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Editor :- Roland C. Pearson. Editorial Office:
Sub-Editors :- Ineke Jager & 31, Avondale Road,
Penelope Page. Benfleet.
Technical Adviser :- Don Scott. Essex SS7 1EH,
Circulation Officer :- Diane Foale. ENGLAND.
Issue Number 5.
Price 12p (Overseas 3 IRC's)
EDITORIAL. The first, and most important, thing to say in this, the fifth issue of "Monitor" is 'WELCOME BACK RADIO CAROLINE/SEAGULL:' We do appreciate your great efforts, boys; let's hope it is a permanent Return this time. Once again, Ronan, more thanks to you than words can ever express.
Readers in South Essex: will no doubt have noticed that "Monitor" has been mentioned in the "Evening Echo" (Sept. 19th and the "Southend Standard" (Sept. 27th). Many thanks to the respective Editors; and to reporter John Ellegard and photographer Roger Nadal for their most capable efforts.
All "Monitor" staff would like to thank our sub-editor Ineke Jager for the hard work she has put in on the magazine during her 18 months in England. Best of luck with your new job in Den Haag, Ineke!.
So now let us delay you no longer. Here is the 3rd thrilling- instalment of the Caroline ‘'73 adventures; you'll also find within our pages articles about Belgian radio, RNI, Britain's new commercial network, and, as they say in the trade, much, much, more! Good reading, and happy listening in 1974.
In the second episode of this account I covered events up to the opening of Radio Atlantis on July 15th. Now for the full story which has since come to light. Mr. Adriaan van Landschoot, a 25 year old Belgian financier and the man behind Atlantis, had negotiated a 3 month contract with the Caroline organisation for the use of their 259 metre transmitter for thirteen hours per day. He was to provide all the programmes on tape and these would be recorded in his own studios in Oostburg, a small town in the South of Holland near the Belgian frontier. Press coverage in Britain of this news was understandably sparse, but on July 18th both the "Daily Express" and the "Sun" reported that Radio Caroline was back on the air' Then on July 19th the "Times" printed an item about Radio Atlantis and the Belgian Government. Incidentally, the English-language "Holland Herald" Volume 8 No. 3 contained an illustrated article entitled 'Mutiny on the Caroline'. The commencement of Radio Seagull on July 24th was briefly reported on page 16 of our last issue: this station, also on 259 metres, catered in the main for lovers of progressive music. Broadcasting live programmes in English nine hours a day it could be heard nightly between 21.00-06.00 BST/CET, whilst Atlantis utilised the same transmitter for its Flemish programmes that were broadcast from 06.00-19.00 BST/CET.
A good example of a day's programming at this time was that of July 25th. (Atlantis) 06.00-07.00 Non-stop music, 07.00-09.00 Luk van Kapellen, 09.00-11.00 Bert Bennett, 11.00-12.00 Peter van Dam, 12.00-14.00 Tony Houston, 14.00-16.00 Joop Verhoof, 16.00-18.00 Peter van Dam, 18.00-19.00 Luk Van Kapellen. (Seagull) 21.002;.00 Andy Archer, 24.00-03.00 Barry Everett, 03.00-06.00 BST Norman Barrington. Technical problems were evident on July 28; continuous music was played instead of the usual Radio Atlantis programmes, and there were several breaks in transmission. Radio Seagull opened up on time, but broadcasting ceased at 21.11BST. The trouble was due to cracks suddenly appearing in one of the three large ceramic insulators at the base of the new antenna mast. Throughout the following day silence reigned on the 259 metre airwaves, but on the morning of July 30th uninterrupted music could be heard on the channel, and twelve noon saw the resumption of normal Atlantis programming. On Aug. 4 th the Dutch newspaper "De Valkskrant" printed a full page account about Radio Atlantis plus photographs of Adriaan van Landschoot with his wife Janine, and also the "Mi Amigo".
The next major milestone in the history of Caroline occurred on Aug. l0th when the Station Mananer Chris Cary, better known as Spangles Muldoon, and his wife Kate parted company with the organisation after bang in charge of the office for very nearly twelve months. The running of Caroline House was now left in the arable hands of Charlotte Ribbelink, a glamorous 18 year old Dutch girl. Charlotte had joined the staff as a secretary some six weeks earlier on June 25th. Mean while out on the "Mi Amigo" things ,were proceeding smoothly, a typical 24 hours transmission during this era was Aug. 16th, which ran as follows:- (Atlantis) 6.00~07.00 Non-stop Music,
07.00-09.00 Luk van Kapellen, 09.00-11 .00 Bert Bennett, 11.00-12.00 Luk van Kapellen, 12.00-14.00 Tony Houston, 14.00-16.00 Joop Verhoof, 16.00-18.00 Bert
Bennett, 18.00-19.00 Alfred van den Bos. (Seagull) 21.00-23.00 Andy Archer, 23.0024.00 Bob Noakes, 24.00-03.00 Hugh Nolan, 03.00-06.00 John Farlow. A noteworthy fact that might have escaped the listening audience was that Seagull DJ's Barry Everett & Hugh Nolan had both previously worked for Radio Geronimo, so were no strangers to the broadcasting scene. On Aug. 17th Andy Archer opened up Seagull at 20.00 BST, one hour earlier than the previous day, but before commencing his programme he introduced listeners to an unexpected visitor whom he had in the studio, it was none other than Charlotte, who had decided to come out to the boat for a tour of inspection. After assuring herself that everything was okay on board she returned to shore an hour later on the tender that had brought her.
At about this time Wil van der Steen, another ex-Caroline Dutch Service DJ, joined the staff of Radio Atlantis, however, his role on this occasion was that of studio technician. He had, back in 1964, served as a technician on the REM island. For the remainder of the month of August things proceeded uneventfully; the big Continental-Electronics Type 317C 50 kW transmitter was performing perfectly on high power, and quality-wise its signal was first rate. A further example of the programmes at this stage shows that few fundamental alterations had taken place, I quote from Aug. 30th. (Atlantis) As Aug. 16th, except for following changes:- 11.0012.00 Joop Verhoof, 16.00-18.00 Alfred van den Bos, & 18.00-19.00 Luk van Kapellen. (Seagull) 21.00-23.00 Bob Noakes, 23.00-01.00 Andy Archer, 01.00-03.00 Barry Everett, 03.00-05.00 Phil Randall, 05.00-06.00 BST Continuous Jazz Music. Rough weather prevented the delivery of the Atlantis programme tapes for Saturday Sept. 1st, so instead, we were treated to a day of non-stop music with Andy Archer presenting live shows between 10.00-12.00 & 13.00-16.00. Seagull broke new ground on Sept. 10th when at 21.00 BST a programme entitled "Beatle Special" was heard - nine solid hours of Beatle records, these were introduced by Norman Barrington from 21.00-23.00, Andy Archer from 23.00-01.00, and Norman again between 01.00-06.00 BST. Food poisoning struck the "Mi Amigo" on Sept. 11th, and both Captain Meyer and Andy Archer had to be taken off by tender for medical attention, fortunately their attacks proved to be of a mild variety and they quickly recovered.
