55 years ago

[Junk Box Nick]

Originally Posted by emeritus

I just remembered that even Pinky & Perky got in on the pirate broadcasting act! Some years ago I bought a commercial VHS cassette with three of the original 1960's BBC programmes (evidently originally recorded from 405-line TV on cine film). One episode featured PPTV, supposedly a pirate television station run by the pair.

Pirate broadcasters captured the imagination. There was an episode of Thunderbirds about a pirate TV station orbiting the earth. I remember that the station featured a jock called Rick O’Shea of which Tracey sister Tin Tin was a fan. Inevitably some disaster occurred and International Rescue were summoned to rescue those on the station.

And, of course, there is the famous Danger Man episode Not So Jolly Roger that was filmed on Red Sands Tower. Radio 390 get an end credit. The episode is available in the usual place.

[Station X]

Originally Posted by Junk Box Nick

The episode is available in the usual place.

Here:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TXxfvkQFBQ

[G6Tanuki]

Fascinating to see a mention of Beacon Radio upthread: they did have a rather obvious pirate-radio vibe in the early days - I remember listening to their pre-launch test-transmissions on a Pye PCR, where one of the deejays/techies running things said something along the lines of "May your 807s always glow bright" before signing-off.

Before they officially launched, my dad had to go to Birmingham on business and, it being a non-College day for me, I managed to persuade him to drop me off at the Beacon Radio offices in Tettenhall, Wolverhampton - which he had to drive past anyway. After a few minutes knocking on the door, they let me in - and I gave them my reception-logs for their last few test - transmissions. They were delighted to know they were being heard on the Wales/Shropshire borders. I came away with a hand-written "QSL-card" and a bag-full of Beacon Radio 303 window-stickers, which I duly handed out to my fellow college students the following day!

[Roger Ramjet]

I recall a guy being prosecuted in Leicester for running a pirate station using a cassette player & battery powered TX in a field.

Small fry but no different to the offshore pirates in my book.

This was only just before the days when the home office kicked off prosecuting illegal CB users.

Rog

[jamesperrett]

I was too young to hear the pirates in their heyday although I did hear the odd RNI and Radio Caroline transmission in the mid 70s. One of my biggest memories of Radio Caroline was hearing Dark Side Of The Moon in its entirety with no interruptions. Around the same time I also got hold of a compilation album of various pirate radio recordings which were put out by Jumbo Records. I know Kenny Everett also played some of the same excerpts on his show on Capital Radio so I don't know if he had anything to do with the compilation. I've just found that the whole album is now on Youtube at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8khHF25P5xk

[Andrew2]

Oops! I've just noticed a typo in my post #14. I said 'What a blow to a radio-mad 24 year old! Ahem. I was 14, not 24

[Sideband]

Originally Posted by Junk Box Nick

It may be remembered that Caroline took over RNI in the run up to the 1970 general election

I was told that Ronan O'Rahilly who started Caroline in 1964, paid RNI a substantial sum to revive Caroline in the weeks running up to the general election.

After the results of the election Ronan was stopped in the street by (presumably) a member of the losing party, and asked 'Why did you do it'? Ronan in his soft Irish tones said 'You hurt Caroline, I hurt you'!

[startreksteve]

Originally Posted by Junk Box Nick

Pirate broadcasters captured the imagination. There was an episode of Thunderbirds about a pirate TV station orbiting the earth. I remember that the station featured a jock called Rick O’Shea of which Tracey sister Tin Tin was a fan. Inevitably some disaster occurred and International Rescue were summoned to rescue those on the station.

TinTin wasnt a Tracey sister, she was Kyrano's daughter...

Steve

[Junk Box Nick]

Thanks!

Sixty years and all this fades from my memory! The Pirate TV station episode is the only plot I can recall – mainly due to the subject – and the name Rick O’Shea sticks because as a kid in short trousers I thought it incredibly clever...

I vaguely recall some moralising about the activities of pirate broadcasters in the storyline. Anyway – it didn’t stop me listening to Radio Caroline!

[Hybrid tellies]

My earliest radio memories go back to 1965/1966. We had a Fidelity transistor radio with a large rotary tuning dial. We live on the Wirral back then and we could hear Radio Caroline very clearly but one slight nudge of that tuning dial and you were in a different cultural world as you found yourself listening to the BBC Third programme which was on 194m from a 1kw transmitter located a few miles away. Radio Caroline North must have been transmitting on 199m back then.

