Oktober 2006 (2)
Dit is een nieuwe editie van het International Radio Report van Hans Knot. Met dit keer onder andere een uitgebreide bijdrage en foto's van voormalig VOP en Radio Caroline DJ Richard Jackson. Verder een boeiende bijdrage van Robbie Dale waar in hij onder andere de laatste dagen voor de in werking treding van de MOA beschrijft. Maar ook herinneringen aan Radio Caroline South en de Amsterdamse AM piraten in de jaren 60 en 70.INTERNATIONAL RADIO REPORT OCTOBER (2) 2006.
Welcome friends to his second edition for the month of October and thanks for all the emails, photos memories and rarities. But before the first mail will be handled something else.
Listening to the opening hour of Radio 227, which was mainly presented by Lex Harding, all the deejays for the new station were heard for some minutes to tell something about themselves. We’re talking about early 1967. Lex introduced also Bob Lens and mentioned that he had the nickname ‘Purple Haze’ on the station.
During the last issues of the report the subject ‘When was Jack Spector on Radio Caroline South and North,’ several people including some of the former Carolinedeejays of the Sixties tried to give the correct answer. For an in depth answer we however go to Alan Hamblin: ‘Dear Hans, Here is some information about the Jack Spector Show, broadcast on both Caroline North and Caroline South. The Jack Spector Show was first broadcast on both Caroline North and South on Monday 12th April 1965 between 7.00 pm and 8.00 pm. From Monday 11th October 1965 the programme was cut to 55 minutes. This was because ‘Revival Time Epilogue’ was broadcast from 7.55 pm - 8.00 pm. The programme broadcast on 17th January 1966 was a repeat. Apart from ‘the Revival Time Epilogue’, the Jack Spector Show was the last programme to be broadcast from Caroline South on Wednesday 19th January 1966. About half an hour after the station closed down for the night at 8.00 pm, the anchor chain broke and the MV Mi Amigo started drifting and went aground. Jack Spector was not heard again on Caroline South until Monday 14th February 1966 when the station was broadcasting with very low power on 1493 kHz from the Cheetah II. The Jack Spector Show was now broadcast from 6.00 pm - 7.00 pm.
Caroline South on the Cheetah II was off the air from Sunday 20th February 1966 until 10.20 am on Saturday 26th February. The station started at 10.20 am with the Jack Spector Show until 11.20 am. This was the first time the Jack Spector Show was broadcast on Caroline on a Saturday. Caroline South was off the air again from Monday 28th February 1966 until Sunday 6th March 1966 when the Jack Spector Show was on the air again from 10.00 am - 11.00 am. From Monday 7th March 1966 Jack Spector Show was broadcast from 6.00 pm until 7.00 pm on both Caroline North and South. Caroline South was off the air for 45 minutes on Saturday 12th March 1966 so Jack Spector was only broadcast from 10.30 am - 11.00 am. The final edition of the Jack Spector Show was broadcast on Caroline South on Sunday 13th March 1966 between 10.00 am and 11.00 am. I hope you will find the above information about the Jack Spector Show of interest. I always read your International Report and find it interesting. Best wishes, Alan Hamblin. ‘
Thanks a lot Alan and a more in detail answer cannot be given! Next one is David Thorpe: ‘Hans many Thanks for your newsletter, a couple of points, I’m curious what John Dwyer is doing these days, is he still a presenter?’ What a luck, again a photo this time in Caroline studio: John Dwyer
Well I presume he’s still in radio but which station is not known to me. Maybe you can go to the Radio Day as he’s one of the people going too, and asked him it yourself.
David went on with: ‘I recently met Bob Preedy, who has written 3 books on offshore radio, he now runs a community station in Wetherby Yorkshire called Tempo FM 107.4 , Bob does the breakfast show, Caroline Man Graham L Hall does a Saturday afternoon show. If there are any Dutch ham radio guys receiving this news letter I can be contacted via MB7IDT echo link for a chat.
Regards Dave Thorpe.’
Thanks David I know for sure many Ham radio guys are reading the report too.
Some nicknames for one person. By listening to an old program from 1979 on Radio Delmare I scored within 25 minutes three nicknames for one person, John Anderson: ‘Ome John’ (Uncle), ‘Long John’ and ‘John in uw radio’ (John in your radio).
