Paul Kaye (sometimes spelt Kay) The first voice to be heard on Radio London, Paul was born in Barnstaple, Devon, on 17th February 1934. After leaving school he worked in repertory theatre and in 1952 became stage manager to a theatre company in Nairobi. He volunteered for the Kenyan police and saw active service during the Mau Mau emergency. He began working on the country's radio network and later broadcast in both Cyprus and Canada. When Radio London launched at the end of 1964 it was the first UK pirate station to operate a news service and Paul was the news chief. His bulletins were on the half-hour, which conveniently gave him just enough time to re-write the BBC news which was broadcast on the hour. Although the news was obtained from the BBC, it was presented in a very different manner. Introduced by jingles and with each story interspersed with Morse code (see below), Radio London's bulletins were nothing if not dramatic. But they were also authoritative, largely because of Paul Kaye's presentation skills. Normally the Radio London news service only consisted of these hourly bulletins but in January 1967 Paul travelled to Paris to report on Prime Minister Harold Wilson's unsuccessful negotiations to take Britain into the European Union (or Common Market as it was then known). Paul also presented programmes, especially in the early months of the station, and his theme was Town Talk by Ken Woodman and his Piccadilly Brass, a tune later used on the BBC by Jimmy Young. In August 1967 the Marine Offences Act became law and the first voice on Radio London became the last as Paul closed the station down. He was later on Radio Luxembourg, Yorkshire TV and he presented a jazz programme on Radio Hallam, Radio Tees and Pennine Radio. He died on 4th November 1980. For more pictures of Paul, see Gordon Sheppard and Willy Walker's photo albums. There is also a recording of him talking to Kenny Everett about the Beatles tour of America. (We previously stated that the Morse code heard during the Radio London bulletins spelled out B-I-G-L, the station's nickname, but we have now heard from Paul Kaye's former colleague Duncan Johnson: “I can't understand Morse but I thought B-I-G-L took too long and R-L was used instead. It was certainly altered about June 65. Kenny Everett and (engineer) Russ Tollerfield, who could ‘read’ Morse, spent all one night putting the sound effect together. Kenny splicing small slivers of tone on tape until Russ finally agreed to the ‘spelling’ which I thought was R-L.” Hans Hogendoorn has also been in touch. He agrees that the Morse spells R-L: “As a trained radio telegrapher I can confirm the meaning of the signal. Moreover the station used two versions of the signal. The slower speed (approx. 17 words/min) and the double speed, which can be heard in the Paul Kaye clip (below).” Many thanks to both Duncan and Hans.)
Paul Kaye “tells you more, says it better” on a Radio London news bulletin. Paul announces that it is Wednesday 5th December but that date did not fall on a Wednesday in any year during Big L's time on air. Thanks to
correspondent Trevor Brook for pointing out the mistake. He says: “it is clearly Wednesday 5th January 1966” (duration 1 minute 16 seconds)
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Kilroy A few weeks before the Marine Offences Act was introduced, during the summer of 1967, a new voice appeared on Radio Caroline South presenting late night shows. His name was Kilroy. For a long time we didn't have any information about him other than he was a former club DJ and a black American. In August 2009 we were sent an audio clip (below) in which Kilroy was introduced on air by Robbie Dale. The conversation revealed that Kilroy was tall, 6 foot 3 inches, 26 years old and had played basketball in the States before joining Caroline. The photo, left, is from a French magazine Special dated August 1967 and The Pirate Radio Hall of Fame thinks that the unidentified DJ is probably Kilroy. Then, in 2018, we heard from the man himself. He wrote: “My name is Elroy Prater Jr. I was the disc-jockey Kilroy in 1967. I am your ‘host with the most, the man with the velvet voice, the people's choice’. Sadly, that is all he wrote. We have asked for more details about his career - both before and after Caroline - but, at the time of writing, haven't had any reply. If we find out any more, we will update this page. (Thanks to Elroy for getting in touch and to Robbie Dale for the photo.)
Jerry King A Canadian, Jerry was born in Welland, Ontario, on 2nd May 1941. 6 foot 2 inches tall, he initially trained to be a Physical Education teacher but decided on a change of career and made his broadcasting debut on Welland Radio. He worked for CKLB-AM and CKQS-FM in Ontario and for ZBM radio and television in Bermuda before heading for the UK. He started with Caroline South in March 1967, soon transferring to the North ship. He used Tune Up by Junior Walker & the All-Stars and Kremlin, Koke, Kaviar by the David Whitaker Orchestra as theme tunes. Jerry stayed with Caroline until the introduction of the anti-pirate legislation in August, when he turned to journalism with United Press International. He worked for UPI in London and New York before joining the American television network ABC in September 1971 as an overseas correspondent. He appeared on World News Tonight With Peter Jennings, Nightline, 20/20, Good Morning America and other network news programmes. During his time in network television Jerry reported from all over the world and interviewed a number of important international figures including Yasir Arafat, King Hussein of Jordan, Lech Walesa, the Shah of Iran and Ayatollah Khomeini. He has now retired. (Photo by Nick Bailey. See more of his pictures here. With thanks to Pete Smith and Hans Knot for the theme tune information.)
