Colin Ward Colin Ward was heard on Radio Caroline via some pre-recorded ‘storm tapes’ which were broadcast in times of bad weather or staff shortage. He says: “I first heard Radio Caroline at Easter 1964 on its first day on air. I was 11 years old at the time. By 1967 I knew offshore radio was something I wanted to do. It had a great effect on me. In the late seventies I became involved in land-based pirate radio and did some DJ work in clubs and private functions, influenced by some of the great Caroline personalities - Johnnie Walker, Robbie Dale, Roger ‘Twiggy’ Day, Andy Archer, Tony Allan, etc.. By the mid-eighties I was running the Caroline Roadshows in the south, around London, while Barry St.James was taking care of the north. In 1985 I was asked to record some programmes as storm tapes for use in rough weather. That is how my offshore DJ career started. I am very proud and happy to have played my little part in the story of Radio Caroline. I am now in Los Angeles and hope soon to start recording some shows for the internet.” (Thanks to Colin for the information and the photo.)


click to hear audio A short clip from a Colin Ward ‘storm tape’ of 1990, shared on www.azanorak.com by Brian Nichols. Our thanks to him and Ray Robinson (duration 1 minute 17 seconds)

Mark Warner Mark Warner Formerly of the Israeli offshore station the Voice of Peace, Mark was heard on Caroline during March/April 1987. Although British, he had a strong Australian accent, having lived for some time in Brisbane. Correspondent Mike Barraclough has told us a bit more about him. Mike says: “I first got to know him in 1981 when he joined a DX Club which I was involved with. He started contributing regularly. He was involved with at least two short wave pirate stations and possibly others in the UK. He lived in Sevenoaks, Kent, and was a friend of Stuart Clark's. Mark was a very keen DX'er, even to the point of going to northern Sweden to hear some of the stations you couldn't pick up in the UK. In 1983 he went to work in Australia. He had done a computer science course and there was a shortage of qualified people in that sphere at the time. For many years he was going out to Australia to work (I think as a systems analyst) and then making his way back to the UK travelling in Asia, Africa and the Pacific. While there on his first trip he worked on Radio Australia, the ABC international broadcaster, as a contributor to and occasional broadcaster on Talkback, their communications news and shortwave listener DX programme. In July 1986 he joined the Voice of Peace off Israel and in November that year moved to Ireland where he was heard on Radio North and then North West Community Radio, both in County Donegal. In March 1987 he joined Radio Caroline, later helping to set up Hits-954 in Limerick with Stuart Clark and others. (That station also features in the stories of Dave Ellis, Kevin Nelson and Simon West.) In April 1988 Mark returned to Australia but was back in the UK again in 1990. In 1993 he re-joined the Voice of Peace for another stint where he was known as ‘Mike Melbourne’, later using that same name on Sunshine-855 in Ludlow. It was shortly after this, I think, that he settled permanently in Australia working in Canberra for the IT Department of the Australian Government.” (With many thanks to Mike Barraclough for his assistance and for this screen-grab of Mark, taken from a 1993 video, shot on the Voice of Peace.)

click to hear audio Mark Warner on the Caroline-558 Breakfast Show on Saturday 14th March 1987. This is an edited version of 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 38 seconds)

