Bestel deze boeken en CD's bij het Genootschap. Klik op de afbeeldingen voor informatie.
Offshore days – The 1960s
New photos added on October 8th, 2011
Radio and jingles were closely knit together in Western Europa, here is a brief history about the first steps to come to commerial radio, reported by Jelle Boonstra.
Radio in the post-war years was kind of cultural. Most countries had public radio, controlled by the governement. They used radio for education mainly.
The dwarf states in Europa made up for that, like Radio Luxemburg, a border blaster for the whole of Western Europe.
In the 1950s commercial radio came from a boat. Outside the 3 mile limit at sea there was no radio legislation, Radio Mercur started it all in august 1958.
The US Army had shown the way, by transmitting programmes to the east block countries near Rhodes in Greece in 1951, using a balloon to support the antenna (an idea that Laser 558 picked up in 1983).
With jazzmusician Ib Glindemann, composing the first offshore radio-ID, a fanfare on FM.
Owner Britt Wadner became the wellknown pirate queen of all Scandinavia.
When she had to serve a jail sentence of a month for her pirate activities thousands of listeners showed their sympathy on the train station (march 1965)
And the ships got better gradually – an old ferry ship was bought: the Cheetah II.
Transformed in an offshore station.
After the pirate radio laws Britt moved to Gambia in Africa and started the first commercial station there.
The ship is still there, well – kind of – under water nowadays (at the left in the foreground).
And the ships in Scandinavia kept on coming, like this one: DCR, from an old Dutch coaster – find more about them here.
Mercur inspired Radio Veronica in The Netherlands in 1960, their first theme tune: Ted Heath and His Music – Swingin’ Shepherd Blues. 
They bought an old lightship from Germany, with a superb archor installation – that a lightship had needed anyway.
On April 21st, technical director Oswald pushed in the button the start the first ever official program on tape.
Their first – simple studio aboard.
In the beginning there wasn’t a lot of money as this sound-proofing in the studio ashore (with Joost de Draaijer) in 1961 clearly illustrates.
Their ship really looked exactly like a pirate music ship should actually look like.
In between moving the weelly crews in 1961.
And it took on the sea quite well.
It was an old German lightship from the ‘Deutsche Bucht’, here on a photo from 1934 (notice the nazi flag in top).
Their first QSL-card
Sweden got it’s Radio Nord in 1961, a very professional set up
Gordon McLendon, of the ever innovating Top 40 station KLIF 1190 in Dallas,was one of the owners.
With posh new studios in the heart of Stockholm, here with DJ Gert Landin.
Jingles were made by the Henry Fox Orkester, at the piano in this 1934 photo: Henrie Fuchs (a.k.a. Fox)
And sung by the (Finnish) Harmony sisters, stars of the day, back then in 1961.
They oftened supplied the ship from a plane.
As they proudly boasted on their 1961 QSL card.
The former offices at Kammakargatan 46 in Stockholm nowadays are a youth hotel now, get the Radio Nord feeling, and stay within every budget at the same time.
Belgium had it’s own station too, Radio Antwerpen, from ship called the Uilenspiegel.
They had a fitting station-ID: ‘Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche‘, by Richard Strauss.
The studio was ashore in Hove, just outside Antwerp in Belgium.
It lasted just two months and two weeks and then the ship was washed ashore on the Dutch/Belgium border
They were on the beach for years…..
….and years
At Easter 1964 Radio Caroline caused a pop-revolution in Great Britain.
The jingles were done by organplayer Jimmy McGriff an singer Madeline Bell – this is their complete tape, includes rejected jingles.
The same month another ship arrived, newswire ANP had this photo taken in Falmouth, of the Mi Amigo (the old Radio Nord ship).
Inbetween jobs the sailed had sailed over to Galveston (near Houston) to serve as a yaught for the Texan backers.
In full swing here, with maintenance in the aerial.
The North ship was an ex-ferry boat from the Baltic, plenty of room.
Moored it the rough Irish sea – near Liverpool & Manchester.
Holland even got an offshore TV-station from a special designed platform: the REM-island. Proposed heme tune: ZZ& The Maskers and Northsea Melody.
This was their studio in august 1964, when the first picture was transmitted.
Yes, this one!
The studio wasn’t quite ready though.
Taken by force four months later: the gouvernement decided to send in the marines.
They occupied the proud platform in december 1964.
It remained at sea as an official beacon, ’till it was finally removed in 2006.
The TV antennas laid waste for years – here photographed in 1977.
Veronica got itself a new ship in ‘64, secretly fitted out in Zaandam.
Here it is, on the first day at sea after it sneaked out of port – with no name on!
A stockbroker had offered them two sisterships from Hamburg to choose from: the HH297 Otto Schuber
And this one: the HH294/Paul J. Müller, which they actually picked (photo from 1952).
And then along came Radio London, bringing jingles of the legendary PAMS of Dallas to Europe for the first time with ‘The Sonowaltz’ as a kind of stations’ anthem.
