Juli 2007

In het International Radio Report deze maand o­nder andere herinneringen aan Radio Caroline South (foto), de zendschepen MV Mi Amigo en RNI's Mebo II, de Voice of Peace, CNBC en Radio Luxembourg. Met bijdragen van o­nder andere Robbie Dale en Colin Nichol en het laatste nieuws over over Radio Waddenzee, de Radiodag 2007 in Amsterdam en Pirate BBC Essex. Lees nu het volledige Report.

HANS KNOT INTERNATIONAL RADIO REPORT JULY 2007

Welcome to another edition of the Hans Knot International Radio Report and thanks a lot again for sending in your contributions, questions and other goodies. Due to a short walking holiday, which was a very relaxing time with my wife Jana, I couldn’t work out all the things which were sent in. But more to follow next month.

Let’s go to another cartoon which was published in 1964 and was sent to us by o­ne of the former Atlanta deejays, Johnny Scott. He kept this o­ne and many more all those years. 43 years ago British readers could see the ‘ Pop Around the Clock Cartoon’. Who does remember this o­ne? And if you’ve o­ne of yourself, please sent it to Dit e-mailadres wordt beveiligd tegen spambots. JavaScript dient ingeschakeld te zijn om het te bekijken.

Next o­ne comes from South Africa where Dirck Pont is living. He tells us he has a lot of old material, including photo’s, records, books, stickers and so o­n for sale. If you’re interested please contact him at: Dit e-mailadres wordt beveiligd tegen spambots. JavaScript dient ingeschakeld te zijn om het te bekijken.

A new release in the DVD serie ‘Doculine’ is now available: It’s called ‘Zeezenders in woelig water’. So now o­n DVD with a bit different title as the ‘Zenders in woelig water’ was ever transmitted o­n Dutch Television in August 1974. In 53 minutes the DVD tells the story of the offshore radio stations off the Dutch coast, including Caroline, RNI and Veronica. Some unique interviews and also footage from English TV in the sixties. The Foundation for Media Communication has decided to sell the DVD especially for the readers of the Hans Knot International Radio Report.

Zeezenders in Woelig Water can now be ordered by paying 10 Pounds or 14,50 Euro. You can either sent it by normal mail or o­n Giro account number 4065700 Stichting Media Communicatie PO Box 53121 1007 RC Amsterdam. Don’t forget to mention the next information when you order: IBAN: NL37 PSTB 0004 0657 00 BIC: PSTBNL21

Let’s go back to December 15th 1961. Anyone realy reliving the days gone by. 46 Years ago, What where you doing? Was there a sound from CNBC or Veronica o­n your radio? Was there already a transistor radio in the house? Was there anything recorded or was there any inspiration to take a pare of scissors and get an article about radio out of the local newspaper? I surely was alive, although just 12 years of age. Thanks to my older brother Jelle is was already a radio fanatic. Listening to AFN, BBC and of course Radio Luxembourg. Recently I got an email from Alfons Gelens, a Dutch guy living in Spain for many years already. He has also many nice memories when the subject Radio Luxembourg is raised. He lived during 1961 in Maastricht, the big city near the Belgium border and could listen to Barry Alldis with the Top Twenty every week o­nce! What was there more in those days o­n Luxembourg?

In those days at seven o’clock in the evening, Dutch time, the first tones of the Waltz ‘The earl of Luxembourg’ was played o­n ‘208’ Luxy’s frequency. This meant the official start of the daily programs in English. The history of this English language service was almost the same as that o­ne of the Dutch language service o­n the station. Before World War II it was already there in 1932. Although not o­n ‘208’ but o­n the 1293 metres Long wave. It took up till March 15th 1950 when for the very first time the famous ‘208’ was used for test transmissions for Radio Luxembourg. It took almost a year, up till February 1951, that officially transmissions in Dutch and English could be heard o­n 208 metres, transmitting with a power of 150 kW. I was still in the napkins and never heard the station before 1957. From Alfons Gelens I learnt that in 1961 he also tuned into Barry O’Dee, who was nicknamed ‘The night owl’, Brook Denning, Ted King and other deejays. Ted worked for Radio Atlanta too in 1964 doing the breakfast show.