Andy was fit enough to return to the boat on Sept. 14th, and with him on the tender came Johnny Jason, who was to join the team of Seagull DJ's. That evening at 21.00 BST Andy welcomed Johnny to the station before handing over the programme to him for the next three hours. Programmes for Sept. 17th were as follows:- (Atlantis) 06.00-07.00 Non-stop Music, 07.00-09.00 Alfred van den Bos, 09.00-11.00 Bert Bennett, 11.00-12.00 Joop Verhoof, 12.00-14.00 Tony Houston, 14.00-17.00 "Top 40" Tony Houston & Luk van Kapellen, 17.00-18.00 Joop Verhoof, 18.00-19.00 Luk van Kapellen. (Seagull) 21.00-24.00 Johnny Jason, 24.00-03.00 Andy Archer, 03.00-06.00 BST Baas. On Sept. 17th Radio Seagull featured two more groups, between 21.00-24.00 Johnny Jason presented the "Rolling Stones Special", and from 24.00-03.00 Andy continued in a similar vein with the "Moody Blues Special" finally, Baas contributed a programme of Dutch Rock between 03.00-06.00 BST. The tender on Sunday Sept. 23rd brought back Tony Allan, who since leaving Radio Caroline in February had been working in the Mediterranean on board "The Voice of Peace"; the tender also brought out the new relief skipper, Captain Roos.
An important event occurred on Saturday Sept. 29th. A completely new Belgian company had been active behind the scenes and had purchased one of the two unused hours between 19.00 BST when Radio Atlantis programmes terminated, and 21.00 BST when the shows of Radio Seagull started. The first of their own taped programmes was transmitted from 19.00-20.00 BST. "Joepie" was the name given to the station, and their DJ was Bart van de Iaar, who was assisted by a technician called Eddie; while the wavelength was given out as 385 metres: The station was on the air again at the same time the following evening, once more Bart van de Laar was the DJ, but on this occasion he gave the call-sign as "Station 385". No one could have foreseen that disaster would strike the "Mi Amigo" twice within the space of twelve months, but at 13.41 BST on the afternoon of Oct. 1st the newly erected 180 ft. mast, weakened by a weekend of gale-force winds, came crashing down leaving only a 26 ft. section still standing. Mercifully none of the crew members or DJ's were injured, and no structural damage was sustained by the ship. The "Evening News" in their Stop Press on Oct. 2nd reported that Radio Caroline was in danger of sinking! Not to be outdone, the "Sun" on Oct. 3rd printed an account which stated that Radio Caroline was missing with 12 people on board!!.
For the next two days all broadcasting was stopped. During this time Chicago rigged up a temporary aerial that consisted of four wires in parallel strung from what remained of the old antenna to the 15 metre high after mast, which was then linked via a feeder cable to one of the Continental-Electronics Type 316B 10 kW transmitters. Had Chicago continued to operate the 50 kW transmitter he would have undoubtedly overloaded the makeshift aerial system. Everything was ready for use by Oct. 4th, and the first test started at about 07.00 BST and it continued until 11.32 BST. In between the Beatle records that were played during this transmission idents were given by
Norman Barrington & Johnny Jason, and "Mi Amigo" crew members Peter, Hans, Jan & Jaap all took a turn at making announcements in Dutch. That night the programmes of Radio Seagull re-started, and by the following morning Radio Atlantis had returned to 259 metres and this too was now broadcasting normally, On Saturday Oct. 6th "Joepie"/ "Station 385" reappeared with their third one-hour programme, the only difference being that the station had changed its name yet again and was now calling itself Radio Mi Amigo. A well-written article concerning the radio-ship "Mi Amigo" and the various stations that broadcast from her was included in the October 6th issue of "Sounds".
A run-down of the programmes for Oct. 7th makes interesting reading, for it reveals that all but twenty-five minutes of air-time on Sundays was now being used. (Atlantis) 06.00-07.00 Non-stop Music, 07.00-09.00 Mire Moorkens, 09.00-11.00 Bert Bennett, 11.00-12,00 Joop Verhoof, 12.00-14.00 Tony Houston, 14.00-17.00 "Top 40", 17.00-18.00 Joop Verhoof, 18.00-19.00 Mike Moorkens. (Radio Mi Amigo) 19.00-20.00 Peter van Dam (1st programme) aided by Eddie. Dominee Toornvliet, the 'Pirate Vicar' was heard between 20.00-20.35. (Seagull) 21.00-24.00 Johnny Jason, 24.00-03.00 Tony Allan, 03.00-05.00 Bob Noakes, 05.00-06.00 BST Continuous Music, From Monday October 8th Radio "Mi Amigo programmes were transmitted daily between 19.00-20.00 BST instead of at weekends only, as had previously been the case. The supply of taped programmes for Radio Atlantis began to run out on October 9th, and non-stop music had to be substituted between 11.00-13.00 & 14.00-19.00 BST, by the 10th it had dried up completely and non-stop music was played all day. The 10th was also notable for a midweek edition of Dominee Toornvliet, this was aired from 20.00-20.36 BST. Throughout Oct. 11th & 12th there was again non-stop music in lieu of the regular Radio Atlantis programmes; the Radio Mi Amigo slots for these two dates also consisted of continuous music.
October 13th saw further changes. To overcome the problem caused through the non-arrival of fresh Radio Atlantis material, shows that had been broadcast before over the station were repeated, and during the day even a couple of Radio Mi Amigo programmes were slipped in to help fill up the gaps. Thus the day's schedule ran as follows:- 06.00-07.00 Non-stop Music, 07.00-09.00 ?, 09.00-10.00 Alfred van den Bos (Repeat of Oct. 1st show), 10.00-11.00 Non-stop Music, 11.00-12.00 Joop Verhoof (Repeat), 12.00-13.00 Bart van de Laar (Radio Mi Amigo show), 13.00-14.00 Tony Houston (Repeat), 14.00-15.00 Jeep Verhoof (Repeat), 15.00-16.00 Non-stop Music, 16.00-17.00 Peter van Dam (Radio Mi Amigo show), 17.00-18.00 Alfred van den Bos (Repeat), & 18.00-19.00 BST Non-stop Music. The next day, Sunday the 14th, is also worth quoting in detail.- (Atlantis) 06.00-07.00 Non-stop Music, 07.00-08.00 ? 08.0010.00 Bert Bennett (Repeat), 10.00-11.00 Bart van de Laar (Radio Mi Amigo show , 11.00-12.00 Joop Verhoof (Repeat), 12.00-13.00 Tony Houston (Repeat), 13.00-13.13 Dead air, 13.13-14.00 (An unidentified DJ), 14.00-15.00 Non-stop Music, 15.00-16.00 "Top 40" with Alfred van den Bos (Repeat), 16.00-17.00 Bart van de Laar (Radio Mi Amigo show), 18.00-19.00 Mike Moorkens (Repeat). (Mi Amigo) 19.00-20.00 Peter van Dam. Between 20.00-20.32 was Dorninee Toornvliet, and from 20.32-20.57 unannounced classical music. (Seagull) 21.00-24,00 Johnny Jason, 24.00-03.00 Tony Allan, 03.00-06.00 BST Bob Noakes.