Let’s say it rather had some similarities with a jazz-hit in 1961 by Slide Hampton.
They used PAMS # 17 (New Frontier) and # 18 Sonosational, box & tape schedule were published in a double CD and a Radio London book by East Anglian Productions.
The Sonowaltz was written by staff-writer Euel Box, who had himself an Oscar-nomination in 1974 for the Benji-soundtrack. (Euel Box photo thanks to www.pams.com).
The DJ’s, like Tony Windsor became incredibly popular.
The ship (painted green before the closedown) during the final days, august 1967.
The ship moved to Hamburg, photographed by Thomas Krüger in 1973.
When you go to Rome, have a drink a Radio Londra, a rather odd place, not named after the ship but after the war-time Itlian service of de BBC from London. Still.
Soon followed by Swinging Radio England & Britain radio.
Texas was quite important for offshore stations. The state supplied backers of the Radios Nord, London, England & Britain – and Continental Electronics in Houston give lots of them a voice: a strong transmitter.
And many, like Britain radio & Radio England got their jingles from PAMS in Dallas.
They used one of the Liberty ships from WWII (the film ‘Dogs of war’ is starring one).
We need to show you this one: where as Radio England was build as a broadcast station, the navy built a listening station, for intelligence in the cold war days.
Although the stations are long gone, the hardware is still there, this is the ship in 2008.
Yet another one on it’s way – Radio Scotland.
Als based on a lightship that was laid to rest – the Daunt Rock, here in the old days.
After the close down the aerial was removed in Vlissingen (The Netherlands).
They really had a corny old theme tune: Black Bear by Frank Cornell.
The Britsish coast saw a lot of radiostations, but is was exaggerated to call yourself Radio 270 (just kidding, is was their wavelength), they bought on old logger, the Scheveningen 333 (the Ocean VII – the ship’s name, not a film with George Clooney in it).
Again, what a big mast.
Soon stations came from everywhere. From abandoned forts for instance from WorldWarII, erected to shoot at German planes, before they could hit London (shown here in the Museum of Docks).
This the Knock John Fort, occupied for a while by the no-money station Radio Essex.
After all these years the structure is still there, everything has been locked up, no stairs in sight anymore, the navy fear smugglers of drugs most. The time are a-changin’.
Fisherman Roy Bates occupied one of the forts after the pirate era was over, and acclaimed his ‘Principality of Sealand, next to him is his wife, ‘princess’ Joan 1
Soon there where stations everywhere, like Radio Hauraki in far off New Zealand, on their first ship.
And their second, you can tell “Yellow submarine”‘ was a big hit in those days.
It happened to run aground a lot.
‘Lord’ Sutch was the first one to use a fort for exterritorial broadcasts, as a publicity stunt really, but it seemed a really good idea, once it was started.
Nobody was bothered that the forts were still army-property at the time.
They were erected to shoot German bombers out of the air, before they could reach British sole.
Here’s another one, on an army fort this time, Red Sands, that was going to house Radio 390 (oh please,stop bragging now)
In 1966 Caroline went for repairs to Zaandam, at exact the same spot where the Norderney was refurnished.
And yet again om the same location the Radio England/Dolfijn/Britain ship Laissez Faire was repaired.
In 2009 all these stories where crammed into a fictious movie: the boat that rocked.
The ship used was actually a broadcasting vessel, although a boaring one, a hospitalship for fishermen broadcasting weekly sermons (photographed here in the Fishery-museum of Urk). 
Legislation stopped the stations in 1967, Caroline continued and moved offices to Amsterdam, here with director Ronan O’Rahilly near the new office there.
In 1968 the carnival was over, the ships were towed to Amsterdam.
Much to the disgust of the listeners.
At the BBC ‘Radio One’ tried to take over from the offshore stations.
Mainly staffed with the best of the pirate DJ’s
It was laughed at by some of the media
In september 1967 ‘peace activist ‘ Abe Nathan came to Amsterdam to buy himself a ‘Peace ship’.
A former German gunboat ‘Hoche’from WWII was inspected by Nathan
But was considered to be too small
In 1968 he returned to Amsterdam to send a boat with presents and food to Biafra. And he eventually would buy himself a boat that year.
On juni 1st, 1969 he obtained a former coaster – Cito – here at the arrival in Amsterdam.
And Veronica was alone again (photo © Freek Simon).
Establishing itself even futher – here’s a staff photo of august 1967.
They bought a new studio building in 1969, with state of the art equipment (here with Dj’s Tineke and Gerard de Vries).
Veronica even tried to expand to Germany, according to this (rare) poster – but no German advertisers were attracted.
Radio Luxemburg did benefit as well, they attracted a lot of the nightly listeners from the UK.
While Veronica continued, one of the Caroline ships was demomished in 1972: The end of a legend, but there were plans for the other one.
And Abie Nathan prepared himself to get to the high seas, his Voice of Peace is photographed here in the docks of New York, 1969.
It still wasn’t over yet, just hop with us to
THE SEVENTIES.
