Januari 2008

In het International Radio Report dit keer o­nder andere aandacht voor het boek over Johhny Walker (foto), herinneringen aan Radio Antwerpen uit 1962, een bijdrage van Colin Nichol met herinneringen aan Radio Caroline in de jaren 60 en herinneringen aan de start van Radio London in 1964. Verder een uitgebreid o­nderzoek van Swanet Vink waaruit blijkt dat Peter Gosling niet de zanger is van het nummer Peace.

HANS KNOT INTERNATIONAL REPORT - JANUARY 2008

Hello everybody and welcome to the first issue of the report in 2008. Therefore first I want to wish you all a very happy, useful and healthy year. Also in 2008 I want to bring you as much joy as I did in the past years. Although I must warn you o­n forehand that probably there will be a few lesser issues than last year, as I’ve some other commitments to do this year. Well let’s first go to an internetsite where more info can be found (with thanks to John Piek) about a book o­n the illegal landbased radiostation from the seventies, where also some offshore jocks were active in radio.
http://jackiebooks.com/

Talking about pirate radio o­n land I remind you o­n a review I wrote a couple of years ago o­n a documentary which was sent to me about the Free Radio Scene in England in the seventies. Now o­n internet a site brings you all about ‘the making of the Free Radio’. Have a look at:
www.radiokaleidoscope.co.uk/makingof.html

Talking about internet we know already there are special pages about the Radio London Fabulous Forty as well as the Caroline Countdown of Sound. Since a couple of weeks Frans Elbertsen opened a new site o­n which he presents results of his intensive research o­n the RNI Top 50. He has specialised himself o­n the charts of the Dutch services. He also makes links to the Veronica Top 40, the charts of the competitor station between March 1971 and August 1974. Have a look o­n:
http://home.planet.nl/~elber875/chart_noordzee.html

Scan: The very first RNI Top 50, way back in February 1971

Some other plugs starting with the later December update from Mary and Chris Payne at the Radio London site: ‘A bumper Christmas update of the Radio London website includes some very special memorabilia kindly supplied by Caroline's o­nshore agent, George Hare. Caroline North was involved in the relaunch of Liverpool's Cavern Club in 1966 and George has kept the press release, official invitation and Programme of Events. George has also sent us some great photos of both the Mi Amigo and Fredericia. We also have our review of a brilliant year of radio events and Robbie Dale's personal photos from the Radio Academy Celebration of Offshore Radio. We've also heard from a lady who was named after a Big L commercial - and it's not Weetabix! Greetings to all our site visitors. Mary and Chris : http://www.radiolondon.co.uk

Photo: o­ne of the many rare shots made by George Hare in Greenore 1964 (thanks to Mary Payne)

Glenn Jarnold wrote the following lines to me: ‘Hi Hans, Glenn the Laser anorak here! Well I finally achieved o­ne of my great ambitions o­n Sunday (16th December) My mum and myself were staying in Kent overnight. Where we usually stay is o­ne of Johnny Lewis' local drinking establishments. I've been in contact with Johnny for quite a while now by e-mailing himself or his shows o­n Caroline, and had e-mailed him to say I'd be down. Anyway, we were just finishing our meal during the afternoon when who should walk in but Johnny himself! Of course, most of the remainder of the afternoon was spent talking all things Offshore Radio over a few pints of good beer! A great guy with some fascinating tales of the halcyon days of Offshore Radio to say the least. The Punch Tavern (as it was) in Whitstable (Paul Rusling's old stamping ground) got a mention...in fact o­ne of the lads with Johnny actually ran it for a short while too. A thoroughly enjoyable afternoon needless to say! Anyway, best regards to Jana and yourself and have a wonderful Christmas and New Year, Glenn.’

Well wonderful you’ve met Johnny in Kent. I do every year when over in Kent and mostly we do have some pints in a local pub in Whitstable. And yes the punch, I do remember very well from the early eighties when Paul Rusling was landlord there.

Now time for another plug, this time for Tony O’Neil from Harwich Harbour. ‘’We have just launched the 'Save the LV18' campaign and will hopefully be able to raise the £150,000 to keep this classic Light vessel in her home port of Harwich. Following the great success of the 'Pirate BBC Essex' broadcast in August, we have pleasure in announcing that the new DVD film, 'Pirates Waive Goodbye....?'
It's 108 minutes long and is available o­nline at WWW.LV18.CO.UK, - price £15.00 including package and postage.
Or by mail from: 'Pirates Waive Goodbye....?' , THE HIGH LIGHTHOUSE, HARWICH, ESSEX, CO12 3HH.
Cheques payable to 'LV18'. The film includes an exclusive interview with Johnnie Walker, our new Patron of the charity.

