Sunday 20 April 2014

12 hours of pop hits every day? Send in the gunboats!

UNDER FIRE: Postmaster General Reginald Bevins was
condemned over the Great Train Robbery in 1963 and
 a year later found himself at war with Britain's teenagers.

On April 20, 1964 ...  

FIFTY years ago this weekend the Caroline organisation were celebrating the news that after three weeks on air their signal could be received by 19 million people across England and an astonishing seven million listeners over the age of 17 had tuned in.
These stats were issued by the experts at Gallup and proved what a remarkable success the station had become, especially as there had been no advance publicity or promotion.

Strong rumours were continuing that another ship was shortly to join the Fredericia in the North Sea, but it wasn’t clear how this would pan out. Would this be a rival for Caroline, or would the two vessels join forces and work on getting an even bigger audience? Time would tell.

Some of Caroline’s keenest fans lived on or near the coasts of Essex and Suffolk and liked to drive down to spots near Felixstowe or Walton-on-the-Naze to see if they could view the ship. On a clear day this could be achieved, and many a courting couple parked facing the sea, snuggled up with their transistor radio and fish and chips, and gazed out to sea while the pop music played.

The UK government’s apparent intention to close Caroline down infuriated much of the population at large. One listener from Ipswich wrote to the East Anglian Daily Times: “The main factor which makes my hair bristle and blood pressure double, is that the GPO now suggests we are committing an offence by merely listening to Radio Caroline! Should I stand in dire terror, awaiting the stamp of jack-boots and the thought of a swastika-clad arm to clamp round my shoulder to hustle me and my family off to a concentration camp? What the hell do they think this is – Nazi-occupied Europe of about 20 years ago?”
The government was becoming a laughing stock, and another letter writer trilled: “It gives me horripilation just to think about it, but I cannot get it off my mind. I have committed a grave crime against the community as a whole: I have listened to Radio Caroline. There I have said it.”

The Tory MP for Maldon, Essex - Brian Harrison - raised the matter in the House of Commons half-a-century ago this week.  He urged the Postmaster General Reginald Bevins to do nothing to deprive the people of East Anglia of the first decent radio programmes they’d had for a long time. This was greeted with huge cheers. Bevins replied that they were looking into the possibility of legislation and jamming of the signal, but admitted they would proceed “cautiously.”

The town of Felixstowe loved the new station. A fishmonger, (positioned right next door to the Post Office!) was offering “Caroline skate” to his customers. And members of the town’s Round Table hired a small boat to take them out to the Caroline ship, to persuade the DJs to give publicity to the forthcoming town carnival. Mike Leighton, Arthur Spraggons and Toby Hosegood were welcomed aboard by Captain Mackay for a chat and a hot drink.
As the pop hits continued unabated from the North Sea, 12 hours non-stop every day, not everybody back on land was enjoying the situation.  D. Godfrey of Jupiter Avenue in Ipswich told the Ipswich Evening Star that Caroline wasn’t there to simply to meet a demand, but was designed to exploit for gain a loophole in the broadcasting laws. He added, presumably tongue in cheek, that 12 hours of continuous pop music was a “hostile act” and this justified the intervention of gunboats!

Wednesday 9 April 2014

Queen's boss tells Government where to get off!

On Thursday 9th April, 1964 . . .

RADIO Caroline had barely been on the air a fortnight when the battle to keep her there escalated into a full-scale war of words.
Fifty years ago today, on April 9. 1964, Jocelyn Stevens - the Old Etonian publisher of Queen magazine - confirmed publicly that he was a major financial backer of Caroline. He 'went public' with this because of his fury over the frantic government attempts to get the new station closed down.

Stevens - who later became MD at the Evening Standard and Daily Express, chairman of English Heritage and a knight of the realm - said on this day: “Whenever anyone in this country gets a new idea, someone else gets up and says they can’t do it, and finally you have the Establishment inventing laws.

“I am quite convinced [Caroline] is doing nothing illegal or harmful and I resent being accused of interfering with shipping when we have an Admiralty spokesman saying we are not. The only reason we are doing it from a boat is because it is not allowed on land. We are not trying to behave in an irresponsible manner. We believe in commercial broadcasting.”

