August 1974

The Marine Offences Act of August 1967 put an end to the British pirate boom of the sixties. Seven years later the Dutch government introduced a similar law to get rid of their offshore stations.
 
There were then four radio ships operating from Holland although only one was actually Dutch - Radio Veronica. Radio Northsea International was owned by two Swiss businessmen, Erwin Meister and Edwin Bollier. Radio Atlantis was Belgian, launched by Adriaan van Landschoot. He was forced to do business via the Netherlands because Belgium had legislated against offshore radio in 1962. And there was the legendary Radio Caroline, owned by Irishman Ronan O'Rahilly, which also transmitted the programmes of the Belgian Radio Mi Amigo during daytime hours.
 
The new law was set to come into effect at midnight on 31st August 1974 and there was a lot going on in the days leading up to this deadline.

25th August:

Radio Atlantis normally broadcast in Flemish during the day with shows recorded on land, and in English overnight with live programming from their ship, the Jeanine. But at 2pm on 25th August, the Flemish Service came to and end. For the last six days Atlantis was all in English in an, ultimately unsuccesful, effort to sell the station.

Two clips: the end of the Flemish Service from Radio Atlantis on 25th August 1974 and Andy Anderson on the International Service thanking all the Belgian DJs and the other offshore stations of the past. Recordings from the Pirate Radio News archive kindly provided by Hans Knot (duration 2 minutes 59 seconds)

29th August:

Radio Mi Amigo and Radio Caroline were going to defy the new law. At 7pm on 29th August Radio Mi Amigo closed down for the night as usual but Radio Caroline's evening service did not begin due, it was announced, to “a labour dispute”. This only lasted a few hours and programmes resumed later that evening. No mention was made of what was really going on. The ship was on the move. The mv Mi Amigo's anchor had been raised and the vessel was on her way to Britain. Initially she sailed under her own steam but, when this proved to be too slow, a tug was brought in to tow her.

Peter van Dam closing Radio Mi Amigo for the night on 29th August 1974 followed by Tony Allan announcing that Radio Caroline is unable to broadcast its normal programmes due to “a labour dispute”. Recording courtesy of the Offshore Radio Archive (duration 3 minutes 3 seconds)

30th August:

3pm: the mv Mi Amigo dropped anchor at her new position, about twenty miles off the British coast in the Knock Deep channel of the North Sea. Radio Mi Amigo and, later that evening, Radio Caroline continued.
 
The Pirate Radio Hall of Fame asked Roger Kent for his memories of RNI's close down.

ROGER KENT

It was a long, long time ago... 50 years to be precise so my memories of that time may be a little hazy!   I seem to remember that in the period leading up to August 31st there was a lot of uncertainty as to what was going to happen and if we were actually closing down.   Once the dreaded news was confirmed and we knew we were to close down on 31st August, the mood onboard changed. Suddenly the relatively quiet life we enjoyed onboard with just maybe 3 or 4 English DJs and 2 Dutch newsreaders plus the captain, cook and Dutch crew and engineer changed. It started to get busy. Plans were being put in place for the closedown on the 31st.   During the final week leading up to the 31st, lots of the Dutch DJs that normally pre-recorded shows in Hilversum and were rarely on the Mebo 2, came out to the ship and broadcasts live. The ship became a very busy place that week!   I seem to remember that there was an unusual buzz onboard that week but tinged with sadness that this was going to be the last hurrah! We started to get visits from the people that we all held in high regard.   The man who was very much responsible to the original UK pirate era, Ronan O'Rahilly came out and it was an honour to meet him as I had never met him before. Also, Mr Bollier and his family, the man who had put so much into RNI and to who we have all been forever grateful.   I seem to remember that the sightseeing boats got very busy that week with many coming out one last time to see the pirate radio ships.   I seem to remember having a conversation with Brian McKenzie about how we were going to do the final closedown hour for the English Service. I felt extremely honoured to be given the first slot for the closedown hour.   I remembered how much the closedown of the English stations back in 1967 had meant to me and how much it affected me. I felt angry and sad that one of the most important things in my life had been taken away and there was nothing I could do!   I assumed that the same was going to be the case with the closedown of RNI and this was likely to affect many people in Holland and England. I felt we owed it to our many loyal listeners to do our best to put together a good final hour's broadcasting to say goodbye and thank you.   Normally all of the broadcasting on RNI was very much ad-libbed but for this, I put together a few notes and tried to structure my contribution so I got to say exactly what I thought was appropriate. I chose the Beatles' Let it Be to say goodbye.   After that it was all a bit of an anticlimax. We were left to do whatever we wanted while we waited for the trip back to Scheveningen. The Mebo 1 came out and was used for that final voyage back to dry land.   It appears, and I have no recollection of this, that we went on a trip on our Gemini RIB across to the Norderney (Veronica). I seem to be on a video of the visit so I must have been there!   One of the memories that has really stayed with me from that time is the trip back to Scheveningen. We entered the harbour and were really amazed to see the thousands of people that lined the quayside to see us come back from the Mebo 2. The ships in the harbour all sounded their foghorns in a salute. It made the hairs on my neck stand up. It was a truly humbling experience!   THEN... It was all over. The last great adventure for boys was finished... at least for RNI (with acknowledgements to Bob Lawrence!)   Roger Kent - Written June 2024

Roger has also kindly provided some photos from RNI's final days (see here).
 
11pm: The final hour of the English-language International Service of Radio Northsea International began, hosted by Don Allen and Brian McKenzie.

Brian McKenzie starts the final hour of the International Service of RNI. First up, Roger Kent and Bob Noakes say their goodbyes (duration 3 minutes 59 seconds)
Former RNI DJ Andy Archer lists all the DJs, Don and Brian go through the history and the International Service is no more. Most of this clip is taken from an excellent quality recording posted by Hans Hendriks on The Offshore Radio Club Forum with the final section coming from another recording shared on www.azanorak.com by Theo Bakker. Our thanks to both. There is more of the final hour here (duration 9 minutes 3 seconds)

12 midnight: Radio Northsea's International Service closed down.

Continued over the page.