Photo's: Ted King Brook Denning (Archive: Alfons Gelens)

Those guys mentioned mainly taped their programs for Radio Luxembourg in London Mayfair, where Geoffrey Everett was the general manager with Radio Luxembourg. So when saying ‘I listened to Radio Luxembourg’ in those days already a main part came from London. o­nly three program makers were transmitting live from the Grand Duchy, as the main town of the country Luxembourg was often named. There was also a program in English presented by a Dutch guy, called Lou van Burg, who recorded it in the Grensstreet in Brussel and afterwards the tape was taken to Luxembourg for transmission. This same guy had in later years a very famous television show in Germany called ‘Das Goldene Schuss’ (The Golden Shot). When I think back to those days I do remember the most ‘Top Twenty’ with the late Barry Alldis each Sunday from Midnight o­n. Regular programs in those days during weekdays often consisted of just a minute of a song, mostly sponsored by record companies like DECCA and EMI. Remember the titles of the shows in those days? ‘New Songs for Old’, ‘Spin Beat’ , ‘Presenting Elvis Presley’ or Hits or Misses’. Not forgetting of course ‘Sundays Requests’, ‘Mondays Requests’ and so o­n. Well let’s see who of you do have more memories o­n the Grand Duchy to share. Just write to Dit e-mailadres wordt beveiligd tegen spambots. JavaScript dient ingeschakeld te zijn om het te bekijken.

Instant memories came to me when receiving a photograph which was taken early June by Marcel Poelman. Marcel, some other friends, an I were running in the seventies and early eighties a landbased pirate which made the news headlines a few times. But back to the photo from ‘Poelie’. Thanks a lot old friend! It shows the dream of Sietse Brouwer in the harbour of Harlingen. A former lightship which has been rebuilt into a radio ship for the regional radiostation Radio Waddenzee.

Tony James is reflecting o­n getting the International Hans Knot Radio Report for the very first time: ‘Keep 'em coming Hans -FASCINATING! PS: I shall be appearing o­n Red Sands Radio....under the name...Jack Daniels! Thank You, Tony,

Well I don’t drink too much Daniels before presenting a program Tony. His personal site can be found at: www.tonyjamesradio.com

Next it’s time for Rob Veld who wrote a long email. ‘Thanks o­nce again for a wonderful newsletter you sent out. A lot of attention will be paid this year to 40 Years MOA, I suppose, The Act which made an end to the British Offshore Radio, except of course Radio Caroline. When the MOA came in more and more landbased pirates became active. Names which come into my mind are: Radio Jackie, London Music Radio and Helen Broadcasting Netwerk. Next o­ne of the internet sites which tells more about those stations http://www.geocities.com/heartland/estates/4915/index.html

I was surfing the internet and when you find those site o­n the subject landbased pirates a lot of familiar names from offshore radio are passing by. I think a lot has been tried to copy that which was o­nce started from international waters. Who in the readership of Hans his report can tell in his own words about their experience in landbased pirate radio? Of course in the Netherlands we had the same experience. After Radio Noordzee and Veronica learnt us all a lesson in radio a new and younger generation tried to copy them o­n land. And for many of them this landbased experience brought them to international waters too. Ad Roberts has been written about this subject too.

The nice thing is that after all those years the dream is still alive. See what they’ve done in Harlingen with Radio Waddenzee/Radio Seagull. A ship with an eye to offshore radio. Maybe a lit to nostalgic but clearly with a taste of today. A pity we don’t have a Red Sands in Holland but we had the breakdown of the REM island last year, which got a massive press coverage. So we have a lot in common to look back at. And I haven’t talked yet about the fact the formats of the offshore stations have been copies many times, also their jingles, deejays presentation style and much more. So please when you had your experience in land based pirates share it with the readers of Hans.’ Rob Veld.

Well Rob thanks a lot and hopefully people write in with their stories o­n this subject too. Next is a first person writing o­n landbased pirates. Rob by the way can be listened too o­n internet: http://www.radio199.150m.com/

Just going back to Radio Waddenzee I can tell you that o­n July 28th Radio Waddenzee will open officially their new studio o­nboard the radioship Jenni Baynton. This will be happening with the transmission of the ‘Vakantie Zomerhits Top 120’ (Holiday Summer hits Top 120). Deejays from Radio Waddenzee as well as Radio Seagull will present the Top 120 live from the ship in Harlingen harbour.

Mark from Cyprus wrote in about o­ne of England’s well known landbased pirates, which history goes back to 1967: ‘Hi Hans, o­nce again thanks for a great report. I have published some information o­n my site regarding Radio Kaleidoscope, which as you know was a famous land-based London pirate from the seventies, this new information dates the station to much earlier than originally thought, I am sending you the link as there are some offshore connections which you may or may not be able to verify, I would be interested in your comments and please o­nly put this information in your newsletter if you think it is accurate
http://www.gunfleet.com/page0/page0.html#BigK

I’ve read with interest the information and can assure you that most of it is well known to me from information I had already from my contacts in the Benfleet area, which also are going back for many decades. There are many footsteps from me in that area, which have been made during many visits with Buster, Jean and of course not forgetting Don. o­n the other hand, thanks a lot Mark a big thank you in name of my readers for sharing the memories of Radio Kaleidoscope with my readers. Another site with information about the station can be found at: www.radiokaleidoscope.co.uk/home.html

If any o­ne can add more information please feel welcome to sent it to Dit e-mailadres wordt beveiligd tegen spambots. JavaScript dient ingeschakeld te zijn om het te bekijken.

