Britain's First Commercial Radio Station(s)

26/7/2024

The first offshore radio stations (in as much as they were certainly off the British coast line) get very little attention from anoraks even though Ronan O'Rahilly told a rather large whopper about one of them in relation to Georgie Fame. Yet these were the original pioneers of free radio for the UK, trying to bust the BBC's monopoly and loved by their listeners. Ironically a number of sixties offshore DJ's ended up on Luxy some because they could not get a gig on Radio One or in some cases didn't want to sell out to them.

It say's much about UK radio that even in the late 1980's Radio Luxembourg felt that there was still a market for high powered radio broadcasting into the UK as they and RTE set up Atlantic 252 (in part based on how good Laser 558 had been). So here are a few reminders of the 'other type' of British offshore radio along with the occasional fade in and out, when the real pioneers of UK commercial radio did their stuff.

18 Comments

Mevyn Hagger

27/7/2024 08:44:08 am

Thanks for posting. Unfortunately the 208 clips are not in date sequence. I grew up with Lux on 208 and that is where on Saturday nights I heard Alan Freed from WINS in NY at the time when he was promoting the original rock and roll films with Maurice Levy behind him - the man who,about 10 years later bought Jack Spector to Radio Caroline.

It was BBC-ITA who brought Beatlemania to the world with Jack Good who then went to NY and put British-style pop music on USA TV.

Radio Caroline NEVER promoted anything new. That was left to Radio London which really began in 1965 and BBC Radio One copied in 1967.

But from the mid-1950s until about 1963, it was on 208 where I heard American (Mainly NBC) radio programs with all of the big stars of the day in quiz shows, plays and variety shows.

When Radio Caroline began in 1964 it was a COPY of the BBC Light Programme style of presentation, and it took until about mid-1965 for Radio London to really get going. Britain Radio in 1966 was a copy of easy listening music format on tape, and Radio England was a hodge-podge of different music styles called 'boss radio', which it wasn't. It was a US southern country music type of radio mixed with pop music and Texas-made jingles with shouted news that I found funny but advertisers avoided because the audience was with London, Caroline and 390.

Someone needs to put together a properr sampling of 208 from about 1954 to 1963, because right now it does not exist. That is when it was the "Station of the (USA) Stars" which the BBC could not afford, and 208 rebroadcast mainly NBC radio and some Mutual radio shows from the USA on transcription discs.

Morgan Stanley Chase. Morgan Stable Chase. Red Rum. Captain Morgan Charles or Stanley Chaser

3/8/2024 12:06:26 am

"I heard Alan Freed from WINS in NY at the time when he was promoting the original rock"

Mervyn, as a woolfish radio enthusiast or anorak in sheepskin clothes I wonder if Alan AKA Fluff Freeman adapted his name from Alan Freed?

Like Morgan Freeman, JD Boss Hogg Wetherspoons and Kamala Chameleon Indian tonight. Cocking a snook at their former slave owning plantation masters

Hinting top Trumps Brexit will secure lottery tax for £e6.48 cod fish and chips

in a protective atmosphere of E U background music

IMO Playing The National lottery = A tax on stupidity

IMO Voting in a national election = There is a slim chance of your choice of numbskull winning

But you have to play it to be in it

The old Pirate radio ship game

70 year old yarns man and boy

Bring it on. Ring the bell. Click and subscribe. New content every rob day

THE ONE QUESTION CHRIS EDWARDS (& anoraks) CANNOT ANSWER

27/7/2024 10:11:47 am

IF Ronan O'Rahilly's LIE about starting Radio Caroline was true (which it was not), then why did Christopher Moore dedicate the first record that was played on Radio Caroline to Ronan O'Rahilly by ..... no, not Georgie Fame (who already had an EMI LP on the market by then), the first record played was a Buddy Holly number covered by the Rolling Stones ....

HUH?

Explain that, Chris.

You can't, you can only waffle if you are going to stick to the Ronan O'Rahilly LIE.

Why Chris, can't you admit the obvious. Ronan O'Rahilly LIED and not only that, YOU know that Charles Orr Stanley put Radio Caroline on the air, and now I know the NAME of the company that was involved.

It is not guesswork, it is documented with proof, and YOU, Chris discovered why Charles Orr Stanley had to HIDE the true story - it was on the PYE lettterhead used to submit the Pye Plan to the Pilkington Committee.

YOU, Chris, have personally seen that letterhead because YOU sent it to me!

Tell the truth Chris, even if it makes OEM go into the dustbin as load of tosh that supported Ronan O'Rahilly, the Liar-in-chief.

Mervyn Hagger

28/7/2024 03:10:39 pm

http://www.yesternoir.org/

We have NOW asked this question:

What will Donald Trump do IF he becomes President again?

Will he release more bombshells?

It THAT the reason why "someone" wanted him DEAD?