Mike Watts Mike Watts from Brighton in Sussex, Mike was an engineer on Radio Caroline from 1985 to 1989 although his offshore career goes back much further. He told us: “The first time I ever broadcast was on Radio City in 1965 as ‘The Castaway’. I was still at school but had bunked off, taken a boat from Whitstable beach, but got stranded on the tower for three days due to bad weather. The staff thought it would be fun to engineer a ‘test transmission’ in the evening so gave me a go for a short while! As a result I got expelled from my private school .... I ended up doing the rest of my education on ‘day release’ while working.” Much of this work was in recording studios. Mike was assistant to the Technical Director at Olympic Studios in Barnes, London, then employed at Maximum Sound studio, recording bluebeat and ska. He worked for Tannoy, then helped build and run Chalk Farm Studios, again recording a lot of the reggae chart hits of the early seventies. He was also involved in landbased pirate radio, starting a London AM station called Radio Free Caroline, and was involved with the early London FM pirates. He joined the Ross Revenge as an engineer in 1985. As such he was usually working behind the scenes but was occasionally also heard on air. The first time was in the early hours of Boxing Day 1986. On 11th January 1987 he presented a blues programme on Caroline Overdrive. You can see Mike working on Caroline's enormous aerial mast in a video posted on YouTube by Wim van Egmond (about 5 minutes 30 seconds in). Following his time with Caroline he worked in studio and transmitter installation for Alice Soundtech and Virgin Radio, and then started his own engineering consultancy. A few years ago Mike told us: “I've recently been involved with designing and building recording studios for Mike Pelanconi, who is probably currently the best reggae producer in the UK (Prince Fatty, Holly Cook, Manu Chao, Skints, etc.). Also a studio complex for Pablo Cousins (Unkle) and a new set of studios for Radio Reverb, the local community station here in Brighton. On the radio transmission front I've been involved with the current ‘small scale DAB’ experiment that has just been rolled out in various cities in the UK. This started as a Brighton engineering group idea that we experimented with and got taken up by Ofcom. I've also been doing some development work on pro-audio valve equipment for Thermionic Culture who make high-end pro-audio equipment.” Sadly, since writing, Mike has passed away. He died in July 2021. His former colleague Keith Francis has put together a Spotify playlist of music he associates with Mike and their time spent together on Caroline. There is a tribute on the Offshore Echo's website. (Photo kindly provided by François Lhote of Offshore Echo's. There is another picture of Mike in Paul Graham's photo album.)

click to hear audio Mike Watts presenting the afternoon show on Caroline-558 on Christmas Day 1987. This is an edited version of a recording made available by The Offshore Radio Archive (duration 3 minutes 11 seconds)
click to hear audio Mike Watts on a short wave test transmission from Radio Caroline on 6210 kHz, 6th March 1988. His is the second voice on the clip. This is an edited version of a recording shared on The Offshore Radio Club Forum by Hans Hendriks. Our thanks to him (duration 2 minutes 59 seconds)

Dave West Dave West was heard on Radio Caroline for a couple of days in 1973 (see entry in The Pirate Radio Hall of Fame ‘Seventies Supplement’) but unfortunately had to leave the ship because of sea-sickness. He returned to Caroline in 1987, after a break of 14 years, 18 weeks and 3 days (thanks to Monitor Magazine for the calculation) but sadly history repeated itself. His visit to the mv Ross Revenge coincided with the famous hurricane of 1987. He was only heard for two days (13th and 14th October 1987) before sea-sickness intervened again and he had to cut his stay short. There was another problem too. Paul Graham writes: “Dave never got to grips with the Caroline-558 format. He told me he was not aware that Caroline had gone Top 40 having not heard the station since about 1984. He was living in Lancashire at the time so he thought he was joining the station with its album format still in place, which he would have been comfortable with, but not so the quick-moving less-talk 558 format. Dave is now living on the Isle of Man where, in the summer season, he works on the Snaefell mountain railway as a brakeman/guard on the electric trams.” (Our thanks to Paul for the information and to François Lhote of Offshore Echo's magazine for the photo of Dave at the ‘Communicate 88’ free radio event in Blackpool.)

click to hear audio Dave West on Caroline 558 from the evening of 14th October 1987. Clip from a longer recording shared on www.azanorak.com by ‘rad10nut84’. Our thanks to her and Ray Robinson (duration 3 minutes 31 seconds)

Liz West Liz West was one of the ‘Laserettes’, the three female broadcasters who graced the airwaves of Laser-558 during 1985. (The others were Chris Carson and Erin Kelly.) Originally from Florida, Liz had previously been heard on KDES Palm Springs, WDIZ Rock 100 Orlando and Tampa 98 Rock. She was a DJ with Laser from February to September 1985, as well as being the Music Director. She later became the first full time female presenter on Radio Luxembourg before returning to the States. She was on WRXL Richmond Virginia and WZGC Atlanta, where he was known as “Liz Wild”, but sadly she died in 2002. Offshore Echos' tribute to her is here. (This photo is from Offshore Echo's magazine.)

