What Pirate radio station did you listen to or prefer in the 60's

[trans]

Think we coulds only get Radio England over at Upperthorpe but prefered Radio Caroline when I was out of the area.

[jfish1936]

Caroline (this message is too short so I'm making it longer)

[Joanl]

Caroline in the 60's but preferred Luxembourg in the 50's.(Which one of them was 208 )

[Lushcannon]

Tony Prince on Luxembourg 208.

[choogling]

In the sixties i was lucky to be stationed near to reading to we had all the big ones Big L Radio London,Radio Caroline but the top ten repeated all day was OK if you only tuned in for the odd half hour or so.Coming home on leave it was Radio North sea International off shore from around Scarborough.The pirate radio era was a very exiting time to be a teenager and we felt part of the scene being so close to the stations most where off shore from the Thames estuary some in it.A couple of years ago i downloaded some actual recordings will check and post somewhere perhaps utube.

 

---------- Post added 08-01-2013 at 19:13 ----------

 

Caroline in the 60's but preferred Luxembourg in the 50's.(Which one of them was 208 )

Luxembourg was 208 medium wave signal was very poor after dark prone to drifting and some strange sound effects added to the tracks groovy man

 

---------- Post added 08-01-2013 at 19:15 ----------

 

Think we coulds only get Radio England over at Upperthorpe but prefered Radio Caroline when I was out of the area.

The upperthorpe area has its own now.

[IRONMONGER]

Radio 270, off Scarborough, was my favourite with Paul Burnett, Neddy Noel and Dennis the Menace. Owned by Supermarket boss, Wilf Proudfoot, and electrical manufacturer Leonard Dale.

Loved going down to Frinton where most of the pirate stations were anchored off shore. Radio England, Radio Caroline, Radio Essex, Radio London. Remember Keith Skues, Tony Blackbum and, of course, Johnnie Walker. You could park on the Greensward in Frinton and flash your headlights "chatting" to Johnnie Walker.

I joined a major campaign to "Fight for Free Radio" - how rebellious !

I was devastated when the Labour government sank the pirates - I have never listened to Radio 1.

I believe that it is still illegal to possess a copy of the book "When Pirates ruled the waves", so mine is well hidden.

[mikeG]

I lived in Henley 1965/66 and used to listen to Radio London. When staying with relatives in Rhyl, it was Radio Caroline.

[jfish1936]

I believe that it is still illegal to possess a copy of the book "When Pirates ruled the waves", so mine is well hidden.

 

googling:

" Paul Harris's definitive book, When Pirates Ruled The Waves, is now re-issued in a revised form. When Paul first wrote the book in 1968, nobody wanted to publish it. The recently introduced Marine Offences Act made it illegal to “promote” offshore radio and people were scared. So he published it himself. This was a brave decision but, at the age of 17 - as Paul was at the time - teenage enthusiasm can often outweigh caution. As it turned out, it was not only brave but also a very profitable decision as the book went on to sell extremely well."

 

sounds as though it may not be illegal to possess after all!

[choogling]

Intrigues, threats, boarding parties, smuggling, shipwreck, danger and adventure on the high seas - they all form part of the remarkable story of the pop radio pirates. During the 1960s and '70s, they broadcast their programmes from storm-lashed radio ships anchored off the coasts of Europe. As the popularity of the stations grew - first in Denmark and Sweden and, later, in Britain, Holland and Belgium - and they multiplied in number, competition among them reached cut-throat level. The story is told of how the dramatic events around the Radio City fort in London's Thames Estuary resulted in the shooting to death of its owner; of the rivalry between Holland's Radio Veronica and the sychedelically-painted Radio North Sea International which culminated in the night bombing of theNorth Sea ship; how Radio Caroline, Capital Radio and Radio Veronica broke free from their stormy anchorages and were driven aground; how Radio North Sea International became the centre of an espionage scandal involving the security services of several NATO countries, and played its part in influencing the 1970 British General Election. Blackmail and armed boarding parties were the order of the day as rival gangs of pirates literally fought to take over each other's radio ships and to carve up lucrative advertising markets. Successively, the governments of Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, Britain and The Netherlands legislated against the pirate broadcasters. On the positive side, the activities of the pop radio pirates led to innovations and improvements in the established government monopoly radio services. Pirate disc jockeys, crewmen and radio engineers were pursued by police throughout Western Europe and many prosecuted for daring to provide their diet of relentless pop music from a wallowing, rusty radio ship bearing a huge aerial mast. They were, perhaps, the last real romantic outlaws in a world which has little time for those who seek to operate outwith the reach of the all-embracing tentacles of government. This edition - incorporating much of the text of Paul Harris's first work, When Pirates Ruled the Waves, a bestseller on publication in 1968, which subsequently ran to four editions - has a new preface by the author. It is illustrated throughout with over 100 photographs of the radio ships and the personalities associated with them. Paul Harris has worked variously, since his days in pirate radio in the late '60s and early '70s, as a writer (more than forty books), publisher, international printing consultant and journalist. He covered the wars in Yugoslavia 1991-5 for press, radio and TV and, for ten years, worked as an analyst on global insurgency and terrorism for Janes Intelligence Review. His work took him to Sri Lanka, where he was also Colombo correspondent for The Daily Telegraph, and to such exotic hotspots as Nepal, Assam, Manipur, Meghalayah, Aceh, East Timor, Uganda, Eritrea, Sudan, Nagorno Karabakh, The Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic and to China, where he worked on The Shanghai Daily newspaper. He is now endeavouring to live a quiet life in a small, remote country marked by hot weather and a lack of insurrection or drama. He works as a lecturer on cruise ships in Asia and Europe. His most recent book is Delightfully Imperfect: A Year in Sri Lanka at the Galle Face Hotel, also published by Kennedy & Boyd.

 

 

 

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amazon £16-10p sound like a great read

[IRONMONGER]

Choogling - are you Paul Harris ? You seem to know an awful lot about him.

 

We teenagers of that era certainly developed a close affinity with the 'pirates'.

An uncle of mine was skipper on Radio 270.

My involvement in "The Fight for Free Radio" resulted in me receiving a letter in an envelope printed "THE PRIME MINISTER" on the outside, it almost gave my mother a heart attack - she thought that I had been called up belatedly for National Service !

I also received a letter from the Postmaster General signed by John Stonehouse, who became the original Reginald Perrin.

I often think that my teenage activities led to the formation of Radio Sheffield, which I believe was Britain's second local radio station - poor compensation for our beloved pirates.