Pull the bedsheets up over my head, flashlight on with my trusty transistor radio playing. (Hoping mum & dad didn't hear it)... Brilliant memories. Well done Radio Caroline and the BigL.
This was a tear jerker, and I’m not ashamed to admit it. I used to love listening to Caroline, and going to the Caroline roadshows. Back in the mid 70s, I was once pulled over by the police whilst driving my little metallic blue Mini, for sporting a Radio Caroline ‘sun strip’ on the windscreen. Good times for sure, I’m so glad I lived those heady days, they won’t come again. Thanks for posting the video!
I once stayed in a pub in London, got there very late, pub looked closed. They thought we were the police.....Realised when we finally got in it was a lock in. The guy who owned it used to be a DJ on this ship. One of my best nights ever, we were up till sunrise listening to story after story. Cant remember his name, he kept us up all night with free drinks. Great memories. Top bloke, and by the sounds of his stories all they people were. Different breed of person from a different time. Well done you guys, changed the world
Looking back, it feels like it was such a privilege to have been a teenager in the sixties. So many new things going on, including Radio Caroline & Wonderful Radio London.
I was a child in the 60's not a teen but still think back at Caroline and mum and dad flashing their headlights to the ship when the DJs asked loads of people in caravan camps did so, I think very fondly of the 60s
Hypohair- I'm a millennial, and for the most part have no desire to live in a pre-Civil Rights era; but this video, and your comment about the headlight flashing, made me hurt inside for missing it. Sure my generation has bootleg things online, but actually having and being a part of something like that in the physical world, outside (and with those gorgeous vintage cars and all), I'm extremely jealous of your memory.
@@lizzychrome7630 Well i was born in 1994 and i kinda have the same feeling. I feel like my childhood was the last moments of what you call "something like that in the physical world, outside". I think it all started with the omnipresence of TV which first gave us a visual distraction (that radio didn't have) and which was almost replaced by internet.
Been a listener since Caroline first started. And wasn't aware of it being illegal at the time. But went out on a friends boat to ride round the ship to say Hi.. Shouting across the waves to whoever was on the deck... Ding Ding.
What a fabulous time we had in the sixties, I was 19 in 65 loved radio Caroline and radio London, music was simply the best, great times some of the DJ's moved over to Radio one, but it was never has good as the pirate's, who listens to radio one now, Not Me, UK Gold for me.
Radio today will never recreate the era that made listening to music an experience and a pleasure. Eat your heart out every current music station you simply have not got what it takes.
I don't think anything will ever come along that equals the pioneering spirit of the radio pirates who gave us what we wanted in spite of the oppresion of governments and monopolies.
My all-time favorite the Old Caroline. 8 Years old, old 2 transistor radio listening to to this marvel. Hidden under blankets so my parents wouldn't hear these sounds from the Northsea. Caroline on 199.
Awesome video- my Dad worked for Caroline around that time, first at Caroline House, then later on the boat, up until returning to Australia in ‘67. I have photos of him which were taken onboard the boat, but hadn’t fully grasped what it was actually like on the boat... the thing which really struck me in this video, was seeing them get from the tender onto the boat. Dad grew up in county Tasmania & so hadn’t learned to swim. I’m utterly amazed to think of Dad getting from one boat to the other, knowing how easily he could have ended up in the water 😲😲😲
Maybe you like to share these photo's? In Europe there are still many people interested in the history of the pirate radio stations. Maybe there are even former colleagues or who knew or have stores to tell about your father.
I was a teenager in the1960s and listened to Radio Caroline broadcast from the Irish Sea. Those DJs introduced the records for the first time that are still popular today, near 60years later. BULOVA watch time brings back memories. Ironically it was the Right honourable Tony Benn as Postmaster General that brought about the end of Radio Caroline in 1967
j'étais gamin, mes 2 soeurs venaient de partir en Angleterre, pour faire des études d'infirmière, et avec mon transistor j'ai entendu radio Caroline, position à droite ,au fond, c'était un moyen de me rapprocher d'elle, des fois on entendait bien et des fois non, et j'ai entendu pour la première fois "Riders on the storm" un truc inédit, une musique complètement différent
Long time listener of Caroline, the music on Caroline today is every bit as good as it ever was, lots of new music, unheard tracks, interesting people, good presenters, best radio station out there by a mile. Only downsides are the emphasis on 'vinyl', music lovers dont care what medium they listen to music on, they care about the music.