Rob Veld read with interest the bits about Koller and Otten and other landbased stations here and on the newsgroup Offshore Radio and he came back with some interesting info about the technical side of landbased pirates in Amsterdam and surrounding in the late sixties and the seventies.
Hi all, and especially Hans, cause he keeps writing and writing ………….. thanks for your newsletters Hans, most of the time I read them very carefully, they are great. Hans asked me to give some technical information about the landbased stations in the Netherlands in the late sixties. I give it a try. It’s a guess but I think that most of de landbased stations around Amsterdam had transmitters with two stages. First stage a Variable Oscillator with some kind of EF radio valve and a second stage, the Power Amplifier, with a 6V6 or 6L6 and if they had enough money a EL34 or a 807. Most of them had Plate/Screengrid modulation because it is the easiest way to make an AM signal. Hans also wrote that a crystal were to expensive and he has right. Koller and Otten 1971 (Photo Archive Jan van Heeren)
But in the late seventies I buyed a transmitter which was used for a project called ‘Radio Bellevue’ from Ad Roberts. It was a crystal transmitter and is uses two crystal oscillators. one was a 8300 kHz and the other a 7510 kHz crystal oscillator. The signals were mixed and filtered so it was transmitting on 8300 minus 7510 that’s 790 kHz but, a little bit of ‘tuning’ made it 792 kHz. These kind of crystals were used in military equipment and were not so expensive, probably buyed on the Waterlooplein in Amsterdam, Loe Lap or some other dump store. It had 4! Stages, the 2 oscillators, a buffer, a pre-amplifier, and a power amplifier with the radio valve 6DQ5. It produces around 35 Watt. At the time they used this transmitter in Amsterdam I received them on my radio in the northern-east of the Netherlands. By the way Ad Roberts, you never wrote about this project! Maybe the time is now! Another problem, and that’s not a typical 60’s problem, is the antenna. For a good signal you need ¼ wavelength, which was 240 meters / 4, that is 60 meters! If you make it shorter you have less efficiency. And that’s not all, you also need a good earth and radials from about 60 meter to. When you are living in the country it isn’t a problem but when you’re living in Amsterdam you have lots of problems. The water-works were used as earth (there was no PVC pipe used at that time) and with a little help from some neighbours you can stretch 60 meter of antenna. I think that’s the way how they did it in Amsterdam, but I have my doubts about the antenna.
But ……… how they did it in London, for example the people working for Radio Jackie, Radio Free London, London Music Radio, etc.? Another question which is bothering me: In the seventies there was a new generation of Medium Wave stations in Amsterdam, like ‘Radio Mercurius’ (later Radio Unique). They made real professional programs and I think they were not the only one. Who can tell more about them? I know, this is another history then the sea-based stations, but a lot of DJ’s and technicians from on and offshore have worked for land-based stations. So there’s some kind of link. Rob Veld.’
Well thanks a lot Rob and comments on this subject can be sent to Rob his e mail address and when there’s more to report he will be back in one of the coming issues: Dit e-mailadres wordt beveiligd tegen spambots. JavaScript dient ingeschakeld te zijn om het te bekijken.