click to hear audio Liz West (or, as she accidentally says, “Liz Wild”) on Laser-558 from the evening of 17th August 1985. It is day nine of ‘Eurosiege '85’ and we hear from Charlie Wolf. The “Moronic Surveyor” was Charlie's name for the Dioptric Surveyor, an ocean-going launch chartered by the Department of Trade and Industry to keep a constant eye on the offshore stations. This is an edited version of a recording shared on The Offshore Radio Club Forum by Hans Hendriks. Our thanks to him (duration 4 minutes 2 seconds)

Paul West hosted a few late night shows on Radio Caroline in June 1990. Can anyone provide more information about him?

click to hear audio A short clip of Paul West on Caroline from 16th June 1990. This is an edited version of a recording shared on the Internet Radiocafé, now known as the Radiotrefpunt (radio meeting point) forum by Vincent. Our thanks to him (duration 57 seconds)

Richard West Richard West formerly on the Israeli Voice of Peace, Richard joined Radio Caroline in January 1989. He went on to have a long career in broadcasting, both under that name and as Richard Harding. During 1990-92 he was heard on Hereward FM, CNFM103, Saxon FM and Orwell FM; he then spent a year in Paris, during which time he broadcast on Voltage FM; this was followed by five years at BBC Radio Cambridgeshire and another three at Channel Travel Radio; then it was off to Neptune Radio in Kent where he presented Shepway Today and was a newsreader and journalist; two years of freelancing for various stations followed until April 2000 when he joined Rutland Radio for five years; then it was Island FM, Guernsey, until 2010 when he left to freelance on both Island FM and its Jersey sister station Channel 103FM. After a few months working in PR, Richard returned full-time to Island FM in December 2006 to host the daily 10am-2pm show as well as read afternoon news bulletins twice a week. Richard is also involved in Guernsey's political scene. He is a St Peter Port Douzainier (councillor) and a member of the Profile and Waste Management Committees. A former columnist in the Guernsey Press and GBG Magazine, he plans to write more in the local press. He blogs at richardhardingsblog.wordpress.com. Richard is a fluent French speaker and is trying to help save the island’s local language Guernésiais. (Thanks to Richard for his assistance. Photo kindly provided by François Lhote of Offshore Echo's magazine.)

click to hear audio Richard West on Radio Caroline's Breakfast Show on 4th February 1989. This is an edited version of a recording shared on The Offshore Radio Club Forum by Hans Hendriks. Our thanks to him (duration 3 minutes 42 seconds)