Stevens (left) and his money had played a major part in getting the station on air from the North Sea at Easter 1964, along with backing from John Sheffield, chairman of Norcross and Jimmy Ross, owner of Ross Foods.
Fifty years ago today it was also being widely reported Phonographic Performance Ltd, the company which controlled broadcasting of recorded music, was seeking to bring an injunction against Caroline. The station’s founder Ronan O’Rahilly laughed this off, saying as far as he knew it wasn’t illegal to play records outside Britain in international waters.
On the same day, it was reported that the Caroline ship had not moved from its position a few miles off Felixstowe, despite the suggestion earlier that the bad weather had persuaded the skipper it ought to move to a new position well away from shipping lanes.

Meanwhile on land, listeners numbered in the millions by now, and on this day 50 years ago, a group of enthusiasts from Ipswich got together to launch a ‘Save Caroline’ petition to ensure the new phenomenon wouldn’t be taken away.
Roger Beckwith, who had gathered a team of around 15 helpers, stated: “We’ve been listening to Caroline and think they are getting a raw deal. Everywhere we go we hear Radio Caroline being played, It’s something that has not been done before, a service the BBC does not provide. People today obviously want to be able to listen to music throughout the day. We are having petition forms printed and will distribute them to every public house in Ipswich, Felixstowe, Colchester and Stowmarket.

One of Roger’s helpers, S. Munson, made the point: “Factory workers tell me they work better for having some decent music to listen to. I think it’s a very good thing and we shouldn’t allow it to be banned.”  

So what exactly were listeners of Caroline being treated to 50 years ago this week? Here’s the top of the ‘Hit Parade’ for both sides of the Atlantic that week:

UK TOP 20 – April 9, 1964
1  Can’t Buy Me Love – Beatles
2  Little Children - Billy J.Kramer & Dakotas
3  Just One Look - Hollies
4  Not Fade Away - Rolling Stones
5  I Love You Because – Jim Reeves
6  I Believe – Bachelors
7  Bits and Pieces – Dave Clark Five
8  Diane – Bachelors
9  That Girl Belongs to Yesterday – Gene Pitney
10  Anyone Who Had a Heart – Cilla Black
11  Tell Me When – Applejacks
12  Boys Cry – Eden Kane
13  World Without Love – Peter & Gordon
14  Theme for Young Lovers – Shadows
15  I Think of You – Merseybeats
16  Over You – Freddie & the Dreamers
17  Let Me Go Lover – Kathy Kirby
18  Viva Las Vegas – Elvis Presley
19  Stay Awhile- Dusty Springfield
20  Good Golly Miss Molly – Swinging Blue Jeans

BILLBOARD USA TOP 20 (April 9, 1964)
1  Can’t Buy Me Love - Beatles
2  Twist & Shout - Beatles
3  She Loves You - Beatles
4  I Want To Hold Your Hand - Beatles
5  Please Please Me - Beatles
6  Suspicion - Terry Stafford
7  Hello Dolly - Louis Armstrong
8  The Shoop Shoop Song - Betty Everett
9  My Heart Belongs To Only You - Bobby Vinton
10  Glad All Over - Dave Clark Five
11  Dawn(Go Away) - Four Seasons
12  The Way You Do The Things You Do - Temptations
13  Fun,Fun,Fun - Beach Boys
14  Don't Let The Rain (Crooked Little Man) - Serendipity Singers
15  Needles & Pins - Searchers
16  Stay - Four Seasons
17  Kissin' Cousins - Elvis Presley
18  You're A Wonderful One - Marvin Gaye
19  Java - Al Hirt
20  High Heel Sneakers - Tommy Tucker

Sunday 6 April 2014

Government cranks up pressure on Radio Caroline

April 6, 1964

FIFTY years ago today the jolly team aboard the Caroline ship got a real fright when they went up on deck and found they were being ‘visited’ by the Royal Navy.

It turned out the HMS Venture was a survey ship which visited this area annually to check local waters and make notes on Admiralty charts of any new wrecks, piers or ships anchored off Harwich. Fans of the new radio station were worried there might be trouble, but a Navy spokesman said the Venture would only have made contact with Caroline to establish her  long-term plans, so they could amend their charts accordingly.

It was becoming clear that Caroline’s presence in the North Sea was causing a tourist boom in the town of Felixstowe, where local boatmen were setting up lucrative taxi services and taking fans out to see the Caroline ship from close quarters.

Over April 5 and 6, the weather was changeable and very windy and led to some breaks in transmission, but each stoppage only lasted a few minutes. The recent gales and heavy winds caused some minor damage aboard the ship.

