The history of British broadcasting & regulation.

How British governments have regulated and inhibited the development of broadcast radio.

1874 - Guglielmo Marconi born on 25th April in Bologna, Italy.

1895 - The first wireless transmissions at Villa Griffone, Bologna.

1896 - Marconi comes to London in February to exploit his invention. The British patent number 12039 is filed on the 2nd June.

1897 - The Wireless Telegraph and Signal Company is registered on the 20th July.

1899 - The Hall Street Works, Chelmsford is acquired by the Wireless Telegraph and Signal Company to become the first radio factory in the world.

1899 - Marconi achieving ranges of 100 kilometres [60 miles]. His equipment used for ship to shore communication.

1900 - The famous '7777' patent granted allowing simultaneous broadcasts on different frequencies. Company name changed to Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Company. The Marconi International Marine Communication Company Ltd. formed.

1902 - Pouson developed the arc transmitter.

1906 - R.A. Fessenden, USA, transmitted speech over several hundred kilometres.

1909 - Nobel prize for Physics awarded to Guglielmo Marconi and Karl Ferdinand Braun "in recognition of their contribution to the development of wireless telegraphy".

1910 - Arrest of the infamous Dr. Crippen and his mistress following a wireless message from S.S. Montrose to New Scotland Yard.

1912 - Wireless distress calls from the Titanic saves 705 lives.

1913 - German wireless station in Nauen transmitted morse code 2,500 kilometres [1,500 miles].

1914 - Marconi Company start experimental speech transmissions from Marconi House London.

1915 - American Telephone and Telegraph Co. with Western Electric sent speech from The Naval station in Arlington to The Eiffel Tower.

1918 - The Marconi Co. start experimental speech transmissions from Iceland to North America.

1919 - Marconi buys yacht Elettra as a floating laboratory.

1919 - The Armed Forces put pressure on the Post Office to ban further broadcasts until the Government could think up ways of regulating it.

1920s - 250,000 amateur radio enthusiasts in the early 1920s - annual licence fee imposed upon them by the British Government.

1920s - In the twenties, Marconi's Managing Director, Godfrey Isaacs became embroiled in what was to become known as the Marconi Scandal. A Select Committee had to be set up to investigate the serious allegations of insider dealing between himself; his brother Isaac Rufus (who was then Attorney General); the Postmaster General, Herbert Samuel and the Prime Minister, Lloyd George. The Government, who generously allowed stations to broadcast just 15 minutes a week, eventually issued licences.

1920 - The first advertised public broadcast programme. A song recital by Dame Nellie Melba is broadcast from the Marconi works in Chelmsford.

1920 - Start of twice daily experimental programmes from Chelmsford.

23 February 1920 - Broadcasting tests start from The Marconi Company in Chemlsford.

22 Jun 1920 - Dame Nellie Melba sings from Chelmsford.

1921 - Regular programmes start from The Strand. Other stations set up in Birmingham and Manchester.

1922 - Broadcasts commence from Marconi House in London (2LO) and The British Broadcasting Company (BBC) is formed by Marconi and five other companies.

1922 - First broadcast made from a wooden hut at Writtle near Chlemsford by Peter Eskersley (1892 - 1963). Ceased broadcasting on 17 January 1923.

1922 14 Feb - 1st broadcast from Marconi station 2MT at Writtle.

11 May 1922 - 1st broadcast from Marconi station 2LO LONDON.

16 May - 1st broadcast Metropolitan Vickers 2ZY Manchester.

18 October 1922 - Government decides to let only one company broadcast - the British Broadcasting Company. In July 1922, one of these new stations broadcast some rather trivial local news of a garden fete. The press were quick to respond, calling it: "unconsidered trifles of the lightest type", so the Conservative Government resumed responsibility for broadcasting and formed the British Broadcasting Company Limited, under the directorship of John Reith, a rather dour Scotsman. Reith thought he had the god given right to decide what the British public should listen to - an attitude problem the BBC has never changed!