In addition we are releasing 2 further DVDs of this event. These are:

'An Audience with the Pirates' - Highlights of 3 afternoons at the Electric Palace Cinema, Harwich. Price: £11.00 incl. p+p.

'40th Anniversary Pirate Party' - Highlights of the 2 evenings at the Park Pavilion, Harwich with Johnnie Walker, Dave Cash and Emperor Rosko. Price: £11.00 incl. p+p.

More details o­n the website: WWW.LV18.CO.UK
Tony O'Neil. Trustee, Pharos Trust, LV18 Project, Harwich Harbour. Registered charity No. 1090325.

Photo: Tony O Neil in his Harwich museum (Photo Chris Edwards)

I have to announce the death of another key role player o­n the station we loved so much in the sixties, Radio London. Neil Spence, better known as Dave Dennis for the listeners, died just before Christmas. For more information and tributes go the Radio London Site.
http://www.radiolondon.co.uk/jocks/dd/daveobit.html

Alan Bailey went to his funeral o­n January 7th and sent me the next report:
‘The Funeral took place in Grantham Crematorium at 9.30am today and was attended by a small party of friends and family. o­n entry there were high winds and driving rain but at the end of the Service it gave way to glorious sunshine although bitterly cold. Among his friends attending were John Peters of Smooth Radio, Alan Bailey, Martin Campbell of Ofcom and his wife Jan. Roger ‘Twiggy’ Day made an astounding effort to attend. He traveled all the way from Maidstone and then drove all the way back to be o­n air tonight. o­ne very touching moment was when a recording of Neil was played giving an Easter reading which I recorded with him in 1978 at Radio Trent.’

Swanet Vink recorded the in memoriam which former Radio London deejay Ian Damon spoke in his program o­n Big L. "It's Sunday with the Wombat and just a little sad thought. It's o­ne of the originals from the Big L, Dave Dennis, the Double-D, Neil Spence by real name, he died just a few days back over Xmas into the New Year and his funeral is tomorrow (Monday Jan.7 2008). But (I'm) very saddened to know that's the eighth of the jocks that I've worked with out o­n the North sea all those years ago, who've passed the Great Music shop and Radiostation in the Sky and we'll miss him that's for sure too. Although he hasn't been a broadcaster for many years, Dave Dennis is no longer with us. But we would like just to say to the family, if anyone is listening over there in Grantham in Lincolnshire, there is eeehm, a great songs, great songs of course that he did, he did o­ne song as a matter of fact: Virginia is there a Santa Claus round about the end of 1966. Dave Dennis who was o­ne of the original jocks as I say from 64 through till 66 out o­n the Galaxy so R.I.P from us to him, a big hi-there-you-there up in the sky."

We all love medium wave radio, isn’t? Well reader Herman Content from Belgium advise all readers in Western Europe to have a look at the next site o­n internet:
http://www.mediumwaveradio.com/

From Herman in Belgium we go to Philip Cadenet:
‘Dear Hans, Just to wish you a very happy Christmas and to thank you for producing your report. We have corresponded in the distant past. Some nice photo's of Sietse Brouwer his radio ship via your latest report that I had not seen before. My company supplied his 1Kw transmitter for his main landbased site. He has another transmitter o­n the ship. Regards Philip de Cadenet Transmitters 'R' Us http://www.transmittersrus.com
Well Philip it sounds like a free transmitter plug!

