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Memories now from another one of the original team, Colin Nicol:
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I had left Caroline - much to (station boss) Ronan's
surprise. I know he looked stunned. I feel sure I was the first DJ to resign from the Caroline organisation. Everyone else
(a large number) had been given the flick. A few had left for health reasons or sea sickness, of course. I had
just ended my stint on the refurbishment of Cheeta II.
Then I realised I did have nothing to go to and radio pirates were still anything but respectable in early '66. I had
thought I'd do some commercials and record stories etc. which I understood was being arranged. That must have been
when I made my first approach to Radio Luxembourg, though that summer relief job did not come up for some months.
Somehow I ended up at the London Hilton. I must have heard about the new station via the grapevine and had phoned and, as I
remember, was welcomed by Don Pierson and Bill Vick as an experienced pirate able to advise and help them as well as
broadcast and bring them some of the aura of Caroline, so to speak. As well, they wanted some non-American voices to
balance those of the jocks they already had.
The Americans were terrific to deal with - very pleasant people and true to their word. However delays occurred, as
had to happen with such complex arrangements, and when we finally got aboard we found ourselves having to sleep on the
floor of a large hold in sleeping bags etc.. Not long afterwards a maze of pine structures were put in place and we had
tiered bunks.
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The exciting things for me about the Olga Patricia's fit-out were two-fold. First, there was the unique and
powerful transmitting equipment. A quite unique aspect was a piece of equipment which I was told was invented for radar
installations and which was able to split the function of the mast so that two stations could broadcast simultaneously
from it.
The other was the studio equipment, which was my - and probably England's - first encounter with such advanced
operation, as well as automated programming. The huge desk was a bit daunting at first when compared with everything I'd
worked before, even in Australia. It was great fun to work it - like playing a Wurlitzer after a concertina.
I did feel, after we had gone on the air, that we were not hitting the spot with listeners and tried to customise the
output accordingly but my role as advisor had been overlooked by then and the unprepared British audience was bombarded
with high pressure radio. It was a little too much too soon for many of them. The possibilities were terrific and we had
the equipment, the output power and the organisation. It just needed to be tailored to the more subtle British way of
doing things. There's no questioning the enthusiasm and determination of my Yankee friends. It was a great experience
for me to work with them. However, as things were going, I felt I needed a more secure future and had really had enough of
seaboard life. I pursued my Luxembourg application and with contacts pulling a few strings, flew to the Grand Duchy on the
very day of the first reading of the Marine Offences Bill in Parliament. I felt that justified my action.
As I try to remember, I believe we had a press launch of the station at the London Hilton, I think in the Beachcomber Bar.
I may be wrong in that - life was a bit of a whirl in those days. The whole thing was professionally done and there
is no doubt the arrival of the Americans had a significant influence on the ultimate arrival of local and commercial radio
in Britain. From what I hear these days, that still leaves a good deal to be desired. Bring back Radio England and let's
swing again!”
Nowadays record companies have synchronised worldwide release dates for their products but, in the sixties, American records
were often released in the States months before they became available in the UK. Radio England frequently played the US
releases which gave the station a unique sound and meant that it was often way ahead of the competition in picking up on
new sounds.
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In July 1966 some listening figures were published for all the offshore stations. A survey carried out by National Opinion
Polls estimated Radio England's audience as 2,274,000 and gave Britain Radio a mere 718,000. As the two stations had
only been on the air for a matter of weeks when the research was carried out, this could have been interpreted as a major
achievement but, compared to the eight million plus listeners that the survey gave both London and Caroline, potential
advertisers were not impressed. Although they managed to attract a few big name accounts, more and more of the
stations' revenue came from special offers (a fishing rod, a watch, a colour portrait of Man From Uncle
actor David McCallum, etc.).
During that same month a second group of American disc-jockeys flew in, signed up for the project by Don Pierson.
Jack Curtiss was mainly heard on Britain Radio, Bill Berry,
Boom Boom Brannigan and Chuck Blair mainly on Radio England.
(Can anyone provide information about a fifth member of the party, believed to be called Jim Henry?)
Chuck Blair on Swinging Radio England, Sunday afternoon 7th August 1966. The recording is an extract from the
Offshore Echo's tape Offshore Classics vol.27,
and is used with kind permission (duration 3 minutes 7 seconds)
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In August, senior DJ Ron O'Quinn left the ship to accompany the Beatles on their final tour
of America. He had problems with immigration on his return to the UK and, although he did make it back out to the ship,
he resigned soon afterwards and headed home.