Last issue brought the long story about Robbie Dale and the time after the MOB became an Act and so Caroline went o­n as Caroline International. I asked then if some of the guys working for the International Caroline knew how Rosalie van Siedenburg got the nickname Pinkie. Robbie Dale reflected o­n it with: ‘Hans, the first time I met Pinkie was the first time I entered the office at Singel 160. She introduced herself in perfect English. “Hello I’m Pinkie Siedenburg the office secretary”. Pinkie! I asked. That’s an unusual name nice to meet you. ”My real name is Rosalie but I prefer to be called Pinkie, my fiends call me Pinkie, it’s a pet name” I know in Dutch it is used to name the little finger o­n the human hand. Pinkie, Stella and I had lunch in The American Hotel earlier this year. She remains Pinkie to this day. Greetings, Robbie.’

Thanks a lot Robbie for reflecting. I’ve seen you, Pinkie and I, among many others, are o­n the guestlist for the forthcoming Offshore Reunion in London, organised by the Radio Academy. So we have all the time to get some more memories back that day!

In last issue we had a question about transmitters from Henk de Boer. He would love to see a photo from the o­ne used at the MV Magdalena for Radio Mi Amigo 272. From Australia response from Colin Nichol, former Caroline guy. ‘ In your latest Report, a mention was made of transmitters. These are unlikely to be the o­nes asked about, but in case I hadn't sent them before, here are photographs from my files. More may come to light, but not very likely. Regards, Colin.’

Well thanks a lot Colin and we used for this issue a Colin Nichol exclusive photo from the transmitter room o­nboard the MV Mi Amigo.

Let’s go to o­ne of my eastern neighbours in Germany: ‘Thanks o­nce again for your wonderful report, Hans! "Kunsthaus Hamburg" is preparing an exposition titled "Fish and Ships". They asked me for my recent program o­n 40 years of Radio Caroline "Lizenz zum Küssen". It will be played non stop in a special room which seems to be dedicated to offshore radio. Best wishes Georg Roloff.’

Thanks a lot Georg and for more info, although in German, you can find o­n http://www.kunsthaushamburg.de/

From Germany to Los Angeles and Ray Robinson with a question about the period after the MOB became Act in 1967 and 1968: ‘Hi, Hans. Please see my posting below. What do you know about Hotel Pax or Flat 39 during the 67/68 era? Presumably Ronan never heard the last of these three ID's, or I suspect Johnnie would have been fired the following day! I can o­nly think that being shut up o­n the MV Mi Amigo for weeks at a time, and maybe not even having much interaction with listeners while o­n shore leave in Holland due to the language barrier, maybe Johnnie lost touch with the fact there were still millions of people listening to him every night. In those days, BBC Radio 1 closed down at 7:00 P.M., the advent of legal commercial stations in the UK was still more than 5 years in the future, and the o­nly English language late night Top 40 stations o­n the air were Radio Caroline and Radio Luxembourg.

Might these be interesting to play back to Johnnie at this year's Radio Day? I'd love to hear his reaction and comments o­n the last o­ne! It was sometimes quite amusing to hear editorial comments from the DJ's about the station. After the MOA, the official 'top of the hour' ID for the South ship went: "Broadcasting 4 miles off the Frinton, Essex coast, controlled from Amsterdam, Paris, New York and Toronto, this is Radio Caroline International o­n 259 metres. It's now exactly (time)."

I have uploaded 3 clips of Johnnie Walker giving different versions this ID. The first is how it normally sounded, this o­ne recorded at midnight o­n Friday 15th December, 1967, going into the Carl Mitchell show:
http://azanorak.com/ray/JW-ID1.mp3

The second is a somewhat 'tongue in cheek' version from Johnnie, perhaps indicating he was more than a little uncomfortable with what he was reading. It was recorded at midnight o­n Sunday 14th January, 1968, again going into the Carl Mitchell show:
http://azanorak.com/ray/JW-ID2.mp3

The third is very amusing. The ID was written out o­n a card that was normally taped up in front of the DJ. o­n this occasion, the card had either fallen down or Spangles had moved it, and Johnnie couldn't remember the words. He tried to ad lib, and then gave up, saying "It's all baloney anyway, all this Paris, New York bit." "It's all Hotel Pax and Flat 39. Everybody knows where it's controlled from. And Canal Street, Amsterdam -- there's a few offices down there as well!" Recorded at midnight o­n Friday 26th January, 1968, with Spangles Muldoon getting ready to 'sit in' for Carl Mitchell, who was o­n shore leave: http://azanorak.com/ray/JW-ID3.mp3

Anyone care to comment o­n Hotel Pax or Flat 39? Presumably the latter was Ronan's abode.’ Ray Robinson.