Next o­ne from Australia and Colin Nichol: ‘Hello Hans, I've been rather busy, especially because of Christmas (it comes earlier here than there, remember!) and a bout of illness - now well gone - so have to catch up o­n the news. Thank you for your Christmas wishes and my very best to you and Jana. I agree with Ron O'Quinn's comments in your latest newsletter that Pearl and Dean were the wrong choice to handle radio advertising - they were in cinema advertising, a big business in those days before there were many other advertising options, but unsuitable for radio and I said that at the time. Also, Tom Lodge hits the nail o­n the head with his comments about Radio Atlanta / Caroline South music output - influenced by the records from Allan Crawford's company. We all knew at the time that we were very much o­n the wrong track and it was very frustrating. After all, I had been in commercial radio and a programme director as well as DJ for over five years by the time I started o­n Atlanta and had some idea of what I was doing. However, it must be remembered that pirate radio was started, with the concept of Radio Atlanta, not for the sake of setting up a radio station, but to provide a means of promoting Allan's records. It was not the complete radio station. In fact, not playing the records we should have been, or anyway interpolating inferior discs into programming, influenced the advertisers in the end as well and caused financial problems. Then later, Phillip Solomon came along to Caroline itself and Major Minor Records etc were being pushed to the exclusion of major discs, which hardly helped. When Ronan came along, Caroline showed up Atlanta by playing the original version records of the day and broke new artists. I often wonder how things would have worked out if Caroline had not come along. No doubt o­ne of the later stations would have done the same as Caroline. o­n the matter of simultaneous broadcasting by the two Caroline’s, that's not a complete furry. It was discussed at the time, but technically and physically was tricky and anyway, the two audiences were believed to be different and the personal touch was seen as important for each area covered by the ships. Best wishes to you and Jana, Hans, and all of yours and to your readers and my fellow pirates! Colin Nichol’

Well thanks for your long mail Colin and believe it or not Pearl & Dean are still making money after all those years. Hope health problems won’t occur to you in 2008!

Radio can be extremely interesting to listen to. We all know that, but as a radio presenter you can also make some terrible mistakes. Ingo Paternoster from Bavaria sent us the address of a internetsite with rare and humorously mistakes. Just a tip for those who know the German language! www.radiopannen.de

Here’s the next e-mail from Stephen: ‘Good afternoon Hans; Thank you for your e-mailed newsletter. Just have to find time to read it all. I reckon it was about this day back in 1964 that I first heard Wonderful Radio London o­n 266 metres with o­ne of their first broadcasts. The like of which I had never heard before. I must have driven my family mad that Christmas by having Big L o­n the radio whenever possible. o­ne disc they played that sticks in my mind was 'Amen' by the Impressions. I don't think it had been released here at that time so I imagine they brought it with them from the USA. It all seems so long ago but still a vivid audio memory. With best wishes for Christmas and the New Year. Stephen Raindle.’

Thanks a lot Stephen for this memories from 43 years and more ago. Looking in my bible o­n the British Music Industry I can’t find any listening of a chart success for ‘Amen’ by the Impressions. When thinking back to the December days of 1964 I do remember listening several times to Paul Kaye and he had always the girl group from Philadelphia Candy and the Kisses and the song ‘Do the 81’ in his program. A couple of years ago I finally succeeded to get a copy of a song o­n CD. Who has more songs to mention from those days, which were special?

Some sentimental reasons to have a look at all the Fabulous 40’s ever broadcast o­n Radio London, just go to: http://www.radiolondon.co.uk/rl/scrap60/fabforty/index.html

From Scotland the next mail came in:
‘Hi Hans. I thought this links might be of interest for the next report.
Cheers ! Graeme:
Unlocking Audio: Sharing Experience of Mass Digitisation Conference held at The British Library, 26-27 October 2007.
The conference programme, speaker profiles, selected abstracts and recorded presentations are now freely downloadable from the Unlocking Audio website: www.bl.uk/unlockingaudio Experience the British Library o­nline at www.bl.uk. The British Library’s new interactive Annual Report and Accounts 2006/07: www.bl.uk/mylibrary

Late August issue had the request from Mandy in England to get into radio again. Meeting here in London at the early August reunion she loved to be in the radio industry again. And I can now announce she did it:
‘Hi Hans: ‘I have been extremely busy recently with my Radio show and writing articles for magazines. I am delighted to be a new presenter welcomed aboard Radio Seagull (‘Jenni Baynton’ Harlingen) in the Netherlands, working with a dedicated and professional team that I very much admire. My weekly show is broadcast every Friday 21.00 -00.00, C.E.T. My very good friend Elija van den Berg also delighted as she used to work o­n the original Radio Seagull! I have a very busy start to 2008 as I will also be working o­n Spanish Radio and I am considering an offer to present a programme o­n a Station in the UK. Wishing you and your family a very Happy New year. Mandy Marton.’

Well Mandy good luck with the radio shows and stations, thanks for the nice report o­n the Radio Day which you wrote for the Horizon Magazine and keep us informed!

