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The Pirate Radio Hall
Of Fame needs your |
Gordon Cruse was born in Calgary, Canada, in 1942. He joined
Radio Caroline South as a newsreader in August 1966 before transferring to the Caroline North ship. Here he continued
to read the news but also presented programmes. Gordy stayed with Caroline until March 1967 and then returned to Canada.
We asked if anyone could fill us in on his later career and, in November 2001, we heard from the man himself:
Greetings to all! This is Gord Cruse from Victoria BC Canada! I am alive and well and just retired from
a 26 years stint at the Victoria Youth Custody Center... and I was quite excited at finding me in
The Pirate Radio Hall Of Fame. A brief history to update..left Radio Caroline North
in March of '67, travelling back to Canada via London, Rome, Athens, Cairo, Kuwait, New Delhi, Hong Kong, Honolulu
and Vancouver. I returned to CFQC Radio in Saskatoon doing programmes and commercials until March of '68 when I
again travelled - this time to Australia. A year down under and back to Canada stopping in Victoria to see a
broadcast friend landed a job at C-FAX 1070 as operations / music director in the summer of '69. In the
summer of '76 I began work in the Victoria Youth Custody Center as a youth supervisor. As of spring 2002 I am
retired and will be enjoying one of those great government superannuations and living life to its fullest.... Wonderful
to be part of this. Gordon hasn't been idle since retiring. He has written a book on the Canadian juvenile
penal system, Juvie:
Inside Canada's Youth Jails. Gordon returned to the UK in August 2002 to attend a DJ reunion and can be see on
the Offshore Radio Guide and
Radio London web sites. He was also
at the First North American Pirate Radio Reunion in Vancouver, Canada. There are photos of that event
here. (Many thanks to Gordon for getting in touch, bringing us up to date and providing
the photo.)
Brian Cullingford was working for the BBC as an interviewer on
Today and other programmes when his attention was grabbed by an advertisement for a new and different pirate
station. It was King Radio, soon to be transformed into the mightier Radio 390. He auditioned, and was accepted as
presenter. Initially he used the name Bruce Ford. He remembers: when cutting our teeth
on King, we were encouraged to adopt temporary persona and then re-invent ourselves on 390. The short lived
and mysterious Bruce Ford was me! When the programme controller, R&B expert Mike
Raven, discovered that, in a previous incarnation, Brian had been a Merchant Navy officer, he invited him to take on
the additional role of Fort Captain (offshore equivalent of Station Manager) adding mysteriously bring
your navy uniform, it may be useful. The comment proved to be prophetic. Brian describes his new home as
follows: Red Sands fort actually comprised seven forts, former anti-aircraft installations linked together
precariously by swinging catwalks. We were ferried from Whitstable in the tender skippered by our fisherman/agent and
winched up singly to the towering towers above. The basic facilities were primitive (and included loos which were
simply holes in wooden seats poised 65ft above the waves) but everything was soon improved. A magnificent transmitter
was installed, an enormous aerial mast erected, and studio, record library and staff accommodation were all updated.
The broadcasting style of 390 was rather correct and formal, and Brian insists that the presenters were instructed to
speak like announcers on the BBC Home Service ten years ago. Each of them presented up to six programmes a
day, between 6.30am and midnight, with durations ranging from 15 minutes to 2 hours. Brian enjoyed the variety -
trad jazz, country & western, popular classics, request shows, even programmes for children. Radio 390 quickly gained
an enthusiastic army of listeners of all ages and fan mail began to arrive by boat, along with essential stores and relief
staff. Brian tells us that a few listeners actually came out (8 miles) to see us, and one sunny Sunday we
were hailed by the crew of a power boat, who challenged us to go water skiing. Conditions were perfect, with the sea as
calm as the proverbial millpond, and Mark Hammerton and I took grateful advantage of the
offer and enjoyed showing off our aquatic prowess. Brian goes on Although the station was enjoying success
and its unusual style and programming, including Eve, The Women's Magazine of the Air was obviously
meeting a need, we had to be aware of the Government's hostility to the pirates and there was even talk of the RN
being used to close us down. One very foggy day I was called from my cabin with the cry Brian, the Navy's here.
You'd better come. Could you wear your uniform? Armed with peaked cap and gold braid, I peered into the
gloom and saw the ominous grey shape of a warship slowly circling the forts. So this was the end. Well, we had been warned. As
they came closer and closer, we began to hear the muffled sound of a loud hailer. What on earth were they saying?
Was it Close down your transmitter immediately or perhaps We are about to come aboard. Do not resist
or perhaps it was Take cover, we are going to open fire. They circled even closer and closer and at last
we could understand the message. Could you play us a record by the Rolling Stones? Brian also
recalls the occasion when ITV's Danger Man, Patrick McGoohan, arrived on 390 with other actors and a film
crew to make an episode about a pirate radio station. (Photos in Edward Cole's photo
album.) He says We couldn't resist teasing our visitors when they were spotted en masse exploring the one fort still
not in use (allegedly reserved as a future weekend pad for the directors). Grabbing a loud hailer, I called out
to them as sternly as possible Gentlemen, you are in extreme danger. That fort is unsafe and strictly out of bounds.