From Dave to another Chris is a small step: ‘Hi Hans, and thank you for yet another fascinating ‘Report’. Just a quick note to say that I am now the owner of the photos featuring the Football Match with Radio Caroline North DJ's (see last issue). Naturally, I too would like to know who is on the photos, so any help would be appreciated. Secondly, about a year ago I purchased all the exhibition boards from Mike Baron of FLASHBACK 67. I think you and I spoke about it at the time. With the coming 40th anniversary of the closure of the UK pirates next August, I am looking for suitable venues and groups of people, who might be interested in having the exhibits on show for a short time. Naturally, I would like to go to as many places as possible, so a ‘tour’ would be good in August of 2007. If any of your readers would like to discuss this offer with me, please add my e-mail and ask them to get in touch. Many thanks. Chris Dannatt’
Well thanks a lot Chris and an interesting offer, I must say. Maybe BBC Pirate Radio Essex is an idea, as they go on air again in August. Chris can be reached at:
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Next down yonder and an e mail or three from Bryan, from which some lines: ‘Having been thrown off Beliefnet for rampant anarchism, I used the opportunity to read old e-mails! I'd like to know what social changes and other rebellions and historical landmarks these offshore stations helped spark. I'm listening to Surfradio and feeling retro! I noticed a comment about lack of political correctness in those old days. Nowadays lots is artificial; people aren't so open about their prejudices. Thanks. www.netspeed.com.au/bryan/
Thanks Bryan. The best thing is to find some hours to read in the on line Journal for Media and Music Culture from the University Groningen. We have put on hundreds of articles there including ‘The political activation of offshore radio's fanbase, 1964-1989’ It can be found on www.soundscapes.info Volume 6 October 2003
Then a reader from Asia and it was amazing to receive the next e mail: ‘Greetings from the Big Mango (Bangkok) Always enjoy reading your international report. A few words from me to say that it was 1976 when at 20 I first ventured into offshore radio The VOP for just 3 months and the start of an adventure of a lifetime, a few names that come to mind. Mark Hurrell, Stevie Gordon, Don Stevens, Gavin Mcoy and of course Howard Rose, A Filipino helper who's name I forget and an engineer who I believe deserted the French foreign legion.Richard Jackson on the Ross Revenge (RJ Archive)
I could never understand his existence because he always slept next to an extremely loud generator hence suffered from severe sleep deprivation and appeared a total nervous wreck he was therefore pretty useless, but a real character. Please pass on my best to everyone at the VOP get-together. John Dwyer's name appears in your bulletin, John joined us onboard the Ross Revenge 20 years ago. I think he had just come from the VOP, my time on the ship was 86 - 87 during the 'Caroline 558' days, really exiting and great fun. Who remembers spending 8 hours on the 'Windy' sailing between Belgium and the Ross Revenge during a force 8, the sea was so rough the thing should have sunk, fortunately it didn't so we are still alive to recall the throwing up. Communicator with broken mast (Photo Richard Jackson)
This was also the time that 'Laser' attempted to return but the mast collapsed after the first big storm. A few friends from those fun days: (Graham) Peter Phillips, Kevin Turner, Caroline Martin, Jamie King, Johnny Lewis, Steve Conway, Mark Matthews, Peter Murtha, our Dutch friends inc Ad Roberts who shot some amazing videos of us riding out the storms (Would love a copy if any exist) and Herbert Visser who was often seen in the next studio (Radio Monique) throwing things into the air and catching them between links. Best regards to all, please feel free to drop a line: Dit e-mailadres wordt beveiligd tegen spambots. JavaScript dient ingeschakeld te zijn om het te bekijken.. Richard Buckle (Richard Jackson)
Tendering in the eighties (Photo Richard Jackson)
In the meantime I’ve been in contact with Richard and sent to some of you the email to so feel free to contact Richard. It was great to hear from you again and also thanks for the lovely photos.’
From the USA the next email from Tom Konard: ‘ Hi Hans, I look forward to ordering your book, which will debut in November, when I get to Belgium, permanently, in December. My wife and I will be relocating there, then. In fact, I've saved your reports and hope to order past books as well! Thanks for keeping the memory of it all alive! I'm not sure what a GIRO account is or an IBAN number, but I'll learn! Much to learn. Comment: the Caroline North dog story was disgusting, as, to me, is animal cruelty. (Better they would have put the DJ who was teasing the poor dog, over with a chain around his neck!) Have a good weekend and maybe I'll see you soon, even! Thanks! Tom Konard/Aircheck Factory.’
Another nice e mail, thanks Tom and hope you and Sabine will have a good life in Belgium and enjoy your stay in Europe. Surely we will meet up some day!. I know Tom some decades long as we swept radio recordings for many years. Tom did get offshore recordings from Europe on cassette as I was receiving a lot of interesting American Radio Recordings from him. He found the love of his live with Sabine and decided to move to Belgium.
