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EDITORIAL Welcome to Monitor. We have decided to change our name from 'Info-
sheet' as we are really more of a magazine now. In this issue we take a nostalgic
look at the Radio City era. Our thanks go to all the wonderful people who have
helped compile this souvenir, especially Mrs. Calvert, Alan Clark and Phil Perkins.
Our feature writer, Andy A. is on business in the Midlands, so he has been unable
to contribute to this issue. While talking about feature writers - we welcome
Auntie Mabel of Radio City fame to our happy team. We hope you will like this new
style Free Radio magazine, and we welcome your opinions. So now, cast your mind
back to 1964 - to the beginning of the Radio City Saga...
____________
The home of Radio City was the old wartime anti-aircraft fort located on the
Shivering Sands some nine miles off Whitstable. The station started life as Radio
Sutch. I can clearly remember that hot Wednesday morning on May 27th 1964, when
Radio Sutch put out its first weak signals on 194 metres. The DJs were, the then
owners pop singer Screaming Lord Sutch; his manager Reg Calvert, who was also
responsible for making the transmitter work; and Brian Paul, one of the Savages
(Lord Sutch's backing group). Reg's was the first voice that I heard over the air
that day, and in between the records that he played, he was urging listeners to phone
his wife at a Rugby number to tell her the station was being heard all over the
Thames Estuary. We were told we could reverse the charge of the call! Every couple
of hours or so the transmitter went off the air for an intermission while the
batteries were re-charged.
The next event that springs to mind was the arrival of Reg's niece Tamara
Harrison on the fort, she was the first girl that I had heard actually broadcasting
on pirate radio, and I have a note in my diary for June 10th saying that she compered
a one hour record programme that day. They quickly became organised and by mid-
June, an example of their evening programming was as follows: 5-5.30 pm "Old Favour-
ites"; 5.30-6 pm "Swing With Those Chicks"; 6-7 pm "Cream of the Pops"; 7-8 pm
"Make a Date". When in the September Dave Sutch sold out his interest in the
station its name was changed to Radio City and the wavelength to 299 metres. Original
programmes continued to emanate from "Station on Sticks", for instance, "The Anti-
City Show"; "The Five by Four Show"; "Feed Back"; "Discomania" and of course the
unforgettable "Aunty Mabel Hour". But I'll let Mrs. Calvert, who has very kindly
consented to write the introductory article for us, take up the story from this point.
___________
"It amazes me that there is still so much interest in free radio after all this
time and I hope that people will continue to remember and demand more freedom and
enterprise over the air.
Looking back now on those few short years I think the thing that stands out
most was the amount of energy that was radiated from all concerned in Radio City. I
cannot mention everyone who was concerned but I will try to give a little more infor-
mation than has come to be written before.
My husband, Reg Calvert had been interested in Radio for many years and when
Radio Caroline started transmission he was delighted. At the time we were very
involved in our business in the entertainment field but there were light hearted dis-
cussions with Screaming Lord Sutch about him starting a joke radio station as a
publicity stunt. Little by little this idea grew and Reg started looking for a boat.
Eventually we arrived at Southend one day for a trip to the old sea forts in the
Thames. I only went for the drive as I was a very poor sailor but I was taken on
board for the trip. Going out was all right and the sight of the towers for the
first time was like something from a science fiction film. We went past what was
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