Part Four: 21 years old and going into overdrive

Radio Caroline first began broadcasting at Easter 1964 and the station traditionally celebrated its birthday at Easter, whatever date that happened to fall. In 1985 Easter Day was on 7th April. There were mentions of the 21st birthday on the actual day, 28th March, but the station really went to town over the Easter weekend. The presenters played a Top 200 of favourite records chosen by DJs from across the years. There was also a party. Although rough seas meant that some of the invited guests couldn't attend, it went ahead for those on board, complete with Johnny Lewis's super-strong home-brewed beer and a darts tournament won by a visiting fisherman.

A couple of clips from the Jay Jackson programme on Caroline, 28th March 1985, starting with Peter Philips ending the 9am news. The audio is taken from recordings shared on the Radiotrefpunt (radio meeting point) forum by Cas. Many thanks (duration 3 minutes 35 seconds)
Jay Jackson remembers a few names from the past and plays archive clips of Caroline on Easter Sunday morning, 7th April 1985 (duration 3 minutes 52 seconds)
A studio recording of Chris Pearson on Radio Caroline from the afternoon of Easter Sunday 1985 (duration 4 minutes 18 seconds)
Johnny Lewis from the early minutes of an epic 7 hour programme on Easter Sunday evening, 7th April 1985. This, and the above two recordings, are courtesy of www.azanorak.com. Our thanks to Ray Robinson (duration 4 minutes 36 seconds)

On 1st May 1985 sponsored spoken-word programmes, mainly of a religious nature, returned to the Caroline airwaves. These were broadcast on 963kHz after Radio Monique had finished programmes for the day while Caroline's normal music shows continued on the 576kHz outlet. Roy Masters' “How Your Mind Can Keep You Well In A Moment of Truth” was the first to re-appear (Monday to Friday, 7-8pm), soon joined by other familiar names from the last months of broadcasting from the Mi Amigo like “The Albert Bonk Programme” and “The Jewish Voice Broadcast”. Gradually more programmes were added to the schedule, with non-stop music filling any gaps. Then, on 29th June, the music changed and the 6-9pm segment got a new name. It became Jammin' 963. Now soul, funk and reggae tracks interspersed the sponsored shows. The two services merged at 9pm. Despite causing disappointment to long-distance Caroline listeners unable to pick up 576 who had lost three hours of their favourite station, these paid-for programmes brought in much-needed revenue. Roy Masters alone paid some £9,000 a month, split between Caroline and Monique.

Del Rogers on Jammin' 963 from June 1985. This clip is from a recording shared on the Internet Radiocafé, now known as the Radiotrefpunt (radio meeting point) forum by Vincent. Our thanks to him (duration 3 minutes 41 seconds)

The on-air team of Johnny Lewis, Jay Jackson, Susan Charles, Nick Richards, Andy Johnson and Dave Richards were joined during 1985 by a number of new people - some who came and went fairly quickly, as well as others like Peter Philips, Neil Francis, Chris Pearson, Fiona Jeffreys and David Andrews who stayed longer. New advertisers during the year included Dickie Dirts Jeans Store, the Arabian Sands holiday village - both also heard on Laser - People Express airline, Top Deck ski-ing holidays and Windjammer Cruises.

It's Live Aid day, 13th July 1985, and Susan Charles has all the details of how to donate. This clip is from the Golden Radio Flanders archive. It was recorded by Rik Vandaele and shared on the Radiotrefpunt (radio meeting point) forum by JP.L. Our thanks to them both (duration 3 minutes 33 seconds)

At the beginning of August 1985 the authorities intensified their battle against the pirates by bringing in reinforcements. The 99 ft. ocean-going yacht Dioptric Surveyor was chartered to keep a constant watch on the two radio ships in the North Sea to make it difficult for them to be supplied. This attempt to starve the stations off the air brought Laser some much needed publicity. Their DJ Charlie Wolf, in particular, relished the chance to make fun of the Government's attempt to silence them in what he named Eurosiege '85 (see The Laser Story). By contrast, Caroline barely mentioned the newcomer but its arrival did cause problems for both stations. Some of Caroline's tenders came from Holland, France or Ireland but many did slip out of British ports and, with the surveillance of the DTI's spy ship to contend with, some now had to be organised from as far afield as Spain and Morocco.