@@richjones7313 rich jones -- but into what? Forwards doesn't always mean better. We need to re-trace our steps to the spirit of this period when we were getting it right, and re-start from there. Or you can have eternal gangsta rap.
Those were the days..... makes my heart yearn for those easy tines again... especially those first few years of the 60's.. By 1969 I was in the marine corps and my life changed forever loosing the innocents of that time.... thanks boys.. you'll probably never see this But this was a great video of great times..
Radio Veronica switched from 192m to 538m on 30 Spetember 1972 ! Radio Caroline came on the air at the same time! Veronica listeners had to move the dial to the other end of the scale...and found half way Caroline...clever trick😂
I used to supply Caroline in the 80’s risking 2 years inside if caught! You would have thought we were doing drugs but the Marine Offences Act did frighten a lot of suppliers but I grew up with Caroline and there was no way the then Labour Government was going to stop me. Great times and exciting to!
Excellent video!! Born in 1954 and growing up in England, I recall many late nights in the mid-sixties listening to Radio Caroline on a small transistor radio. The music was great compared to what the Beeb was playing. Who would have guessed that many years later, I would move to America to work for the company that built the audio console at 3:55 ! Gates Radio. I still work there, although after a few ownership changes the company is now called GatesAir.
@Mike Sienicki 12AX7s stay good most of the time! I have a Gates yard from I think 1960 it's a later model without the built in power supply. They have one on the Ross Revenge. That one is earlier and does have a built in power supply.
Great Memories. I used to Listen to Caroline on my Dads old Wooden Valve Radio along with Luxembourg 208...(when the sound used to fade in and out ! ) I still have the Valve Radio....in the Loft...Ill fix it one day....Tuning into Caroline online is not the same as scanning the airwaves .... with your big dial.....and finding...Caroline..It was exciting ...it was being "naughty"...It was Just Great....Im sure I heard my first bits of Yes and Genesis on Caroline....Long may she Continue
I was 15 in 1965 and I recall Radio Caroline being talked about on one of LA's rock n roll stations. I can't remember if it was KHJ or KRLA. I recall they were talking about the legalities but I never learned of the outcome. They were comparing it to some of the 100 to 200 kilowatts stations in Mexico broadcasting to much of the US and Canada.
Super video and pure youth sentiment. As a child, I remember the end of the sixties and in the first part of the seventies, where i had a portable radio transistor radio, going to the park, to nature, on my bike ride, everywhere we could listen to the Sea radios. It was a new dimension on listening on Pop and Rock music. A new musical wave that we remember as teenagers. Later in 1980, i was so inspired by music and radio, i started as a radio presentator by a local radio here in Belgium, named 'Radio Dender' and only one year later in January 1981, i could start as presenter by a professional big free radio station, 'Radio Seven' in FM (January 1981). I was 21 years old. People from Belgium and the Netherlands till Hilversum, North Sea coast till Rijsel in France. Some millions could listen to our radio and we were very popular. But unfortunately our mast has been sabotaged only one year later. We had our studio in Brussels (Zellik) By us, some very know legendary names as Radio presenter by Mi Amigo, Ron Vandeplas and from the Belgium National Radio, Wiet Van Broekhoven. There it was my real first step into the Radio wave and inspired by the love for music we started our own City Radio local, Radio TROS Dendermonde in Flanders on 102.4 Mhz in FM. We started on 20th of July, 1982. I was working there during another 4 years till publicity was killing our Soul for good radio programs. My name as radio presenter was Peter Van Monde (where i live in Dendermonde Belgium). Have fun with the Radio, enjoy music and life.
Here in the States I knew of but not about Radio Caroline. Thanks for the back story. Here we had all the free radio and range of choice you might ever want.
Well done you, throughly enjoyed watching it, very good quality. Brought back a great deal of memories for me of the good old days of pirate radio, especially listening late at night to Radio Caroline, Radio London, Radio England. A time that will never come around again.