Just before the last issue was sent out to everybody and answer on one of the many questions was given by Rob Chapman: ‘Hi Hans, I thought someone would clear up the mystery of Chris Anthony on Caroline South in the latest newsletter but as no one responded here is my two pennies worth. In the Daily Mirror of August 15th 1967 that I have faithfully kept since the time the news report mentions that "two new dj's are joining Caroline South today, Ross Brown and Chris Anthony." I don't ever recall hearing anyone use that name at the time but about 20 years ago a fellow tape contact lent me his entire collection of reel to reels. He used to stay up late at night recording Caroline South during August 1967 when he was in his teens. Unfortunately though, like many people at the time he used to edit out the spoken links and just keep the music. The only time he used to leave the tape running was at the end and beginning of shows. It was a real labour of love listening to the reels, but being the anorak that I am. I managed to edit about 20 hours of tape down to a couple of C-90 extracts compilations. In a couple of places a dj quite clearly announces himself as Chris Anthony. He's very inept at the controls and it sounds like his first shows. It also sounds unmistakeably like Spangles! Over to you Mr. Cary. Rob Chapman.’
Well thanks a lot Rob, most appreciate and indeed we ask our reader Chris Cary or Spangles to step forward and tell his own memories about getting onboard the Mi Amigo for the very first time.
After Rob Chapman time for a very long and interesting mail coming from Robbie Dale: ‘Dear Hans, Stella and I pass through Amsterdam on the 7th Nov, What a pity we will be a few days too late and miss the Radio Day gathering. I should pay more attention to your news letters. Please pass on our best wishes to Tom Edwards and Johnnie Lewis and any other old sea dogs you come across. As you know, we use Schiphol as a hub for much of our travel plans. So here’s hoping we can attend at a future time. Please let my have the email addresses of Andy Archer, Gerry Burke and Ian McRae. If it wasn’t for you, we would probably have remained out of touch for so many years. Andy was correct about Spangles and the boat incident, September 1967 Spangles disappeared for several days. He jumped ship ”so to speak”, boarded then a sightseeing boat on one of its trips out to the Mi Amigo and went ashore using the crowd of visitors as cover. I thought we would never see him again. He needed to get a passport to be able to take a shore break in Holland. In those days a temporary one year passport could be obtained at any post office by producing a birth certificate. He returned to the ship in a rowing boat he stole from the fisherman’s beach at Frinton on Sea. He told me he had tried to get a local fishermen to bring him back to the ship but was refused because of the new law concerning offshore stations. It was then being illegal to have anything to do with the pirates.Robbie Dale in 1966 (OEM Archive)
I remember thinking how determined he must have been and what a fight he put up. Having rowed for hours at night up and down with the tides that ran at several knots. He said he just kept rowing towards the Mi Amigo’s deck lights he could see in the distance and each time the tide changed he would row harder as the lights appeared closer. Finally getting alongside, he grabbed onto one of the chains that held the tyre fenders to the side of the ship. When I saw him he was worn out, I past him a line to make the boat fast. The Captain, Charlie Holtshoff was furious when he discovered that Spangles had left the ship. He refused to allow Spangles back on board. He wanted to hand him over to the police for stealing the boat. I remember spending many hours negotiating with Charlie before he would agreed to permit Spangles back on board, in the meantime I arranged for food and drink to be secretly past over the side to young Mr Muldoon who was by this time getting very cold. Finally Charlie agreed but only when I agreed Spangles would be fired and sent off on the next tender. Later Charlie, The chief Marine Engineer and I had some drinks in the Captains cabin. Charlie now more the reasonable skipper we knew agreed to forget the matter but I had to promise that Spangles would be punished and do some cleaning work around the ship for a few days. The poor fisherman’s boat was set adrift in the North Sea. Hopefully to find its way back to the shore where it would be found, identified and returned to its rightful owner.
Another point of interest Andy raised. Yes, it’s true Jerry Burke was put in charge during my absence from the ship. Although Johnnie Walker was my good friend, he was not the most reliable of people and sometime did crazy things, like announcing he was throwing the play list into the sea and making rude noises over play list records, calling them rubbish and refusing to include them in his shows because he hated to play them. We all hate to play them. But after all is said and done. Advertising revenue had dried up, leaving only the play list payola to pay for our food, wages and supplies to kept the ship afloat. Phil Solomon ordered me to fire Johnnie on several occasions. I argued the case that he was one of the best DJs on the air and would refuse to fire him. Phil would then fire me and the whole thing would go around in circles. Philip held the purse strings, A man who wanted all but trusted nobody, came to rely upon me as someone he could place trust in to do the job. So I would be rehired and Johnnie would be off the agenda again. But never for long!
