When Leon Tipler died, his friend Steve England inherited his extensive tape archive. It was (and still is) a major undertaking to sort and
catalogue all the boxes.
So far Steve has unearthed:
A tape containing recordings made in Clacton of Radio London and other offshore stations in January 1965 (see here);
a tape containing recordings made in May/June 1964 of Radios Caroline and Atlanta (see here);
a tape of Radio Scotland recorded in Ayr in July 1966 (see here)
and numerous recordings of the station where Leon worked, Radio 270 (see previous page).
Leon was a recording enthusiast and Steve has found tapes containing all sorts of weird and wonderful things in his archive: old radio plays, sounds from nature, news bulletins, sports commentaries, music from round the world,
amateur dramatics, live music performances, engine noises... and, in among them, a number of recordings of early British offshore radio stations. Some are just a few seconds long, others more substantial. And, on one of them,
we think there is Radio Caroline's first ever commercial!
The following are in a rough chronological order but, because most are undated, it can not be totally accurate.
Radio Caroline, John Junkin, circa April 1964:
John Junkin was heard on Radio Caroline in the very early days of the station. His programmes were taped in London. He never visited the ship. Some, if not all of them, were recorded before the
station's launch so it wasn't possible to include any topical references. There weren't even timechecks. When the shows were broadcast a live DJ on the ship would fade the taped music every so often to announce the time. The voice
doing that here is Simon Dee (duration 4 minute 30 seconds)
Radio Caroline, Chris Moore, circa April 1964:
Radio Caroline Programme Director Chris Moore presented programmes for a short time at the start of the station's life. This pre-recorded edition of Soundtrack is faded out prematurely by the live
DJ on the ship, Simon Dee again, because the station has to go off the air for a short “transmission check” (duration 31 seconds)
Radio Caroline, Simon Dee, circa April 1964:
Simon Dee hosting an Early Show around 8am. Can anyone identify the young lady with “the greatest voice on radio” he mentions who helped out with the ship-to-shore link? (duration 4 minutes 45 seconds)
Radio Caroline, Chris Moore, circa April 1964:
Chris Moore on a taped Big Line-Up programme. As before it is Simon Dee who gives the live timecheck. Simon also closes the station for the night at 6pm (duration 2 minutes 26 seconds)
Radio Caroline, Doug Kerr, 1st May 1964:
The book Radio Caroline by John Venmore-Rowland says: “It was not ... until May Day 1964 that the station first broadcast an
advertisement. This was for the Duke of Bedford and concerned Woburn Abbey. The Duke reported that instead of 4,000 people some 4,500 turned up the next day in spite of the fact that it was very wet. They had their first satisfied
customer.” In this clip Doug Kerr mentions that it is May Day and plays a commercial for Woburn Abbey voiced by the Duke himself. Is this the station's very first advert?
(duration 2 minutes 12 seconds)
Radio Caroline, Doug Kerr and Simon Dee, circa May 1964:
Following the arrival of Radio Atlanta in May 1964, Caroline's broadcasting hours were extended to 8pm. The additional programme was called Sunset Spin. This is a clip of Doug Kerr hosting the show then handing over to
Simon Dee to close the station down for the night. He plays an unusual theme tune: The Last Minute by Jimmy McGriff instead of the normal
'Round Midnight (duration 1 minute 43 seconds)
Radio Caroline, Jerry Leighton, and Radio Atlanta, Neil Spence, circa June 1964:
Leon recorded both Radio Caroline and the rival Radio Atlanta on this tape. We start with Sunset Spin on Caroline (Chris Moore's voice on the car sticker promotion, Jerry Leighton hosting the
show) then, after the Brian Fahey track, it is off to Atlanta's Music of the Moment (Neil Spence presenting). After he plays Gerry & the Pacemakers we are back to Caroline then, after Fats
Domino, switch back to Atlanta. It appears that, of the two, Atlanta has the the slightly stronger signal in Leon's home town of Kidderminster but suffers more from continental interference (duration 4 minutes 23 seconds)
Radio Caroline on the move, Tom Lodge, Jerry Leighton, 4th July 1964:
At the beginning of July 1964 Radios Caroline and Atlanta merged. On 4th July the Caroline ship, mv Fredericia, raised her anchor and set sail for a new position off the Isle of Man where the station was to become Radio Caroline North.
Radio Atlanta was renamed Radio Caroline South. These clips are from the first day of the north ship's journey. The only two presenters on board, Tom Lodge and Jerry Leighton, alternated on air throughout
the programme schedule but we also hear from Alan “Neddy” Turner and the Captain. The voice on the adverts belongs to Carl Conway. There are more clips from the
voyage here. We start with Tom on The Early Show and end with Jerry on Sunset Spin (duration 12 minutes 18 seconds)
Radio Caroline North, Jerry Leighton and Mike Marriott, late 1964:
This clip features Jerry Leighton and Mike Marriott playing requests on Radio Caroline North. One of them mentions Frank - presumably a reference to studio engineer Frank
Kemble. Thanks to Alan Turner for his help with identification (duration 1 minute 19 seconds)
Johnny Caine, Radio Invicta, 8th December 1964:
A tiny clip from the fort-based light music station, Radio Invicta, and its programme Strictly for Highbrows. Sadly we know nothing at all about the presenter, Johnny Caine. His name has been listed on our help
wanted page for some years but so far no one has been in touch with any information. We have asked John Ross-Barnard, Lee Taylor and Phil
Perkins, all former Invicta staff-members, but they don't remember him. Phil commented that the station often employed DJs for quite short trial periods and Johnny might have been one of these. Invicta DJs also sometimes used more
than one on-air identity in an effort to make the organisation sound bigger than it really was so it is possible that “Johnny” was someone who is already listed on The Pirate Radio Hall of
Fame under a different name (duration 49 seconds)
BBC Home Service news, 17th December 1964:
An offshore station called Radio Noordzee began broadcasting to the Netherlands from a man-made structure rather like an oil rig in July 1964. Soon after that, television transmissions started too. These became very popular but the
Dutch Government was less enthusiastic. On 1st December 1964 a bill was passed outlawing broadcasting from structures resting on the sea bed in the Dutch part of the continental shelf. The new act became law on 12th December but
Noordzee continued broadcasting. On 17th December three army helicopters closed in on the station. Police boarded the structure, the transmitter was switched off, and the aerial torn down. At 9.07, in the middle of a record, Noordzee
was silenced. There is a press cutting about the raid here. This BBC news bulletin reports on the raid (duration 59 seconds)
Radio London, Dave Cash, May 1965:
One link from a Dave Cash show on Radio London. The Johnny Cash (no relation) track he plays as a climber entered the Radio London Fab 40 on 16th May 1965 so this recording is probably from the
previous week (duration 41 seconds)
|