It is a story that links back to the lies of Ronan O'Rahilly via little girl named Caroline and a mighty member of the Industrial Military Complex.

What will you do Chris Edwards if it turns out that you walked away from the truth in order to protect OEM and a scam artist named Ronan O'Rahilly?

My offer to you is still open.

It is not too late.

http://www.allaboutradiocaroline.co.uk/

29/7/2024 09:29:18 am

Updated to "yesterday" in case you didn't get the point.

http://www.yesternoir.org/

30/7/2024 08:08:16 am

Today, while Paul Rusling is posting stuff on Facebook about a totally bogus storyline from yesterday about a woman named Oonah, there is a totally true storyline about the current, ongoing investigation into the attempted assassination of Donald Trump that is now being posted on http://www.yesternoir.org/

It poses the question of whether Donald Trump poses a future threat to anyone promoting the false narrative about the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963, due to the British document that he caused to be released in 2017.

Anoraks, you should also be worried because if the fake narrative about John F. Kennedy's murder is debunked at last, then all anoraks will be revealed as idiots.

Take a look at http://www.yesternoir.org/

Oonagh has died,

31/7/2024 12:30:45 pm

Paul Rusling schrijft op Facebook:
"So sad to report the passing of the First Lady of Radio Caroline, Oonagh, who has finally succumbed after a long battle to Amyloidosis. Oonagh was Ronan's 'right hand man' from 1962 and oversaw the admin of his music business enterprises as well as the launch of Caroline, including transport of £,000s in cash across borders to get suppliers paid. She was persecuted by the authorities, and finally faced the French courts for operating tenders in 1977. Oonagh leaves her loving husband Sonny (the architect of Caroline Homes) and her family in Ireland, but the eternal thanks and love of Caroline supporters everywhere. Rest well Oonagh, you've earned it. God Bless you my darling".

Bron/tekst: Paul Rusling / RadioVisie / MediaPages

Mervyn from Scottg

1/8/2024 01:03:12 am

Mervyn please concentrate on the facts and stop attacking the anoraks from 1972 onwards, who hero warship ROR. What you are revealing I knew in the mid 70's onwards.For me it is nothing new. Just get on with it. In many things I agree with you. What a pity you called me an idiot over 4 years ago. Should my post on another board appear you may learn something else. Scottg.

Mervyn Hagger

1/8/2024 11:02:09 am

Scottg, if you "warship" ROR, then you are an idiot.

If I recall, you popped-up in tandem with a "know-it-all" (who knew nothing), from Scotland and is now in England living near you. Both of you wanted to maintain this lunacy about Ronan O'Rahilly being anything more than a paid patsy who turned into a glorified con man.

Have you contributed to unmasking the real story?

NO!

Not only that, but you could not have known from the mid-70s onwards what we are revealing now. You are again telling lies.

Chris Edwards is the ONLY person who came to know about the claim regarding C.O. Stanley - because HE found the 'smoking gun', not you.

The trouble is that Chris is beholden to the French version of OEM which staked its claim on ROR - just like Paul Rusling, another thief, who is now fawning over Oonagh Leigh (among various other surnames.)

The reason for "attacking" idiots like Rusling and Ray Clark is that eventually, once the true story is more widely known (via our research and publications), the two of them are going to look very, very stupid to the generations to follow.

It is our intention to unravel a true account of the past (no thanks to you), and bury the anorak version as the work of con men and idiots who believed it.

My offer still extends to Chris to come on board because the hard evidence that he rants about - has been found. By hard evidence I mean the die cast logo that he did not know about. I bought one off eBay! Once I knew the name, I was then able to go back in time via old newspapers and magazines to find the evidence.

What really surprised me was how much John F. Kennedy LIED about what both he and his brother Bobby were doing on one hand, while denying that they were doing it on the other hand.

This led into the parallel account of the near assassination of Donald Trump and that strange FBI raid on his home - after I began finding links between missing JFK documents and early Trump revelations which promptly stopped.

What I wonder now is whether that FBI raid was to find something specific relating to the JFK assassination, and even whether Trump poses such a threat now that they either wanted to kill him, or to prove that they could if he he does not shut up about revealing past secrets.

So that is what we are doing the hard way because we lack the power to raid closed archives. We are nibbling very, very slowly around the edges, but we are getting there.

Stop defending your past lunacy and come on board and join our investigation.

Mervyn Hagger

1/8/2024 11:13:20 am

To set the record straight.

Anoraks are idiots because Radio Caroline was part of a political pressure group for commercial purposes.

It went off the rails after October 15, 1964, when the Tories lost and Labour won and PYE pulled out.

Then the crooks and conmen took over with lies and deceit and they not only fooled Don Pierson (Radios London, England, Britain) into thinking that offshore radio could succeed commercially, but it led to the murder of Reg Calvert and decades of fraud that created the anoraks.