A rare mention of the Dioptric Surveyor on Caroline. Trevor James on the Breakfast Show on 11th September 1985. This clip is from a recording available from www.azanorak.com. Our thanks to Ray Robinson (duration 51 seconds)

While the state of siege continued at sea, in Southend magistrates court on 27th September, three men were fined under the Marine Offences Act for supplying the Ross Revenge. Donald Hill, Howard Beer and Graham Bushell each had to pay £500 plus costs for an offence which had taken place some months earlier.
 
In October Caroline cut back broadcasting hours to a 1am closedown on weekdays, initially so that work could be carried out on the aerial diplexer, but a shortage of disc-jockeys meant that this continued even after the engineering work was completed. The DTI's efforts were beginning to take effect. Although it was not noticeable on air, the DJs and crew were suffering silently. For a while a shortage of fresh water forced them to drink oil-polluted rain and a lack of food saw them living on toast for eight days.
 
Laser, too, was having problems. High seas and generator failure forced the station to close down on 5th November. The following day, as its rival steamed into Harwich defeated, Caroline news carried the story of Laser's demise with an emotional tribute from Andy Johnson.

David Andrews reading the news on Radio Caroline of Laser's closure, with a (belated) report from Andy Johnson, 6th November 1985. This recording was provided by Bill Rollins via www.azanorak.com. Our thanks to Bill and Ray Robinson (duration 1 minute 8 seconds)

Neil Francis.	Nigel Roberts.	Fiona Jeffreys.	Fergie McNeal.	Peter Philips.	David Andrews.
Photos courtesy of Dennis Jason, Marjo Marcus, Offshore Echos and Richard Brain.

Caroline was alone again and, by the next day, had taken over Laser's vacated frequency, 558 kHz. Although the Caroline transmitter was not as powerful as Laser's, when a new compressor was fitted the following week, a good signal was put out on what was a clear channel.

Nick Richards, with Andy Johnson on news, from Caroline's first morning on 558kHz, 7th November 1985. This recording courtesy of www.azanorak.com. Our thanks to Ray Robinson (duration 2 minutes 35 seconds)

Jammin' 963 was not a success. From 16th November the name was dropped and country music was played between the shows instead. Maybe this was more to the advertisers' tastes because new religious programmes arrived including “World Missionary Evangelism” and “Strength for Today”.
 
In early December, with winter closing in, the DTI gave up its surveillance operation and called off its spy ship. With Laser disposed of, it seemed the authorities were not too worried by Caroline and the ship was left to its own devices. This made life a lot easier and the station reintroduced 24 hour broadcasting from 23rd December 1985, although a storm caused interruptions when gale force winds damaged the aerial and temporarily silenced the station.

Bad weather causes problems for Caroline and Monique. John Ford, Nick Richards, Peter Philips and Radio Monique's Walter Simons from the post-Christmas period of 1985. Recording from SMC Audio Tape No. 5, issued by De Stichting Media Communicatie (duration 3 minutes 5 seconds)

Since Laser's closure, Caroline's music policy had shifted. Peter Philips was in charge and he was keen to pick up the listeners who used to enjoy the other station. Caroline-558, as it was now called, was much more pop-based. This did not please all the disc-jockeys. Tom Anderson, in particular, felt that Caroline should remain faithful to its alternative ethos. He didn't see the point of sitting on a ship for weeks at a time to play what he considered to be the same music that could be heard on the BBC and ILR stations. From 1st January 1986, both men got their way: While 558 had the revamped hit music service organised by Peter, on 963 Tom's Caroline Overdrive presented harder-edged and less familiar album tracks from 9pm to 4am each night. Joining Tom on Overdrive were Nigel Roberts and cook-turned DJ Fergie McNeal.

Tom Anderson opens up the Caroline Overdrive service at 9pm on 2nd January 1986. The clip is taken from a recording shared on the Radiotrefpunt (radio meeting point) forum by Vincent. Our thanks to him (duration 3 minutes 16 seconds)

Many thanks to Monitor magazine, the Caroline Movement Bulletin and Offshore Echos.
 
Press cuttings about Caroline and Laser from 1985 can be found here and following pages.
 
Back to the previous page.
 
To be continued.