And the connecting catwalk has been condemned. I want you to come back along it extremely slowly and carefully, and ...
one .. at .. a.. time. I am ashamed to say that we hardened Redsanders thoroughly enjoyed the spectacle of Danger
Man and his quaking colleagues tiptoeing nervously and gingerly to safety. He remembers Offshore radio was
regarded as exciting news and I suspect that some journalists imagined stationary forts in the Thames Estuary to be easier
to board than pirate ships bouncing about in the North Sea. So we attracted a few press visitors and I was sometimes
instructed by head office to show them round. I was horrified when the Daily Mail did a feature on me and described me
as the Gentleman Pirate. I was proud of being a pirate, but who wants to be a gentleman?
In 1966 Brian was teamed up with Dominic Le Foe to produce The Voice of Business,
believed to be the first ever radio programme devoted to commercial subjects. It was a great success and was on the air
five evenings a week plus a weekend omnibus edition. Also involved in the programme was Leslie Mitchell, the first man
in the world ever to be seen on television - in 1936! Following his Radio 390 days Brian worked widely for BBC
television and radio and on ITV. Series included Night Ride, What The Papers Say, Movie-Go-Round, Songs of
Praise, How About You? and Nationwide. When Jonathan Dimbleby resigned from BBC's regional current
affairs programme Points West, Brian was chosen as his replacement. He is now Managing Director of
Catalyst World Class Ltd. who provide speakers,
entertainers and musicians for events around the world. Among the many radio and television personalities Catalyst have
booked recently are Kate Humble, Jan Leeming, Alistair McGowan, Fiona Bruce, John Sergeant, Andrew Neal, Frank Gardner
and Martin Bell so Brian still enjoys links with the stars of broadcasting. There are some more recent photos of Brian,
taken at the Radio Academy Celebration of Offshore Radio in August 2007, here. (Our
thanks to Brian for getting in touch, telling us about his offshore career and for his kind comments. He wrote I
have just come across your splendid Hall of Fame and am amazed by the effort obviously put in to keep alive the memories
of an exciting, important and rather bizarre phase in the history of broadcasting. I guess we were true pioneers in
changing attitudes of the public and, eventually, the government, to more creative use of the airwaves. Brian has
also kindly provided this photo, taken in his cabin on Red Sands. He is in his Fort Captain's uniform, as
mentioned above.)

Jack Curtiss Born on 16th June 1943 in San Francisco, California,
Jack had worked for the UPI news agency before getting into radio. He broadcast on stations KMPX, KWG and KONG, all in
California, as well as WROV in Roanoke,
Virginia, before heading for Europe. He joined the Britain Radio / Swinging Radio England operation
in July 1966. Initially he was expected to broadcast as Bruce Wayne. This, of course, was the name of
Batman's secret identity. The Batman TV craze was big at the time and Radio England had just bought
a set of Batman jingles. Jack was not impressed: They told me I would go on the air with this nifty jingle as
Bruce Wayne. I did for one or two programmes and then told management that I had not abandoned a job I liked
very much in Virginia and crossed the Atlantic in order to disappear under some bogus fad jingle and that I'd sooner
head back to the States. Bill Berry, who arrived the same weekend I did, likewise refused to
continue on the air as Dick Grayson (Robin). I subsequently transferred over to Britain Radio and
I seem to recall the Wayne jingle being used very briefly by Boom Boom Brannigan before
he settled down as B-B. He was not the last Bruce Wayne though. Someone else
used the name during the last few weeks of the station. Jack moved over to Britain Radio full time and was promoted to
General Manager in November that year. When Radio England closed down, he set up the Dutch station, Radio Dolfjin, that
replaced it. In early 1967 Britain Radio was taken over. A new Managing Director, Ted Allbeury,
arrived from Radio 390 and he relaunched the station under the new name of Radio 355. There was little love lost between
the two and Jack, who had been quoted in the press making derogatory remarks about 390's stone age
format, resigned. He returned to San Francisco and became programme director of KFOG-FM radio. He did a similar
job for two other San Francisco area radio stations before moving to Puerto Rico in December 1968. He stayed on the island
for five years, working in radio, TV, magazines and newspapers. In 1974 he moved to France to work as a radio correspondent
for CBS news and was also heard on Radio Netherlands and the Voice of America. In 1978 he joined VOA full-time as Latin
America Bureau Chief. This led to Jack becoming Latin America correspondent for ABC News. In 1982 he returned to the USA and
settled in Florida. He was Health and Science Editor for WTVJ-TV in Miami before helping set up a public television bureau
in Broward County, Fort Lauderdale for WPBT-Channel 2. He then worked as a writer and media consultant in south Florida
but, in April 2004, we heard from Jack: I am no longer in Florida. I left the Sunshine State last month after
23 years and headed west straight back to my home state of California where I spent 12 nostalgic hours on the ground before
boarding Qantas for my final destination. I am now in South Australia preparing to make a lovely Adelaide lass my wife.