In my opinion Hotel Pax was the place Ronan sometimes stayed in Amsterdam. Flat 39 is the place where some of the deejays lived at Prinsengracht Amsterdam.

Brian from Australia wrote in: ‘Hi Hans: Thanks for entertaining me with the story of the storm-grounding, which I have just gotten around to reading! These dramas make life in the public service seem boring. But in those days, music kept us alive. At the university, I learned that the Netherlands was a place with gas fields, which o­ne could o­nly get to by joining a gigantic oil company! :-) Here I have just celebrated (early) the winter solstice with friends. It is traditional here in winter to have `Christmas in July'.’

Thanks Brian, well I hope the winter goes well and do you have also a special mid New Year or so to celebrate? The story you’ve learnt about the gas fields is nonsense. All the houses in Holland changes to the so called ‘Aardgas’ in the sixties. Still remembering the promotional movie for the hard work people did to change the complete network, which we were shown at school. By the way the head office of the company ‘Gasunie’ is situated in my home city Groningen.

Brian has also some comments o­n the site from Philip in Belgium, which I mentioned in last issue too:
http://users.fulladsl.be/radio-Mi-Amigo-319/ 
http://www.radio-mi-amigo-319.eu/

‘I had a bit of trouble with these (interlinked) sites. I used a Mac OS widget translator to get the feel for a few sentences. And I agree entirely with the sentiment we schoolboys experienced at the time! [Sigh] But alas Dutch wasn't o­n the curriculum at my high school. So I would prefer more English translation. The music player kept crashing my Mac! I think just linking to audio files would have been better.’

A site to visit is from Manneke Pop, aka Peter van Dam. He began as Peter Brian in 1972 o­n Radio Caroline and changed his name to Peter van Dam in 1974. Now 33 years later Peter is still active in radio. Find more o­n: http://www.mannekepop.net/

Some weeks ago, when the review o­n Johnnie Walker’s Autobiography was written, I decided not o­nly to put it o­n internet and sending it by e mail to all my readers of the Hans Knot International Report but also to someone special. When over in London for years I stayed several times in a Bed and Breakfast in Hanwell. The lady there, Joyce Collier, always had some time to talk after breakfast and wondered why I was so often in England. I told her what the reasons were and that ‘Radio’ was o­ne of the reasons. Hearing my stories she started to tell about her all time favourite ‘Johnny Walker’. So I did sent her a copy of the review and the 78 years old Joyce wrote back: ‘What a nice surprise the letter was, plus the contents. Thank you Hans, you are an angel. Well, what a touching story about dear Johnnie W. He has been down in depth but came through and I can tell what a lovely man he is by instinct. I truly hope he is now happy and content and will keep that wonderful giggle forever! Hope you are both fine. I’ll look out Johnnie’s Autobiography in Smiths and get me copy! Best wishes as always, Joyce!’

Another cartoon was found back by Robbie Dale. This o­ne is from a Punch Magazine in the sixties.

And I can tell you that Robbie Dale has opened his archives. With the good help from Martin van der Ven a lot of Robbie’s archive material is now o­n internet. Just go to www.hansknot.com and surely you’ll find it. Updates are made regularly.

Also o­n this site you can find a ten page long article in Dutch in which I take, together with a lot of former colleagues of Hans Hoogendoorn (Hans ten Hooge o­n RNI) you to the memories o­n this great guy, who is 60 years old this month.

Dick Offringa, a big fan from Radio Luxembourg when it was o­n ‘208’ sent in the next news: ‘Bringing Irish Radio to Europe: RTÉ, Ireland´s National Television and Radio Broadcaster, has just upgraded its longwave transmitter to the new DRM standard. RTÉ´s longwave 252 is the first installation of its type outside of Germany. The new system can now broadcast a clear FM-like sound across the UK and part of continental Europe. It is expected to test in the very near future.’ Let’s wait when testing start Dick.

Talking about Luxembourg, I got an e mail from Jean Pierre in Belgium who is dissatisfied with how the station does sound these days: “I almost never listen to nowadays Luxembourg. What I saw o­n their internet site that they have o­nly four deejays. Their programming doesn’t work proper. You have to look by watching the photos to get more info when they are o­n the air. For the rest you can guess. Deejay ree doo seems to be a non stop guy. If it’s not working well there, I don’t know. Finally is there some o­ne in the listenership of your Report who has recorded Happy RTL in the past? I would love to have a recording. Jean Pierre.’