[Phil G4SPZ]

Originally Posted by jamesperrett

I've just found that the whole album is now on Youtube at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8khHF25P5xk

Thanks for sharing that link, James. I was a big fan of the offshore stations (I was 14 in 1967) and searching out their signals got me into MW DX’ing and eventually into amateur radio.

A quick listen to the album, I was delighted to hear a clip of Frobisher Collingwood, the housewives’ favourite and his adverts!

[Aub]

For me it started at Christmas 1965, when i was 11. I received a Phillips Popmaster radio from my parents. My elder sister told me about Radio London and I was hooked from then on.

I use this site to reminisce about Big L and other stations.

https://radiolondon.co.uk/

Cheers all

Aub

[G3VKM_Roger]

I was a Big L fan too, we had quite good reception in my home town, Nottingham.

If you remember the "Danger Man" TV series, then this video on YouTube about a pirate station on the Maunsell towers is worth a look!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TXxfvkQFBQ

73

Roger

[Aub]

Thanks Roger. I saw that some time ago. Must watch it again.

Aub

[telstar]

Hi. The so-called pirate radio era was the most fascinating time of my life. There was always something new to listen to on the radio. I will never forget this era. The problem is that the authorities totally misunderstood the reason why there was a need for offshore radio!
I (as a 9 year old at the time in 1964) thought that it was some kind of fad to broadcast from a ship, and since nobody really explained it out to me about the real reason that these stations were out at sea, then this is how I saw it.
The thing that made it worse is that the pro-government press tried to cause as much bother as possible (intrigue merchants!). You will always get intrigue merchants what ever century that you live in. Many people of a certain age that were offshore radio fans in the 60's have no idea that Caroline has returned for good (legally), and all because they were informed in 1967 that the "pirates" were baddies (which they weren't!).
I still believe that the "Cold War Era" and the "Offshore Radio Era" clashed with each other. My late father did work on Orford Ness for the M.O.D during 1964 to 1967 doing "Top secret" Cold War research, and as I have said before he did not approve with my brother & I listening to offshore radio stations. It was not just the Wireless Telegraphy Act of 1949 (which was badly thought out), it was secret M.O.D police were based on Orford Ness, and they could spring unannounced visits to employees houses to see if anyone knew of what our Dad did for a living. These visits never happened, and we had no idea what his job was. It wouldn't have gone down well for him if they discovered that his kids listened to offshore radio stations.
Sadly, his time at Orford Ness ruined his health, and by 1979 he was gone (aged 53)
I always thought that the 60's should have been a really enjoyable era (which it was to a degree), but this country lost out on its railway system being cut by stealth, and also offshore radio by ignorance

[Doghouse Riley]

in my early twenties around 1964, I managed a branch of a TV and electrical appliance store in North London. I recorded radio Caroline programmes on a reel to reel tape recorder from my own Bush VH64 radio. We played the recorder in the shop.
This sold us a lot of tape recorders. Quite often the customer would want the recorded tape included in the sale. Might seem strange but there wasn't a lot of pop music programmes some people could find.

I didn't mind as it was easy to record another one.

[G6Tanuki]

I'm fond of 'thought-experiments', and often wonder what would have happened if back in the 1950s the BBC had been sidelined for the introduction of FM radio and the task had instead been given to the independent sector, as for ITV's introduction of Band-III TV services.

Providing a music- and youth-targeted alternative to the dull home/light/third-programs would probably have hastened the takeup of FM far faster than was the case with the BBC in charge. Why run a pirate-ship when you could get a licence to tun an onshore 100Kw FM station and get an audience of 25 Million around London to push your music/ads to?

I was an avid listener to the pirates in the 'sixties, along with Lucky Luxembourg 208; I used to delight in leaving the living-room radiogram tuned to 208 or a pirate-station, if only to annoy my father [who despite ruinning a sporadically-successful business still had some strange collectivist ideas like thinking pubs/restaurants/transport should be run by the Government] - he only listened to the BBC, which I used to call "Radio Pravda"..

My trips to the US with my parents in the 'sixties were great: I ;learned to enjoy the diversity and choice of both TV and radio on offer. Coming back to the dull media-nediocrity of the UK was horrible.

Always remember: "Loving Awareness.... is free!