Lorne King Born on 1st February 1943 in Vegreville, Alberta, in Canada, Lorne's first radio experience was gained on CKSA, Lloydminster, Alberta. He also worked for its television sister station CKSA-TV and at live shows around the area. After a stint at CKRD in Red Deer, also in Alberta, and on CKRD-TV, Lorne set off on his travels to Europe and North Africa. He arrived in the UK at the end of 1966 and on 7th February 1967 joined Radio London. He presented his first show the next evening, sitting in for Mark Roman. His theme tune on Big L was Train To Nowhere by The Champs. Radio Caroline South's Steve Young says: “He was born Lorne Kassian and I first remember hearing him broadcasting on CKRD in Red Deer, AB (just south of Edmonton) in 1963, if memory serves me correctly. That was the year before I came over to the UK and then, a couple of years later wound up working for Caroline South. He also worked for a while in Lethbridge in southwestern Alberta, which coincidentally was a city in which I lived when we first moved to Canada from the UK in the late 50s. It was there that I got my first real taste of North American radio, listening to CJOC (a.k.a. C-Jock) and marveling at the warm, professional sound of their on-air personnel. Some years later he worked at CJCA (Tiger Radio) in Edmonton where, again coincidentally, my wife Trish had worked for a few years as their record librarian, although this was not during Lorne's tenure there. I first met Lorne on the tender when he was leaving Big L to go on his regular week's shore leave. Both being Alberta boys we compared notes and promised each other that we would meet up for a pint (or two) the next chance we had. Unfortunately that chance didn't come until the Vancouver pirate radio reunion (in 2004).” Lorne only stayed with Radio London for four months, returning to Canada at the end of May 1967. In October 2000 we heard from Ben Healy who told us: “Up until recently Lorne worked on CJCA in Edmonton and has enjoyed a successful career on radio in the city for the past 30 years. He has now moved back to where he was born, Vegreville, which is about an hour's drive from Edmonton and is enjoying his retirement.” Lorne died on 10th May 2023 in Edmonton. He had been suffering from cancer. There are photos of the Vancouver reunion mentioned by Steve here. (This Radio London promotional photo was kindly provided by Mary Payne of the Radio London website. Theme tune information courtesy of Kees Brinkerink, Frank van Heerde and Alan Field.)
Ted King presented the Breakfast Club programme six days a week during the short but pioneering life of Radio Atlanta, Britain's second offshore radio station. He had got his first taste of broadcasting while serving in the RAF in 1951. He was stationed in Cyprus and appeared on a programme called I Know What I Liked on the local Forces Broadcasting Service outlet. He enjoyed the experience and successfully applied for a full-time post. Starting as a librarian and junior announcer he worked in Fayed in the Suez Canal Zone, Tripoli, Cyprus and Benghazi. In 1959 he left the service and joined Radio Luxembourg, working alongside Don Moss and Barry Alldis in the Grand Duchy. He was the guest disc-jockey on ITV's Thank Your Lucky Stars on 2nd December 1961. With a growing family, Ted decided to leave Luxembourg and return home and in 1962 he made his debut on the BBC Light Programme, presenting an edition of Midday Spin. A number of other radio shows followed as well as some TV appearances. In 1964 he was approached by Radio Atlanta, which he joined from day one. Unlike the other offshore stations, most of Atlanta's programmes were recorded in studios on land. Ted says “It was a fascinating venture for me. Then one day I went in (to the office in Soho) and found there was no more Radio Atlanta. It had been sold to Radio Caroline.” Atlanta closed down in July 1964 and Ted returned to BFBS (as it was now known) to work as a broadcaster and producer. He was heard again on the BBC in 1968 when he co-presented some editions of Two Way Family Favourites from Malta. He produced numerous programmes for BFBS including some featuring former pirate DJs John Peel, David Allan and Dave Lee Travis. Ted retired in 1988, intending to carry on working part-time but it was not to be. An operation for throat cancer and a tracheotomy, followed by a number of strokes, left him severely weakened. After a long period of poor health he died on 10th December 2004. (This picture dates from Ted's time with Radio Luxembourg. Does anybody have one from when he was with Radio Atlanta? Thanks to Mark Lewisohn and Chris & Mary Payne for their assistance.)