Thanks Jean Pierre. Hopefully Benny Brown can answer your question, as he’s a reader too. All answers to the last question can be sent to Dit e-mailadres wordt beveiligd tegen spambots. JavaScript dient ingeschakeld te zijn om het te bekijken.

Well time for updates: Just a quick note to let you know I updated The Pirate Radio Hall of Fame earlier today. New this month: Colin Nicol has kindly provided another batch of photos from his mammoth collection of offshore memorabilia - this month two pages of great Radio Caroline DJ photos; and there are more Caroline photos - these are generously contributed by 'The Admiral' Robbie Dale; as the fortieth anniversary of Radio 390's closure approaches, we remember the final moments of this popular middle-of-the-road station with the help of two of the announcers who were there at the time; we hear from Radio City DJ Eric Martin for the first time. He is currently back o­n the air courtesy of a Sussex RSL station, Uckfield FM; and we have added a link to Roger Day's new web site. The Pirate Radio Hall of Fame www.offshoreradio.co.uk

Also have a look o­n the news updates o­n Mary and Chris Payne at www.radiolondon.co.uk
Also all info about the August 4th reunion in London and how to book this event is o­n their internetsite.

And of course also news from Whitstable and Bob LeRoi’s latest update:

In this months Scrapbook a prelude to the broadcasts of Red Sands Radio o­n 1278kHz with the first broadcasts from the forts since 1967. In "One Subject o­ne Link" an interesting observation about local licenses, with stations asking to move the goal posts. More Records & CD's plus we've added some books too at great prices. And new Barge Sailing dates to consider for your trip to sail round the Red Sands Forts out into the Thames Estuary whilst Red Sands Radio is o­n air. Enjoy your visits www.bobleroi.co.uk

Bob also tells us about the Red Sands project again: ‘One of the Radio City’s Top DJ’s and zaniest of the boys returns to the Forts 7 nautical miles from Whitstable. Ian MacRae famous for his sketches as alter ego Auntie Mable will present programmes o­n the new Fort based station Red Sands Radio. Ian who returned to his native Australia when the Pop Pirates had been outlaw carved a highly successful media career down under and is still in radio today. Said Ian “Auntie Mable would be tickled pink to know I’m back, not sure the gin swigging old girl though is up to climbing those rusty ladders anymore. It’ll be great to be o­n a station that comes from the Forts again, I’ve some amazing memories of my time there which I’ll be sharing, in my wildest dreams I’d never have thought I’d broadcast from them again.”
Radio Red Sands launches o­n 14th July 2007 o­n 1278kHz!

Always nice to see people looking for old productions o­n LP. Here’s o­ne from my reader Keith: ‘I am trying to find good copies of the following Albums: ‘10 Years of Offshore Radio’, ‘Another 10 Years of Offshore Radio’, ‘Radio Atlantis Story’, ‘The Radio Northsea Story’ ‘100 ZeeZenders Jingles’ There are a good few books also required, I'll send you a list of the radio books soon, but need to desperately replace all those items they were pinched....Hope that you can help.
Best Regards Keith.’

Anyone who can help Keith can write to Dit e-mailadres wordt beveiligd tegen spambots. JavaScript dient ingeschakeld te zijn om het te bekijken.

Question time for Oscar in Holland: ‘It never became clear to me why the most beautiful radio ship ever, the MEBO II with a heavy AM, two shortwave and even an FM transmitter, had to be torpedoed by those guys from Algeria. Was there any possible buyer in 1977 for a ready to transmit vessel? In my memories there were some planned ventures in those days. Maybe the price was to high and wasn’t that Ronan was o­n the look for a new ship for the very ill lady o­n the North Sea, called Mi Amigo?’

Thanks Oscar with bringing the questions to the report. Well it were the Libyan people, some of the neighbours of Algeria. Ghadaffi was and still is in charge there. It was later than 1977 as in that year the ship came free from Dutch authorities and were brought, under command from Captain Van der Kamp, to the Middle East. At o­ne stage all the transmitters were taken off. There were even 2 shortwave transmitters o­n the ship. Also three AM o­nes. First the original 220, the former Radio 390 o­ne as well as the former 10 kW Veronica transmitter. The latter o­ne was bought by Meister and Bollier from Bull Verwey. All the transmitters were put o­n land in Libya as spare transmitters. When Ghadaffi decided to rebuilt his own transmitter site the MEBO transmitters were taken in force. If anyone can add some info to this please don’t hesitate to sent it to Dit e-mailadres wordt beveiligd tegen spambots. JavaScript dient ingeschakeld te zijn om het te bekijken.  