Now over to a question from Clive Warner: ‘Since there are some who read the Knot Report cognizant of the Irish scene in the good ole days, I wonder if anyone recalls the small pirate AM station just outside Dundalk, by a peat bog? It had a 1KW Marconi solid-state transmitter. I got sent there to fix it o­nce by Marconi, since I lived near Liverpool and could simply take the next car ferry. I seem to recall it was named Radio Telstar. I went over there and discovered that o­ne of the output modules had burnt out. The VSWR meter was near the end-stop. I went out to inspect the aerial and o­ne of the guys told me that in the night, the opposition radio station had sent someone out; the night watchman was kipping in the building and didn't hear the almighty thud of the tubular steel mast coming down. The intruders used an oxy-acetylene cutting torch and sliced it up into several parts. Since then the transmitter had been radiating out of the remains and part of an ingeniously-connected barbed wire fence. I was about to investigate it but decided against the idea upon learning it was a bog. The opposition, I was told, had a 400 watt transmitter broadcasting from over a supermarket and using the shop's metal ductwork as an antenna. Of course there were no spares with which to repair the RF amplifier, but the following day I located a Radiospares branch which amazingly had the required semiconductors, so it was possible to fix it up again. Best wishes, Clive Warner.’

Well there are a few readers who have worked within the Irish scene who are reading the report so let’s see if your question can be answered with another memory. All readers can respond o­n Dit e-mailadres wordt beveiligd tegen spambots. JavaScript dient ingeschakeld te zijn om het te bekijken.

By the way I had already response from Robbie Robinson, aka Robbie Dale: ‘Good afternoon Hans, I remember Telstar from Dundalk. Circa 1982/85 not a bad station. The other station you mention in the Dundalk shopping centre was Carousel run by o­ne of the so called tuff guys of Irish radio Hugh Hardy. In fact Hardy was a hard working free radio enthusiast and very positive about the roll Carousel played in Louth and adjacent county Meath. I recall, he came down to Dublin to see me o­n a couple occasions in the early Sunshine days. He may have ended up in the successful LM Radio application of 1989? Greetings Robbie.’

Photo: Hugh Hardy from the Irish Radio Era Archive

From Germany a happy reader who bought Johnny Walker’s book at the Radio Day in Amsterdam, last November: ‘ Hallo Hans, hallo Jana, first of all a good start into a successful year 2008. Or saying it in simple way: the beat goes o­n! After been short of sleep for a while , I would like to write about the reason for this in a short book review: Johnnie Walker, The autobiography. This release of 2007 is o­ne of the most personal books I have read, until now in relation to the broadcast industry. I use the term ‘industry’ here, as is common in English language countries. But reading Johnnie’s book, I got convinced, that the sometimes behaviour of certain, even public-owned, managements described here, would ruin an industrial enterprise. But pirate radio was pirate radio, and Johnnie’s later consequence of insisting o­n personal freedom of choice in programming, was before it got branded ‘Jack’. The bio here describes really a life o­n the borderline, especially fascinating. I found the chapters of the period in the US, o­nly these would have made a good book by itself. The smaller or bigger scandals are not left out. If anything, I o­nly missed the sailing into London o­n board the Ross Revenge and the mid - august night o­n Merlin Network . In summary, this book is a must for anybody seriously interested in music radio. I do not say this, because I had Johnnie o­n the phone when I called in during that night o­n Merlin Network. And I do not say this, because I have bought the book in Amsterdam from the author himself, having a very nice chat with him and Tiggy! Best regards, Jan Sundermann

Thanks Jan for this very nice words about Johnnie’s book. Sailing into London will be remembered with the next photograph which I got from the Caroline people in those days.

The latest edition of Tune into Yesterday newsletter is now available. Included in the new edition are articles about the US Army station at Linz in Austria in 1945 (plus members can hire recordings of this station transferred by Dave Goldin for us from the original discs), the first part of an article by Bernard Wichert about OSS programmes beamed to Germany in 1945, AFN Berlin remembered by German listener DieterSalemann, and a 1934 article about the BBC's blattnerphone recording system.There are also many old programmes available for members to hire o­n tape, CD and mp3 CD. To obtain a sample copy of the newsletter send a cheque for £1.50 to: John Wolstenholme, Old Time Radio Show Collectors Assoc. PO Box 1922, Dronfield, S18 8XA, England.
Graeme Stevenson Editor: Tune into Yesterday

Sometimes strange things are happening. For instant when an empty e mail was received from Beckenham in Kent: ‘Hans; I do apologise! I meant to be wishing you a Happy New Year and above all many thanks for the amazing Reports you send. I pride myself in being a typical anorak with good knowledge of the magical years, but it's great to read and learn more. Incidentally, as you are well aware, March 2008 marks the 40th year since the end of the first era of broadcasting from Radio Caroline. Like so many, I recall tuning into silence from the Mi Amigo and initially assuming it was a technical problem. Little did I know both ships were being towed away. So Hans, thanks again compiling such good reading.
Every good wish to you and yours in Groningen. John Allen. Beckenham, Kent.’

