Pirate radio stations, are there any left out there?

[Topper]

It operated for 20 years or so, so they were very successful pirates...

Indeed I remember it very well as do many other volunteers from the 70's

What is even more strange but true I know someone who worked with Abe Nathan at that time and we only found this out recently after we have been working together via telephone on a project for the last 9 years.!

 

[Yorks]

AHHH! A 'peaceful pirates' pirate radio station.

 

[T_G]

AHHH! A 'peaceful pirates' pirate radio station.

Yes, but it did have a violent end as was often the case with real pirate ships: It was sunk in deep sea:-duel


by its own captain

 

[Analoguesat]

Poor old MV Peace had a sad end - she was towed out into International Waters on 29/11/1993 and sunk

Edit - damn need to type faster!

 

[T_G]

Yeah, sad especially as Abe more o less gave up on the boat because he thought it is not needed anymore. How wrong he was, we could use about 50 pirate ships sailing all along the international waters of the midle east and persian golf, blowing megazillion watts of peace messages...

 

[Yorks]

If music be the food of love, play on.

 

[2cvbloke]

If I had a pirate radio ship, I'd call it the Defiant...

 

[chucklebezza]

Hi Analoguesat, see you say Ross Revenge is undergoing heavy maintenance, does this mean they are planning a comeback? Cheers.

 

[Analoguesat]

Comeback?? They are still going and have been for years!

No chance of them going out onto the high seas again - the radio scene has changed far too much since the 1980's to make that viable.

Long term there may be the possibility of running the station from the ship, but they are using land based studios in the Maidstone area now .

If you have sky have a listen to channel 0199 ;)

 

[kip]

I have a real claim to fame here, i was arrested for pirate radio in the early nineties .We started when i was only 15 and played taped programs on a walkman with a car battery powering the transmitter and yes we used the famous dipole.. We used to lug this stuff up a very large hill in brighton every week ( we must have been mad ).. The DTI (as it was then ) raided us a couple of times but we got away with it. We only got caught when we started transmitting from our bedrooms - all weekend sometimes.. It was quite a shock to have the DTI and police turn up with battering ram and all - they even called the fire brigade to take the dipole off the roof.. To make things worse my friends mum (from who's house we were broadcasting from that week) was in the bath at the time. Luckily i opened the front door before they knocked it down.. We were arrested and had all our gear confiscated apart from our records for some reason - in fact after our court case they even had to return the record that was on the turntable that they took (crazy)..We appeared before a magistrates court and were given a conditional discharge but still had to serve out a 5 year ban from broadcasting imposed by the DTI. This didnt stop us from going on to hold several RSL licenses though using a friend to hold the licence in his name. We only came unstuck when the same DTI officer that raided us turned up to inspect the transmitter and i was there on air. Unbelievably he turned a blind eye to me being there and the fact we were running 75 watts and not the 25 that we were licensed for - i guess once a pirate always a pirate - anyway ive properly bored u all to sleep with this so ill shut up now:-Cbigsmil

 

[T_G]

Not at all Kip, great story! Love it!!

 

[Analoguesat]

I used to do taped monthly shows for a shortwave pirate around 15 years ago. Radio Ability I think it was called.

I sed to use an old record deck, feed a cassette player into it for the music and use a tichy mic to do the links. No mixing desk so the audio levels were all awry but it went out on air ok!

Dunno what happened to them - they had disappeared one weekend and never came back..

 

[kip]

I used to do taped monthly shows for a shortwave pirate around 15 years ago. Radio Ability I think it was called.

I sed to use an old record deck, feed a cassette player into it for the music and use a tichy mic to do the links. No mixing desk so the audio levels were all awry but it went out on air ok!

Dunno what happened to them - they had disappeared one weekend and never came back..

That wasnt the one from Ireland was it? Can remember trying to tune in to something around that time but with not much luck!!

 

[kip]

Hi Analoguesat, see you say Ross Revenge is undergoing heavy maintenance, does this mean they are planning a comeback? Cheers.

Dont caroline still do RSL broadcasts from the ross revenge? I know they were a few years back:-thumbup

 

[Analoguesat]

Yes, although transmitters used tend to be land based due to the cost of running the generators. Just the studios are used.

I visited the RR when she was berthed at Canary Wharf in 1995. A fascinating experience and great fun.

 

[kip]

But are there any pirate radio stations based on the water like the good old days?

Ive taken this from carolines web site and explains why offshore pirate radio is unlikely again in the uk..........


At this time all British broadcasting was being overhauled by means of the 1990 Broadcasting Act. Caroline examined the draft document but found only minor reference to marine radio. At the last moment however extra pages were added giving the UK armed forces wide powers to board radio ships in international waters and silence them using whatever force was thought appropriate. To block any possibility of legal redress, such as that which O'Rahilly was already seeking after the 1989 raid, future boarders whoever they may be were to be granted immunity from prosecution. It was a dreadful piece of legislation which one would only expect from a totalitarian state. Caroline fought in the British House Of Lords supported by 29 Peers but the government won. The Broadcasting Act would become law in the first moments of 1991.


If you want to read more just google radio caroline:-sball