Simon West joined Radio Caroline in August 1987. The Pirate Radio Hall of Fame asked him to tell his story: “I grew up on Romney Marsh and then Rye in East Sussex. My days of being a DJ started with CB radio when I was 13 years old in 1981 – I got fed up talking and decided talking and playing songs between was much more fun. I used to do this on Channel 37 every Sunday night (apologies to the local CB'ers who complained about me ‘hogging’ the channel). Fortunately my audience was VERY limited - a good thing as I was rubbish!! But this is where the radio bug bit. Through school I did various pirate stations in the East Sussex area, notably Radio Sovereign which used to broadcast every Sunday afternoon from a tree in Peasmarsh near Rye. I did this with a good friend of the time Pat Brookes. Our most famous listeners were Paul and Linda McCartney. Somewhere hidden in the loft is a postcard from them wishing both Pat and I luck with Radio Sovereign. From this I started sending out demo tapes here there and everywhere. One day a friend of mine said he knew of a new station coming on air in Limerick, Ireland, and they were looking for people. I applied and got a two-week stint on overnights. This was fun, but lonely – 17 years old in Southern Ireland and knowing no one was daunting. It was this trip that gave me the break into Caroline. While at Hits 954 in Limerick I met Dave Ellis. Dave was, and still is, a great bloke. He gave me some Caroline contact details and eventually I managed to get a demo to the right person. This led to a meeting one Sunday afternoon in the Kings Road, Chelsea, and I was offered a job on Caroline. Two weeks later I was there. Firstly doing 9pm-1am and then on to Drivetime, 5-9pm. I joined on the 20th August 1987 and was there for 6 weeks. I have so many memories of this brief but exciting time of my life. I worked with some great people on board under the leadership of Kevin Turner and Peter Philips. Good guys.” We asked Simon for his memories of working on the Ross Revenge and he provided a long list. Here are just some of them: “Raffles – the dog – and the unwanted ‘gifts’ he used to leave on deck! More red wine than you can imagine – when I did the 9pm-1am shift I think people would lay bets on whether I would manage to close down and play the Caroline song at 1am! It was hit and miss – I lay the blame entirely on the cheap red wine; Pork chops – when we were nearly out of food, there were ALWAYS pork chops left! The crazy captain (can't remember his name) who threatened to sail us in to Ramsgate one night during a Force 10 storm – we were dragging the anchor badly and heading toward the main shipping lane....; The daily 3.15pm sail-by of the Olau ferry – I always used to be in the shower at this time and apologise to people waving from the Olau as they passed and saw this naked guy waving out of the porthole back at them! The exploding toilets – advice – never put a hose pipe down a blocked toilet on a ship. There is a real risk of ‘blow-back’! Sadly one of the Dutch crew was passing at the time and was, well, covered shall we say...; Being told to stop ‘shouting’ on air – not sure I ever did stop this.” Following his time on Caroline, Simon worked instore on Radio HMV then Chiltern Radio and Invicta FM. He says: “I worked at Invicta FM through to 2005. I had built a successful telecoms company while working there and chose to leave and pursue this. All great memories and I've met some great people on the way.” (With many thanks to Simon for his help and to Paul Graham for putting us in touch. Simon does not have any photos from his time on Caroline. Can anyone provide one?)

click to hear audio Simon West on Caroline-558 from the afternoon of 10th September 1987. This is an edited version of a recording shared on the Internet Radiocafé, now known as the Radiotrefpunt (radio meeting point) forum by Vincent. Our thanks to him (duration 4 minutes 5 seconds)

Tony Whale An Australian, Tony was working for Radio Top Shop in London when his visa expired. As he had to leave the country, he joined Radio Caroline for one stint during February/March 1984 before continuing with his travels. These included a spell on Radio Sovereign on the Riviera (see Bob LeRoi's website). Does anyone know where he is now?

click to hear audio Tony Whale hosting the Breakfast Show on Radio Caroline, 29th February 1984 with Jay Jackson on news duty. The voice on the Loving Awareness promotion is that of Tom Anderson. This is an edited version of a recording shared on the Internet Radiocafé, now known as the Radiotrefpunt (radio meeting point) forum by MartinJA. It is from the Golden Radio Flanders Collection and has been cleaned up by Jean-Pierre Legein. Many thanks to them all (duration 4 minutes 3 seconds)

Rowena Wilde
Rowena Wilde
Steve Conway tells us “Rowena joined Radio Caroline on Christmas Eve 1987 as cook, but soon found herself on air. I think her name may have been taken from the All About Eve song Wild Hearted Woman which was on our playlist at the time.” Rowena's last programme was in February 1988. (Thanks to Steve for his help. Photo ©Paul Graham/Richard Lee 1988, kindly provided by Paul. See here for more of his pictures.)


 

The Pirate Radio Hall of Fame needs your

The site is updated regularly and we are always on the look-out for new material to add. If you have any information, photographs, recordings or contact details for any of the disc-jockeys we haven't been able to trace, please get in touch.