1 Nov - Broadcast Receiving Licence started, 10 shillings [50p] per year. BBC given monopoly status for public radio transmissions.

14 Nov - The British Broadcasting Company first station 2LO opened.

2LO London, 5IT Birmingham, 2ZY Manchester.

24 December 1922 - 5NO Newcastle

13 February 1923 - 5WA Cardiff

6 March 1923 - 5SC Glasgow

10 October 1923 - 2BD Aberdeen

17 October 1923 - 6BM Bournemouth

21 July 1924 - 5XX tests on Long Wave.

1925 Radio Paris. First commercial broadcast from the Eiffel Tower in English by Captain L.F. Plugge.

Before Radio Luxembourg, Captain Plugge toured France with the very first car radio manufactured by Philco and beamed music from Radio Normandy to Britain after midnight. 'Auntie' was not amused. Even less so when she heard the French government was behind the 200 kilowatts of dance music pumping out from Luxembourg to England every night. The Postmaster General wrote to the Head of the BBC saying: "We must use all our influence to stop this". In an internal memo of 7th April 1933, the BBC suggested persuading leading newspapers not to refer to it. It went on to say: "It seems to me that a possible way of combatting Luxembourg would be to allot the wavelength to somebody else, not as their only wavelength, but to get someone with a sporting spirit to take it on and try to clear the channel".

[This was a clear intention of deliberate jamming, first suggested by the BBC in the 1920's. Just because someone else had a different and more popular program than the BBC, the top brass took it upon themselves to decide that this was unfit for the ears of British people - in 'their' patch! Some things never change.]

31 December 1926 - Government decides to control all broadcasting. British Broadcasting Corporation formed. In 1926, 16 participating European countries, including Britain, sat at the first conference on radio in Geneva and carved up the airwaves between them.

1928 - Hilversum broadcasts Sunday concerts.

1929 - Radio Toulouse in English until 1931.

October 1931 - International Broadcasting Company starts transmissions over Radio Normandie.

May 1932 - Radio Luxembourg - 1250 metres [240kHz] tests.

Spring 1933 - Radio Luxembourg starts transmissions.

The British Government monitored Radio Luxembourg from its listening post at Tatsfield, compiled a list of foreign stations they claimed might be experiencing interference, and demanded Luxembourg accepted a frequency more befitting the size of the country. Luxembourg refused. The Government then successfully persuaded the Newspaper Publisher's Association to completely censor any information connected with Radio Luxembourg.

By now, any artistes who worked for Radio Luxembourg were censored by the BBC while its own announcers spoke in punctilious statements between records, and women addressed the microphones in ball gowns.

1937 - Guglielmo Marconi dies in Rome on 20th July. The Company starts Government orders for 'Chain Home' stations, Britain's first air defence radar network.

1939 - All overseas broadcasts stop except Radio International from Normandie, which eventually closed in 1940.

During the war, Radio Luxembourg was used as a propaganda station by the occupying German fascists. In 1944, a special American task force under the direction of the Psychological Warfare Division liberated the station and silenced Lord Haw-Haw's [alias William Joyce's] infamous voice. Joyce was later hanged for treason.

1945 - Of the continental broadcasts to Britain, only Radio Luxembourg recommenced broadcasting.

1950s During the fifties, the 500 or so new records released each week in Britain could only be aired on the BBC Light Programme's 'Mid-day Spin', Sunday's 'Family Favourites' or the daily 'Housewives' Choice'.

1958 The very first European offshore free radio station - one of a handful, off Scandinavia - was Radio Mercur, broadcasting off Denmark - on fm!! Radio Nord and then Radio Syd [also on fm] followed. The Scandinavian Governments put their heads together to enact their own anti-'pirate' legislation on August 1st, 1962. Radio Syd, however, continued and resulted in the imprisonment, in Sweden, of the station's owner, Ms Britt Wadner.