In answer to remaining points from Andy’s letter. It was not (gall stones). The reason I was admitted to the Boar Haven Private Clinic Amsterdam .I suffered a stomach bleeding resulting from a very bad tender early February crossing to IJmuiden through a force 10 gale. The tender Offshore Two took a pounding and a lot of sea water came aboard, everyone was sick, I was trying to be sick, but my stomach was empty, continually reaching I ruptured tissues in the stomach and was vomiting blood. Philip Solomon paid for the entire treatment and my weeklong stay in the clinic. Before the MBO act became law. I don’t recall either Johnnie or I meeting with Ronan. As I recall, we decided to stick it out, because we truly believed the free radio bit, loved the job and because of our friendship and working the same shift we had spent most of our shore leave “gigging” together. When Johnnie returned to the ship with me on that last train from Liverpool Street. August 15th 1967.During our last week ashore we had done three personal appearances ‘gigs’. The Press people had been with us all week. Johnnie took a quick nip up to Solihull near Birmingham to say goodbye to his mother. I stayed on in London. We had pre-arranged to meet up at the station. I remember he was not keen and a little apprehensive. But this was taken over by the excitement “the day that was in it” the crowds of fans and anti government protesters. Plus the unknown adventure to come. on the train we discussed the consequences and the likelihood of being arrested, but thought the Government would not risk a the public outcry. What a shock we had waiting for us, upon our return aboard to find all the others packed and ready to leave. Just the four of us remained Johnnie, Ian McRae myself and the brave new boy, broad speaking with blond dyed hair, ‘Muldoon Oscar Anderson or whoever’ Chris Cary was a tenacious young man with an eventful future in radio to unfold . Thank goodness some of the lads changed their minds and some weeks later returned to the ship through Holland. Hans remember to give me plenty of notice next year; I will do my best to attend the Radio Day. With kind regards, Robbie Dale (Admiral OBF and Bar. Retired)’.
I met him in Frinton last December when I visited the London studio. Wrote a lot of letters and exchanged tapes with him through the eighties. And after years on internet he now wrote me for the very first time by email: ‘Hi Hans, This is the first time I have contacted you but I hope I can answer the story about when Jack Spector was on Radio Caroline. His show started in May/June 1965 on both ships and continued until at least September 1966 on the North ship but the south ship stopped airing them around March/April1966 this may well have been something to do with a previous agreement with Spector’s management in New York. For those interested I can be heard Monday/Friday 1400/1800 on Radio Northsea Gold go to www.radionorthseagold.com and also at Classic Gold in East Anglia on 1359/1431 AM from time to time from 1500/1900 Monday/Friday along with other Classic Gold outlets, as I am the freelance cover jock in the East for the network. I also pop up at Big L 1395, when required, so keeping rather busy along with all my commercial voice over work for Easyjet, the cut-price airline as well as others.I enjoy the news report. Regards, Paul Graham.’
Paul Graham 2005 (Photo Hans Knot)
Digging in my archive for some other material I found some pages of a cartoon about Caroline in a Dutch magazine, way back in the seventies. To show you one picture I choose the one about RoskoSo that brings us to another subject we could talk about. Who remembers more about cartoons into connection with Offshore radio and please when so, also sent a jpg too! Dit e-mailadres wordt beveiligd tegen spambots. JavaScript dient ingeschakeld te zijn om het te bekijken.
Regularly the subject ‘animals on radio ships’ comes back in the report and this time is was Martin van der Ven who sent me a small sounds file from RNI on June 4th 1971. Steve Merike could be heard telling that the weather was so bad that the ship’s cat had started taking seasick pills! Of course he just told this as a funny joke!
Again rumours appear in Dutch newspapers about the future of the MV Norderney, the former Radio Veronica radio ship. It went off the air August 31st 1974 and was used for entertainment since the eighties. Now, in Antwerp harbour, the ship is talk about several rumours. During the past 8 months several future places to be taken too were mentioned. The latest is the idea of Erik de Zwart (former Paul de Wit from Caroline in 1979) who made a lot of money within the radio industry, to take the ship to Scheveningen harbour. Erik: “The ship has been part of 15 years broadcasting history for the Dutch. The name ‘Veronica’ still carries the memories from the High Days at sea. It’s a relic which has to be saved for the future and the best place is Scheveningen.’ Well let’s wait if this message in the newspapers will have a continuation.