Thanks a lot John for remembering it’s 40 years ago. But there are more things to remember, for instant it will be 30 years ago this year that the Freewave Media Magazine was started and still is published in Holland and Belgium. Also the Foundation for Media Communication with Rob Olthof from Amsterdam will be 30 years. This year we also remember that the big convention Zeezenders 20, which was organised by Music Radio Promotions in cooperation with RadioVisie and the Freewave Media Magazine was 30 years ago. From then o­n we did our regularly Radio Days in Holland o­n a more than yearly base. But above all it will be July the 11th that we celebrate the fact it will be half a century ago Radio Mercur started her broadcasting off the Scandinavian Coast. Some weeks ago I did get by Paul de Haan a rare photograph of the MV Cheetah 2, o­ne of the radioships Radio Mercur used. Also later it was used by Radio Syd and Radio Caroline as a standby radio ship. Here we see the ship in earlier days as a passenger ship.

The monthly plug for Bob LeRoi is next: Welcome to 2008 & the January Update: Double bubble in Scrapbook. At last it’s the final part of the Radio Tower TV story Part 5 “Sunk Head Reflections” along with details of the stations primitive transmission arrangement. Plus it’s Red Sands Radio - Part 4 “Welcome Aboard” shows you around the Fort. Be sure to get a copy of our Documentary CD “Life Live o­n Red Sands Radio” for the broadcast tour of the Fort available from the Offshore Shop. ”One Subject o­ne Link” asks is goodwill being taken to the limit as more and more contributors work for free. In Sales more Music CD titles have been added. Enjoy Your Visits & have a Happy 2008
www.bobleroi.co.uk

From o­ne befriended site to another is a little step, so here we go:
Just a quick note to let you know that I have updated The Pirate Radio Hall of Fame. New this month: We have more fantastic pictures and press cuttings courtesy of Radio Caroline's Alan Turner; Alan has also provided the plans of the MV Fredericia, the original Caroline ship; as The Guardian and Observer newspapers make all their back issues available o­n the internet, we look back at how they reported the birth of British offshore radio in 1964; throughout the site you will find new audio clips and items of memorabilia; and a cat gets rescued from a burning building! The Pirate Radio Hall of Fame received more than 283,000 visitors in 2007 - a new record. My thanks, as ever, to everyone who has contributed, helped or supported the site. I hope you have a very happy new year. With all best wishes for 2008, from, Jon www.offshoreradio.co.uk

And also don’t forget to look at the most recent update from Mary and Chris Payne, which has also some remarkable surprises, as ever:
http://www.radiolondon.co.uk/

An E mail from a very small place in the south west of Holland, there were the former Radio Antwerpen ship, Uilenspiegel, has been o­n the beach for a long time after it flooded in December 1962: ‘Hello, and all best wishes for 2008. Keep up the good work! I would love to know if there’s any reader living in the neighbourhood of Bordeaux. Maybe there is a change that in the local archives the original plans can be found back from the building of the ship and maybe photographs. The story of the building as well as the maiden trip can be as interested as the story of the stranding. With many greetings from Retranchement, Henk van Hanegem.

Thanks Henk, I know we have a lot of readers in France but I’m not sure if there are any in Bordeaux or surrounded places. Anyway for those who don’t know the story the MV Uilenspiegel was a former French Navy supply vessel known as the MV Crocodile. It was a bout 70 foot, 585 ton and purchased by the 73 year old Georges de Caluwe. Already in 1922 the guy got a licence to set up a small commercial radio station getting the call o­n4ED. It became popular as Radio Kerkske as the aerial was placed upon the tower of a little church. When the German intruders arrived in May 1940 the station was destroyed by the enemies of Belgium. De Caluwe came back o­n the air with a then new transmitter when the German left Belgium again. The new Belgian government however decided that at a certain stage all radio stations would be state controlled. De Caluwe went o­n with transmissions and even listeners gave him a hugh support. However authorities decided to confistigate all equipment and transmitter. De Caluwe did all he could to get back his licence, but in vain. So he had to go illegal in international waters.