The Scandanavians would have to wait several years for their next taste of offshore radio, with the arrival of Radio Scotland whose broadcasts reached them from off the coast at Dunbar on 242 metres from the MV Comet. Afterwards it sailed round the coast to broadcast off Troon.

Easter 1960, and the Dutch station Radio Veronica took to the air. Macmillan's Conservative Government set up the Pilkington Committee to discuss local radio of which they found "no evidence of public demand". However they did recommend a trial, but the Government resisted in its White Paper of July 1962 saying that they "would prefer to take cognisance of public reactions before reaching a decision". [A little difficult considering the last time the public had heard local radio was before the Home Service was set up at the outset of World War 2, 21 years previously]!

In 1964, channel tracking stations watched as several new radio stations set themselves up around the British coast.....

28 March 1964 - Radio Caroline from the MV Caroline in international waters off Felixstowe.

9 May 1964 - Radio Atlanta starts from the Mi Amigo.

27 May 1964 - Screaming Lord Sutch starts transmissions from the Shivering Sands WW2 defence fort in the Thames Estuary.

24 June 1964 - Jeremy Thorpe - "A radio station could easily be inflammatory, seditious, obscene or undesirable, with no protection to the public."

23 December 1964, regular programs from Radio London [Big L] begin.

Then Postmaster General, Reginald Bevins, declared that Radio Caroline was causing interference to a Belgian station concerned with communications to ships at sea and was also interfering with British maritime services. However, a former BBC radio engineer reported back in the Daily Mail that Radio Caroline was broadcasting nowhere near the maritime wavelengths.

The Post Office cut off the ship-to-shore service and permitted its use for emergency use only. They then set about warning the general public that they would be liable for prosecution under the Wireless Telegraphy Act of 1949 if they even so much as listened to the stations!

British Customs and Excise Officials sent out the Venturous in an attempt to board Radio Caroline to see her bonded stores. After it was pointed out to them that the ship was in international waters they steamed away. HM Customs and Excise ruled that passports had to be carried by all persons on board tenders going out to the ships. HM Waterguard, HM Immigration. Special Branch, CID, Board of Trade, Ministry of Transport, British Railways, the Port of Health Authority, Trinity House and the Local Harbour Board continued to make regular inspections and Caroline House in Chesterfield Gardens was forbidden an entry in the GPO telephone directory.

It was reported that more than 99% were in favour of the offshore stations. The Daily Telegraph reported that "Radio Caroline has a bigger afternoon audience in the areas that it covers than all the BBC programmes put together". The Labour Government was determined to ignore public opinion, but with such a slim majority they couldn't risk taking any action at this stage. Conservative backbenchers, however, were making maximum capital out of the situation, openly supporting the free radio stations.

The sudden introduction of The Continental Shelf Act in September 1964 extended UK territorial waters to include the continental shelf and put paid to stations like Radio Sutch and 390 broadcasting from old sea forts whose structures rested on it. Ships would not be affected by this act since they were afloat and outside the three-mile limit. Talk by some of the free radio stations of moving to the only fort outside this new limit was thwarted at the last minute. The Government had it blown up.

21-year old Jean Ollis appeared in a series of BBC-blowing-their-own-trumpet-advertisements [which continue to the present day] that read: "People like me like the BBC Third Programme", [the forerunner of Radio Three]. After payment she was happy to announce that she in fact listened to Radio Caroline.

Radio Caroline attempted to put its case backed by a team of independent radio experts but were unable to gain any time on BBC radio or television to do so [censorship - in a democracy? Tut tut]! Phonographic Performance Limited and the Musicians' Union also refused to discuss the matter with them. Radio Caroline was particularly eager to point out that prior to its broadcasts just four companies owned 100% of record sales. The free radio stations had been successful in whittling that down by 80% in just three years. All the leading stations continued to pay money to the Performing Rights Society and were regularly bombarded by performers and promoters, eager to have their material broadcast.