Blake Williams Blake Williams was one of the original crew aboard the Laser ship, the mv Communicator. He was brought up on a cattle ranch in Arizona and was an excellent horseman, but he also loved radio. He studied engineering and, after college, worked as an engineer, producer and disc-jockey for various radio stations in Tucson. After spotting a recuitment advert in trade paper Radio & Records Blake joined the Laser project as an engineer. He was on board - and heard on air - during the test broadcasts in February 1984 and a taped show of his also went out on 4th March. That was all the broadcasting he did for Laser but in May he turned up on the rival station, Radio Caroline, working as DJ, engineer and Programme Controller. He injected more excitement, personality and professionalism into the station. Following his last show on 17th July, he returned home to the States. As well as voiceover work, between 1987 and 1992 he was involved with KRSI Radio Saipan, spent four years with KKLD Cloud 95 in Tucson Arizona, and was later heard on 103.7 The Oasis in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In 2015 he had a serious horse-riding accident, needing months of surgery. He returned to radio and voice-over work but never returned to full fitness. A severe asthma attack caused brain damage and, after a few days on a ventilator, he died on 25th June 2017. (Paul Rusling has posted an excellent tribute to his friend here.) (Photo of Blake, taken during Laser test transmissions, from ‘The Lid Off Laser 558’, published by Pirate Publications.)

click to hear audio Blake Williams on a test transmission for Laser on 729kHz, 18th February 1984. The station's name wasn't mentioned during these tests and, to add to the mystery, jingles from a few random American radio stations were dropped in. This is an edited version of a recording shared on The Offshore Radio Club Forum by Hans Hendriks. Our thanks to him (duration 4 minutes 17 seconds).
click to hear audio Blake Williams on Radio Caroline from the afternoon of 19th May 1984. This is an edited version of a recording shared on the Internet Radiocafé, now known as the Radiotrefpunt (radio meeting point) forum by Vincent. Our thanks to him (duration 4 minutes 41 seconds)

Mick Williams Mick Williams from Burnham-on-Crouch in Essex, his real name is Ray Clark. He borrowed his on-air alias from a friend. A longtime fan of the offshore stations, Ray won a quiz on the subject at the Flashback '67 convention in August 1977. He met a number of people connected with offshore radio at the event and, despite continuing his career as a bus driver, always hoped that one day he would get the chance to work for Radio Caroline. This eventually happened in April 1987. The Pirate Radio Hall of Fame asked him to tell his story: “I had long been a fan of Caroline. After winning the Flashback '67 Quiz I went on the boat trip to see the Mi Amigo ... it was the first of a number of trips out there, although I never got to board the ship even though on one occasion we were invited onboard. Sadly our skipper wasn't keen. I ran a mobile disco in the 70s and my voice appeared on a number of land-based pirate stations. When Caroline resumed broadcasts from the Ross Revenge I went on a few trips organised by Albert and Georgena Hood. Over the years I'd got to know a few people involved with the station and eventually I went out to work there in April 1987. I was lucky – working with a great team, presenting the afternoon show, weekend breakfast and some news shifts. It was never my intention to work full-time in radio, not that I didn’t want to - I didn't think I was good enough. I was due to go back for another stint in November 1987 but because of work commitments I couldn't go out on the normal tender. It was planned for me to go out on the next weekend's ‘anorak’ boat – but before that happened the mast came down. I should have been onboard but I'm not sorry that I missed it. Encouraged by Kevin Turner, I made contact with three ILR stations and was offered work at all three. I went to Invicta, followed by Breeze, part of Essex Radio, where I started on overnights and ended up as Programme Controller. I was with the station for 12 years. I've also been a regular on KDKA in Pittsburgh and still report on UK events for them. Other adventures include playing a major part in winning the North Norfolk radio licence, Chelmer FM and BBC Radio Cambridgeshire. I joined BBC Essex in 2004 presenting a variety of shifts including breakfast for 7 years. I also took part in the Pirate BBC Essex broadcasts.” In 2014 Ray wrote Radio Caroline: The True Story of the Boat that Rocked, a history of the station (now in a second edition). He retired from his full-time job at the BBC in 2014 but continued to present a weekly show until October 2023. He is now heard on Radio Caroline and Caroline Flashback. His second book was The Great British Woodstock: The Incredible Story of the Weeley Festival 1971 and there has also been an autobiography Stay Tuned - I could say something brilliant at any moment!. All are available from www.radiobookoffer.co.uk. He says: “I've been lucky enough to meet and work with some good people, I've travelled and broadcast from many exciting places and won a few industry awards: 2 Sony, 3 BBC Gillard, 3 EDF News awards and 7 New York Festivals ... and I am still very grateful for my stint on Caroline.” Mick/Ray's website is www.rayradio.co.uk. (Mick/Ray has been a huge help to The Pirate Radio Hall of Fame, making numerous contributions. We are very grateful to him for his assistance. Photo courtesy of François Lhote of Offshore Echo's magazine. There is another photo in Caroline Martin's album.)