Next one is from Darran McDonals, a reader in Canada: ‘Greetings from Canada. I enjoy reading the report every month. I was having a discussion online with a fellow broadcaster, Scott Snailham, about what personality is in radio's recent history as opposed to today. He came up with this "history", and I thought your reader's reactions might be interesting: -The 1950's-70's were undeniably the golden age of Top 40. From the early days of Alan Freed into the 70's with the likes of John Landecker (just one I remember off the top of my head!) these people were personalities, larger then life. In that era, perhaps the one person that was larger then life that most people remember was Wolfman Jack. John Landecker on WLS (internet)
These people had passion for their craft, and it showed. creativity abounded, in music choices and being clever wordsmiths choosing their words and delivery carefully to create a mood and in that, a personality, often larger then life. It was a big deal to see these people in person, kids looked up to them, they got respect. The 1960's saw a bit of a variation of this, the personality still existed, but it was more of a tighter format, you'd "ride the ramp" over the intro and get personality is small doses over record intros...blame Drake Chenault for that one....this continued through the 70's and certainly kept alive the larger then life personality, just a more condensed version...the entertainment value was there. The jocks entertained you.
-Then in the 80's, people got tired of the larger then life persona, they tended to go towards the "FM ways", more relaxed, more info about the music. more music, less talk, because of course, talk is bad. you did talk about the music to a degree, try to relate to the public that way. It made sense to do that, as with the larger then life hype, it tends to wear pretty quickly, and burn itself out. I'm surprised the hype last as long as it did.
-In the late 80's early 90's, the consultant was more prominent in the station day to day operations...sure they were there before, been around for years before that, but this was the cost cutting recession 90's. everyone was cutting back to save their business. satellite services replaced people, and programmers were focusing on what "tests well" by various consultants, who do audience music testing, play 10 second "hooks" of songs to a audience of 200 (or less) people to see if they like them. sometimes in the same city, sometimes you buy lists from consultants who didn’t necessarily do research in the same town. Everyone is so scared of tune out, we can't risk the listener turning the dial, that we have to play the same few tunes over and over again, because a consultant says the listener wants to hear their favourite song everytime they tune in (or one of their favourite songs-I read this in R & R once, Mike Mcvay of McVay Media gave this advise!)
-In the 2000's, The consultants are still around, but as the cost cutting in the 90's left fewer people doing jobs, and the listeners overall didn't really notice or care, as they are programmed to think they want to hear music, and stuff they like, which is obtained by playing the same stuff over and over, that's what happens. Radio computer automation, initially offered by the mid 1990's, gains leaps and bounds, because it's dependable and cheaper more and more. They also have a "voice track" feature whereby a on air talent can pre record talk between the music and not have to be there when it airs. This can be done by one person on multiple stations, and is so popular, it's adopted by virtually every station that is using a computer automation system as a cost cutting measure.
In the mid 2000's The popularity of internet radio stations and the high quality of them, has younger techno savvy individuals flocking to find something they like through shout cast and other places on the net. satellite radio also a newer technology, gets to the masses because of price and smart marketing, and also hires veteran on air talent tossed aside by commercial radio as they believe they need something different for people to pay for. It seems they are right, given the popularity of the system, which continues to grow, despite being a pay service. Commercial radio meanwhile, seems to be continuing to play music, do little with their own air talent except the basics, and hope they will have listeners, or are they arrogant about it and know that people would rather have it for free. That's the way I see it. I see a industry once great and respected, gutted to a shadow of it's formal self. I can't blame anyone in the industry now at all, they are often giving the best of their ability or what they are allowed to do based on time restraints or political correctness.
The other factor I see, is Entertainment. There's very little talent on air that it truly entertaining. The jocks of the golden age of Top 40 knew this and knew it well, the wow factor, they entertained, every break was skilful, to make you listen to make you want to listen to more. It was never overly predictable. That one factor alone, predictability, is lost today, because of the desire of not wanting to offend. You can't take risks and throw a zinger or two out there without getting in trouble.....which is why a lot of the comedy I've heard is rather lame and doesn't take it far enough. everyone is scared to do it, or for that matter doesn't know how to do it.