When the weather improved and the first April sunshine showed itself, thousands of sightseers in cars streamed to the coast armed with binoculars to get a look at the ship – but for some time visibility was so good that it could be seen with the naked eye. A number of small planes took people out to get a bird’s-eye view. The normally quiet Felixstowe town centre had never seen anything like it: Police said some of the visitors stayed in their cars because of the cold wind, but many people roamed around and there were a number of cases of children getting lost. Teenagers carrying transistor radios tuned to Caroline filled the shopping areas for hours.

It was estimated that around 20,000 letters had been posted by fans, intended for the DJs on board. The Ipswich Evening Star newspaper had to appeal to readers to stop sending them letters as they couldn’t undertake to forward them on. Youngsters captivated by Caroline were desperate to have their requests played and tried anything to get their messages on board.

There was plenty of discussion over how the authorities were determined to find a way of stopping Caroline. As a result, Wendy Bryce, aged 17, and her friend Pat Cunningham, 19, both apprentice hairdressers, picketed a BBC transmitter in their home village of Wrotham, Kent. They told reporters they were members of the ‘Radio Caroline Defence League’ and were waving ‘Hands Off Caroline’ placards.

Some corners of the ‘establishment’ were not opposed to Caroline, however. For example the leader writer of the East Anglian Daily Times reckoned everyone had a sneaking admiration for the pirate radio ship and the brilliant enterprise with which 23-year-old Irishman O’Rahilly had launched his plans. At present there seemed little real evidence the transmissions were interfering with vital life-saving communications, said the EADT, and Caroline had emerged as well-prepared for the ‘cat and mouse’ game with the authorities that was developing.

Roy Mason, the Labour MP for Barnsley South urged the Postmaster General Reg Bevins to either jam Caroline’s signal or quickly prepare legislation to make such stations illegal. Bevins responded that they were examining all possibilities and hadn’t been idle. He pointed out  the big advertising associations had assured them the major advertisers would boycott Caroline, the gramophone industry was also cooperating with the authorities, and the Panama government had this week withdrawn the ship’s registration.

The Caroline officials laughed this off. Ronan O’Rahilly issued a statement expressing great surprise about the alleged advertising boycott. He said: “We are, at this moment, conducting arrangements with the leading agencies and advertisers for the allocation of air time . . . . I cannot see Caroline doing anyone any harm. Nobody is forced to listen, but the fact that millions are indicates to me that, on the contrary, we are providing a service to the public.” Sunderland South Tory MP Paul Williams was sympathetic and asked the House of Commons “Who is Caroline harming exactly?”

The Postmaster General responded that there had been interference caused by Caroline’s signal in the Antwerp area of Belgium, and there had been interference involving British maritime services.

The government’s reasons for opposing Caroline were, frankly, sounding rather vague and weak and things seemed to be going well for the station. The record industry was supplying free records to get their artists heard, listening figures were enormous and advertisers queuing up to buy air time. O’Rahilly’s only immediate concern seemed to be the possibility of the signal causing interference – something he urged his technicians to keep a close eye on.

Thursday 3 April 2014

'Excuse me sir, you can't listen to that. You're nicked!'

 
Radio Caroline's first day of broadcasting at sea in 1964  

FIFTY years ago this week you had to be very careful which radio station you chose to listen to.
 
A workman in Berners Road, Felixstowe got a nasty shock as he was repairing a house with the new offshore station Radio Caroline playing in the background on his little portable tranny.
 
A policeman apparently sidled up to him and issued a warning that it was illegal to listen to this new-fangled pirate ship and he would be reported if he continued to do so. Luckily the worker wasn’t up a ladder at the time, or he might have tumbled off in astonishment.

The incident was relayed to the local weekly paper The Felixstowe Times by a 16-year-old lad who witnessed the whole thing. The paper seized on the story – another new angle on a topic that had dominated the news in recent days – and contacted Felixstowe police.
 
A spokesman at the local nick denied any of their constables had spoken to any labourers in this way, and a spokesman for the GPO confirmed no such reports had been made to them. The latter added that although it was technically an offence under the Wireless Telegraphy Act of 1949 to listen to ‘pirate’ broadcasts, it would be difficult and unlikely that the Post Office would press charges against anyone.
 
Seemingly the authorities couldn’t attack Caroline via its listeners, so attention focussed on whether the new ship was causing any interference with its broadcasts. Vague reports abounded that there had been an adverse effect on ship-to-shore communications involving HM Coastguard and Trinity House, but the Caroline people hit back with the news that an experienced ex-BBC technician called Arthur Carrington had visited the ship and was satisfied there had been no interference with maritime wavelengths.
 