In the magazine supplement of the "Sunday Times" dated 14-10-73 an article headed 'Calling The Tune' described Radio Seagull as the "best popular music station currently broadcasting". Repeats of old programmes were again evident on Oct. 15th. That evening, when the Radio Mi Amigo hour had ended at 20.00 BST, a familiar voice came to the microphone to announce that Radio Seagull would be starting in an hour's time, it was Ian Anderson, who had recently arrived out on the "Mi Amigo". For the next two days the broadcasting of previously aired shows was replaced by continuous music, with the occasional live programme presented in Dutch by "Mi Amigo" crewmember Harry Bergman. On the 16th he was heard between 08.20 (possibly earlier) and 10.00 & 16.00-18.00; and on the 17th from 08.00-09.00 & 14-00-16.00 BST. At 17.31 BST on the 17th the station abruptly went off the air, but had returned in time for the Radio Seagull programmes at 21.00 BST that night. The following day, Tuesday October 18th, the station was to suffer another set-back, Radio Seagull closed at 03-00 BST after Tony Allan had finished his three-hour programme, and Radio Atlantis operations commenced at 06.00 BST with continuous music. Then at approximately 09.20 BST broadcasting suddenly stopped. The breakdown was caused by a further collapse of the already damaged antenna mast, but this time it was a total write-off and nothing further was heard on 259 metres until many weeks later, when a new mast had been constructed.
A curious thing about the Radio Atlantis broadcasts was that during their entire time on the air their DJ's always gave the station wavelength as 385 metres - it was even printed on their green &. white stickers! Turning for a moment to the newspaper front, the "Sunday Times" dated 21-10-73, published on its Readers' Letters page a missive that made mention of Radio Seagull, next to which appeared an ancient photograph snowing the "Mi Amigo" aground on Frinton beach. For those who are interested in seeing a complete list of all the Atlantis and Seagull disc-jockeys, and I know
that there are many of you, I will enumerate them in tabulation form, together with the dates of their first and last programmes :-
DJ Name. First Show. Last Show.
TONY HOUSTON 15-7-73 15-10-73 (Repeated programme).
PETER VAN DAM 15-7-73 11-8-73
LUK VATT KAPELLEN 15-7-73 22-9-73
MILE MOORKENS 15-7-73 20-7-73
'' " 23-9-73 15-10-73 (Repeated programme).
JOOP VERHOOF 20-7-73 15-10-73 (Repeated programme).
BERT BENNETT 20-7-73 15-10-73 (Repeated programme).
ALFRED VAN DEN BOS 9-8-73 15-10-73 (Repeated programme).
ANDY ARCHER 24-7-73 23-9-73
BARRY EVERETT 24-7-73 7-9-73 (Live), 12--9-73 (On tape).
NORMAN BARRINGTON 24-7-73 13-9-73
BOB NOAKES* 28-7-73 15-10-73
JOHN FARLOW 10-8-73 22-8-73
HUGH NOLAN 11-8-73 24-8-73
DICK PALMER 12-8-73 19-8-73
RUSSELL TOLLERFIELD 21-8-73 (1 programme only).
PHIL RANDALL 26-8-73 7-9-73
CHICAGO 12-9-73 1-10-73
PETER VAN DYKEN 12-9-73 (1 programme only).
BAAS 13-9-73 22-9-73
JOHNNY JASON 14-9-73 17-10-73
TONY ALLAN 23-9-73 18-10-73
*Bob, like Chicago, is primarily a transmitter-engineer, he started working aboard the "Mi amigo" on June 22nd.
Progress with the erection of the Mi Amigo's new mast was painfully slow, but by November 23rd it was up five sections high with only four more to go. On December 21st Caroline's tender set sail from Scheveningen harbour bound for the radio-ship her passengers included Andy Archer, Chicago & Norman Barrington, en route they called in on the "Mebo II" to deliver Christmas presents and flowers. It was also about now that Tony Allan, for the second time, left the employment of the station. An unprecedented period of squalls and gale-force winds had prevented any work being done on the mast during the previous four weeks, however, just before Christmas a few days of calm weather prevailed and this enabled -the team of professional aerial riggers to finish their task by the morning of Xmas Eve. The completed mast which, incidentally, was designed by Wil van der Steen, is painted yellow and stands 165 feet high. Chicago wasted no time in connecting up one of the 10 kW transmitters, and that afternoon at approximately 14.45 GMT a carrier appeared on 259 metres. The first music was heard at 15.02 GMT and the "Caroline" record was played at 15.08 GMT, then we had continuous music up until 16.00 GMT when Andy Archer announced the names of the artists whose records were to be played during the next hour, he did the same at 17.00 & 18.00 GMT. The Caroline bell and jingles were heard at frequent intervals throughout this test transmission, which terminated at 19.06 GMT. Mention was made of Caroline's return to the airwaves on LBC's 5.30 p.m. newscast!
The following day (Dec. 25th) saw Norman Barrington opening up the station at 08.00 GMT; he told us that continuous music was to be played, and this lasted until 10.00 GMT when Andy Archer took over with the main Christmas Day programme, this went on till 12.08 GMT and Yuletide greetings were included from Chicago, Norman, Michael Wall-Garland, Capt. Meyer and his crew, to their respective families and friends. Between 12.08-13.00 GMT Norman returned as host; this was followed by an hour of non-stop music, and then Peter van Dyken presented a programme in Dutch from 14.00-15.00 GMT. During the day it was announced that a new Australian DJ named Russell Guy would shortly be joining the station. Andy was heard again from 15.00-17.00 GMT, and there were then two more hours of continuous music. Andy and Norman jointly compared the 19.00-20.50 GMT spot. At 20.00 Andy presented a show entitled "Toad at Nine", he also kept the festive scene going between 21.00-23.00 GMT. Throughout the evening newscasts were relayed from RNI on the hour, and the entire Robb Eden Show was relayed between 23.00-24.00 GMT with remarks thrown in by Andy. The final show of this special transmission lasted from midnight until 01.08 GMT, and Andy was once more in charge of the proceedings. Several listeners have expressed their disappointment to me that Andy's idea for a short Xmas Day link-up with the "Mebo II" should have been turned down in quite the way it was. Boxing Day was something of an anti-climax, the station did not switch on until 09.15 GMT, and after playing some continuous music
vanished at 09.46 GMT as suddenly as it had appeared; Thus, Radio Caroline celebrated Christmas 1973.
The next series of test transmissions on 259 metres were conducted on behalf of Radio Mi Amigo, the new Belgian organisation who were now hiring the transmitter in place of Radio Atlantis who now had their own boat. Their first test programme commenced at 05.00 GMT on December 28th and all the chat was, of course, in the Flemish language. They were all on tape, and continued for a further three days, usually ending at around 20.00 GMT each night and an unmodulated signal was then emitted by the tranmitter, the reason for this was to keep the aerial dry and to maintain an even temperature in the transmitting-room. On December 31st the 50 kW transmitter took over from the smaller 10 kW one, and an all-round improvement in signal strength was immediately noticeable. To mark the entry of New Year's Day a brief programme was presented by Norman Barrington, it started at 00.04 GMT and lasted until 00.21 GMT. Tuesday, January 1st was chosen for Radio Mi Amigo's official opening. The morning started with the familiar continuous music, then at precisely 11.00 GMT a special hour-long inaugural programme commenced, it was obvious from hearing this that the new station was aiming at very high standards, the jingles, for example, were most impressive, as too was the quality of their studio equipment. Sadly the first day of broadcasting was marred by a generator failure which silenced the station at 12.09 GMT, but this was speedily rectified and they were back on the air by the following day.
