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.
In April 2020 Steve found a reel containing recordings made in Clacton of Radio London and some other offshore stations in January 1965. You can find clips from it here.
The following month he unearthed another gem. It was a tape containing recordings made in May/June 1964 of Radios Caroline and Atlanta. Extracts are on the previous page.
Then in September 2020 The Pirate Radio Hall of Fame heard from Steve again: “Another discovery! I have come across another of Leon's tapes. It seems he wrote to a fellow tape enthusiast
in Ayr and asked him to record Radio Scotland. The quality is, in general, excellent - not like the airchecks we usually get of the pirates - these are just how I remember them. I will send you the files.”
The recordings were made on a couple of Sundays in July 1966, using an Alba receiver and a Ferrograph 422U tape recorder.
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Bob Spencer. A Radio Scotland publicity photo.
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Jack McLaughlin. Photo from ‘Beat Wave’ magazine.
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Autographed Drew Hamlyn publicity photo kindly provided by George Morris.
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We start with a recording of Radio Scotland opening up for the day. On Sundays it commenced programmes later than on the other days of the week - at 8am:
The morning of Sunday 24th July 1966, Breakfast Beat:
The programme is hosted by Senior DJ “Ugly” Bob Spencer. Jack McLaughlin, introduced here as “Yak McFisheries”, is on
news duty. The theme tune is Revenge by The Ray McVay Sound. We think it is Stuart Henry on the Silexine advert. (Duration 9 minutes 17 seconds)
The other two shows are from the following weekend.
The evening of Sunday 31st July 1966, Ceilidh:
Radio Scotland, unique among the offshore stations, included a daily programme of traditional Scottish music. According to a letter from the guy who recorded these programes, which Steve found with the tape box, from this week's
edition, the Sunday night show mainly featured songs in Gaelic. The presenter is Jack McLaughlin. (Duration 2 minutes 59 seconds)
The evening of Sunday 31st July 1966, Stage Door:
This one hour programme was scheduled at 8pm each Sunday. It was devoted, as the name suggests, to songs from musicals, as well as TV and movie themes. Drew Hamlyn is hosting. (Duration 4 minutes 6 seconds)
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