@sallyanne201 Yes a very young Tony Blackburn! You were right, the other guy was Simon Dee.....an absolute idiot who at one point,, "had it all"....fast cars, women falling at his feet, tv shows, radio.....but then got greedy and started demanding more money. In the end neither BBC, ITV or any radio stations would touch him and at one point he was drawing unemployment benefit.
@@Bulletguy07 Did you have some kind of personal grievance against Simon Dee or did you simply believe everything that you read in the papers in those days? Simon was a pioneer in the new world of 60's pop where there were no safety nets for high wire DJ's. He was a super cool superstar and many jealous people simply couldn't wait for him to fail. The broadcasting establishment weren't kind. They hounded Simon for decades, rubbing his nose in it across the tabloid toilet newspapers, laughing at him on every possible occasion. Bulletguy07 Every time you repeat the nasty unkind words written by people you don't know, about someone you've never even met, you show yourself up. Simon didn't do things like that!
I remember the first time they broadcast, and the last time. Few remember that the authorities tried to jam their signal, so Caroline moved their frequency right next to BBC's light programme. So they had to stop the jaming.
As teenagers, a friend and I rowed out to the Mi Amigo in an 8ft dinghy. It took 4 hours each way and thankfully stayed calm the whole time. We met Simon Dee, who later that day, played a request for us. My mother had a hell of a shock when, tuned into Caroline, she heard Dee mention our names over the radio - she had no idea that we had left on this foolhardy trip and would undoubtedly have forbidden it had she known. Fortunately I took a box camera with me and still have the blurry pics.
Thank you for recognising Dawn) It was fun doing it. Some of us ex-pirates still keep Free Radio alive today here: www.radiomiamigo.international/english/
Absolutely. I was just a little kid in the 60s..i may be closer to death now than the youth of today, but glad I grew up in the old days. When a phone hung on the wall, dogs ran free in the yard, people drove stick shift, and the music was fantastic.
Radio Caroline even during 80's was always broadcasting in AM band from its ships. The sound quality of AM band is inferior to FM. However AM radio stations can broadcast much further.
Fantastic, I think it was Tony Blackburn in the video. But I remember his debut with Radio 1. First tranny I got did SW MW LW. Later at Bradford uni we did a radio station using SW on an old Tank transmitter from WW2, We were mad!
Radio Caroline was the most famous of the offshore pirate radio stations broadcasting to Britain in the mid 1960's. Despite transmitting from international waters, the British government managed to shut down most of the pirates by making it illegal to "help" such stations. A short time after this law took effect, the BBC launched it's own contemporary music/top-40 music network called BBC Radio One.
Prior to Radio Caroline, pop/rock music fans in Britain wanting to hear the latest hits had to make do with a few hours of summer h programming a week on the BBC Light Programme (now known as BBC Radio Two) or hearing Radio Luxembourg during the evenings (whose night signal was good in Southern England, less so in Wales and Northern England, and spotty at best in Scotland, Northern Ireland, and the Irish Republic). No wonder Caroline and the other pirate broadcasters became so popular!
@@altfactor I live 50 miles south of Birmingham and the signal for Luxembourg (208 AM ) in the sixties was rubbish. i remember tilting my little transistor radio to all angles to get a better signal when it kept fading in and out.
Weird to know that Tony Blackburn looked like a modern, liberal, hip guy - in fact he was the complete opposite. A conservative voting, centre-right wing man.
back in the 60s i took top 40 radio very much for granted. although i listened to the stations that broadcasted on the west coast of America, it's great to hear it represented from any locale.
Absolutely thrilled skinny to find this fabulous memory box. Thanks to Pathe News and the internet , and modern IT tech but most especially to the industrious decibelfm. Brilliant. Keep up the fantastic work.....
You did a fantastic job with this video. Thank you for all your work. I did not get to the UK until late 1976, but had many hours lf listening to Radio Caroline.
Radio Caroline was not a pirate radio station, it was a free radio station. Significant difference. They operated from international waters and the DTI had no legal ground to stop them operating until the EEC was formed when the term international waters changed meaning and the seas became 'shared'..
Nothing to do with the EEC. The UK government’s Marine Offences Act 1967 made it an offence to provide supplies or any other sort of support to offshore stations.
There was a fleet of Pirate radio ships. Ronan O'Reilly stole the idea from a Bengali guy who couldn't get no play on the BBC for thier customary music and he thought what a smashing idea and Off to the running was Caroline South and North soon joined by mi Amiga and others.