In 1967, after just three years of opening, the National Opinion Polls announced Radio Caroline had the greatest weekly audience of any commercial station in the world. During 1967's 'Summer Of Love', Radio London - 'BIG L', carried a short lived [up until London's closedown] but very successful program - which differed from the normal pop 40 diet the pirates were churning out all the time. The Perfumed Garden was the first rock music program heard in Britain, playing the likes of Jefferson Airplane, Captain Beefheart, Janis Joplin and Marc Bolan in his [pre pop T-Rex] Tyrannosaurus Rex days. Though the program only had a run of 3 months, the fact that it appealed to a different audience who were not catered for elsewhere, made it incredibly popular. Forget the 'pop pirates' for popularity, The Perfumed Garden generated more mail than all the other Radio London pop dj's put together - there was so much the office staff didn't know what to do with it! Amazingly, John Peel was the dj! From the mid 1970's, he poured scorn on rock music. If the pirate ships had continued for a few more years, the first album rock offshore pirate station would surely have appeared. This prestigious title actually went to a landbased pirate station.

The Labour Government under Harold Wilson did its best to avoid free radio becoming an election issue until they had a bigger majority in the House: which they did in 1966. Then, the Postmaster General, Tony Benn, prepared the case against free radio. He argued that they stole wavelengths; paid no copyright on the records played; were a hazard to shipping as they interfered with ship-to-shore communication; flouted international regulations and gave the country a bad name abroad. The Government went on to cite 12 European countries registering complaints of interference with their own authorised broadcasts. They were all signatories of the Strasbourg Treaty.

At one minute past midnight on 15th August 1967 the Marine Offences etc bill became an Act of Parliament and one by one, the offshore free radio stations closed down. Only one ship remained broadcasting at sea, the MV Mi Amigo, home to Radio Caroline.

September 1967 - BBC Radio's 1, 2, 3 & 4 started. Radio 1 - the BBC's pop music 'replacement' for the 24 hour a day offshore stations, closed down in the evenings [and was only given an fm allocation of it's own in the mid 1990's - thirty years later]! Pop fans were left at the mercy of BBC's Wonderful Radio 1. Records were selected by a panel of five producers headed by a woman in her fifties.

The Marine Offences Act had silenced all offshore stations except Radio Caroline, who were determined to stay. Offices were opened overseas [because it became illegal to have them in the UK]. Unfortunately, in a very short time the two Caroline stations suffered financial problems, and both ships were repossessed in true pirate fashion in 1968 and towed to Holland where they were sold for scrap.

RADIO 428/GERONIMO: In 1969, Radio 428 was Europe's first album station, aired via the transmitter of Radio Andorra in the Pyranees on 428 metres, a frequency of 701kHz. By January 1970 the station had morphed into Radio Geronimo and used the transmitters of Radio Monte Carlo. Programs started at midnight on Friday & Saturday nights, and continued for 3 hours each night, eventually Sunday programs were started. Terry Yason, one of the founding members, told me that programs were recorded in the Radio Luxembourg studios when they weren't in use by the pop station's staff. I remember hearing King Crimson's '21st Century Schitzoid Man' and Blodwyn Pig on Geronimo. BBC Radio London - only on fm at first [which most people didn't have on their radios then], doing the usual BBC thing of dull boring programs and attracting a small audience as a result, eventually popped up on 1458kHz [206m], right 'next door' to Geronimo on 1467kHz [205m], and effectively jammed Geronimo..... Some things never change do they? 