click to hear audio Mick Williams on Caroline-558 from lunchtime on Good Friday, 17th April 1987. This clip is taken from a recording shared on the Internet Radiocafé, now known as the Radiotrefpunt (radio meeting point) forum by ‘Drumbeat’. Our thanks to him (duration 4 minutes 22 seconds)

CAROLINE COLLEAGUES, THEN AND NOW
1987
2015
Kevin Turner and Mick Williams, 1987
Kevin Turner and Ray Clark, 2015
Kevin Turner, left, and Ray Clark, previously known as Mick Williams on the mv Ross Revenge. Thanks to Ray for the photos.

Mike Williams Mike Williams No relation to the similarly named Mick Williams (above), Mike was heard on Radio Caroline from April to June 1988, celebrating his birthday while on board (on 22nd May). Steve Conway says: “I'm pretty sure that he came from Hastings and was involved in local RSL and community stations in that area in the early nineties.” Mike now lives in in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Can anyone tell us more about him? (Photo taken by C.Bedwell and kindly provided by François Lhote of Offshore Echo's magazine.)

click to hear audio Mike Williams on a morning show from Caroline-558 in April 1988. This clip is taken from a recording kindly provided by Hans Knot (duration 2 minutes 45 seconds)

 

Dave Wilson was heard on Radio Caroline a couple of times late night in June 1987. He also referred to himself as Dave Dean. Paul Graham says: “A very quiet lad - early twenties at the time, I would say - he ran a land-based pirate in the eighties and nineties, Radio Orion, and still can be heard on short wave today where he calls himself the Bogus Man! He hails from the West Midlands. His stay on board was very brief. He found life on board not to his taste.” He can be seen in one of the photos in Paul Graham's photo album.


Dave Windsor and Paul McKenna Dave Windsor From Bromley in Kent, Dave joined Radio Caroline in October 1984, having previously worked on Irish land-based pirates. Despite being an excellent disc-jockey (and mimic) he spent most of his time on the Ross Revenge being sea-sick and did not stay long. (His last show was on 24th October.) After passing quickly through Radio Red Rose in Preston, he joined Radio Riviera in Italy, then a number of other Irish and Italian stations, Radio Wyvern, KFM Tonbridge, EKR and was on BFBS for many years. (This photo of Dave, left, with Paul McKenna courtesy of John Burch. There are more photos of Dave in Caroline Martin's and Paul McKenna's photo albums.)

click to hear audio Dave Windsor on Radio Caroline International, as the station was then called, from the evening of 21st October 1984. Recording kindly provided by Hans Knot (duration 3 minutes 34 seconds)

 

Charlie Wolf Charlie Wolf Birthday 12th April 1959, originally from Boston Massachussetts, Charlie had been working in Provo, Utah, before joining Laser-558 in June 1984. His humour and highly individual style of broadcasting quickly won him a big following - probably Laser's biggest star. He particularly made his mark during ‘Eurosiege '85’, the name Charlie gave to the UK government's attempt to starve the offshore stations off the air with a blockade (August to November 1985). His daily reports amused the listeners immensely and, no doubt, annoyed the authorities just as much. Charlie left Laser in September 1985 and did some relief DJ work on Radios Orwell and Mercury. He was also an announcer at the Santa Pod drag racing circuit. He left Britain in August 1986, while waiting for his work permit application to be considered, and returned to the States, to KFMY Provo. While there he sent weekly taped shows to Radio Mercury. In 1989 he joined Atlantic 252, a long wave station based in Trim, Ireland, which beamed its programmes across the UK. He moved on in 1993, joining first GWR, then Beacon Radio. He hosted a political and current affairs phone-in on Talksport between 2000 and 2006, and was heard on Big L 1395, which broadcast to the UK from an AM transmitter in Holland. He is now a commentator, providing opinion on the US political scene for numerous radio and television outlets. (Photo courtesy of Offshore Echo's magazine. There are more photos of Charlie in Michael Dean's and Mark Stuart's photo albums as well as a more recent one here.)