Next o­ne please: ‘Dear Hans, In your last report you mentioned that you had added to your site some photos that Rob Olthof had provided o­n the fitting out of the Ross Revenge. I can't find these! Where should I be looking? Kind Regards Robert’

Well this time you’ve to go to www.mediapages.nl and there are several pages with photos to find from the archives.

Talking about archives here’s another o­ne from Robbie Dale ’Hi Hans, I have just come across this little treasure among my collection of memorabilia. You recently wrote about someone who lived next to Pinkie talking about the first choice made by Terry Bates for the Amsterdam Office to be located at 130 Koninginneweg Amsterdam Zuid. This artwork was produced by H H and dated 5/67. This clearly points to earlier planning regarding the UK-NL move than previously known. I remember always getting a free copy of H H o­n KLM fights. They did a three page spread o­n me during my “Jam” days. An exclusive for you Hans. Greetings and goodnight, Robbie Dale.’

Of course Robbie is talking about the Holland Harald and ‘someone’ was the famous organist Piet van Egmond living next door the Pinky. Well Pinky we see again Robbie early August. Thanks for the info! And the special can be found in Robbie Dale’s archive which is now o­n www.hansknot.com

Let’s see what happened to Chris Edwards o­n Sunday July 1st in Hanwell: ‘Hi Hans Hope you're well. I've just been over the fields to give Abba a run, and met a lady with a dog called Freyr. Earlier this morning met a dog called O'Rahilly - came from a rescue centre, and originated from Ireland. Neither person has any anorak connections, but made me wonder if anyone has named their pet with an offshore radio connection. A cat named Caroline perhaps, or maybe a fish called Fredericia? Best wishes Chris.‘

Well if you have a pet with an offshore name or connection please feel free to mention it in an email to Dit e-mailadres wordt beveiligd tegen spambots. JavaScript dient ingeschakeld te zijn om het te bekijken.

I know for sure there’s o­ne as my friend Paul de Haan, who is also a dedicated follower o­n offshore radio since the start of Radio Caroline in 1964, has a special dog. Here he is with his Irish Wolfhound called Ronan.

It’s like a photo magazine this time as another nice o­ne comes from Alan Bailey, former technician with Radio Luxembourg. Late June he went to the festivities in memory of the late Alan Freeman. o­ne of the things happening was the official presentation of the memorial plaque by Rick Wakeman, Tim Blackmore, Robin Gibb and Dave MacKay. Also Alan was taken by the camera in the hands from Paul Easton. More photo’s are o­n: www.flickr.com/photos/pauleaston/

Photo: Alan Bailey (Copyright: Paul Easton)

And for those who didn’t know yet: The Emperor Rosko is coming over to the UK at the end of July for o­ne month. He will be broadcasting live from the 'pirate' Radio Essex as well as doing gigs and promoting a new song...’Turn o­n the Pirates’ lyrics are written by Emperor Rosko and Dave Cash and is produced by Muff Murfin and is already released o­n 7th July.

Photo: The Emperor Rosko 2007

Now some words from Martin van der Ven, this year the main responsible man for the programming of the Radio Day in November Amsterdam: ‘The time is running fast and we're o­nly four months away from this year's Radio Day, which will be held o­n Saturday 10th November again in Amsterdam's Hotel Casa 400 near the Amstel railway station (James Wattstraat 75). Our most recent plans include an interview with Steve England o­n his days o­n the MV Mi Amigo in 1973 (Radio Caroline 389) and o­n the MV Jeanine in 1974 (Radio Atlantis). Jelle Boonstra will chat with Tom Mulder (Klaas Vaak) about his wonderful radio career. And last but not least we will have two major events: "The Swinging Radio England Reunion" with Stuart Aiken and Svenn Martinsen co-hosting a discussion with several former SRE jocks ("Swinging Radio England - It was just a job...") and a round table called "Radio Caroline resisting the MOA". Many well known names from the sixties' offshore radio heydays will attend the event. For more details o­n the Radio Day and how to book a suitable hotel go to:
http://www.offshore-radio.de/radioday/

Soon the well known AM frequency 1008 kHz will not bring anymore the good sound of Radio 10 Gold to the people in the Netherlands. A signal which was also received by a lot of listeners in Great Britain, Belgium, French as well as Germany. Owner of Radio 10 Gold. Talpa International, has sold the right to use the AM frequency to ‘Groot NieuwsMedia’ (Big NewsMedia). Director Talpa Radio, Jan Willem Brüggenwirth, announced early July to be very content with selling the rights. Till late July the 1008 kHz will still bring the sounds of Radio 10 Gold. It then will be followed by a program organised by ‘Groot NieuwsMedia’, which is a part of the publishing company ‘Dorpsbode BV Ermelo’. First the station will bring easy music and official programming for the station will start either in November or December. Spokesman Arjan de Heer announced that there will be a lot of attention in the programming for Christianity and news that is important with Christian people. Next to that informative and music programmes. It was earlier this year, in March, that Talpa Radio – owner of Radio 10 Gold – announced that due to economy cuts they wanted to sell the frequency rights for the AM. In that way the owner thought there would be more continuation for the station, which still transmits o­n the wide cable networks in the Netherlands as well as o­n internet. The financial situation at the station became bad after loosing the FM frequencies in 2003. Too high costs for transmitting o­n full power o­n AM brought Talpa to the idea of selling the frequency. The new owner announced that they will programming for all kinds of religious people so also for Jewish, Roman Catholics as well as Evangelic people. There will be a possibility in the future for external religious organisations to hire airtime o­n the new station.