By 1970. the Dutch free radio station, Radio Veronica - unaffected by the British legislation, was joined by a new neighbour: Radio North Sea International. On FM, Medium Wave and Short Wave, RNI - like the BBC World Service - could be heard world-wide from its transmitters on the MV Mebo II, anchored in international waters. The British Government ordered jamming of the transmissions; something no western nation had ever done since the war. In 1973, staff of Billboard's top selling pop newspaper, Record Mirror, were stunned by the results of their survey which saw BBC Radio 1 collect less than 5% of votes for best radio station! Radio North Sea International, Radio Caroline and even the Dutch service of Radio Veronica were voted better in the poll. European Governments abiding by the terms of the Strasbourg Treaty put heavy pressure on Holland to close the stations. At midnight on August 31st, 1974, minister Harry van Doorn successfully introduced legislation to close the stations. By the end of 1973, Edward Heath's Government was establishing local commercial radio stations licensed by the Independent Broadcasting Authority, [IBA]. The Director General was appointed by the Prime Minister, and the 11 Government Appointees selected from a Civil Service list. The IBA stations pressed ahead with their expansion across the country, imposing themselves upon the listening public in varying degrees of awfulness.

Unbelievably, in 1972, the MV Mi Amigo was broadcasting again. A radio enthusiast had bought the ship from the scrapyard and, to cut a long story short, the ship was towed out to sea off Holland and completely refitted there by enthusiasts, including the daunting task of the erection of a massive aerial. Even the Radio Caroline organisation thought these people were mad, and kept their distance. When it first took to the air, the station called itself Radio Seagull, but having proved its capabilities the Radio Caroline identity was used once again. It managed to broadcast with a strong enough signal to be picked up in the UK and much of Europe.

The other ships were still broadcasting from Dutch waters, the best known perhaps being Radio North Sea International. The difference with Radio Caroline this time was that because there was now so much pop music on the airwaves [and perhaps also because the ship was manned by a bunch of people generally branded as "hippies" or "drop-outs"], they started broadcasting soft rock/album music. Only on Radio Caroline could you hear music never destined for the charts but beautiful to listen to. There is so much excellent rock music out there, ranging from very soft to seriously heavy, but precious little of it gets to be played on the radio. The definition of "Rock Music" varies according to who you ask, but it is described in The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Rock as:

"Invariably sung and played by the composers themselves - and serious musical themes often called for the length of a full album, rather than a three-minute single, to impart their message".

That statement describes rock as though it's in the past tense, as if its talking about history. But rock music isn't dead, it just doesn't get much radio coverage - and never has. Traditionally, the only way to hear this music is to buy it - but how do you even know it exists, let alone decide whether you like it or not if you can't keep up to date and hear it on the radio?

To continue, in the early to mid seventies, Radio Seagull/Caroline broadcast soft rock album music in the evening, which reflected the - by then - enormous global popularity of mostly British 'progressive rock' bands, such as Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Yes, Deep Purple, Genesis etc. These bands, who each sold albums in their millions - were not to be heard on BBC radio. For many discerning listeners into more adventurous music, this was the golden era of offshore radio. However, on reflection, the format was never far reaching enough to include the more adventurous and rocky tracks, in fact listening to tapes of the early 70's programming now, a lot of it seems quite light or commercial, with the 'singles from the albums' being given priority. At the time I thought it was pretty good - but then my tastes have become more adventurous as the years have gone on.

Like the blatant pop censorship of the previous decade, it was now the turn of 'album rock' music to suffer from a bigotted and discriminatory BBC. Sadly rock has always been ignored apart from small 'token' slots, usually tucked away late at nights when few are listening.
What the BBC thinks of Rock & Pop.

During the day, Sylvan Tack, the manufacturer of 'Suzy' waffles In Belgium, broadcast the Dutch language programmes of Radio Mi Amigo from the MV Mi Amigo 18 miles from the English coast. Radio Mi Amigo broke a virtual American monopoly of imported music to Britain. In 1975 the Belgium police carried out raids in search of the offices of Radio Mi Amigo but Sylvan Tack had moved all the operations to Playa de Aro in Spain, a country not yet a signatory of the Strasbourg Convention. The British Government assisted the Belgians by making frequent raids on any boat tendering the MV Mi Amigo from Britain. Of those tenders making the Journey from Spain, they were escorted by two Police launches, a Naval Patrol Boat and a helicopter. A fishing boat, anchored half a mile from the ship was staffed by British Government officials and photographers.