The re-opening date of Radio Seagull was January 7th, and they marked their first day back on the air by playing nine hours of George Harrison's music, it was divided up as follows: 20.00-22.00 Andy Archer (on tape), 22.00-24.00 Johnny Jason, & 24.00-05.00 GMT Bob Noakes (aided by Norman Barrington and Johnny Jason). A new DJ was heard between 20.00-22.00 MIT on January 11th, this was Brian Anderson; and a new American DJ, named Michael Hagler, arrived on the boat on January 18th, his first programme was aired between 22.00-01.00 GMT on the 20th. Back at Caroline House Berlin-born Dennis King had returned after an absence of twelve months, and Dennis is now employed there as a studio technician working for Radio Seagull. With regard to the future, the all-day English Service of Radio Caroline is expected to resume in March, the exact date and wavelength will be announced in due course over Radio Seagull. There are, at the present time, five transmitters on board the "Mi Amigo" - one 50 kW, three 10 kW, and a 1 kW VHF-AM which Chicago hopes some day to convert to FM Stereo. Two of the 10 kW transmitters will eventually be coupled together to provide Radio Caroline with a power output of 20 kW. Finally, here are the full station addresses:-
Radio Mi Amigo,
P.O. Box 847,
Hilversum,
Holland.
Radio Seagull & Radio Caroline,
both c/o Caroline House,
Van Hogendorpstraat 16,
Den Haag,
Holland.
Roland C. Pearson, Editor.
Belgium is situated very well from a radio enthusiasts point of view. It is a little country where one can easily receive lots of foreign stations, but even being so little it does have a lot of its own stations: no less than six. The main reason for this is that there are two language communities (Flemish and Walloon), and you can't give the one anything without giving the other just the same. So there are two completely separate government-operated broadcasting corporations: Belgische Radio en Televisie (BRT) for the Flemish past, and for the French-speaking part the Radio et Television Belge (RTB). Each corporation comprises three stations. BRT-1 is the national service, with the general news and spoken programmes along with sweet and classical music. The sound of BRT-2 comes from five local studios, each one with a certain portion of the day to fill. Here you'll hear both sweet music and pop. BRT-3 is only on FM and in stereo, and the broadcasts consist entirely of classical and jazz music. At night BRT-1 relays BRT-2. For the RTB there are similar regulations. Each station broadcasts on a different Medium-Wave frequency, and in FM also. If you'd like to pick them up in Britain, maybe this can help you:
Station Metres kHz Transmission power Location
BRT-1 324 926 150 kW Veltem
BRT-2 198 1511 20 kW Veltem
RTB-1 484 620 10 kW Anlier
RTB-2 288 1043 10 kW Ougree
" 267 1124 10 kW Anlier
Concerning Free Radio, there is first one big reservation that has to be made: only Flemish people care much about it. Whereas they have Veronica, RNI, Atlantis & Mi Amigo; French people have their Luxembourg (LW 1293 m), and Europe 1 (LW 1647 m) - those are legal French commercial stations (on which you can hear "legal" ads for Belgian firms!). If you call "free Radio" that which radio-freaks get out of their
self-built, you can say that over the whole of our little country there's quite a lot of activity - although these stations cannot claim a very wide audience. Our GPO is very active as regards such "pirates" - the latest news from that front is the seizure of Radio Nefertiti and Radio Little Albert during the end of November.
Flemish people have always loved the offshore stations, especially the Dutch ones: they broadcast in our own language (Flemish indeed doesn't differ more from Dutch than American from English). However, Veronica on 192 m could only be received in a small part of Flanders. That's why RNI's Dutch Service (far more powerful) became so imnensely popular over here. In the polls it appeared in the first place, before Veronica. When Veronica changed her wavelength, the reception was at once as good as BRT's and Veronica again became the more popular station. However, quite a lot of people living near the coast now turn again to RNI, due to the interference the IBA station in London causes to Veronica in these areas. Belgium has also had its own pirates. The first one lasted only 65 days, in the autumn of 1962 Radio Uilenspiegel (Radio Antwerpen), owned by the then 73 year-old Georges De Caluwe. Its broadcasts were in Flemish and French on 1492 kHz MW and in the 41 metre-band. The ship was lost completely in a storm.
In early '71 there were again rumours of a Belgian pirate: Radio Marina. It was to transmit on 244 m MW and 6205 kHz SW. Backers were two people from Ghent, Valere and Cecile Broucke. All the Belgian newspapers received letters informing them that Marina would buy broadcasting time from RNI, starting from February 15th, 1971. The negotiations, however, failed. After that Radio Marina had the opportunity to hire Capital Radio's ship "King David" for 3 months, at a cost of 5 million BF (about £50,000). After Capital Radio had signed the contract, Valere Broucke asked for one day's delay. He went to Mr. Verwey of Veronica, showed him the contract and demanded to be payed 10 million BF to cancel his plans. A simple phone-call by Veronica's lawyer put an end to Radio Marina. Top of the list comes Radio Atlantis of course. Mr. Adriaan van Landschoot, who is a member of the council of a town called Adegem, set up the whole station. It was on July 15th, 1973 at 12 noon that the station started - hiring a transmitter from Caroline. Mr. van Landschoot has already claimed he was preparing his own ship, that's why he didn't renew his contract with Caroline after October 15th. He said: "Within a few weeks Atlantis will be back, on a good wavelength, and with a power that will make the rest of the pirates turn white". At the time of writing this broadcasting has just been resumed, and can be heard on 270 metres. The station now operates from the M.S. "Jeanine" anchored in international waters off the coast of Belgium.
Another Belgian organisation has now hired Caroline's 259 metre transmitter and broadcasts under the name of Radio Mi Amigo. One may wonder how long all this will last; it is not Mr. van Landschoot's intention for it to end. He proposed that RNI and Veronica should co-operate with him for collective survival. He even spoke of a joint studio complex in Liechtenstein, and of supplying the boats by helicopter from there... he claims that by this method he could run Atlantis for years, without one penny coming from advertising. We can only wait and see. What is true anyway, is that Atlantis was immediately a terrific success in Belgium. The (very big) drive-in show has been an unprecedented success, and the Flemish pop industry received an enormous impulse, as did the BRT. I am sorry I must express the personal opinion that only good entertaining programmes from BRT are those that are non-stop music. I don't feel that Atlantis DJ's are all that good either, but at least they play an acceptable variety of music. Atlantis has captured an entirely different audience than that of Veronica's and RNI.
The Free Radio campaigning over here is very poor. The Belgian FRC Branch seems to have collapsed with the departure for national service of Pierre Deseyn. If there are (Belgian) people reading this and interested in Free Radio campaigning,
please write direct to me at the address given below (don't forget return postage!). Let us hope we will continue to have the opportunity to tune into a radio-station providing an alternative to the competition-less government-directed service. After all, we have got three AFN-FM stations here in Belgium...
John Troukens, FRC-Belgium, P.O. Box 21, B-1050 Llsene 2, Belgium.