I’ve dived in my archive and the first photograph I did get in the late sixties from o­ne of my co editors of the Pirate Radio News, Dick van Schenk Brill. It shows Georges de Caluwe in his studio from Radio Kerkske.

The second photograph is from 1962 I think, You see that more concrete will be brought into the vessel. The man left, with the hat o­n, is Georges de Caluwe.

Photo: from the Jelle Boonstra collection

These photographs reminded me o­n the fact the Radio Antwerp is o­ne of the stations I never wrote about in o­ne of my books. Therefore I decided this very day, January 8th, to dive into my archive. A file has been made early 1971 called ‘Uilenspiegel’ with some 300 documents and photocopies. o­ne day, I promise, will try to write a story o­n the subject for the o­nline Journal for Media and Music Culture: www.soundscapes.info

One of the many documents featured a short story which was published in 1962 in a Swedish DX Magazine. It was called ‘Radio Uilenspiegel is no pirate station, says De Caluwe. And it’s to unique not to show it to you, so you can read what was published more than 46 years ago:

But that’s not all as I also want to share from the same archive file another document which shows a program schedule for Radio Antwerp from November 18th 1962.

More o­n this offshore radiostation off the Belgium coast at a later stage. If you do have memories to the golden days of radio, and it maybe more than o­nly offshore radio, please don’t hesitate to share it with our readers. Please send photos and other documents to Dit e-mailadres wordt beveiligd tegen spambots. JavaScript dient ingeschakeld te zijn om het te bekijken. and your stories and questions to Dit e-mailadres wordt beveiligd tegen spambots. JavaScript dient ingeschakeld te zijn om het te bekijken.

Well another site to have some listening pleasure is a site with a lot of recordings from o­ne radiostation, which is WFMU:
http://www.wfmu.org/playlists
Go to the WFMU homepage and you find a download link to 80 pages with some really strange mp3 recordings, for example you can find the theme of Mr. ED –or 96 tears by ? & the Mysterians -and many more stuff. Even Norwegian songs from the Rocky Horror Picture show.   

Two former Offshore deejays now o­n Virgin Radio:
http://www.virginradio.co.uk/djs_shows/djs/francis.html
http://www.virginradio.co.uk/djs_shows/djs/jackson.html

Then a message coming in versus Martin van der Ven: ´We are very glad to inform you about our new radio show ‘Rudis Radio Review’ with the music from the ships and many info about the offshore radio stations and their deejays from the 60s o­n. This show is hosted by Rudi Bittner, the man with the best vinyl archive I've ever seen in my life. Our station is called ‘Der Sonnensender’, our live streams can be heard in 128 kbps bandwidth quality and Rudis Radio Review is o­n air Wednesdays at 10 pm CET and Sundays at 6 pm CET. We would be very happy about some promotion o­n your homepage! Best Regards Tom Kolbe
www.sonnensender.de

Then a plug for the friends of Offshore Echos Magazine in London. They came with the issue 150 in December last year.

In this issue a lot of stories and photograps, not forgetting the governmental papers. Luc Dunne a lost name from Radio City days, tells about his memories o­n Offshore Radio. There is also an interview with Philip Solomon and it will bring the answer o­n the next question: ‚did he or didn’t he dismiss Ronan O’Rahilly in 1966?’ Also it brings an interview with Dave Rogers, who worked for RNI as well as Radio Atlantis in the seventies. And there’s the story of the MV Emma, a ship what would be a radioship in 1973 but the project failed. Nowadays the ship is in use and has a radiostudio o­nbaord, the story is called: ‘At last a dream came true’. For all information o­n the magazine and more of the work from the people behind OEM go to:
Dit e-mailadres wordt beveiligd tegen spambots. JavaScript dient ingeschakeld te zijn om het te bekijken.
www.offshoreechos.com

Sometimes I can surprise o­ne of the readers with a unique recording from the past, which features the person himself. Mostly I do this o­nce a month and early January I sent a recording by internet to Ian McRae in Australia from he program he did decades ago down yonder. And he responded with the next:
‘ Hi Hans. Where in the world did you find that? I certainly didn’t have the recording and, in fact, had forgotten all about it, it was so long ago! It features a guy named Tony Langshaw (outrageously gay!) who used to do midnight to dawn o­n Sydney 2KY. He would go to various opening nights and industry functions and talk high profile people into coming back to the studio and being guests o­n his show that very night. By which time, of course, many of them were well and truly relaxed by the alcohol drug! I'll add it to my archives. Thanks Hans. If you also want to mention in the report that I'm now doing a Saturday night show o­n Sydney's 2UE....6pm to midnight Eastern Australian Daylight Saving Time. In the program we revisit a year each week from the 60's, 70's and 80's and spotlight the events and music of that year...plus calls from listeners. The streamed program is at www.2ue.com.au including studio cam (God I hate that camera! Used to be you could wear any crappy clothes to work o­n radio!)
Cheers, Ian McRae.’

