CHAPTER TEN: Moving to Caroline South.

“So what's happened?” I asked Ronan.
“Sit down and I'll tell you.”
I was in Ronan's office. It was a large room on the first floor above the street overlooking Chesterfield Gardens in Mayfair, London. One wall was wallpapered with a huge photograph of Radio Caroline North, making the ship the idol of our work. On the adjacent wall there were two large floor-to-ceiling windows which gave the room a feeling of royalty. And next to Ronan on his desk was a bust of John F. Kennedy.
     I sat in the chair, tired from the journey, wondering what new story Ronan was going to present me with.
“Well it's like this” he began. “While you've been up north another broadcast ship has arrived from Texas, Radio London.”
“Yes, I know” I said. “They have those American jingles and are using the Drake format. Yes, powerful stuff.”
“That's right and there has been a radio survey. It shows that Radio London has ten listeners to Caroline South's one. Not good. So all the Caroline advertisers have switched to Radio London and Allan Crawford has gone bust. So I have bought Caroline South.”
“Wow! That's fantastic. I love it!” I said.

Tony Blackburn, one of the few Caroline South presenters to stay with the revamped station.

     “So here's where you come in. I want you to take over the programming and get our audience back from Radio London.”
“Good, I can do that” I said enthusiastically. “But I'll need two things: a whole new radio staff and free control of the music.”
“Why do you need new deejays?” Ronan asked.
“Because the ones that are there have a vested interest in the old programming and they will resist change. I need to start from scratch. I need young, youthful, guys who love the music scene, who have a positive outlook and are adventurers. I need to create a whole new and different kind of programming in order to beat the Drake format. I need to create a fun, high spirited ship.”
“Sounds like fun” said Ronan. “Okay, that's good. Start collecting your deejays. Talk to Frances, she'll give you a hand. Oh, and yes, Tommy, you have some fun too.”
“Thanks, I will.”
     Over the next couple of weeks I interviewed many people. And slowly a team gathered. Eventually there was Keith Hampshire, Mike Ahern who came down from the North ship, there was a good spirited, good looking guy called Dave Lee Travis, the easy going Emperor Rosko, there was Robbie Dale, Rick Dane, Tommy Vance and Graham Webb. Some joined right away and some later.

Tom with some of his new team - Mike Ahern, Dave Lee Travis, Robbie Dale and Keith Hampshire. Photo originally from Essex County Newspapers, reprinted in ‘Offshore Radio’ published by Iceni Enterprises.

     When all was ready, a few of us arrived at the Mi Amigo, Radio Caroline South and replaced the deejay crew.
“Here's the situation” I said at one of the early meetings. “We have to get the audience back from Radio London. That's it! That's our mission.”
“They have a great sound” said Dave. “Are we going to use the same format, the Drake format?”
“No, we will never beat them that way. Here's the deal. We're going to use a new formula. A formula that I know will bring the audience back from Radio London.”
“Great!” said Mike. “How are we gonna do that?”
     “This has never been done before on any radio station. We're going to pioneer a new system. Here it is. First the DJ is not allowed to prepare his own show.”
“Yeah?” said Robbie. “Wow! How does this work then?”
“You get all the records and albums that you might want to play on your show and place them around you at the console. There'll be a box for the Top 40, a box for the new releases, a box for our favourites and a third box for golden oldies, old hits.”
“And then what?” asked Rosko.
“Now, here's the important part. You can only decide what to play when the one before is playing. Like, no preparation.”
“Wow!” said Mike. “That could be a bit dicey.”
“You've got to feel your show” I said, “not think about it. You've gotta be right in it. And then you'll always know what to play next.”
“Wow!” said Keith. “Great! I get it. Yeah! I like that!”
“Yeah” said Robbie. “It's kinda like being spontaneous.”
“Yes and here's the trick” I confirmed. “You have to really listen to your own show. None of this turning down the monitor and relaxing until the record ends. You have to be your show's own number one fan. This is about being one with the music. And above all having fun. And when you go ashore, do gigs, be involved with the music scene and bring those feelings back here and put this fun energy into your show.”

A Wapping Swamp Oil Well share certificate. Click to magnify.

     It was at this time that I re-created the Wigan Pier Oil Well Company, but for the south. The question was what to call it. On the air I asked “Where is there, around here, an oily place?” Many answers came in. I chose Wapping Swamp as the most likely place to discover oil. And so was launched The Wapping Swamp Oil Well Company. And again the subscribers outnumbered my expectations.
     And always the new music continued to arrive. There was Keep On Running by the Spencer Davis Group which shot straight into the number two spot on the music charts. There was My Generation by the Who and, one of my favourite American groups, the Four Seasons, with Let's Hang On. Now we rocked! We had fun. There was nothing to stop our wild energy, not even being ship wrecked. By August of 1966 I was told that the polls showed we had 23 million listeners. And once again we were number one.

©Tom Lodge 2002