Broadcast School teaches mechanics, to be a basic announcer. They really don't teach you to be a personality. It's sad really. You don't have to be a Howard stern, or Casey Kasem, but you can channel them and take parts of their persona and combine that to create your own unique persona so that listeners are hanging on to your every word. And they should be in my book. If there one thing I can get through to anyone on the air right now, that I'm sure any PD would promote is make as many on air breaks your own. Don't rip and read prep from the wire, make it something that you can say "hey, I think this is cool, here's why I think this is cool, I'm enthusiastic about it, you should be too...let me tell you more.." I'd really love to hear stuff like that more, but I hear too many jocks depending on liners and contests for something to talk about, or laughing artificially at some lame joke which in their mind carries it, but in reality just comes off bad. People like that probably don't really have the first idea how to create a persona, or were never encouraged to do so. shame, as I think radio will have to adapt back to the persona driven product it once was to continue to survive as it exists today.’
Good to see there is with a lot of people the feeling to get the best in radio back. We miss a lot compared to that we listened to in the sixties and seventies of last century. I was lucky to record myself in Europe and exchange a lot of recordings with fellow radio friends in the USA whereby I learnt what real radio was in the States. Still I do the occasional rewind of old tapes to listen to the favourites from those years, maybe at the same time my old time favourites. So please feel free to comment on this fabulous interesting and long issue in the report sent in by Darren Mc Donald. You can write to Dit e-mailadres wordt beveiligd tegen spambots. JavaScript dient ingeschakeld te zijn om het te bekijken.
Sven Martinssen sent some internet links about radio in one of the so called mini states of Europe, Andorra. It was on Radio Andorra that in March 1969 a one time Don Allen show was transmitted in memory to Radio Caroline. http://aquiradioandorra.free.fr/
http://f5nsl.free.fr/andorre/amenuen.html
http://100ansderadio.free.fr/
http://membres.lycos.fr/f5nsl/sudradio/
http://membres.lycos.fr/f5nsl/sudradio/oef41.html
http://membres.lycos.fr/f5nsl/sudradio/sr-2001.html
http://membres.lycos.fr/f5nsl/sudradio/bdxtx.html
Radio Andorra Poster (Archive Sven Martinssen)
Once again we go to Asia and Sheridon Street who wrote: ‘Hello Hans. Just to let you know that I have carried out minor correction to my Caroline web pages. Because there has been so much interest, and discussion in your news letter about the real identity of Ray Cooper, I have included a couple of enlarged pictures of him from my originals. These can bee seen in the section "Who are They" perhaps the enlargements may help identification. The last of the two pictures, taken whilst crew changing, shows someone who I never noticed before, in the back ground, wearing a light coloured jacket. I have no idea who this person is, but looks very official and a little older than the rest of us.
Cheers, Sheridon Street.’
Thanks Sharidon and hopefully there’s someone who can mention names by going to the next link on internet.
http://www.hs0zee.com/HS0ZEE/Caroline%20South/Who%20is%20this/Who%20are%20they.htm
Hopefully you have already a new agenda for the year 2007. Go to November 10th and you can note that the 29th year in a row the Annual Radio Day will be held in Amsterdam.
October 21st brought the e mail with the answer to the photographs of the football match, I published in last issue: Dear Hans, I saw the photos of the football match which refers to Caroline North on your excellent web site. I guess other people may have responded to you by now but I believe the event took place at onchan Stadium in the Isle of Man. I seem to remember it was a Celebrity Eleven including Daffy Don Allen and I think Mark Sloane and possibly some of the other engineers from the ship. What was unusual is that the event was I think on the Saturday or Sunday following the British Marine Offences Act which came into force on 15th August 1967, but because the Isle of Man being outside the United Kingdom and objected to the UK Government outlawing Caroline this caused the Government to have to implement a decree by Queens Council (I think was the expression) thus delaying the Marine Offences Act in the Isle of Man and hence the Caroline North ship could still operate with tenders from Ramsey until 31st August. I seem to remember the football match was a charity game against (of all people ) the St. Helens G.P.O. (ironically General Post Office were responsible for monitoring the radio laws in the U.K. at that time). I live in Chester now and grew up in Birkenhead (near Liverpool) and well remember those happy days of Radio Caroline North. I am biased but to my mind Caroline North was the best station of all the UK offshore stations probably because Head Office could not hear them! I have many happy memories of the station and in more recent years have met some of the former DJ'S and staff and although it hardly seems adequate it meant a great deal to me to be able to say thank you to them for the entertainment they provided us with. I was particularly pleased to be able to meet my favourite DJ of all Daffy Don Allen just 2 years before he sadly died in 1995. Finally, going back to the point I made earlier about the Marine Offences Act being implemented in the Isle of Man, I did not realise the significance of the Isle of Man being outside the UK (causing the delay I mentioned) until many years later when I lived in the Isle of Man in onchan just about half a mile away from the stadium I mentioned above.