So you think Radio Atlantis is Belgium's first offshore station? Not at all! Way back in 1962 the Belgian people had their own pirate station for 65 days. This short life had, however, had a long pre-history. Before the second World War Belgium had some ten private-owned, mostly commercial, radio-stations. One of them, Radio Antwerpen, was owned by a Mr. Georges De Caluwe, a radio-technician in Antwerp who obtained his transmitting-licence in 1922. The antenna of Radio Antwerpen was placed upon a protestant church tower, and for this reason the station soon got the nickname "Radio Kerkske" (Radio Little Church). Its official call-sign was ON4ED. In 1935
a Friends Circle was founded; balls and festivities followed in the whole of Belgium. In 1940, when the German Army stood before Antwerp, De Caluwe ceased broadcasting and destroyed his transmitter so that it would not be used for propaganda purposes. As soon as the Germans began their retreat, Radio Kerkske returned to the air with a new transmitter. But when the Belgian Government returned from London, they declared they had passed a law introducing state-monopolised radio, and Radio Kerkske had to close down. The studio and transmitting equipment was claimed by the authorities in order for it to be used for the local Antwerp service. There was much protesting from the listeners, but all in vain. For Georges De Caluwe, of course, this was a big disappointment. He tried and tried to regain a licence. He was even supported by a political party, but it was no use, even though in Brussels the minister had to give back a licence to the commercial station Radio Conference, after the listeners protested vehemently against the enforced close-down. Some commercial stations were so popular that they were able to remain undisturbed on the air, illegally, for some years.
Finally, in the early sixties, Mr. De Caluwe decided to follow the example of the Swedish offshore broadcasters, and in 1962 he bought the ex-French Navy supply ship "Crocodile", for a cost of about £40,000. The length of the concrete-built ship was 70 feet. It was renamed "Uilenspiegel" (= owl-mirror) after a legendary Flemish hero, and the tender was called "Nele" after Uilenspiegel's wife. The ship was converted to a radio-ship in Antwerp, by the installation of a 10 kW MW transmitter. On October 12th, after some troubles with the authorities, the Panamanian-registered ship left harbour and anchored 7 km. (5 miles) off Zeebrugge. On October 15th at 14.25 on 201•7 metres Georges' voice was heard on the air again, triumphantly announcing "This is Radio Antwerpen from the ship Uilenspiegel on the North Sea". The programmes were in Flemish from 7 in the morning till midnight. Every day a French show of half an hour called "Il y a de la musique" was broadcast at 16.30. Operas and classical music were also programmed. The programmes were mostly pre-recorded in a studio in Edegem (near Antwerp). The official station BRT at once extended their broadcasting time by one hour, from 23.00 to midnight; the success of Radio Uilenspiegel was outstanding in more ways than one!
Although at that time De Caluwe had reached the age of 73, he was regularly on board his ship, where he spoke on the air about the situation on board, the reception reports, or thanked the fishermen for offerings from their catch. One day he had a surprise for his listeners: in his almost daily little chat at 12.25, after the request-show "Greetings from Uilenspiegel", he announced that a short-wave transmitter had been brought on board! It was used to broadcast in the 41 metre-band on a frequency of 7600 kHz. Reception reports were received from as far away as Canada. Radio Uilenspiegel experienced the starting troubles of any offshore station, but sadly it was unable to survive them. For some days interference on the whole of the MW band along the Belgian coast was caused by modulation problems; in November the station went off the air after broadcasting a distress call, but the next day it returned; the antenna-mast fell down on the MW transmitter. On December 13th Georges De Caluwe died in Antwerp following an operation. His death saved him from the worst experience of his life: a few days later, at night, the Uilenspiegel went adrift during a storm.
The crew members put out alarm signs by firing rockets and burning clothes, eventually they were taken on board a salvage snip, but during the rescue one man was crushed between the two ships - he died shortly afterwards. Still transmitting, but not well modulated, the ship drifted for some time, until a Dutch tug got a line aboard. At midnight the tape ended: ""Till tomorrow, and a good night". There was no more tomorrow for the station, because Uilenspiegel ran aground some 450 yards north of the Belgian-Dutch border, at Retranchement near Cadzand. It was, then and later, plundered by tourists - and others. So some time ago (when Veronica was on the beach) the last programme tape of Radio Uilenspiegel was heard once again, this time on the BRT. In the meantime, on December 18th 1962, the Belgian Parliament passed a law similar to the British M.O, act, by a vote of 123 for: 35 against, with 5 abstentions. This took away the last hope for the people who would have liked to refloat Radio Antwerpen. The ship sank in the sand; in 1971 the wreck was considered to be a safety hazard, so it was blown up. Who knows what could have become of the little station? To make a comparison with another popular station, Veronica at that time certainly wasn't as powerful, as professional or as successful as our own Radio Uilenspiegel!
John Troukens. FRC Belgium.
BACK ISSUES.
SDFRC "Info-sheet" No,6 (Forerunner of "Monitor") Definitely a collector's item - priced at only 8p (Overseas 2 IRC).
"Monitor" Nos. 2, 3 & 4 at 10 ½ p each, while stocks last. (Overseas 3 IRC's each). All the above publications are available from the Editorial address.
DJ PROFILES_ NO. 2 JOHNNY JASON.
The life story of Johnny Jason, one of Radio Seagull's top DJ's, reads like a travelogue - London, Peru, Germany, Australia, America, and now: The North Sea! Yes, although the story is yet only 25 years long, already it would fill more than one book! But here for your information and entertainment are a few of the main points. Johnny was born in London on September 13th 1948. He does indeed live there now when not aboard the "Mi Amigo", he loves the international flavour of the place. He would rather be there than anywhere else in the world; but the most interesting place he's ever been to he names as Peru in South America. Johnny grew up there, and likes best the relaxed life style. He speaks Spanish fairly well, but his knowledge of the German language is much better, as he was at school in Germany. While he was there he played "mediocre guitar" in a band; the guitar, in fact, is the only musical instrument that he can play. Johnny has many interesting free-radio memories - here's just one from last year on the "Mi Amigo". "We had a great time catching Jelly Fish. I don't remember who discovered the sport, but there was a great deal of skill involved. Norman Barrington would go up front of the ship as look out, while Steve England and myself would await the 'enemy' armed with buckets tied to rope. Hysterical screams of laughter followed every victory or failure. To anyone looking on we must have seemed completely mad!"
It was in Australia that Johnny began his career as a disc-jockey. His first appearance was on station 4PUC in Mackay, in January 1972. He admits to being very nervous, and failed even to tell the time correctly! It was in Sydney, where he appeared on station 2SDT, that the name "Johnny Jason" was chosen for him, by a retired actress. He liked the name instantly (But "Johnny Jason" sounded even better than "Johnny Instantly"!). Johnny names the lady who suggested it as the greatest influence he's had on his career, along with his parents. While Johnny was in Australia he also appeared on station 4LM in Mount Isa, and made his first (and, so far, only appearance on TV as a guest announcer "and general chatterbox" on a 'telethon' on Channel 7 in Sydney. This was in October 1972. Johnny has a burning ambition to have his own talk chat show on TV; he's totally confident he will do, one day: If he was to leave the field of radio behind him, it would be to work in TV in the U.S.A. Johnny is no stranger to America, as last year he spent some time travelling around that country, getting to know the people and the country on a personal level.