Whilst the Government were monitoring Radios Caroline and Mi Amigo from their listening post, more sinister developments were taking place on land. On January 11th, 1979, the police and a Home Office official raided the home of Derek McCauney, a medical student, without a search warrant. A model boat bearing the name Mi Amigo was found and McCauney was arrested and charged with advertising a 'pirate' radio station. He had been making a number of these boats to sell at a benefit dance in aid of a children's hospital. About the same time, the printers of the Caroline Newsletter, Southline Printers, producing a hand-typed newsheet for free radio enthusiasts campaigning for a review of Clause 5.3 (f) of the Marine Offences Act, had pressure put on them by representatives from Scotland Yard to stop printing and Michael Brigden and Carolyn Oakley appeared in court facing 24 charges under the Marine Offences Act for offering for sale various souvenirs of Radio Caroline in their magazine. Geoffrey Baldwin. the founder of the Caroline Movement was also visited by Scotland Yard. He had the facilities of a PO Box address used by the Caroline Movement withdrawn and was also warned that he might face prosecution.

In April 1975, free radio supporter Jackson Hunter was convicted after refusing to pay his fine in Liverpool Magistrate's Court and subsequently imprisoned for 60 days for displaying a Radio Caroline car-sticker! David Hutson was also convicted and fined for selling badges bearing the words: 'Radio Caroline'. On January 19th 1984, a new free radio station took up anchor close to Radio Caroline: Laser 558. With American backing, Laser 558 began broadcasting from the MV Communicator anchored 14 miles off the Essex coast and quickly became popular as the first station to use women deejays. With its claimed audience of 8 million listeners, mostly in southern England, it was seriously threatening the BBC/IBA duopoly on radio broadcasting whose listeners were deserting then in droves for the brash, new American station. The American Government was asked for their assistance in identifying the stations financial backers and Lord Thomson of the IBA accused the Government of 'apparently condoning theft' of the airwaves for not acting more firmly against Laser. *Both Vatican Radio and Voice of America are amongst many stations that have not been 'allocated' wavelengths. The USA boarded their only free radio station after just 4 days of broadcasting, yet regularly beam 'pirate' TV programmes to Cuba. In Britain, the attempt to broadcast anti-Chinese Government propaganda from the Goddess Of Democracy, was met with widespread support from MP's, and in the 1990's, programmes from a ship broadcasting to the former Yugoslavia even received financial backing from the EC*. It seems that offshore broadcasting is okay if governments do it! During the course of their programmes, the MV Communicator was told by North Foreland Radio that they were getting interference, claiming their transmissions were coming out over their signal on 500Khz. Laser 558 switched off its transmitter but still the interference persisted. Radio Caroline offered to turn off its transmitter to see if the interference could be traced to then. It could not, and was later traced to BBC Radio One and the World Service.