Nick Kirby was a DJ on Radio Sutch, a short-lived 1964 pop station based on Shivering Sands anti-aircraft fort in the Thames Estuary. What Nick's listeners did not know was that he was also blind. Shivering Sands was not a safe place for anyone, having been abandoned to the elements some years before Screaming Lord Sutch took it over. It must have taken amazing bravery to live and work aboard that fort with impaired vision. Nick was born in 1944 and lived in Westcliff, Essex. Steve Read, his cousin grew up near him. Steve writes: “Nicky was born totally blind but was the guinea pig for some groundbreaking eye operations and by the age of 11 or so he had partial sight. Eventually his sight failed but he had some years where he could see something. He was a really lovely guy and was passionate about music. He had his own record label, Nicrosound. I don't know much about his career as a DJ as I was only about 11 or 12 when the pirates were about, but I do remember he had a show on a Saturday night and he always used to play a request for either me or my brother Mark. It was usually because he hadn't got many requests so he just did them for people he knew. I used to listen to it on my cream Binatone transistor radio in bed. I remember him telling me that it was his turn one night to do the washing up and by accident he dropped all the knives and forks over the side and, as the weather was rough, the supply boat couldn't get to them and everyone had to eat with their hands for a few days. All the turntables and records got very greasy! It must have taken a lot of balls to go onto the fort as a blind guy, but Nick never ever accepted that he had a disability. He wouldn't wear dark glasses and he most definitely wouldn't get a white stick. I remember he was adamant that his press photos were him. No dark glasses.” The jazz musician and broadcaster Digby Fairweather was a friend of Nick's after his time as an offshore DJ. He writes: “I regularly saw Nick around the jazz scene of the 1970s when he came to sessions where I was playing and also (possibly) to the record library at Southend Public Library which I ran from 1973 until turning professional as a jazz musician in 1977. He was a very kind and enthusiastic man who never either let his handicap get in his way at all, nor dwelt on it to others. My principal memory of course is of my first ever recording session which took place in Nick's front room in Eastwood around 1972 I think. Guitarist Len Page - a very good friend - had assembled a seven piece band including clarinettist-saxophonist Derek Else and we recorded a number of titles one morning which Nick engineered and then ‘issued’ on a reel-to-reel tape under the name of Nicrosound. It was a very informal affair but Nick did very well and the tape was subsequently well reviewed in Jazz Journal. Nick was a very brave man and a very good friend to music. I miss him.” Steve tells us that Nick retained his passion for commercial radio and was part of a consortium that bid unsuccessfully for an Essex radio license. Nick died of a brain haemorrhage in 1994. Steve continues: “Nick was a really lovely bloke with perfect pitch and amazing gift for mimicry.” (Our thanks to Steve Read and Digby Fairweather for their assistance.)
Andy Kirk Born in Leeds, Yorkshire, in 1947, Andy joined his local offshore station, Radio 270, where he was their youngest DJ. Previously he had been a musician, touring
the country performing in a folk group. Radio 270 had two completely separate DJ teams and the programme schedule depended on which team was on board. Andy presented the 9pm-midnight show, alternating with Alex
Dee. He left the station in November 1966 after talking to the press about his doubts over the 270 ship's ability to withstand the rough seas off the Yorkshire coast. His present whereabouts are unknown and any
information would be very gratefully received, as it would about any of the inductees in The Pirate Radio Hall of Fame. (This is a promotional
photo issued by Radio 270.)
Peggy Knight Real name Linda Bass, she used her mother's maiden name on air. She presented some pre-recorded Saturday afternoon shows on Radio City in 1965. The station
made much of the fact that she had been crowned Romford's carnival queen and a number of photos appeared in the press of her in the Radio City studio, although she only visited the fort a couple of times. She now runs a company
specialising in the hire of upmarket fancy dress. She attended the 2014 Radio Day in Amsterdam (see photo on this page). (Some of this information comes from an article in
Offshore Echos magazine. Can anyone provide a recording of Peggy Knight on Radio City?)
Paul Kramer From Neasden, north London, born in 1947 or 1948 (he says '48 in the Radio 270 audio clip below), Paul was educated at Quintin Grammar School, St John's Wood. He was interested in film-making and, while at school, produced an 8mm film with some friends. After finishing his education he worked in the film industry and formed his own independent production company. In 1965 he made a short black and white film about Radio Caroline, narrated by Carl Conway. There is a copy on the East Anglian Film Archive website. In July 1966 Paul became an offshore DJ himself when he joined Radio City. His nickname was “Kinky” and he used Kinda Kinky by Ray McVay as one of his theme tunes. Another theme, as in the Radio City clip below, was Honey Badger by the Harry Roberts Sound. Paul referred to himself as “your DJ, PK.” He stayed with Radio City until it closed down in February 1967. Radio Caroline then took on three of City's redundant DJs. Ian MacRae and Tom Edwards joined the South ship. We previously said that Paul joined Radio Caroline North but Terje Isberg from Stockholm has sent us a recording of Paul, also on Caroline South, dated Saturday 17th March 1967 (clip below). We can only assume he was given a quick try-out on the Mi Amigo before being sent north. In any case he did not stay with Caroline for long and quickly moved on to Radio 270, where he stayed until that station closed down in August. Following the anti-pirate legislation, he returned to the movie business but was killed in a car accident on Putney Bridge in London on 5th December 1968. His Radio City (and, briefly, Caroline South) colleague Ian MacRae writes: “I was actually working on a screenplay that Paul was going to produce when he was killed. He had a couple of well known actors very interested in taking part. I seem to remember one was Christopher Lee. I'm pretty sure I still have that script in my files. I wrote it all on Radio City between shifts.” (Many thanks to Ross Brown for providing the photo and Hans Knot for the theme tune information. As well as the audio below, Paul features in an Adrian Love clip.)