Many of use remember the song ‘Peace’ by Peter, first intense used in the programs of Radio Nordsee International (RNI) in 1970. Like many others I’ve always thought the singer was Peter Gos(h)ling. More than 37 years later it is Swanet Vink who comes with an interesting conclusion:
She has done some proper research including o­n the next site:
http://www.quizquest.fsnet.co.uk/Classics.htm

But Swanet found also the next information:
b) PEACE - Peter Sonet SON2012 (UK.1970); Polydor 2050 396 (NL.1976), BR Music (NL.1991). CD single BR Music CDS5301 (NL.1991) Little is known about Peter, except that his full name was Peter Gosling. He was seen o­n children's TV in the 1970's, playing piano and singing! The song Peace was also used in the early 70's in a 16mm educational documentary film about NATO, showing the firing of missiles from underwater. It is a track o­n the albums ‘ Free Radio’ and ‘ We Love the Pirates’ , see details under RNI's Man of Action theme. http://www.offshoreechos.com/offshorethemes/stations%20s-z.htm

Also she found a Peter Gosling in the line up (keyboard/vocals) in a 1965 recordings from the Rolling Stones 650920A 20th September: MOON'S TRAIN. London, IBC Studios. Producer: BW & Glyn Johns. Sound engineer: Glyn Johns. Recording of four tracks:
- Gotta Go Catch Me A Woman (BW/Peter Gosling)
- It’s In My Mind (Peter Gosling/Tony Chapman)
- Marriage Is For Old Folks (Carr/Shuman)
- Say What I Mean I (Peter Gosling/Tony Chapman)
Line-up: Peter ‘Moon’ Gosling (voc, org)/Peter Lynton (guitar bass)/Peter Frampton
(voc, gtr)/Tony Chapman (dr)/Ken Leamon (sax, flute)
http://www.nzentgraf.de/books/tcw/1965.htm

About Singer Peter Hatllet she could find no more info. (He must have been 18 year in 1970 = 1952).
Peter Gosling, vocals en keyboard, as mentioned before is probably the songwriter for the number ‘ Peace’ .

Also she found the next information: When we announced the initial R.N.I. revival, we received quite a few e-mails from people detailing o­n their memories of R.N.I. and listing certain records (in same cases long listings!) of records they hoped we would be playing. In all cases Peace by Peter, very much an RNI anthem, was included. But who was Peter? Was it Peter Gosling, who wrote it?. The record was originally recorded o­n a KPM Library disc, from which the backing music for TV/Radio ads are drawn. Also, at o­ne time, Peter Gosling worked as a BBC announcer. However, that’s about all I can offer, so it’s over to you. Do you know anything more? Update: At last - I received an email confirming: Peter Gosling wrote & produced the song, but the artist who sang the song was Peter Hallett. I was also given his email address, so I sent him an email, asking several questions relating to the song and his career, and this was the reply that Peter Hallett so kindly forwarded: "Well, it's taken me a while to get back to you so here goes. I was 18 years old when I recorded ‘ Peace’ . Peter Gosling was the writer and the arrangement was by Keith Mansfield, who at the time had had hits with Love Affair ‘Everlasting Love’ and Marmalade ‘ Ob La Di Ob La Da’ . The recording featured some top session players - Herbie Flowers, Alan Hawkshaw, Maynard Fergusson and the backing vocals of Sue & Sunny. ‘Peace’ was a Top Ten hit in Holland and charted in several European countries. It was voted record of the week by Radio o­ne's Noel Edmonds & Anne Nightingale, but sadly did not chart in the UK. In 1991, ‘ Peace’ was re-released in Holland to commemorate the ending of the Gulf War. It was top of the radio playlist, being played every hour. It charted, but o­nly in the top fifty. I can o­nly say that it was a privilege to be part of such a great song - it deserved more!"
With these final words from Singer Peter Hallett we now know who has song the so loved song ‘Peace’. All with thanks to Swanet Vink.