I hope the information is helpful to you, and as I have not e-mailed you before it does give me the chance to say how much I enjoy reading your website and the impressive photos. Does anyone have photos of the REM Island being put in position of the Dutch coast. Apologies if they have already appeared on your website but I am a relative newcomer to the internet. I find radio in UK to be awful these days plenty of stations but no real choice as they are all doing the same thing and individuality seems to be frowned on. With Best wishes from John Thomas, Chester.’
Well John thanks a lot for your answer as well as own memories. And yes I’ve already scanned 40+ photos and cartoons from the early days of the REM Island which has been put on internet by Wim van de Water at mediapages:
http://www.mediapages.nl/index.php?module=photoshare&func=showimages&fid=115
Almost every month the Emperor Rosko is mentioned by myself, a reader or Mr. Pasternak himself. This time a reader from Belgium is reflecting: ‘Dear Hans,
In your last Report, you gave a link to an audio presentation about the Emperor Rosko's stay at Radio Luxembourg in France in 1967. For those who would like to see the Emperor in action on stage (and for the Emperor's ego) click on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZNX4yNDuaA. The Emperor appears twice (at 02:04 and 03:10) during this live recording of Otis Redding's "Give a Little Tenderness", presumably at the Olympia theatre in Paris. Always a pleasure to read your report. Luc Namur, Belgium
Next one comes from England and hopefully someone can help Peter with the next question: ‘Hi, can you please help me. I am trying to find some laser 558 car stickers from the 1980s and some Caroline 576KHZ 963KHZ car stickers from the 1980s. I am also trying to find some Caroline 558 car stickers from the 1980.If you can help me please email me at Dit e-mailadres wordt beveiligd tegen spambots. JavaScript dient ingeschakeld te zijn om het te bekijken. I am willing to pay good money for the car stickers. Best regards Peter Tankard
VOICE OF PEACE MEMORIES AND ABIE NATHAN’S WORKHANS KNOT (Editor)
During the past year a lot of work has been down to research not only the history of the Voice of Peace but also the various humanitarian jobs Abe Nathan has done through the past 4 decades. With assistance from people next to Abe, deejays and staff of the station in the past, Hans Knot has succeeded in writing a 250 pages book. In the book are many exclusive photographs, but as there were hundreds of photos sent in by many people, a ‘photo cd’ will be included. The book, which will be officially presented at the Annual Radio Day in Amsterdam on November 2006. The book can now be ordered from the publisher. The price for people in the Netherlands will be 30 Euro, including postage and packing. For people outside the Netherlands the price will be 33 Euro or 25 British Pounds. You can sent in your money by sending it in an envelope to SMC, PO Box 53121 1007 RC Amsterdam. Also you can pay your money to Giro account 4065700 on the name of Mediacommunicatie Amsterdam. Don’t forget to mention IBAN number: NL 37 PSTB 0004 0657 00 BIC: PSTBNL21 . This to avoid high costs.
Well as reader of the Knot Radio Report, which is possible for already 7 years for free, I hope you spent some money to buy this mentioned book!
Many of my readers have been working on RNI and know the Dutch director John de Mol sr. Well he was a Dutch singer in the fifties and early sixties and it was Bert Alting who sent the next link to me to show that some footage has been rescued of John de Mol singing in 1960:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcAATXGuhwo&mode=related&search
"RadioDay memories": NoordHollands Dagblad 9-2-1982 (Archive: Hans Knot)Well that finishes this issue of the Knot International Radio Report. I hope to see a lot of you in Amsterdam on November 4th. I got already e mails from people from the Netherlands, Germany, England, French, Belgium, Israel, Canada as well as Cyprus that they will join in. For those travelling to our country: do enjoy your journey and stay in Amsterdam. Till next time, all best wishes.
Hans Knot