The Pirate Radio Hall of Fame

UPDATED SEPTEMBER 2010

New this month: we pay tribute to former Radio City and Radio 270 DJ Dennis “the Menace” Straney who died on 1st August; we have another batch of City Sixty charts, this time from June/July 1966; part five of the RNI Story remembers the station's first close-down, forty years ago this month, and RNI's Paul May tells us how he got into radio. See the contents page and DJ Directories of the sixties and seventies for full details of the site.

If you listened to Radio Caroline during 1967 and 1968, you will remember the name of Major Minor Records, the label formed by Caroline director Philip Solomon whose releases by the likes of The Dubliners and David McWilliams were heavily promoted on the station. A couple of years after Caroline's 1968 closedown, Solomon sold his label to EMI - who are about to relaunch it! On 4th October EMI is re-releasing Bona Drag, Morrissey's first solo hits compilation, in a special 20th anniversary edition. This newly extended version of the album will be appearing on the reactivated Major Minor label, its first release since 1970.

Way Back Home cover

Anyone who heard Graham Gill on Radio Northsea International or Caroline in the seventies will know part of his life story as he opened each show by singing “I come from Australia, that's the place that I come from....” but there is considerably more to the tale than that - and now you can read it for yourself. Way Back Home: The Graham Gill Story has just been published and tells how he started in radio in Australia, moved to the UK where he was heard on Radio London, Radio England/Britain Radio and Radio 390, before going on to Holland where he broadcast on both RNI and Caroline. The book is available from The Radio Caroline Society for £17.99 (plus postage and packing) or the publishers, The Foundation of Mediacommunication, for €19.95 in Europe, €23.95 outside Europe (including postage and packing). For more details, email rob@mediacommunicatie.nl or see The Offshore Radio Guide.

Thanks to the poster on Digital Spy who told us that Border Television's news archive is now available on-line, including this footage of Radio Caroline North.

FORTY YEARS AGO:

1st September 1970: Dutch sweet music station, Capital Radio, begins regular transmissions to Holland from the mv King David.
24th September: After an eventful few months on the air, Radio Northsea International closes down.

m.v.Fredericia

Britain's first offshore radio station, Radio Caroline, began broadcasting at Easter 1964 from a ship anchored just outside UK territorial waters. She was followed by a host of other radio stations based on boats and marine structures dotted around the coast.

These “pirates” rapidly won an enormous and enthusiastic audience. There are other web-sites which tell the stories of the various offshore stations but
The Pirate Radio Hall Of Fame
has been set up to honour the stars, the broadcasters, from that golden era of music radio.

This site is a tribute to the people who endured a daily battle with the elements to provide a soundtrack to the swinging sixties.

The inductees in The Pirate Radio Hall of Fame are listed alphabetically. More names are being added all the time. To find your favourite voice from the sixties either select it from the drop-down list below, search the site using the Google box or click on the appropriate page from the table of contents beneath. For broadcasters from the seventies, go to the Seventies Supplement (still under construction).

Please note: Offshore stations continued operating from around the British coast until 1990 but The Pirate Radio Hall of Fame mainly covers the first decade, the sixties. The Seventies Supplement, which lists the DJs who worked offshore during the second decade, is currently under construction. Eventually we hope to cover the later years too.

Many thanks to everyone who has contributed information, recordings or memorabilia to The Pirate Radio Hall of Fame. We are always on the lookout for more so, if you have any items of interest, please get in touch.

60s Disc-Jockeys A	60s Disc-Jockeys He-Hu	60s Disc-Jockeys Q-R
60s Disc-Jockeys Ba-Bl	60s Disc-Jockeys I-J	60s Disc-Jockeys Sa-Sp
60s Disc-Jockeys Bo-Bz	60s Disc-Jockeys K	60s Disc-Jockeys St-Sy
60s Disc-Jockeys Ca-Cl	60s Disc-Jockeys L	60s Disc-Jockeys T-V
60s Disc-Jockeys Co-Cu	60s Disc-Jockeys M-Mi	60s Disc-Jockeys Wa-Web
60s Disc-Jockeys D	60s Disc-Jockeys Mo-Mu	60s Disc-Jockeys Wes-Wy
60s Disc-Jockeys E-G	60s Disc-Jockeys Mac-Mc	60s Disc-Jockeys X-Z
60s Disc-Jockeys Ha	60s Disc-Jockeys N-P	Anorak gift guide
Charts	Contact us	Credits
Disc-Jockeys' photo albums	Disc-Jockey spotlight	Fans' memorabilia
Guestbook hosted By Bravenet.com	Guestbook archive 2000-02	Links
The Tom Lodge story	Odds and Ends	Plans
Programme schedules	Site contents	Site contents - by station
Sixties DJ Directory	Seventies supplement	We need your HELP

Many of the photos, stickers and recordings are beginning to show their age so apologies for some of the less than perfect quality. Many of these photographs were distributed freely by the various radio stations and were intended for as wide a circulation as possible. Others have been donated to The Pirate Radio Hall Of Fame that are of unknown origin. Where photos have been scanned from books, newspapers or magazines, we have given credit. However, if anybody believes that their copyright has been inadvertently infringed by the publication of a photo on this site, please get in touch and it will be removed immediately. Similarly, anybody who has supplied audio for The Pirate Radio Hall Of Fame has been credited but tapes get passed from collector to collector and often there is no way of knowing who made the original recordings. Apologies to anyone who thinks their work has been used here without due acknowledgment.

The Pirate Radio Hall Of Fame links to MP3s which can be downloaded by UK-based customers from Amazon. As in a traditional record shop, Amazon offers multiple versions of some songs. It isn't always easy to identify precisely which version is which. We have endeavoured to ensure that each link leads to the appropriate version of the relevant track - the one that was played by the offshore DJs of the era - but please listen carefully before purchasing. If you discover that any of them are later re-recordings, please let us know.

You will need a Real Player to hear the airchecks on The Pirate Radio Hall Of Fame. There are two types of Player. The free one is perfectly adequate for listening to these clips although the Real.com site will encourage you to pay for the more exotic version. Either can be downloaded by clicking on the left icon below. The Real Player can also be downloaded from a very informative page on the BBC web site. Some correspondents have also suggested another player, the Real Alternative, although we do not have first-hand experience of using it. It can be downloaded free from www.free-codecs.com/download/Real_Alternative.htm.

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