During the early eighties - after a decade or so of medium wave landbased pirate radio, fm land-based pirate stations were increasing in number. Their popularity was briefly glamourised by Lenny Henry's portrayal of Delbert Wilkins of the Brixton Broadcasting Corporation. Robert Atkins, Under-Secretary of State for Industry remarked rather ominously: "It has been suggested to the BBC that they should consider their position." New legislation was brought in making it a criminal offence to make an unlicenced broadcast with a maximum penalty of imprisonment of up to five years! The DTI erected notices all around the British coast warning boat owners the penalties of supplying 'pirate' radio ships and began an expensive surveillance operation 15 miles off the English coast beside the MV Communicator and MV Ross Revenge. The DTI kept records of any visiting vessels and journalists and passed them on to the Director of Public Prosecutions. An embarrassing situation occurred one weekend when the DTI vessel gave chase to a boat full of sightseers. A Customs and Excise Vessel came out, presumably to watch the ships while the DTI vessel was away. As it prepared to leave, the DTI vessel ordered it to stop. At this point the Customs boat sped off north with the DTI vessel in hot pursuit. "We are a Customs boat!" they called back on the radiotelephone. Another sightseeing boat had meanwhile come out to see the ships, so the DTI vessel simply turned round and chased that back to Ramsgate instead. On occasion, it has been alleged the DTI vessels cut across the bows of visiting boats. The DTI counterclaim this with reports of sightseers pelting them with bottles. The DTI called a conference of handpicked media representatives to explain why they wanted the stations off the air, adding that it was costing the taxpayer around £25,000 a month. On November 6th 1985, the Government gained a substantial victory and, after a long siege, the MV Communicator, home of Laser 558 was escorted into Harwich.

Anthony Elliot, editor of London's Time Out magazine was prosecuted for two offences in 1987 of publishing times, wavelengths, and contents of Radio Caroline's broadcasts. Time Out said it saw the prosecution "as another attack on the freedom of the press. The case calls into question the legality of any media examination where such examination includes the report of truthful information about station operations or programmes. Apparently, the Government wishes the public to believe that pirate radio stations do not really exist. So the media must not, on pain of heavy fines, report any evidence to the contrary." Howard Beer, a boat owner who was unsure of the legality of organising sightseeing trips to Radio Caroline telephoned the DTI for clarification. He received no satisfactory reply and when he was subsequently arrested, received a nine month prison sentence. It was overturned after seven weeks in remand by an appeal court ruling the sentence too long. Quite suddenly, the Government introduced the Territorial Sea Act, 1987, extending British territorial waters to a further twelve miles. The incident went virtually unnoticed. It took the unusual course of being passed in the House of Lords before receiving a reading in the House of Commons, this being because it was considered a 'non-political bill.' The MV Ross Revenge took up anchor from her previously safe haven in the Knock Deep and moved 14 miles off the English coast off North Foreland. Like Peter Tatchell of Outrage, John Birch of the Caroline Movement claimed his organisation and that of Caroline's had been subject to phone tapping, saying: "a certain amount of key Information had only been discussed on certain telephone lines. This immediately caused Caroline's Station Manager, Peter Moore to have some checks made on certain telephone lines. Radio Caroline has a number of high level contacts within various organisations and it was soon established that at least four groups of telephone lines had been found tapped into." For several weeks the MV Ross Revenge went under surveillance by the DTI who anchored a mile from the ship at night and flew low-flying light aircraft over the ship to take photographs while a helicopter filmed the ship and crew. Tenders approaching the ship were warned there was a half-mile exclusion zone round her. At 10.50 on August 18th 1989, John Lennon's 'Imagine' and Chris de Burgh's 'Lady In Red', were broadcast indicating an emergency on board. At 12:22, broadcasts from the Dutch station on 819kHz abruptly ceased in mid-record, unceremoniously ending 30 years of Dutch free radio to Belgium and Holland. Music continued on Radio Caroline's frequency on 558kHz. Radio Caroline's 13.00 news revealed that the Landward, a vessel of the DTI carrying DTI officials and Dutch PTT officials had attempted to board the ship to 'discuss its future.' Programmes continued as normal the next day until 12:42 when Chief Engineer, Peter Chicago interrupted Caroline Martin's programme to announce that the Dutch tug Volans had pulled alongside. Later, Caroline's theme tune by The Fortunes was interrupted by another announcement: "This Is Radio Caroline, the radio-ship Ross Revenge, anchored in the international waters of the North Sea. This is a Panamanian vessel being boarded Illegally on behalf of the Dutch and British Governments. There's a Dutch tug alongside, and they are already an board the ship. They have already used violence against certain crew members here on board the Ross Revenge. If you can help us, please call your local radio station, local media, anything, anyone you think can help us, Call, please, now, before Caroline goes" Listeners jammed the Dover coastguard with calls whilst records with cryptic messages played: '....Do You Know What It Is Like To Be Free....?' the Beatles singing 'All You Need Is Love' and 'Love, Love, Love.' Whilst the officials from the Dutch PTT were smashing equipment in the generator room, an official came into the studio. A deejay asked: "Would you like to say anything, sir, before we go off the air?" At that point, at 13.08, 19 August 1989, the transmitter fell silent. With tragic irony, the world was distracted from the news by a Thames motor vessel owned by Amalgamated Roadstone Corps, the Bow Belle, ramming and sinking a boat full of gay partygoers on the MV Marchionesse. There has never been any prosecutions or public inquiry regarding the atrocities committed on board the Ross Revenge. Radio Caroline's station manager, Peter Moore, was said to have been outraged by the act of piracy. But he was wrong. In law, piracy cannot be committed by Governments. Radio Caroline attempted to make a comeback by broadcasting at night. A few days later, the DTI paid then a visit. As the spectre of the Landward approached them, the Captain on the Ross Revenge asked them their intention. "Fishing," they quipped. The Captain then asked them how long they were intending to stay. "Longer that you will be," came the sinister reply. Radio Caroline went off the air on July 2nd 1990 since its signal had become too distorted and completely jammed by Spectrum Radio, a small incremental station for the London area. Licenced by the government, Spectrum's test transmissions on 558 kHz were so powerful listeners from Scotland to the Dutch coast were receiving them. [Remember this tactic was first suggested in the 1920's?] On 1 January 1991 the Broadcasting Act gained royal assent and the free voice of Radio Caroline was finally silenced. By the time Jeremy Joseph's program began, reception was barely audible north of the Watford Gap. Bob Geldoff's film company Planet Pictures began filming a documentary about Radio Caroline for BBC 2's Arena programme, It was shown on March 1 1990. Three days before its broadcast, the producers were contacted by the legal department of the DTI, warning them that they could be committing an offence. The BBC bowed to pressure and important cuts were made to the footage. On Wednesday 20 November 1991, Radio Caroline's ship, the MV Ross Revenge broke her anchor chain in a violent storm and was later towed to Dover harbour after hitting a sandbank. Upon reaching Dover she was cordoned off and boarded by 20 customs officials.