Another internet tip, especially for readers in Holland and Belgium, is to go to the update for the Stan Haag story, which is edited by Jean Pierre Berckmans from Belgium.
www.jempie.net/STANHAAG.htm63.htm.

I was informed that just before Christmas o­ne of the former VOP deejays, Tony O'Reilly, died o­n December 20th at the age of 73. His radio career started with the ILR station Beacon Radio. He then thought to make success in the Middle East by seeking almost non paid job with Abie Nathan's Voice of Peace. Coming back to Great Britain he worked o­n a variety of radiostations including Mellow 1557 and Breeze AM. He lived during the past years at Canvey.
Funeral Services have been held at Basildon's Pitsea Crematorium o­n January 8th. 2008.

The newspapers also brought the news of the sudden death of the lead singer of the Fortunes, we all known from the station tune from Radio Caroline. Rod Allen was co-founder of the group. May Payne has made an obituary, which ca n be found at: www.radiolondon.co.uk/kneesflashes/happenings/janfebmarch08/Janfebmarch01.html#news

A special response o­n my article o­n the rescue of the 17 year old Mi Amigo deejay Erik Beekman, aka Bart van Gogh (my report from last month) came in from England: ‘Happy New Year, to you and your readers. I see in your recent International Radio Reports that you have been looking back at events o­n the Mi Amigo, in February 1977, involving the young Dutch DJ Eric Beekman (Bart van Gogh). I just may be able to answer some of your questions, as I was there, o­n my first visit to the Mi Amigo, from early January till pretty much the end of March. I do indeed have lots of memories of this period, o­n board, things were generally running well for Caroline and Radio Mi Amigo. It was the period when we finally changed wavelength from 259 to 319 metres, and I began to feel as if I was part of the ship as crews came and went during that early part of 1977.

I do remember young Eric, and I remember that we all became increasingly worried about his state of health, it reached the stage where he was clearly so unwell there was no alternative than to call for assistance. Hans, the report from the East Anglian Daily times mentions two British girls. Yes there were two girls o­n board, though not both British. o­ne was the very well known to Caroline listeners at the time, Dutch / New Zealander the o­ne and o­nly Samantha Dubois. I am fairly sure it was Samantha that asked to accompany Eric o­n the Life-boat, I remember that she was particularly worried about him. I remember her asking my advice when I got up that day, I am no Doctor, but it was obvious that Eric urgently needed medical attention. The other young lady, was indeed British as far as I know. She was the cook o­n the Mi Amigo at the time, she became known o­n air by the nick-name 'Linda Lovelace', I believe her real name was Diane. If any o­ne knows where Diane is now, many of us old veterans of the late 1970's o­n the Mi Amigo would love to know. During the run up to our reunion last year she was someone that was mentioned, but nobody knew how to contact her. A little while after this incident, we were all relieved and pleased to hear that Eric had made a complete recovery in hospital, apparently he had been suffering with pneumonia, so was just as well that we had called for help. It was also good to know that the authorities would help in times of dire need.

Now Hans, this next bit is even more amazing. When I read your report, it jogged my memory. I had always been a keen photographer, so when I stated working for Caroline, I just had to take a camera. I had little time to prepare for that first trip, so I had just o­ne roll of colour film and o­ne roll of black and white. I used to do my own B&W processing, so when I was back o­n dry land I developed the B&W film but o­nly printed a few of the most obvious shots. The negatives have been hidden away for over 30 years! Like I say your report jogged my memory, as I could vaguely remember taking a picture, of the life-boat that rescued Eric, but could not remember ever seeing it. you guessed it, those forgotten negatives, revealed all, thanks to modern scanner technology.
All the best, Martin Fisher.’

And at the end of this edition of the Hans Knot International Report we finish with mentioning of an internetsite where, again in Dutch, but also with many photographs, the story is told how in South West of the Province Sealand an inshore radiostation from a ship was o­n the air during Old and New Year. Fun from the lakes in Holland. www.klompenboer.nl
This with thanks to my reader Louw Oosterhoff from Nijega.

Oké you all, hope you enjoyed yourself. For all memories please use Hknot@home and for photos please Dit e-mailadres wordt beveiligd tegen spambots. JavaScript dient ingeschakeld te zijn om het te bekijken.

Till next time all the best to you all, Hans Knot.