Ich habe diesen Sender als Jugendlicher während meiner Lehrzeit immer gehört. Auf M-welle 259 Radio Caroline. Bis Zum Schluss, was mich sehr traurig gemacht hat.
Wonderful! Amazing to see and hear what it was actually like (my memories are from slightly later - 66 onwards, when it was more top 40). Lovely to see the Galaxy out there as well. If memory serves, you could just see the ships from Clacton beach, but I might be making that up!
I worked on the tenders supplying radio caroline and not very far away Big l (radio London) Happy days even though my grandchildren call me a silly old git
I was a young teenager in 1965. My small mw transistor radio was my most treasured possession.
Lol... My mum back then. .. 30 bob for a transistor radio.? Do you think I'm made of money. 😂
I got a Saturday job and bought me own
I can listen to RC on websdr right now in brazil. The frequency is 648 now. It continues live. Thanks from Brazil
I was seven then....my tranny was the best Crimble present I ever had!
same as in 72
Pull the bedsheets up over my head, flashlight on with my trusty transistor radio playing. (Hoping mum & dad didn't hear it)... Brilliant memories. Well done Radio Caroline and the BigL.
This was a tear jerker, and I’m not ashamed to admit it. I used to love listening to Caroline, and going to the Caroline roadshows. Back in the mid 70s, I was once pulled over by the police whilst driving my little metallic blue Mini, for sporting a Radio Caroline ‘sun strip’ on the windscreen. Good times for sure, I’m so glad I lived those heady days, they won’t come again. Thanks for posting the video!
I middle-named my daughter, Caroline, because of Radio Caroline. lol
@@brianhyde5900 that’s Awesome well done !
I just watched "The boat that rocked" 2009 and I cried at the end.
I once stayed in a pub in London, got there very late, pub looked closed. They thought we were the police.....Realised when we finally got in it was a lock in. The guy who owned it used to be a DJ on this ship. One of my best nights ever, we were up till sunrise listening to story after story. Cant remember his name, he kept us up all night with free drinks. Great memories. Top bloke, and by the sounds of his stories all they people were. Different breed of person from a different time. Well done you guys, changed the world
What fantastic story
Looking back, it feels like it was such a privilege to have been a teenager in the sixties. So many new things going on, including Radio Caroline & Wonderful Radio London.
I go along thst!
I was a child in the 60's not a teen but still think back at Caroline and mum and dad flashing their headlights to the ship when the DJs asked loads of people in caravan camps did so, I think very fondly of the 60s
John Robertson
and a hanky on the head for sun protection !
Hypohair-
I'm a millennial, and for the most part have no desire to live in a pre-Civil Rights era; but this video, and your comment about the headlight flashing, made me hurt inside for missing it.
Sure my generation has bootleg things online, but actually having and being a part of something like that in the physical world, outside (and with those gorgeous vintage cars and all), I'm extremely jealous of your memory.
@@lizzychrome7630 Well i was born in 1994 and i kinda have the same feeling. I feel like my childhood was the last moments of what you call "something like that in the physical world, outside". I think it all started with the omnipresence of TV which first gave us a visual distraction (that radio didn't have) and which was almost replaced by internet.
Been a listener since Caroline first started. And wasn't aware of it being illegal at the time. But went out on a friends boat to ride round the ship to say Hi.. Shouting across the waves to whoever was on the deck... Ding Ding.
What a fabulous time we had in the sixties, I was 19 in 65 loved radio Caroline and radio London, music was simply the best, great times some of the DJ's moved over to Radio one, but it was never has good as the pirate's, who listens to radio one now, Not Me, UK Gold for me.
Radio caroline 2020 648/463 and in stereo on Dab+ and stereo on the web and 56 years not out and legal. The legend lives on.
An amazing time capsule! Radio will never have the same excitement again!
Radio today will never recreate the era that made listening to music an experience and a pleasure. Eat your heart out every current music station you simply have not got what it takes.
I don't think anything will ever come along that equals the pioneering spirit of the radio pirates who gave us what we wanted in spite of the oppresion of governments and monopolies.
