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Bristol's
very own Radio Caroline is a no-nonsense indie/rock
station, bringing listeners a powerful cocktail of pop,
rock and attitude in a vibrant and dynamic way. The
group plan to run a series of one-month broadcasts with
the intention of bringing a permanent new alternative
for the "real" music-loving people of Bristol.
The group franchise the station name from its friends
at Radio Caroline, a station with a huge amount of heritage.
The section below gives a flavour of their colourful
history.
On Easter Sunday 1964 Simon Dee announced "This
is Radio Caroline on 199; your all day music station".
Caroline was on the air, the monopolies of the BBC and
Luxembourg were shattered and UK radio was changed forever.
With no speeches, lectures, gardening tips or cookery
suggestions and no music shows where massed banjo bands
murdered current pop hits, by the autumn of 1964 Caroline
had more listeners than all the BBC networks.
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From
the day that Caroline appeared the UK government made
threatening noises but no serious action was taken.
Increasingly however there were more independent broadcasters
sending programmes into the UK and twenty million people
were listening. For the government, things were getting
out of hand but it was a delicate matter, trying to
legislate against a pastime which was providing a third
of the population with the best fun they had enjoyed
in a long time.
Through
spring and summer of 1967 the offshore stations campaigned
against the proposed Marine Broadcasting Offences Act.
The Conservatives were cautiously in favour of future
commercial broadcasting, but Labour in power were implacably
opposed to it. Only the veteran MP Manny Shinwell said
the pirates deserved 'a fair crack of the whip'.
On
the question of why licences could not be awarded, the
answer, now shown to be spurious was that there were
simply no radio frequencies available. Clearly public
opinion counted for little and early in the morning
of March 3rd 1968 tugs simultaneously approached both
radio ships, cut the anchor chains and towed them to
Holland there to be impounded for debt. The defiant
dream had failed.
By
1970 in spite of Caroline's experiences. two Swiss businessmen
still considered that offshore radio could be a profitable
pastime and equipped at great cost the vessel Mebo 2
as the base for Radio North Sea International. Ronan
O'Rahilly convinced the Swiss that public sympathy for
them would be greatly enhanced by renaming the station
Radio Caroline
Late
in the evening of May 15th 1971 an explosive device
set the engine room and stern of the radio ship ablaze.
Caroline
returns in the shape of the vessel Mi Amigo. Political
and geographical unrest continues.
By
the autumn of 1974 the Mi Amigo was the last radio ship
broadcasting to Europe.
The
last return to air after a long absence due to generator
failure happened in April 1979. In a voice full of emotion
Tony Allan explained that the station would stay with
the listeners.' for as long as humanly possible'. It
was his concise way of saying that the end was not far
off.
On
March 19th 1980 Mi Amigo broke anchor again and while
the crew lowered a spare the drift was halted with the
vessel in shallow water and heavy seas. As the rising
tide lifted her and pounded her old hull on the seabed,
many leaks sprang up in the engine and generator rooms
at the stern. After struggling for eight hours with
portable pumps the crew admitted defeat. I'm sure we'll
be back one way or another. For the moment from all
of us, goodbye and God bless'. These were the last words
spoken on air from the Mi Amigos transmitters. A few
minutes after the crew were rescued by the lifeboat
Helen Turnbull, the ships lights went out as sea water
engulfed the generator and Mi Amigo sank. It seemed
to all observers that this was the final end for Radio
Caroline.
Throughout
1981 and 1982 Ross Revenge made steady progress toward
becoming a radio ship,but there were delays and many
problems. Soon, disgruntled investors were trying to
hijack the entire operation either by force or court
action. These disputes ran over into 1983 and while
Ronan's team eventually emerged victorious it was a
hollow victory leaving him with no money and an incomplete
ship.
Finance
to complete preparation and release the ship from Spain
was raised by desperate means and Ross Revenge was towed
out of Santander in early August 1983. The on air deadline
was August 14th, the sixteenth anniversary of the law
that had been intended to finish Caroline off. Ultimately,
from the best radio ship ever built, albeit painted
the wrong colour, on the wrong date, wrong channel and
with the wrong music policy, Radio Caroline had returned.
Although nobody knew at the time, the date of August
19th would one day become famous for an entirely different
reason.
In
August 1985 a ship chartered by the British Department
of Trade and Industry anchored close to Caroline. The
plan was to identify any ship approaching her and to
track each one back to its home port where the operator
could be prosecuted under the terms of the Marine Offences
Act.
In
mid November 1987 Britain was hit by a hurricane. All
shipping ran for shelter aside from Ross Revenge. Of
the vessels caught at sea one large freighter capsized
off Dover and a continental ferry was driven aground
on a Kent beach. Ross Revenge rode the hurricane out
and to her surprise found the next day that she was
one of the few radio stations still operating. Later
though the mast broke and 20ft sections which bolted
together end to end were smuggled to the Ross on tiny
fishing boats. General opinion was that the masts would
soon fall down but they are still standing today.
All
of 1988 was spent on this mast-smuggling saga.
By
1989 the Dutch had Caroline. Carolines 25th birthday
was celebrated at Easter 1989. On Saturday August 19th
the unthinkable happened: the large Dutch vessel Volans
with armed officials on board closed in on the Ross
Revenge as did the British launch Landward.
Up
to spring 1990 Caroline was able to provide regular
programmes, income came via a telephone news service,
but in May a deliberate confrontation was forced when
new station Spectrum Radio were told by the D.T.I. (
the agency who were attempting to silence Caroline)
that they must transmit on 558.
On
the evening of November 19th 1991 in the middle of a
fierce storm the anchor chain snapped. Disorientated
by the severe weather the crew had no idea they were
adrift until with a terrifying impact Ross Revenge grounded
on the notorious Goodwin Sands, sixteen miles from her
anchorage. After bravely staying on board their listing,
flooded vessel for three hours, the crew, concluding
that she was about to capsize, agreed to be rescued
by helicopter.
Sources
Radio
Caroline 1964-1991 from The Official Site (http://www.radiocaroline.co.uk).
You can read the Radio Caroline History in it's entirety
at http://www.radiocaroline.co.uk/History.htm
Chart
and News information from NME Rock 'n' Roll Years, BCA,
1992
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