Caroline now broadcasts to Europe [with a licence] via an Astra digital satellite, and occasionally does 28 day temporary Restricted Service Licence broadcasts on medium wave - with a power of 1 watt.

The famous Essex coastline around Clacton where Caroline, London, England/Britain Radio & RNI etc were moored, has several low powered temporary broadcasts during the Summer season, which bring the famous names to life again - for 28 days at a time.

This article has been about the problems people have had over the years, of providing what the public - not governments or BBC - wants. However, the same problem continues today with a huge amount of people, whose culture and music revolves around album rock music - unavailable on radio, but still popular, VERY popular. The BBC ignores this, content instead to peddle the same 'safe' formats it has always done, to anaesthetise as many of the British public with its bland programming as it can - for as long as it can.

For many years, the steady march of boring, carbon copy pap stations, which all cater - and compete for the same pop audience, have been filling the radio bands in the UK. They are so similar that there might as well be one pop station covering the entire country. In fact it's common practice for radio companies to broadcast the same programming through several regional stations - whatever happened to INDEPENDENT LOCAL radio? This approach is not independent, nor was it ever local. This all happens on frequencies which officials and politicians said, were not available!! I seem to remember this same argument being used to ward off demands for the introduction of CB radio too - on a short wave frequency which the whole world uses, and which is chock-a-block with overseas CB signals, easily received within the UK - the CB frequency was already in use IN this country by overseas CB operators, such is the nature of short wave radio signals.

"Everyone has the right to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of any frontiers".
Universal Declaration of Human Rights.