My all-time favorite the Old Caroline. 8 Years old, old 2 transistor radio listening to to this marvel. Hidden under blankets so my parents wouldn't hear these sounds from the Northsea. Caroline on 199.
Awesome video- my Dad worked for Caroline around that time, first at Caroline House, then later on the boat, up until returning to Australia in ‘67. I have photos of him which were taken onboard the boat, but hadn’t fully grasped what it was actually like on the boat... the thing which really struck me in this video, was seeing them get from the tender onto the boat. Dad grew up in county Tasmania & so hadn’t learned to swim. I’m utterly amazed to think of Dad getting from one boat to the other, knowing how easily he could have ended up in the water 😲😲😲
Maybe you like to share these photo's? In Europe there are still many people interested in the history of the pirate radio stations. Maybe there are even former colleagues or who knew or have stores to tell about your father.
I was a teenager in the1960s and listened to Radio Caroline broadcast from the Irish Sea. Those DJs introduced the records for the first time that are still popular today, near 60years later. BULOVA watch time brings back memories.
Ironically it was the Right honourable Tony Benn as Postmaster General that brought about the end of Radio Caroline in 1967
When radio was exciting to listen too
Exactly
Such good times, transformed my early teenage years. To my mind, Radio Caroline still reigns supreme. Radio 1 was no match.
j'étais gamin, mes 2 soeurs venaient de partir en Angleterre, pour faire des études d'infirmière, et avec mon transistor j'ai entendu radio Caroline, position à droite ,au fond, c'était un moyen de me rapprocher d'elle, des fois on entendait bien et des fois non, et j'ai entendu pour la première fois "Riders on the storm" un truc inédit, une musique complètement différent
The people behind the mikes are another great example of totally focused multitasking.Great show.
Long time listener of Caroline, the music on Caroline today is every bit as good as it ever was, lots of new music, unheard tracks, interesting people, good presenters, best radio station out there by a mile. Only downsides are the emphasis on 'vinyl', music lovers dont care what medium they listen to music on, they care about the music.
Young and free,what memories,
it's a shame how times have changed and nothing will ever be the same again.😢
"Where have all the good times gone?" - Ray Davies, The Kinks
It's a fools errand to long for the past .. I feel u however I raise u the future my boy! Haha
yep, you cant go back. only forwards.
@@richjones7313 rich jones -- but into what? Forwards doesn't always mean better. We need to re-trace our steps to the spirit of this period when we were getting it right, and re-start from there. Or you can have eternal gangsta rap.
@@dakotahlove4019 It's more of a fools errand to look forward to what is coming
Those were the days..... makes my heart yearn for those easy tines again... especially those first few years of the 60's.. By 1969 I was in the marine corps and my life changed forever loosing the innocents of that time.... thanks boys.. you'll probably never see this But this was a great video of great times..
hey... of course I see this :) Thanks for your nice comment! Lion
How exciting were the pirate ships of the sixties as a then teenager, so much change, a youth revolution. Iconic times.
Caroline sung by the Fortunes on Decca Records
i was born in the 00s but I am fascinated about radio caroline
Radio Veronica switched from 192m to 538m on 30 Spetember 1972 ! Radio Caroline came on the air at the same time! Veronica listeners had to move the dial to the other end of the scale...and found half way Caroline...clever trick😂
Miss the Pirates and DJs and of course the music, 2022 im still here.
I used to supply Caroline in the 80’s risking 2 years inside if caught! You would have thought we were doing drugs but the Marine Offences Act did frighten a lot of suppliers but I grew up with Caroline and there was no way the then Labour Government was going to stop me. Great times and exciting to!
Happy Birthday Radio Caroline ❤❤❤ I was 3 when you set sail ❤❤❤
I remember tuning in for the first time and shouting to my mum that pop music was coming out of the radio.
Excellent video!! Born in 1954 and growing up in England, I recall many late nights in the mid-sixties listening to Radio Caroline on a small transistor radio. The music was great compared to what the Beeb was playing. Who would have guessed that many years later, I would move to America to work for the company that built the audio console at 3:55 ! Gates Radio. I still work there, although after a few ownership changes the company is now called GatesAir.
@Mike Sienicki 12AX7s stay good most of the time! I have a Gates yard from I think 1960 it's a later model without the built in power supply. They have one on the Ross Revenge. That one is earlier and does have a built in power supply.
Thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to put this all together for everybody to enjoy. What you did is so amazing and inspiring.
Great Memories. I used to Listen to Caroline on my Dads old Wooden Valve Radio along with Luxembourg 208...(when the sound used to fade in and out ! )
I still have the Valve Radio....in the Loft...Ill fix it one day....Tuning into Caroline online is not the same as scanning the airwaves
.... with your big dial.....and finding...Caroline..It was exciting ...it was being "naughty"...It was Just Great....Im sure I heard my first bits of Yes and Genesis on Caroline....Long may she Continue
❤
Get your keyboard fixed 🙂
Lovely memories of the pirates -great times and great music - amazing!
I remember listening to Tony Blackburn for hours when I was a teen. 65 years ago.
Great times , the benchmark for modern-day radio in the UK started right here ....!
The single most important period in the history of British radio
I was 15 in 1965 and I recall Radio Caroline being talked about on one of LA's rock n roll stations. I can't remember if it was KHJ or KRLA. I recall they were talking about the legalities but I never learned of the outcome. They were comparing it to some of the 100 to 200 kilowatts stations in Mexico broadcasting to much of the US and Canada.
I was 14
Super video and pure youth sentiment. As a child, I remember the end of the sixties and in the first part of the seventies, where i had a portable radio transistor radio, going to the park, to nature, on my bike ride, everywhere we could listen to the Sea radios. It was a new dimension on listening on Pop and Rock music. A new musical wave that we remember as teenagers. Later in 1980, i was so inspired by music and radio, i started as a radio presentator by a local radio here in Belgium, named 'Radio Dender' and only one year later in January 1981, i could start as presenter by a professional big free radio station, 'Radio Seven' in FM (January 1981). I was 21 years old. People from Belgium and the Netherlands till Hilversum, North Sea coast till Rijsel in France. Some millions could listen to our radio and we were very popular. But unfortunately our mast has been sabotaged only one year later. We had our studio in Brussels (Zellik) By us, some very know legendary names as Radio presenter by Mi Amigo, Ron Vandeplas and from the Belgium National Radio, Wiet Van Broekhoven. There it was my real first step into the Radio wave and inspired by the love for music we started our own City Radio local, Radio TROS Dendermonde in Flanders on 102.4 Mhz in FM. We started on 20th of July, 1982. I was working there during another 4 years till publicity was killing our Soul for good radio programs. My name as radio presenter was Peter Van Monde (where i live in Dendermonde Belgium). Have fun with the Radio, enjoy music and life.
The best radio station ever.
RADIO CAROLINE was the only way as kids we could listen to 'our kind of music' also Radio Luxembourg.
Until The BBC woke up and launched Radio One 😀
Na Radio Luxembourg fab 208.
It’s still broadcasting on medium wave 648 metres
@@simonprice1938 Yeah Luxy 208 the best
Here in the States I knew of but not about Radio Caroline. Thanks for the back story. Here we had all the free radio and range of choice you might ever want.
Brilliant quality, never seen film this good!😄🔔🔔
What an impressive project
After all these years she is still going strong!
my favourite station in the 60s
199 Caroline .. 1520 Kilocycles in the Medium waveband .... it's DEE TIME ! ......
Well done you, throughly enjoyed watching it, very good quality. Brought back a great deal of memories for me of the good old days of pirate radio, especially listening late at night to Radio Caroline, Radio London, Radio England. A time that will never come around again.
Just the best ! Wish some station like Caroline came back. ❤
Totally legendary
Fantastic ! Great to see this record of a wonderful time.
as I see it... this was the revolution of music radio... so cool to see Tony Blackburn and I think(?) Simon Dee... awesome times!
@sallyanne201 Yes a very young Tony Blackburn! You were right, the other guy was Simon Dee.....an absolute idiot who at one point,, "had it all"....fast cars, women falling at his feet, tv shows, radio.....but then got greedy and started demanding more money. In the end neither BBC, ITV or any radio stations would touch him and at one point he was drawing unemployment benefit.
@@Bulletguy07 Didn't he also end up driving a London bus at one time?
@@trevordance5181 Yes after his fame ended as quickly as he'd risen.
@@john111257 He led quite a sad life after the fame and died penniless in 2011 at 74 living alone in a one bedroom flat in London.