Johnny, what do you think you look like? "My ego says I'm lovely, but I doubt it! Johnny is very influenced by what his fans say. He makes a point of acknowledging all fan letters on the air, and everyone who takes the trouble to write receives a personal reply. Johnny loves writing letters, but says "meeting someone in person is the real test - and a gas!" His favourite type of music is country-rock; he admits to playing a lot of his own personal favourites on the air if station policy allows. Johnny hopes that his style isn't influenced by other DJ's - "It's meant to be the real me" - and has no set approach - "I vary my style and presentation according to the time slot; it's an essential part of programming". His own favourite DJ is Kenny Everett; as a breakfast DJ he names Ian Macrae of Sydney's 2SM the tops. But the programme he remembers with the most affection is Dick Palmer's "Night Trip" on our very own Caroline. Johnny's theme tune is 'Welcome' off the album "Recall the Beginning, A Journey from Eden" by the Steve Miller Band - "The title says it all!"
Tell us about the most impressive memory you have of free radio, Johnny? "That was seeing Chicago fall into Scheveningen Harbour fully clothed, after the gangplank tipped over!" Girls - if you want Johnny to notice you you must have a "bubbling personality"; that's the thing that impresses him most. He makes friends easily. He likes best positive-minded people, and dislikes pessimists. Johnny admits to being a critical person, and openly expresses his opinions - "Whether they're good or not is another matter!" If Johnny is working with someone he doesn't like, his philosophy is "Try to adapt; if all else fails, leave the job!" But really, Johnny gets on well with almost everybody; he believes in letting them 'do their own thing'! He reacts favourably to new ideas, but is frustrated by indecisive people. Johnny admits that he's not an organised person at all - except in money matters.
What's the first thing you do when you get off the boat, Johnny? "Have a good wash, a good meal and a nice long sleep- in that order!" The colour Johnny likes best is blue. His favourite food is very hot goulash, Brussels sprouts, and good wine. He loves driving, preferably in a Range Rover, or a Lamborghini. Johnny likes sport, particularly tennis, motor racing, American football and swimming. He prefers to take part whenever possible rather than just watch. A favourite recreation of his is investigating passive demonstrations, disccvering what they're all about, why they happen. "I find it a great way to get involved with other people and find out about them". One thing that Johnny finds most unpleasant is the fact that there are "too many people out to 'con' others". Johnny doesn't consider himself to be technically minded, but he is very interested in space and oceanography. TV, Films and the
theatre: "Anything visual is entertaining". He likes dancing and concerts; but he considers that the best type of entertainment is found just with friends.
Now tell us, Johnny, what is the most humorous thing that has happened to you aboard the "Mi Amigo"? "Having shaving-cream or washing-up liquid poured into my coffee and taking the whole cupful before I realised that something was terribly wrong!". Thank you for talking to us Johnny; I'm sure we all know you a lot better now. You once gave yourself some good advice - and took it. What was that? "Whatever you do, be happy". What more can one say? Until you get your TV show, Johnny, long may we hear you - and your happiness - on Radio Seagull and Caroline!
If you are the Chinese-restaurant owner who was awoken to answer the telephone at almost 4 o'clock one morning only to be asked "Is that Capital Radio? And are you Sean Kelly?", DON'T READ ANY FURTHER! You already know the success story of London's new commercial stations; how London Broadcasting Company (L.B.C.) took 8,000 calls in their first three days of operation, and how the response to Capital Radio's phone in shows is so great that the automatic exchange has been known to freak out and reroute Capital's calls all over London. But if you are not that unfortunate gentleman and you would like to know more, do read on......
Legal independent radio first arrived in England on 15th January last year when, to the great frustration of Radio Veronica listeners in the area, a strong signal was heard on 557 kHz (539 m), the frequency to which Veronica had moved only fifteen weeks before. From then on, tests ensued on this frequency almost continually, mostly with music, sometimes with a tuning whistle. Lots Road power station in Chelsea was the site of the revolution. Here between the two main chimney stacks an aerial had been erected, a 275 ft. vertical top loaded by a 212 ft. horizontal. This aerial, which soon earned the station the affectionate nick-name 'Radio Clothesline' is omnidirectional and is still in use at the time of writing. The original. transmitter, a Marconi B 6023, was joined a few months later by another of the swage type broadcasting on 719 kHz (417m). Both were carrying the same programme, each with an ERP of 500 watts.The quality of the signal was found to be good not only in the intended reception area but over most of South and East England. The music? Well, in the words of the I.B.A's Engineering Officer, Mr. John Lovell: "The music being broadcast for our engineering tests has been selected by our engineers, and probably bears no relation to the programmes that will be broadcast. However, many complimentary letters and telephone calls about the choice of music have been received". (April 1973).
By the time the two now stations were ready to officially open, FM transmitters had already been added to the network. Both are a Marconi B 6523 type with a power output of 400 watts, 2 kw ERP circularly polarised. They are situated at the I.B.A. site at South dorwood Hill, London SE.25, and are linked to the studios by land-line in such a way that full stereo is available. People living close to the transmitter site had no need to fear that they would be unable to tune into the stations because of the high power of the signal, a special aerial has been developed in six tiers so that receivers within a mile radius of the VHF transmitters "see" less than 100 watts ERP. At last tile great day arrived: October 8th 1973. This was the day of the opening of England's very first legal commercial station - London's "News" station, L.B.C.
The very concept of L.B.C. is new to Britain. On the station you will not generally find music, drama or 'light entertainment' of any type, just news, information, programmes of topical interest and, of course, discussions and opinions. L.B.C. already proved that the people of London were ready and waiting for a station of this type, for not only are discussions and opinions the privilege of persons actually in the studio, the listeners also have the chance to participate. At any time, Londoners may dial 353 1010 and be in contact with the station. 8,000 people did just that within the first 100 hours of broadcasting; it was estimated by experienced engineers that a further 20,000 persons were trying to reach the station, but because of the overvwhelming pressure of calls were unable to get through on any of L.B.C's 10 lines. No one had expected that the station would be so very popular, and L.B.C. admitted to being embarrassed by the unslackening response to their programmes. On October 12th, tens of thousands of handbills were presented to home-going commuters at underground stations to apologise to those people who had been unlucky, and to promise them "your turn will come (even if, like Andre Previn, it's 3.15 in the morning)". L.B.C., in conjunction with Independent Radio News, has the main function of presenting to the people of London details of what is going on around teem. Not a task to be taken lightly; but one that it has so far proved itself capable of undertaking. At first, L.B.C. made the fullest use of its connections with A.B.C. and
WABC (New York World glide) to bring the listeners the major amount of international news; but in the face of Public Opinion, the predominance has now changed to national and local news. Of course, news analysis and top-line interviews play a large part in any important story, and L.B.C. has the power to "drop everything" when it is necessary to give full coverage to items of consequence. On the first day of broadcasting that prerogative was claimed to bring us full, on-the-spot details of a major press conference given by our Prime Minister, Mr. Heath. Offshore fans are no doubt delighted to hear a few old friends on L.B.C.; Phil Jay and Adrian Love of Radio City fame, and Steve Merricke, late of Radio Scotland, Caroline South and R.N.I. (Since this article was written Steve has left L.B.C. to join Piccadilly Radio in Manchester. Editor). You can write to these and all other presenters on the station at P. 0. Box 269, Communications House, Gough Square, Fleet Street, London EC4P 4LP, or, if you prefer to do things in style, send a telegram to "Radio News LDN"!