Next November it’s a year ago the annual radio day featured the Voice of Peace reunion as well as the presentation of the English Language Book Memories to the Voice of Peace. The book has more than 250 pages and is still available. Earlier o­n we had a chapter in the report written by Noam Tal from Israel. This time we go back to the late sixties and early seventies when the New York days for the Peace Ship. We see what Russell T. Dodworth, o­ne of the right hands of Abie Nathan, has to remember of the days the Peace ship stayed in the USA in 1969 up till early 1973. Russel did a lot of publicity in those days as well getting Abie in contact with John Lennon: ‘I’m getting older and not too good o­n dates, but I was with Abie Nathan, in New York. Somehow we set up a donkey watch for the plant and general security at the East River pier. I was in those days, in the publicity business mainly with solo artists and bands in the City. I supplied Abie with gratis talent who were so romanced to appear o­n the big, covered hatch aft of the ‘house’, for some of our attraction, which included art shows and benefits. I often slept o­n the Peace Ship, after long nights in Abie's cabin, which was really the whole saloon area of the house. We had shore phones, of course, and o­nce people got to know Abie, they wanted to share some of their contacts who would be useful. In a subtle way, we were making press but the big main liners were a bit timid to do much follow-up. About 2 o'clock in the morning, I picked up the cabin phone and John Lennon, was o­n the other end. Somehow John had heard (through the grapevine) about the Peace Ship and her earnest problems of coming to New York, to raise funds and have the
transmitter equipment donated and installed. I believe it was exactly the same time though it appeared so, both John and Yoko, were staying in bed at a fine Amsterdam hotel for ‘Peace’. Of course, the Lennon's planned this course of publicity for World Peace, in general. He had heard of our ship in New York, and asked for Abie.

Abie wasn't aboard, but John volunteered a whole shipment of ‘John & Yoko’ posters (in bed) which really arrived shortly after. I mentioned that we were doing art shows and auctions at the Commodore Hotel, and we would appreciate any donations of objects or services from any of his contacts. "I will donate my 'Yellow Rolls Royce", John exclaimed. I told Mr. Lennon that I was personally astounded. I think Yoko was right next to him, and I didn't hear any laughter about the surprising idea. "I want you to talk to Abie", I said. "He should get the personal thrill of all of this!" John gave me the direct number and proudly carried it in my ‘Address Book’, to give to Abie.
Nathan got back to Lennon and we received boxes of rolled up posters from John & Yoko, in bed for PEACE, plus posters of the Yellow Rolls in black and white. Lennon's car was being offered, but our auctions were not rendering enough more than to pay the ballroom. We had an original ‘Carot’, worth tens of thousands yet we had to pull it out of the sale. I left the car deal to
Abie, and this would involve surface transportation from London, or where so?

Photo: The mentioned John Lennon’s car (Soundscapes Archive)

Abie was concerned about the time such a deal would take and he could not realise how long we were to be moored o­n the East River. The plans were to run the ship up the Hudson River, to federal lock at Troy, New York, and navigate the New York State Barge Canal to the Great Lakes, sailing to Chicago, to have the radio equipment installed. I thought this was such an
expensive goal; and why couldn't we have it all shipped here? After a good night's sleep, I met with Abie and put forth a good idea for publicity which would make the trip to the Great Lakes, a publicity build. I explained that I could master a plan for interviews and picture editions in all of the local newspapers along the Erie & N.Y. State Barge Canal. With my plan, folks could come down to the locks to greet the Peace Ship, as it locked through.

By the time we got to Chicago, we would have a whole crescendo of interest built up, for an outstanding welcome of Radio-TV news, and the big daily newspapers. I was so discouraged that Abie wasn't interested in the idea, but there came a time when we had arranged for the radio masts to be fastened to the decks. I thought it would be better to do the Atlantic crossing first, and deploy the towers in a Mediterranean port. A few weeks went by, and I found that Abie had ordered a huge derrick o­n a tremendous tractor with steel treads. I was the last to know, and o­n early morning watch, this huge industrial machine slowly crossed over a stone arch bridge over the Franklin Roosevelt Drive or more commonly known as the East River Drive. The mammoth apparatus made is safely over the stone bridge and started erecting its boom that looking like a giant ‘Mecano’ tm. set. By then, the full extent of ‘rush hour’ traffic was cruising by the Peace Ship pier, and here comes the cops!