@@Bulletguy07 Did you have some kind of personal grievance against Simon Dee or did you simply believe everything that you read in the papers in those days? Simon was a pioneer in the new world of 60's pop where there were no safety nets for high wire DJ's. He was a super cool superstar and many jealous people simply couldn't wait for him to fail. The broadcasting establishment weren't kind. They hounded Simon for decades, rubbing his nose in it across the tabloid toilet newspapers, laughing at him on every possible occasion.
Bulletguy07 Every time you repeat the nasty unkind words written by people you don't know, about someone you've never even met, you show yourself up. Simon didn't do things like that!
I remember the first time they broadcast, and the last time.
Few remember that the authorities tried to jam their signal, so Caroline moved their frequency right next to BBC's light programme. So they had to stop the jaming.
Caroline was never jammed. Radio North Sea broadcasting as Radio Caroline was jammed.
My mistake
@@tectorama No sweat!
Thank you for this video!!!! It's friggin mint!!!
Wish I was old enough. One year old in 1965 😂😮❤
As teenagers, a friend and I rowed out to the Mi Amigo in an 8ft dinghy. It took 4 hours each way and thankfully stayed calm the whole time. We met Simon Dee, who later that day, played a request for us. My mother had a hell of a shock when, tuned into Caroline, she heard Dee mention our names over the radio - she had no idea that we had left on this foolhardy trip and would undoubtedly have forbidden it had she known. Fortunately I took a box camera with me and still have the blurry pics.
...great story :)
very interesting time in british pirate radio.
With love from The Hague, Holland
keep up the good work.
With love from Hook of Holland, the Netherlands.
Mi Amigo was originaly radio Atlanta. the original Caroline went over to the Irish sea (Nice to see a shot of radio London on there)..
What an amazing job you did piecing together this documentary. It's a true work of art. Love your choice of music too. Thank you!
Thank you for recognising Dawn) It was fun doing it. Some of us ex-pirates still keep Free Radio alive today here: www.radiomiamigo.international/english/
Amazing ! Before my time.
What an great time it was !
Excellent piece of filming.
Toute ma jeunesse ! à écouter au casque toute la nuit cette diabolique radio :)
Absolutely. I was just a little kid in the 60s..i may be closer to death now than the youth of today, but glad I grew up in the old days. When a phone hung on the wall, dogs ran free in the yard, people drove stick shift, and the music was fantastic.
Nostalgia of the sixties in radio
YUS INDEED MMMMMMM
Radio Caroline even during 80's was always broadcasting in AM band from its ships. The sound quality of AM band is inferior to FM. However AM radio stations can broadcast much further.
It’s still broadcasting today on 648 AM!! 😃😃
Do you remember how good the 963 transmissions from the Ross Revenge sounded? Loads of sideband splatter but the quality of sound was astonishing.
Fantastic, I think it was Tony Blackburn in the video.
But I remember his debut with Radio 1. First tranny I got did SW MW LW. Later at Bradford uni we did a radio station using SW on an old Tank transmitter from WW2, We were mad!
It's interesting to see that these 'DJs' had technical operators (well, that's what the BBC called them) to actually cue-up and spin the discs.
I remember the DJ's being seasick occasionally and going ''urrrghhh'' ...Now I see why! Small ship riding the soupy, Choppy North Sea.
It hurts, not to experience this wonderful time anymore
Radio Caroline was the most famous of the offshore pirate radio stations broadcasting to Britain in the mid 1960's.
Despite transmitting from international waters, the British government managed to shut down most of the pirates by making it illegal to "help" such stations.
A short time after this law took effect, the BBC launched it's own contemporary music/top-40 music network called BBC Radio One.
Prior to Radio Caroline, pop/rock music fans in Britain wanting to hear the latest hits had to make do with a few hours of summer h programming a week on the BBC Light Programme (now known as BBC Radio Two) or hearing Radio Luxembourg during the evenings (whose night signal was good in Southern England, less so in Wales and Northern England, and spotty at best in Scotland, Northern Ireland, and the Irish Republic).
No wonder Caroline and the other pirate broadcasters became so popular!