The second Big Event for the listeners in London occurred on October 16th. This was the day of the opening of the 'General Entertainment' station, Capital Radio. 'Entertainment' is the word - and the intention. In true free radio fashion, Capital aims to be a station that listens to the listeners, giving the citizens of London what they want to hear. To a great extent, as may be expected, this is MUSIC. Music, of all types but mainly 'popular contemporary music', plays such a large part in Capital's day that it is difficult to remember that, like the B.B.C., Capital (as all other I.B.A. stations) has to abide by the Musicians Union's 'needletime' restrictions. On L.B.C., music is a rare and precious event; Capital uses every available minute of 'needletime' to its best advantage. But although music is a most important aspect of Capital programming, the station is by no means restricted to the point of existing only as a reedy-made music-box. Many other features play their part to make Capital, in the words of Michael Bukht, Programme Controller, "a coherent one sound, one style station, not bits and pieces which happen to be on the same wavelength". Both of London's new stations follow a pattern, but whereas L.B.C's is a pattern of organised flexibility, Capital's pattern is more simple to the mind of the casual listener. Day time listening gives background entertainment; a pleasant companion to hear without, in the main, having to listen to. Evening programmes are aimed at particular interest-groups, programmes with a purpose, to provide not only entertainment but information and opinions for the benefit of the community in general. From one o'clock until six every morning we have Night Flight, a programme unique in British Broadcasting. Capital is talking not TO but WITH the night workers, the insomniacs, the lonely. Lift the phone - dial 388 1255 - and YOU could within minutes be speaking on the air. So passes Capital's day: music, serials, news-on-the-hour (and on how many stations could an announcer comment "Oh, don't bother with the barometer reading.... nobody's interested in it anyway"?), chat, information, and most of all, two way communication with the listener.
Like L.B.C., Capital has its share of ex-offshore announcers. At the time of writing, these are: Dave Cash (Radio London and Tommy Vance (Radio London and Caroline South), both of whom, will also be remembered for their part on Radio Monte Carlo's short lived follow-up programmes to Radio Geronimo, and Kenny Everett (Radio London), far too notorious for comment to be necessary here. Kenny, along with Dave Cash, can be heard every weekday morning with their popular "Kenny and, Cash" extravaganza. Capital is also proud to present for our entertainment Nicky Horne, late of the United Biscuit Network "Supersound" system. Only one type of music could he present in his daily programme entitled "Your Mother Wouldn't Like It"! Special shows are presented to us at weekends, too, such as "Hullabaloo", especially for children, and the hospital show, "Person to Person". Capital's studios and offices may be found at Euston Tower, London NW1 3DR; communications to the station may also be addressed to Capital Radio, P. 0. Box 539, London NW1 3DR.
So Britain, who has for so long looked upon Manx Radio as the lone voice of legal commercial radio crying in -the wilderness of our Islands, now has the beginnings of a nation-wide network of independent radio stations. Eventually the I.B.A. intends to set up sixty stations, which should give I.L.R. to 60-65 per cent of the population of Britain. The first seven of these should all be in operation by this summer; the third station opened on December 31st. This is Radio Clyde broadcasting to Glasgow area on 261 m. (1151 kHz) from Dechmont Hill and on 95•1 MHz VHF from the I.B.A's Black Hill site. Three familiar names on the station are Jack MacLaughlin, Richard Park and Tony Meehan, all "came ashore" from Radio Scotland! The next two stations are Birmingham Broadcasting Ltd. (BRMB), which opened on February 19th, and Piccadilly Radio which will begin broadcasting to the Manohester area in April. These stations will transmit on FM frequencies of 94•8 MHz and 97 MHz respectively, and both will use 261 metres MW. Contracts have also been allocated for Swansea and Tyneside/Wearside.
The I.B.A. stations so far open in London have been generally praised for their technical standards by experts and public alike. There have, of course, been small problems, such as on the day that we lost Capital for several minutes when something want wrong' with the regular change over of transmitters necessary to a twenty-four-
hour-day station. On the whole, however, the I.B.A. has no cause to be dissatisfied with the service provided; on the contrary, as A. R. Bradbury, officer of the I.B.A's Engineering Information Service, commented to ":Monitor", "you will understand the professional pride generated within the Authority by achievements to date". (October 1973).
What about the coverage of the stations? Do they meet with the standards set down for them? Indeed they do. The two London stations were, long before their opening, intended to cover an area bound by Barnet in the North, Gatwick in the South, Epping in the East, and Staines in the West. Both are certainly covering this area. The FM/VHF stations, L.B.C. on 97•3MHz, and Capital on 95•8 MHz, are received well not only in the immediate areas of transmission, but in surrounding regions such as Essex and Kent. It was noted that when the synchronized tests ended on 417 metres and 539 metres and programming began from L.B.C., the strength of the signal on 417 m. dropped considerably so that the semi-national coverage that we had been enjoying was no longer operative. However, the 539 m. transmissions did not suffer the same fate. Capital's medium-wave signal is covering a very wide area; already it has been mentioned on the station that they have listeners as far away as Bristol and Lincoln - distances of 110 and 130 miles! "Not bad", you may say, "for a local station...."; but this situation is not to continue. The I.B.A. transmitter site at Chelsea is only temporary. When the transmitters are moved, probably at the end of this year, to their permanent home in Saffron Green, Barnet, in Hertfordshire, a complex system of directional aerials will be used, and signal strength maintained to ensure that the station reaches as far as it should - and no further. At the time of this move, to, no doubt, the delight and relief of all Veronica fans in the London area, Capital will vacate 539 metres, and take up permanent residence on 194 metres 1546 kHz. At the same time, L.B.C. will lay claim to their allocated frequency of 1151 kHz (261 metres), and so leave 719 1kHz.
In conclusion, "Monitor" would like to thank everyone who has helped with the compilation of this article, especially Edna Tromans, Press Officer Capital Radio, Jason Pollock, Press Officer L.B.C., and A. P. Bradbury of the I.B.A. Engineering Information Service. We in Britain have achieved our objective: Free Radio is here to stay. Congratulations to us all!
Penelope Page, Sub- Editor.
How has Radio Northsea International fared in 1973? its been a, year of many changes - and many improvements! Let's look at some of the highlights of this years broadcasting from the "Mebo II".