Photo: o­ne of the many music festivals in New York for Peace (Hans Knot Archive)

Apparently there wasn't a permit to move the boom crane here. I took notes of the gross tonnage and registration numbers, and quickly hailed a cab down the City Engineer's Office. He was a most cordial man, and I presented a small press kit regarding the goals of the ‘Peace Ship’ efforts. The gentleman was quite intrigued as he sat behind his desk that I was busy admiring. The Chief saw me examining his fine desk and offered the information: "This desk used to belong to the famous General Pershing, of World War o­ne!" The ‘bad news’ was that he could not authorise the boom contraption to be sent back over the bridge, as it exceeded the registered stress limits. Emphatically he said that "she has to go off by sea, aboard a barge". Being a publicity man, I mused about how we could turn this big disappointment into a mainline publicity event. I knew guys that worked the picture desks of many of the big papers of New York, and I was anxious to call the assignment editors of television, etc., turning this ‘scar’ into a ‘star’ piece about the plight of the Peace Ship. I contacted Dr. Larry Birns, o­n our Board, and he tamed me down, in his most mature way.

Not long after that incident, I went home to keep better office hours o­n West 58th Street, at the time. I kind of felt spent out, but so many of my clients enjoyed entertaining aboard the ‘Peace Ship’, i.e. the famous ‘Bergerfolk’ and ‘Irene Cara’. Some of my greatest memories have been with the Peace Ship. I've been close friends with ‘Larry Birns’, ever since. He went o­n to found the C.O.H.A., (Committee o­n Hemispheric Affairs), representing countries in the Caribbean Basin, as well as all of South America. We all love Abie Nathan's subtle sense of humour. He sure liked the beautiful girls who would gravitate to the ship o­n fine Sunday afternoons.

Photo: Mixing panel in o­ne of the studio’s (Hans Knot Archive)

There was a time when I was talking business with Abie, at the port side Saloon cabin door. I had his full attention and after a few minutes, I saw his eyes looking over my shoulder- distracted with some of the women who had come down to the quayside. "Abie!" I said: "How do you spell P-E-A-C-E"? "Right now, you must be spelling it with the' I-E', I said. I was also good friends with and Irishman by the name of Patrick Dean. He was a watch-standing engineer at the famous ‘Woolworth Building’, o­nce o­ne of New York's highest buildings. Pat volunteered many hours standing watch and keeping the donkey engines going. He lived in Woodside, Queens, N.Y., and I would sure like to meet him again. However, there are a lot of ‘P.Deans’ in the Borough of Queens, N.Y. phone book.

As many of us, I treasure my times with the Peace Ship effort, and the magnetic Abie Nathan. It’s now nice to see the Peace Ship's story mapped out, right to her briny deep end. Peace be with you, Brother Abie. You were full of magnetism and lived a life of mission that brought you to so many precarious situations. You finally brought your dream ideas to fruition. Russel T, Dodworth’.

Thanks a lot Russel and here more information how to get your own copy of the book :

VOICE OF PEACE MEMORIES AND ABIE NATHAN’S WORK
HANS KNOT (Editor)

This new book edited by Hans Knot tells the history of the Voice of Peace but also tells about 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, is 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. 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.

I also have to tell that a new CD has been released by singer Nick Barnes. I hope it can have some airplay o­n Caroline again as Nick deserves it. It’s called ‘90mph’ and more info can be found at www.nickbarnes.does.it

Well that rounds ups the July edition of the Hans Knot International Radio Report. I hope to bring in next issue two longer stories as Andy Sennit has promised to do a bit o­n 60 years Radio Netherlands and Steve Conway will hopefully come with a flashback o­n his time o­n Radio Caroline.

Anyone who has something to share memories can write to me at Dit e-mailadres wordt beveiligd tegen spambots. JavaScript dient ingeschakeld te zijn om het te bekijken.
Please sent photographs to Dit e-mailadres wordt beveiligd tegen spambots. JavaScript dient ingeschakeld te zijn om het te bekijken.  As I’m away a few times for more days the normal email box will be filled to fast. Happy holiday for those who are going away and for those who will listen to Red Sands Radio or Pirate Radio Essex: Have a lot of fun. Hans Knot

When mentioning ‘Hans Knot archive’ the maker of the photograph is unknown. During the past 40 years a lot of photos have been sent to me by several persons. If anyone thinks his or her name isn’t there, please feel free to mention it.