RADIO CAROLINE: THE TRUE STORY OF THE BOAT THAT ROCKED by RAY CLARK

With forewords by Emperor Rosko and Keith Skues (and Paul McKenna in later editions)

Published February 2014. (Second edition: October 2019. Third edition: March 2024.)



 

Press release for the first edition:


Radio Caroline: The True Story Of The Boat That Rocked

by Ray Clark, with foreword by Emperor Rosko and Keith Skues, is the inside story of Caroline's days at sea, from those who were there. Published 4th Feb 2014, £16.99 this paperback original is the only book to chart the first fifty years of the cult pirate radio station, Radio Caroline.
 
Noon on Easter Saturday, 28 March 1964 and Radio Caroline was on the air. Broadcasting from a ship called Caroline. The ship anchored just beyond British territorial waters, north-east of Felixstowe at around six-thirty on Good Friday evening 1964. With a towering 168ft-high steel transmitting mast, generators powering away to supply the studio equipment and the two American built 10 kW transmitters, her test broadcasts started just a few hours later.
 
Radio Caroline was the world's most famous pirate radio station, but did the thousands of us tuning in realise just what battles went on behind the scenes? Though she was financed by respected city money men, Caroline faced many challenges: political opposition, financial worries, technical problems and, of course, the dangers and difficulties of life at sea. She defied authority, transformed attitudes and promoted musical innovation, championing love and peace while, at times, harmony was far from evident behind the scenes. The station is remembered as an icon of the swinging sixties but still broadcasts today.

  • The only book to chart the first fifty years of the cult pirate radio station, Radio Caroline.
  • Ray Clark, once a Radio Caroline disc jockey himself, tells the story of the boat that rocked!
  • A story of human endeavour and risk, international politics, business success and financial failures.
  • Instrumental in bringing about the deregulation of British radio.
  • Featuring many rare photographs and unpublished interviews with the ‘pirates’ who were there.
  • Ray Clark is the current BBC Essex Breakfast Show presenter and has over thirty years' experience as a disc jockey. He broadcast on Radio Caroline in the 1980s under the name Mick Williams.


     

    Mick Williams / Ray Clark

    Ray Clark, alias Radio Caroline DJ Mick Williams, on board the mv Ross Revenge. Photo courtesy of www.rayradio.co.uk.

     

    The Pirate Radio Hall of Fame reviewed the first edition of ‘Radio Caroline’ in 2014:


    Ray Clark knows his stuff! He tuned in to Radio Caroline during its first weekend on air at Easter 1964 and became a loyal listener. He followed the offshore stations avidly and, in 1977, won top prize in a quiz on the subject held at the Flashback 67 convention. It was at this event that Ray met some of the people involved in ‘watery wireless’. Friendships developed and, some ten years later, Ray became an offshore disc-jockey himself when he joined Radio Caroline on the mv Ross Revenge, broadcasting as ‘Mick Williams’.
     
    A career in legitimate broadcasting followed, both in commercial radio and the BBC.
     
    Ray was involved with the various Pirate BBC Essex tribute broadcasts and made two excellent documentaries about offshore radio: The award-winning All at Sea told the story of the pirates from the perspective of the loyal listeners and All At Sea: August 14th, What Happened Next? chronicled Radio Caroline's battle for survival after the passing of the Marine Offences Act. For these documentaries, and others, he interviewed many of the people who were involved with Radio Caroline. He has made good use of these interviews, and a number of new ones, in this book - originally published to coincide with the station's fiftieth anniversary. In fact the book is laid out very much like a radio documentary with Ray's narration linking extracts from the interviews. The story is largely told in the words of people who were there.
     
    Back in the eighties DJ Colin Nicol interviewed a number of the main players from the early days of offshore radio and he has allowed Ray to make use of his transcripts (some may be familiar as they also appear on The Pirate Radio Hall Of Fame). As a result he is able to include anecdotes from Allan Crawford, Kitty Black, Richard Harris and Ken Evans, all involved with Radio Atlanta but unfortuately no longer with us. Sadly Ronan O'Rahilly's condition (he was suffering from vascular dementia at the time Ray was carrying out research for this book and has since passed away) means that some questions about the early days of Radio Caroline will probably never be answered but the author does an excellent job of laying out the known facts with the help of Ian Ross, one of the station's co-founders.
     
    About half the book is devoted to the sixties era of Radio Caroline - the period when it was a mass market station with eight million listeners - but the previously less well documented broadcasts from the seventies and eighties are extensively covered too. There are plenty of photos - many in colour - and a number which have not been published before.
     
    Radio Caroline survived storm-tossed waters, official harassment, going aground, a sinking, vessels being towed away by a creditor, a mutiny by the crew, two police raids, a hurricane, the loss of the world's largest ship's mast, government legislation and much, much more. The station has had a fascinating history - and Ray Clark brings the memories flooding back in this highly recommended book.


    The third, revised and updated, version of the book can be ordered from Amazon in both paperback and Kindle formats.



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