson G3PEM. Carl was the Radio Engineer onboard Radio Caroline in the mid 60's and was responsible for keeping the 199 metres (1520 kHz) transmitter on the air. on Tuesday 3rd January he will be presenting a talk to CARS entitled: ’Life on board Radio Caroline in the 1960's’. This will give his impression of life onboard the Radio Ship and will be illustrated by previously unpublished photographs. The Chelmsford Amateur Radio Society meets on the 1st Tuesday in each month at the Marconi Social Club, Beehive Lane, Great Baddow. The doors open at 7:15pm and visitors are most welcome. Car parking is free and a bar is available for refreshments.
The day before the Radio Day in Amsterdam I received a message from a friend that he had received a scan of the Clacton local paper, which carries a headline about Ray Anderson his father’s home has been firebombed. All the info can be found here: www.thisisessex.co.uk/essex/eveninggazette/news/NEWS12.html
Wonderful to see more than 300 people- including many readers of the report from outside Holland, showing up at our annual Radio Day where a rich program with quest from the radio world was presented. Thanks to the guys who have worked so close together to make it a success. Next year the Radio Day will be held at the same venue in Amsterdam at November 4th. one of the Highlights then will a VOP Reunion. In the months to come Martin, Rob and I will inform you about the several subjects in the program.
Photos can be found at www.offshore-radio.de and on www.mediapages.nl
Photo: Hofstede at Naarden 1971.
From this issue on there will be some rare RNI material edit to the Knot International Report. I’ve collected a lot of material during the past decades and now and then things suddenly show up from other sources. 
With thanks former RNI technician Pieter Damave I would like to share with all of you a very unique booklet with information from the companies which were using ‘De Hofstede’ in Naarden from 1971 up till late August 1974 together with the Dutch service from RNI. The complete booklet can soon be found on www.hansknot.com as well as on www.mediapages.nl Scan: groundplan Hofstede Naarden 1971
Then something about an auction, information sent in by Bob LeRoi:
‘A Very Special Offer from Radio 390 to win before the end of 2005?It began with a message from Senior Announcer on Radio 390 and long time friend John Ross-Barnard and his wife Connie. ‘Hi Bob, Searching through some stuff I came across a Radio 390 Ashtray in perfect condition buried in an old tape box! Be very nice if we could make some money for my adopted charity Baby Lifeline? Above the Radio 390 China Ashtray still in perfect condition was produced in late 1965 in very limited number. We plan to Auction this highly collectible Radio 390 promotional item by email: Dit e-mailadres wordt beveiligd tegen spambots. JavaScript dient ingeschakeld te zijn om het te bekijken.
Hundreds of premature babies are saved from almost certain death every year through the diligent hard work of Baby Lifeline. Baby Lifeline is a very worth while cause and we're pleased to be supporting them with this interesting auction. The Action page will be updated as bids are received so you can track the items progress. There's no limit to how many times you can bid, we just want to make the maximum money for Baby Lifeline: Dit e-mailadres wordt beveiligd tegen spambots. JavaScript dient ingeschakeld te zijn om het te bekijken.
Auction closes on Tuesday 20th December with a formal presentation to the winner following in the New Year. Baby Lifelines - CE says: I am delighted and honoured that you've decided to support the Mother and Baby Charity Baby Lifeline. Baby Lifeline was founded in Coventry in 1981, and since has supported pregnancy and birth with equipment, specialist training, and education programmes for maternity and special care baby units all over the UK As a 60's music fanatic this exciting auction project touches my heart, thank you for your support of Baby Lifeline we're already looking forward to celebrating our 25th (Silver Jubilee) in 2006. Judy Ledger - Founder & Chief Executive.
Even before going to press we have a healthy bid! Get bidding now and good luck someone's going to win this highly collectible Radio 390 promotional merchandise: Dit e-mailadres wordt beveiligd tegen spambots. JavaScript dient ingeschakeld te zijn om het te bekijken.
Bob Le Roi
What must I say more, dear readers, try a bid too! A few more reports to go till the end of 2005 and so please let your news, memories, photos and other things come into my email address, which is as normal Dit e-mailadres wordt beveiligd tegen spambots. JavaScript dient ingeschakeld te zijn om het te bekijken.
Till next time all best wishes to you all, Hans Knot.