Ron O'Quinn on Swinging Radio England, just back from touring the States with The Beatles. The recording is an extract from the
Radio Broadcast Library cassette Off Air Collection vol.10. It has been kindly donated by Lynne Sims from Martin
Lynch's collection (duration 2 minutes 55 seconds)
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As part of the promotion for Radio England, a national pop package tour, Swinging '66,
was sponsored in August 1966. Starring the Small Faces and featuring Crispian St. Peters, Neil Christian, Dave Berry and
Wayne Fontana, the tour was heavily advertised on air. The gigs proved reasonably successful in the south-east of the
country, where Radio England could be heard. Unfortunately outside the station's transmission area, audiences were
understandably sparse. The tour proved a financial disaster, losing over £17,000. The station attempted to get some
of this back by selling autographed copies of the left-over concert programmes.
Jerry Smithwich plays a promotion for Swinging '66. Tape kindly provided by Albie Somerset (duration 2
minutes 5 seconds)
Alan Black on Britain Radio. Recording courtesy of Stuart Russell (duration 2 minutes
36 seconds)RADIO ENGLAND BANNERLINE & THE SPACE NEWS HOTLINE.“This news is BIG news in the world now.....”It has been suggested that Radio England ultimately failed because it was “too American” for British tastes. If this is true, nowhere was the cuture gap more apparent than in the delivery of news. Listeners in the UK had never heard bulletins like this before! We were used to the BBC and its rather polite presentation of the stories of the day. Radio London had introduced Morse bleeps between the items and a greater sense of urgency but news on Swinging Radio England was something else again. Jingles, sound effects and echo were all part of the mix. It was news as drama. Never knowingly under-stated, each bulletin was “a feature of the Radio England Department of News and Public Affairs” - “Europe's most comprehensive news service”! Broadcast at 15 minutes past each hour, the early bulletins sounded like this:
Later, the Bannerline was replaced by a Space News Hotline:
Radio City's comedy show The Aunty Mabel Hour couldn't resist making fun:
“News every hour. More music NOW.....” |
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Next up with memories of forty years ago, it is the turn of the only boss jock to last from Radio
England's launch in May to its closedown in November, Roger Day:
“You can blame Dave Cash for my radio career. I had met him at a
Radio London gig at the Marquee Club. He told me there about a group of Americans who were starting a new station and
wanted some English DJs. Fortunately I got to see them at the Hilton Hotel before anybody else, even JW, which is another
story. You'll have to wait for my book to read that.
This was Saturday April the 2nd and I was hired on the spot.
After many weeks of waiting for the boat to arrive, we headed for the Olga Patricia. Past Big L, Radio Caroline and then
to what would become home for the next seven months. Conditions were not good for the first few weeks as none of the DJ
cabins were ready, so we all slept in sleeping bags on the floor of the lounge, with cockroaches for company.
Apart from Ron O'Quinn this was the first time I met the other Boss Jocks. Imagine the thrill of being taught radio
techniques by these very experienced top forty DJs. They thought the other stations were very amateur and wanted us to
sound much more slick and professional. While they were saying ‘good morning everybody’, we were told ‘only
talk to one person’. Us English guys were so lucky to have been trained by these fantastic personalities. For me, I
still broadcast by the tricks they taught me, and will be forever grateful.
The hardest part I found was doing the news reading with all the timers and sound effects. I am still very embarrassed
about those broadcasts.
Although the station had many teething troubles and a short life there were many good times and I have only happy memories.
Apart from the day we closed down of course.
I know I am biased but the station was fantastic and way ahead of its time. And we did have the best jingles. When Laser
came along in the eighties and everyone was saying how new and exciting it was, I would say we were doing that twenty years ago.”
Roger Day on Swinging Radio England in September 1966. Recording courtesy of Stuart Russell (duration 1 minute 30 seconds)Swinging Radio England had a loyal audience but sadly there just wasn't enough advertising revenue to make it pay. The owners decided that the Dutch market might prove more lucrative as there was only Radio Veronica there as competition. So Radio England closed down. Recordings from the last day of broadcasting can be found here. The station went off the air at 11.30pm on 13th November 1966, to be replaced the next day by the Dutch language Radio Dolfijn. Although SRE had been a failure, it had brought some excitement and professionalism to the UK radio scene and certainly gave Caroline and London some food for thought. Nearly twenty years later, Laser-558 would prove that an American-style Top 40 station could win a sizeable audience in Britain. Maybe the country just wasn't ready for it in 1966.
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Many thanks to Ron, Rick, Phil, Colin & Roger for writing, and to Grey for the photos.
There are more rare photos of Swinging Radio England and Britain Radio on the next page.
Back to the previous page of Swinging Radio England and Britain Radio memories.