The authorities, led by Postmaster-General Reginald Bevins, weren’t giving up that easily. A report was sent to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) at Geneva and complaints made to the Panamanian government, whose flag was being flown by the Caroline ship.
 
Meanwhile Mrs Alma Perrin, the wife of a Caroline PR executive on board the ship, complained that she had attempted to get through to her husband via phone link, but was told by the GPO that ship-shore communications had been suspended because this was an illegal enterprise. It meant the ship’s only way of communicating was via its radio transmitters.
 
There was talk of a full-scale blockade being planned and it was clear the British authorities were going to make it difficult or impossible for the ship to be supplied or assisted by small boats sailing out from the nearby Essex and Suffolk coast.
 
Nevertheless, by this point Caroline had already received its first visit from a supply tender, which dumped on board NINE full sacks of mail for the DJs from delighted listeners. The people on board, unsure how their shows were being received, were astonished as they tore open the packages and found pullovers, chocolates, ski-hats and cigarettes among the many letters of good wishes and requests for records to be played.
 
The fledgling DJs got quite emotional at the sheer scale of it all and Simon Dee said later: “When we saw that lot, we knew for sure there was now no turning back!”  Fan mail was also piling up in vast amounts at Caroline’s little office in London and at its shipping agent in Church Street, Harwich.
 
Not such good news for those at sea was something else that was building up - some of the worst April weather seen for many years . . . .

 

Tuesday 1 April 2014

Caroline making an April fool of the UK broadcasting authorities

Ronan O'Rahilly
FIFTY years ago today senior government figures felt like complete April fools, hardly knowing which way to turn. Not only had a pirate radio station begun broadcasting to millions from off the English coast, another one was said to be on the way to join it. And over the same weekend we’d witnessed the first major clash of ‘mods and rockers’ at Clacton-on-Sea, pitched battles on the sea-front leading to extensive damage and scores of arrests.

However, there was love and peace out on the South Cutler sandbank a few miles off Felixstowe, where Radio Caroline happily broadcast another 12-hours of continuous pop music for a fourth day, proving their arrival had been no Bank Holiday gimmick.

Emergency talks were underway in Whitehall over which laws were being broken and how this monstrous development in the North Sea could be quashed. The panic of the men in suits gathered momentum as rumours spread that another station – Radio Atlanta – was to start from a second ship any day now.

What was not generally known was that the Caroline and Atlanta projects were deadly rivals, their leaders going it alone after originally working together on the idea of pop music from the high seas. Both were desperate to be first to broadcast to the youth of Britain from a ship in international waters and would sell on-air advertising to pay for it.

Irishman Ronan O’Rahilly won the initial race to get his boat secretly fitted out and in position to broadcast. To do so, he had to use his Irish gift of the gab, fending off enquiries in the Port of Greenore about what was going on. Despite the 160-foot aerial mast they were erecting, he was able to spin yarns to locals about using the 700-ton boat to transport cattle and to collect sponges from the sea bed.

Mischief was suspected, but nobody knew for sure until Easter weekend 1964 when it call came together. Millions of listeners from London, the Home Counties and further afield tuned in while O’Rahilly and his pals on land set about finding backers with the cash to keep the station on air.

Convincing his bank to advance him enough for a smart suit, O’Rahilly visited the likes of Jocelyn Stevens, proprietor of Queen magazine, and talked them into supporting Caroline. O’Rahilly was barely 24 but looked older and was very persuasive: “If they think you have money in England, then that’s as good as having it,” he said.

Once he’d blagged enough funds to get the station on air for a few weeks, things began falling into place. Its appeal was instantaneous and massive. “I never had any doubts over whether it would appeal to a big audience. That was the least of our worries,” he said. Within 48 hours of the first chart-topper being played (Not Fade Away) letters from avid listeners flooded into Caroline’s London office and its agent at Harwich.

Operating on a shoestring with novices doing most jobs, O’Rahilly knew he’d need at least one expert – a ship’s captain. The man given this job was Captain George E Mackay, a 50-year-old salty sea dog from Lancashire who carried out his duties in a smart uniform and red carpet slippers.

A reporter from the East Anglian Daily Times managed to get on board in the first few days and interviewed Mackay. Sipping a hot toddy and enjoying the garlic sausage and cheese rolls baked on board that day, Mackay pronounced: “There’s nothing rash or foolhardy about this venture. Everything is well founded.”

The reporter caught the pioneering atmosphere of it all: “This is simply a shipload of jolly young pirates, trying to make people happy, while the Establishment mutter oaths under their breath.”