MONITOR SPRING ISSUE 1972 - Page Six - Rick Michaels has air-mailed this account from Florida, U.S.A: REQUIEM FOR A PIRATE Anyone who thought that the pirates proved a demand for local radio of that kind was deceiving himself. What were the pirate ships? They were hulks with big masts, carrying microphones, gramophones and seasick disc jockeys. Anthony Wedgewood Benn Postmaster General The Times, March 4 1966 Mr. Benn neglected to mention that several million persons listened to "pirate" radios, primarily because of the continuous music that he termed "audible wallpaper". Radio Luxembourg had for years shown that there was an audience in Britain for this type of programming. Although the venerable Times suggested that in 1966 that the Britain public was really not interested in commercial radio, in April of the same year, a National Opinion Poll survey estimated Radio London's weekly audience at 10,330,000 or 20.9 per cent of the sample. Some 15.6 per cent listened to Radio Caroline with 4.2 per cent listening to Radio 390 and 6.1 per cent listening to Radio Scotland. In addition to these figures, Radio City claimed a regional audience of over two million. With the addition of Britain radio, England and 270, the popularity of off- shore commercial radio soared and became a representative symbol of the freedom of the "Swinging Sixties". The Beatle Bonanza was coming into full swing in late 1964 and the mod world was coming into fashion. This was the swinging zany world of the Rolling Stones, boutiques, mini-skirts, beat clubs and long hair. Britain's drab image of the tweed jacket, old school ties and the pre-war look changed over night to the mecca of the "with it" generations and "pirate" radio was very much part of the swinging scene. My association with the wonderful world of the pop pirates began one year after Screamin' Lord Sutch and Reg Calvert hired a fast launch* and equipped it with a small transmitter, and then sped down the Thames from London Bridge with the Jolly Roger flying and playing pop music. Radio Sutch, later to become Radio City, was established on the Shivering Sands Towers on May 27 1964. I spent my third year of university at the London School of Economics, and towards the end of the year became interested in the phenomena of "pirate radio". Having previously done a small amount of work on radio advertisements and desiring to remain, at least for a while, in Britain before continuing my education in the United States, I recorded several demo tapes at Pye Recording Studios and mailed them to the stations which were in operation at that time. In June of 1965, one of the Radio City DJs had to be removed from the Shivering Sands Towers by helicopter suffering from acute appendicitis (Ed. - Tony Carroll). Reg Calvert had heard my demo tape and asked me to act as a replacement. Reg then asked me to stay on primarily since an American voice was a true novelty at that time! I was later made Reg's assistant and even though I continued to do occasional stints on Radio City, primarily became responsible for local advertising and press relations. As many of you will remember, Radio City received more than its share of press coverage - both good and bad! I remained with Radio City during the Knock John Fort raids, the ill-fated merger agreement with Major Oliver Smedley and the planning of the new tower which later gave the station the nickname "The Mighty Tower of Power". By late 1965 the Vietnam War had intensified and local draft boards were drafting most young men who were not in university or working in a strategic industry. After receiving a notice that I would be drafted into the Armed Forces if I did not return to the United States and register in university, I decided to leave Radio City in late December 1965, just six months before Reg Calvert's unfortunate death. I maintained interest in "pirate" radios, enough that in 1968 wrote my thesis in partial requirement for my Master of Arts degree (University of Pennluania) entitled "Pirates of the Airwaves". British Offshore Commercial Radio, 1964-1968". Throughout the years, I have managed to maintain contact with Radio City's Alan Clark, as well as John and Jill Wilemen who now reside in South Africa, « « « to the previous page to the next page » » » to the "Monitor Originals" index page ... or ... to the Monitor Magazine home page