The difference between what we are doing and what Rusling and Clark are doing is that we students of the past following academic guidelines, and they are idiots who are deceiving a new generation into believing lies.

Radio Caroline was an Establishment commercial venture derailed by a Labour Party socialist platform.

James McGregor

2/8/2024 03:03:54 am

Why does no one persist in telling me when the calendar changes? Are 3 people and me on here just talking to themselves or what?

Mervyn Hagger

3/8/2024 07:46:28 am

James, what did you intend to write?

As Donald Trump said to the Moderator in his debate with Joe Biden: "I don't know what he just said", or in this instance, what he just wrote.

Who are you going to be replaced with James?

Joe picked Kamela..

But your Anorak Party has already expelled you, so what now?

James McGregor

3/8/2024 06:54:44 pm

"But your Anorak Party has already expelled you, so what now?"

Obviously I want an apology a REAL APOLOGY for the lies, suffering and the hardship of the past

Neil Gates is with me on this

Mervyn Hagger

3/8/2024 07:53:17 am

Before anyone implies that the 'All About Caroline' site is blocked with a password request, this is due to a temporary call of duty to serve at the Museum - while major additions were being made to the text. So, due to lack of time, it has been very temporarily blocked with a password request, but by Monday it will be back to edify everyone.

Mervyn Hagger's School for Anoraks

4/8/2024 03:08:14 pm

Okay, sit up and pay attention!

You lot don't seem to know what "broadcasting" is in terms of radio.

The first anorak posted this:

"Posted by steve Boyer on on 4/8/2024, 12:32:31 = .... some how just saying at the top of the hour ........ Broadcasting from the Ross Revenge off the Essex Coast sounds so much better than the Blackwater Estuary ....whats in a few words ???"

The answer is "a lot", but there is no point in asking other anoraks because they don't know what broadcasting means. The next one wrote ....

"Posted by RogerTUser icon on 4/8/2024, 12:57:57 = Have to agree. Off the Essex Coast is much more magical."

You mean "magical" as in weird like Ronan O'Rahilly? Because this is the next loony anorak comment ....

"Posted by Freddie Archer on 4/8/2024, 13:39:06 = I have to agree, though strictly speaking - it should be "Broadcasting from the Suffolk coast" (Orford) - "With our studio, situated off the Essex coast". But the most important thing, Caroline exists ...."

Clearly you lot don't seem to understand that a transmitter with antenna broadcasts, but a mic in a studio that is hooked to the transmitter is not broadcasting on a Radio Caroline created by Malcolm Smith.

Station identification refers to originating point of the transmitted carrier wave, not the modification of it. The reason being that it is a technical necessity, and not a vanity necessity. If there is a technical problem with the transmission no one will care two hoots what a DJ is blabbing on about, but they will care about the originating point of that signal.

Unfortunately for you lot the point of origination is not on a boat situated inside the UK on a river.

It is not the original Radio Caroline and Ronan O'Rahilly was hired to mislead and hide the true story.

You lot are merely following your leader Malcolm Smith and telling lies..

Ronan O'Rahilly is dead and so is Radio Caroline.

Class dismissed.

Born in 1963 - ish

4/8/2024 06:26:03 pm

So, now we know that Ian B and possibly Freddie Archer were born close to the year 1963.

Paul Rusling was born in 1953, which means that one lot of anoraks were 0 - 1 years of age when Radio Caroline began in 1964 and 3 or 4 years of age when Radio Caroline was shut down for ever, while Rusling was about 13 when Radio Caroline started, and about 16 when it ended.

Meaning?

That anoraks are all Ronan O'Rahilly cult followers.

But they want to link the real years from 1964 to 1967 to their own criminal years of activity by anarchists - which is what Ronan O'Rahilly said that he was.

How about Malcolm Smith?

Well, he is the ONLY person who could have first hand knowledge of the period from 1964 to 1967 because he was born in 1947 - which means that in 1964 he was about 17 years old and in 1967 he was about 20 years old, and still too young to have had any financial knowledge about the real Radio Caroline. Besides which, Malcolm was a grease monkey.

So here is a crowd of real idiots yapping away about a criminal and anarchist series of events, as opposed to the Establishment and big business world of the real Radio Caroline.

What a bunch of twerps.

Sir Keith Staminer MP PM MP3 Podcast

5/8/2024 05:26:50 am

I am completely convinced that opening courts and pubs 24/7 will help increase the quality of life in Britain. There will be no more trouble on the streets, I won't have to shut down the internet to protect you. You can still book your food bank meal and vote for me with an app and I can work 8 days a week for you as your Priming Minister, with my cherished Saturday football ring fenced, like my wife's local synagogue

All About Caroline

5/8/2024 12:05:40 pm

It's back on line with revised text and progress being made on page 2.
http://www.allaboutradiocaroline.co.uk/

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Britain's First Commercial Radio Station(s)

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