click to hear audio Charlie Wolf at fever-pitch on Laser-558 on the evening of 12th December 1984. This is an edited version of a recording shared on the Internet Radiocafé, now known as the Radiotrefpunt (radio meeting point) forum by Vincent. Our thanks to him (duration 4 minutes 39 seconds)
click to hear audio It is the start of Eurosiege as Charlie Wolf begins his Laser-558 show at 9pm on 13th August 1985. This is an edited version of a recording shared on The Offshore Radio Club Forum (duration 8 minutes 1 seconds)

Jerry Wright Jerry Wright When he first joined Radio Caroline, in January 1986, he used the name Jerry Davis but became Jerry Wright when he returned to the station in June 1990. Born in Maidstone, Kent, Jerry began his broadcasting career in local hospital radio. He also helped out as an unpaid station assistant and tape re-claimer at BBC Radio Medway in Chatham and, during a summer holiday in the late seventies, spent time behind the scenes at Metro 261 in Newcastle. Jerry's presenting career began with Radio Caroline in January 1986 and since then he has been heard on Mellow 1557, Invicta Supergold / Invicta FM, KFM, TLR, Medway FM, CTfm, CTR and KMfm in Canterbury and Thanet. For many years he was the late night voice of Radio Jackie in south-west London and can now be heard on their internet station 121 Radio. He also produces an Album Show which can be heard on various internet and broadcast radio stations (see Facebook page). Jerry's website is www.jerrywright.co.uk. (Thanks to Jerry for the information and photo.)

click to hear audio Jerry Davis closes Caroline-558 early for transmitter maintenance on 18th February 1986. Thanks very much to RetroRadio for this recording (duration 4 minutes 9 seconds)
click to hear audio Jerry Wright opening up the evening music shows on Caroline-558 following the religious Viewpoint segment on 15th June 1990. This is an edited version of a recording from the collection of Martin van der Ven, shared on the Internet Radiocafé Forum by Vincent. Our thanks to both of them (duration 3 minutes 55 seconds)

Marti Wright Marti Wright Although born in Hungary, Marti had lived in Australia before coming to the UK, where she worked for a time for Radio Jackie. She was a newsreader on Radio Caroline in December 1984 and presented weekend music programmes. Stevie Lane tells us that Marti is now living in Victoria, Australia. (Photo taken by Leendert Vingerling and kindly provided by Keith King. There is another photo of her in Caroline Martin's album.)

click to hear audio Marti Wright reading the news on Radio Caroline's Breakfast Show, 8th December 1984. This is an edited version of a recording shared on the Internet Radiocafé, now known as the Radiotrefpunt (radio meeting point) forum by Vincent. Our thanks to him (duration 1 minute 46 seconds)
click to hear audio Marti Wright presenting a music show later the same day, Saturday 8th December 1984. This is an edited version of a recording shared on the Radiotrefpunt (radio meeting point) forum by Steksis. Our thanks to him (duration 2 minutes 55 seconds)

Mighty Joe Young Mighty Joe Young Senior engineer Joe Vogel broadcast occasionally on Laser-558 as Mighty Joe Young. The name was taken from a 1949 movie (see IMDB). The original Mighty Joe was a gorilla. Before joining Laser, Joe had spent twelve years working on south Florida radio stations. Sadly he died in May 1989. (Photo courtesy of Michael Dean. For more of his pictures, see here.)

click to hear audio Mighty Joe Young on Laser-558 from the evening of 12th March 1985. This is an edited version of a recording shared on The Offshore Radio Club Forum by Hans Hendriks. Our thanks to him (duration 4 minutes 9 seconds).

With many thanks to everyone who has helped The Pirate Radio Hall of Fame compile the ‘Eighties Supplement’, especially Chris Edwards and François Lhote of Offshore Echo's, John Burch, Andy Bradgate, Steve Conway, Paul Graham, Dennis Jason, Kevin Turner and Mick Williams.


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