Technically, RNl's always high standards have been on the whole maintained. There have, of course, been small problems: For several weeks the FM transmitter was off the air after it had blown its main valve; a studio fault (actually a break in the lead between the patch-panel in the production studio and the transmitter-room) has upon occasion caused us to lose the popular "A.J. on Sunday" feature; the signal on 49 metres has suffered power--drops or at times even disappeared altogether this last two months due to the extremely rough weather causing water to penetrate a certain stage of the antenna. However, on the other side of the coin much improvement has been made. On April 7th we were informed that our reception should never have been better: for the first time ever RNI was broadcasting not only on full power of 105 kW, but also with 100 per cent modulation; We have not enjoyed full power all year, though. In February the signal came to us on only 10 kW while the big transmitter was overhauled for the first time in its three years of duty on board the Mebo. On November 12th, when there was too much sea water running over the deck in force 10 gales to risk high power transmissions, the opportunity was again taken to use the 10 kW standby transmitter. Reception reports were requested; later these were acknowledged on the air, and we were told that the broadcasts had proved entirely satisfactory. Reports were also requested on November 23rd, when the final hour of the "Skyline" programme was transmitted live from the new studios which had only just been completed. The main studio received new equipment in May. Remarks were heard from at least one announcer that if ever a more efficient panel is invented it will present the programme all on its own! Constant tests are, of coarse, made to ensure the highest possible quality of the signal; generally these are made in the early hours of the morning, as it is sometimes necessary for modulation to be dropped for a few minutes to enable the engineers to check the modulation level of the transmitters. The 31 metre transmitter has been tested 3 times this year, on January 26th & 29th, and February 4th. All tests were on a frequency of 9760 kHz. In October the deck generator was overhauled. A huge crane was at the time taken on board the "Mebo II"; this was used to haul the generator part-way up the medium-wave mast before the main-tenance work could begin. In February now radar equipment was installed. On the non-
technical side, much new carpentry work can be seen on board, including new cassette racks and special fitments for holding bottles and cans of beverages so that they don't lose their contents onto the floor in rough weather! Last, but not least, in May the "Mebo II" was repainted and a new floor of checkerboard tiles laid in the studio.
There was a new arrival with a difference on board in April, by the name of Boro. He comes from Dusseldorf and likes to eat apples and DJ's feet! Yes Boro, who has stayed on the Mebo several times this year, is a dog. He belongs to Rudy the engineer.
Four films have been made on board the Mebo this year. For one of them, a 15 minute documentary filmed in May the German TV company concerned provided special RNI T-shirts to all broadcasting staff, while crew members were fitted out with boiler suits of a highly colourful design. An English company made the mistake of filming in October. The weather was so bad for them that upon one occasion only one member of their team was not seasick - a young lady director from Norway! One of the other films was made by an English team in March, the fourth one was shot during November.
Amongst the famous people to visit the "Mebo II" this year was chart-topper Judge Dread. He is the first to admit that RNI was instrumental in introducing his records to the world at large, and has given the station much favourable publicity.
Although RNI has been a much more settled station in 1973 than in previous years there has been some turnover of announcers on both the Dutch and International Services. Popular "Driemaster" DJ Nico Steenbergen can no longer be heard; Peter Holland, too, has departed. His first broadcast on RNI was the first edition of "Doorsnee Noordzee" on May 1st, 1971. He continued to present this programme until August 4th this year. "Doorsnee Noordzee" was then hosted for three weeks by Peter van Dyk; on August 27th a new regular DJ appeared. This turned out to be ex-Radio Caroline International's Ted Bouwens. Peter was heard again on Noordzee on October 29th hosting the 11.0013.00 GMT programme; that show is now the responsibility of Tony Berk. The first departure of the year on the International Service was Mark Slate, His last live show, on February 15th, came only two months after his first appearence. Mark had previously worked on Caroline North under the name Dee Harrison; he gave his reason for leaving as the fact he'd been accepted for another job for which he'd applied months earlier. His replacement, however, was a member of the RNI team for an even shorter length of time - a mere 11 days! This was Steve King, a popular disco DJ who made his radio debut on February 25th. During this programme he was sea-sick (February and November are traditionally the worst times to join a pop ship in Scheveningen bay! and after the first half-hour his show was taken over by Ian Anderson. Ian had arrived on board on February 9th. He was chief news editor and a temporary DJ. His first programme was on the 49 metre-band World Service on February 18th; his last on May 17th. Ian, who comes from Lerwick in the Shetland Isles was closely associated with Radio Geronimo, and was heard, together with his girlfriend Barbara, on the air live from the "Mi Amigo" in October. Although he was with RNI only for a short time he became a great favourite. Another most popular announcer who has departed from RNI this year is Arnold Layne, whose last live show was broadcast on July 19th. He was last heard on a recorded programme, on the "Skyline" show on July 29th. One of RNI's most original and best-liked DJ's, Arnold previously broadcast on Radios Essex, 390, 270 and Caroline North under the name of Roger Scott. Not to be forgotten is Steve Berry, RNI's American transmitter engineer. Steve's last show was on April 24th; he left the ship on May 12th. A surprise arrival on March 16th was Australian DJ Graham Gill - only four days previously Graham had been broadcasting from the "Mi Amigo"! Graham previously worked on Radios London, England and Britain Radio (Graham was our featured DJ in "Monitor" No.4 - a limited number of copies are still available, see page 7 for details). Those of us who were listening to Radio Seagull on the morning of August 25th were puzzled by Norman Barrington's greetings and good wishes to "Mr. Banks over there". However, anyone who was tuned into RNI at the time would have noted, no doubt to their surprise and delight, that yet another Radio Caroline voice had turned up on 220! This programme, from 03.00-05.00 CET, was the first appearence of Robin Banks. Robin's first radio experience was with Channel Radio, where he broadcast under the. name Roger Lane. He joined the Radio Caroline Organisation as an engineer, and was responsible for much essential and important work both on board the "Mi Amigo" and on land. Using his own name, Robin Adcroft, he broadcast several times on Radio Caroline; although his programmes were all too infrequent he became extremely popular. However, since he has been part of the RNI team, the observation has been made that Robin's skill as a DJ has improved considerably; certainly his programmes are presented in a most professional manner. On August 3rd we heard another familiar voice, Robbie Eden. Although Robbie, who has for some time been the Mebo company's representative in London, has been on board the "Mebo II" several times this year, that was his first programme since December 28th, 1972. Robbie is now broadcasting again regularly. On April 15th we were treated to a programme from a guest DJ during the "Skyline" show from 05.00-07.00 CET. This was Trevor Campbell, who was visiting the Mobo with Dave Johns from Long Wittenham. Dave was on board to interview the announcers for the
magazine "Dee Jay and Radio Monthly".
At the time of the discussions on the future of the offshore stations in the Dutch Parliament ALL programmes from the Mebo were broadcast live. In the interests of "up to the minute news" no expense was spared - it was even known for the tender to make SEVEN trips in one day! On June 26th Noordzee announced their "Hou 'm in de Lucht" action, so that listeners in Holland could "keep us on the air". Within days enough people had joined the scheme to ensure the station airtime on the legal Dutch networks. On June 28th, RNI's International Service News calmly announced that the Dutch government had voted to ratify the treaty of Strasbourg and so outlaw the offshore stations. In July the Mebo was invaded by what was described as a "honeycomb of bumblebees". No one knew from where they had come, but Don Allen was heard to remark "if they're Chris Cary's, he can have them back"! On the best run boats there are accidents, and RNI has proved no exception this year. Fortunately they have been relatively minor. The most serious was on April 5th, when Graham had his finger crushed in a slammed door. He had to go ashore at once for treatment, |