@@altfactor I live 50 miles south of Birmingham and the signal for Luxembourg (208 AM ) in the sixties was rubbish. i remember tilting my little transistor radio to all angles to get a better signal when it kept fading in and out.
Great times..........
Thats what i thought...No need to go into any detail. Just great times..:)
Funny, seeing my old ship "FICARIA" along the quay in Newcastle......made my day for sure :-)
A very young looking Tony Blackburn. Agree with others, I feel so privilaged to have lived through this golden age of Radio
Weird to know that Tony Blackburn looked like a modern, liberal, hip guy - in fact he was the complete opposite. A conservative voting, centre-right wing man.
@@johnking5174 Conservative but on a pirate radio lol
@@marcviej.5635 But still conservative
back in the 60s i took top 40 radio very much for granted.
although i listened to the stations that broadcasted on the west coast of America, it's great to hear it represented from any locale.
i listen them often in my car in holland on 648 KHz the legal now but sounds the same as the good old time :)
Absolutely thrilled skinny to find this fabulous memory box. Thanks to Pathe News and the internet , and modern IT tech but most especially to the industrious decibelfm. Brilliant. Keep up the fantastic work.....
Those were the days...
You did a fantastic job with this video. Thank you for all your work. I did not get to the UK until late 1976, but had many hours lf listening to Radio Caroline.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Superb quality, thanks!
Radio Caroline was not a pirate radio station, it was a free radio station. Significant difference. They operated from international waters and the DTI had no legal ground to stop them operating until the EEC was formed when the term international waters changed meaning and the seas became 'shared'..
Caroline started out as a pirate ship. They paid no royalties for the music they played.
Dennis Smith Kunta Kinte had a ship in the North Atlantic and Dolly Parton used to sing on there 😈💃💃👮👮👮👱👱
Nothing to do with the EEC. The UK government’s Marine Offences Act 1967 made it an offence to provide supplies or any other sort of support to offshore stations.
There was a fleet of Pirate radio ships. Ronan O'Reilly stole the idea from a Bengali guy who couldn't get no play on the BBC for thier customary music and he thought what a smashing idea and Off to the running was Caroline South and North soon joined by mi Amiga and others.
As well as Radio London and radio 270.
2:05 Marc Wirtz - A Touch Of Velvet - A Sting Of Brass
Radio died when Radio Luxembourg finished.. since then ?.Absolutely tripe...
At least it woke Auntie up from her forty-year sleep!
Simon Dee and a very young Tony Blackburn
Ich habe diesen Sender als Jugendlicher während meiner Lehrzeit immer gehört. Auf M-welle 259 Radio Caroline. Bis Zum Schluss, was mich sehr traurig gemacht hat.
The only way to survive the f*cking school is to listen to Radio Caroline.
Wonderful! Amazing to see and hear what it was actually like (my memories are from slightly later - 66 onwards, when it was more top 40). Lovely to see the Galaxy out there as well. If memory serves, you could just see the ships from Clacton beach, but I might be making that up!
Wonderful memories great quality thanks
Thanks for sharing, shared.
Eine wunderbare Zeit, war sogar inNorddeutschkand mit einer spezial selbstgebauter Antenne zu empfangen
I took a few voyages on the tender. Happy days.
Brief glimpse of Radio London's ship Galaxy there at 2:36 . Must have been before she was repainted with the statio name on the side of the hull
I was born in 1964 and 'missed the boat' wish I could have been on one of these. I only managed a replica in Liverpool a couple of years ago.
3:54 A Gates board. When I went to work in 1965 we had a Gates "Yard" Named because it was 36 inches long. Oh the memories....
Remarkable work! Do you by chance have a setlist of the tunes used in the video? Thank you for putting this out there for the world.
Pirate radio with Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Bill Nighy was really based of more actual accounts on Radio 270.
Only Respect Caroline Pirate Radio.
Brilliant thanks for sharing have a listen to boom uk it's a great radio station 😊
I turned 19 in 1965
I worked on the tenders supplying radio caroline and not very far away Big l (radio London) Happy days even though my grandchildren call me a silly old git
Yea the movie definitely glammed this up a smidge haha
My mum and her friend went down from leeds.ttey were even on the front page of the daily mirror at the time
My partners best childhood friends Gina and Allison were the daughters of DJ Gary Kemp only just learnt this and found it quite interesting