It was she, by the way, who orginally made me aware of The Pirate Radio Hall Of Fame
back in December 2001. I am working up a new internet journalism project. In November 2004 we received an update
from Jack: Been meaning to drop you a line just to let you know I did get married in June and am deliriously
happy with my bride. (Many thanks to Jack for getting in touch and congratulations on the wedding. He has
also kindly provided some fascinating items of pirate memorabilia. There are also some recent photos
taken with his old Britain Radio colleague Harry Putnam, here.)
Cliff Cuttelle was born in Whitstable, Kent, in 1945. After
finishing his education, Cliff started a six year apprenticeship with the local printing group, Elvey Bros., Cross and
Jackman. While at school he had got to know Eric Martin's daughter. Eric (not the DJ of the same name) was
Radio City's General Manager as well as owner of The Record Centre shop in Whitstable. Cliff says: I seem to
remember that I had done some small printing jobs for Eric and he knew that I was an apprentice and, as such, did not
earn much money. He asked me if I would like to go out to the (Shivering) Sands at Bank Holidays and the like,
when they sometimes had staff shortages. Cliff agreed and for the next year or so would make occasional visits to
Radio City. He remembers his first visit: I was supposed to go out just as a general assistant, grease monkey,
cook and bottle washer. However, that was not to be the case. On the first trip to the forts, within a couple of hours, I
was on the air. I remember sitting there, knees knocking, not knowing what to say but I got through. I had some help from
the others but I was really thrown in the deep-end and must have lost a couple of pounds that afternoon in weight!
Cliff's memories of the fort are that it was cosy, warm, food was not bad, had most of the home comforts. A lot
of work had gone in to setting up the internals and it was still on-going. Due to the station's hectic days,
food was taken on an as-and-when basis. To sleep, we had old army bunk beds. I got the bottom one which was not
a healthy place to be, as I found out! Cliff remembers going out to the fort for the long Easter weekend of 1965
- and getting stranded: I went out on the Thursday for four days. It was Easter and someone had to work
and money talked. Got out there OK but the seas were running quite strong and we knew that we were running into a gale
that night. Everyone got on and off the Sands, as well as all the supplies. The boat was due back out on the Monday
afternoon and I should have been back working in the print shop on Tuesday morning. No way. The seas were too high for
anything to leave Whitstable harbour, so we would have to wait. Well that did not go down too well with the print shop
foreman. He could hear me on the air but could not get his hands around my neck! By Wednesday we had run out of water
so had to go on to all the roofs that we could get to, to see if there was any fresh water available. We found some but it
had to be boiled and boiled. We still got the trotts which did not help. The boat finally got to us on the
Wednesday evening. I got a right *******ing on the Thursday morning. In 1965 Radio
City's boss, Reg Calvert, decided to investigate taking over another Thames fort,
Knock John. Cliff was asked if he would help board the fort. Eric asked me if I would go out for two weeks to clean
along with a guy called Jerry. £30 per week in 1965 was, to me, good money so you did not have to ask me twice.
His memories of this trip, along with some photos, can be found here. Cliff parted company with
Radio City at the beginning of 1966. He says: I was coming to the end of my apprenticeship and was preparing to
leave the UK to find another job. With the Government laws and changes, the writing was on the wall for all and sundry.
However, it was an enjoyable time for me, being very part time, I got to know some new faces and saw something that other
would never, ever see. Asked if he can remember any funny incidents from his time at sea, Cliff says: I
remember on one occasion, a 45 gallon drum of diesel fell off the rack one night. I remember saying it was a ghost from
the war but did not realise that one of the guys did not have a sense of humour and was bit nervous! Then we had the
night when someone asked if we would like chips with the dinner. Big YES. What we did not know was that he had put the two
chip pans on the cooker full belt. Then started to cut the chips, throwing them into the bucket of water. This went on for
about 30 minutes, finally he finished, took a large handful of wet chips, threw them into one of the pans. We heard a big
scream from the kitchen. We went in to find the ceiling covered in oil and uncooked chips! After being based
in a number of different countries, Cliff currently lives in Dubai, where he has been for the last ten years. He also has
a home in Thailand where he spends as much time as possible. Two pages of Cliff's photos can be found in
Cliff Cuttelle's photo album. (Many thanks to Cliff for his fascinating photos and
for writing about his time on Radio City.)
