Tony Monson Tony first started in radio while living in Bermuda, on the same station that employed Duncan Johnson and Mike Lennox. He moved up the ladder from librarian and production assistant, to relief presenter, deputising for DJs on leave. Eventually, in 1965, he got his own evening pop and soul music show. In 1967 Tony left Bermuda to move to London and joined the easy-listening Radio 355. It was a popular station but its days were numbered and 355 closed down in August 1967, ten days before the Marine Offences Act became law. Tony and fellow Radio 355 presenter Dave MacKay then started one of the country's first mobile disco businesses and in 1971 opened a record and hi-fi shop in Brighton, Sussex. While living in Brighton Tony also found time to broadcast on BBC Radios Brighton and Medway. A soul music fanatic, he was involved with the London land-based pirates Radio Invicta, JFM, Horizon and Solar Radio. In 1985 Tony went legit when he joined Essex Radio and, later, the Thamesmead station RTM (later renamed Millennium Radio.) He can now be found on the satellite and web reincarnation of Solar Radio. (Photo kindly provided by David Scarff. For more pictures of Tony on Radio 355, see Tom Collins's photo album. We also have a more recent picture of Tony, taken at the Olga Patricia DJs 40th anniversary reunion.)

Tony Monson on the 9am-noon show on Radio 355 from 29th July 1967. Recording generously provided by Hans Knot (duration 4 minutes 17 seconds)
Tony Monson on a 6-7.30pm show on Radio 355 from the summer of 1967. Apologies for the poor quality of the signal. Radio 355 reduced power at night to prevent causing interference to an Italian station on the same frequency and reception suffered as a result. This tape kindly provided by Ray Andrews (duration 2 minutes 16 seconds)

Chris Moore Born in California on 16th April 1940, Chris was brought to England at the age of 8 by his American mother. He served in the Merchant Navy for a time, a job which was to stand him in good stead later, and then worked in advertising before becoming a discotheque DJ in London's Mayfair. A friend of station owner Ronan O'Rahilly, he was heavily involved in the launch of Radio Caroline. It was Chris who introduced Ronan to Ian Ross whose father became one of the main financial backers. It was also Chris who organised the purchase of the Caroline ship, the mv Fredericia. He was the presenter of the very first show on British offshore radio on Easter Saturday 1964. The first record was The Rolling Stones' Not Fade Away which he dedicated to Ronan. Chris did not stay on the ship for long but moved ashore to work as Caroline's first Programme Director. Later he took up residence at Barcote Manor in rural Oxfordshire where he worked as an artist and photographer. Correspondent Joanna Turner told us that he often took photos for the Museum of Modern Art in Oxford. He remained at Barcote until its owner decided to sell up in the nineties, generously moving his by then good friend into a tiny cottage nearby where Chris spent the rest of his life. In October 2020 his throat began giving him trouble. He was diagnosed as suffering from oesophageal cancer. He died peacefully on the 2nd January 2021, aged 80. There is a tribute to Chris on the Offshore Echos website. (Many thanks to Mike Plumley and Joanna Turner for their help. We previously said that Chris was born in Washington DC, as stated in the biography put out by Radio Caroline's press office in 1964, but research by Mervyn Hagger has revealed that in fact he was born in California. This photo was issued by the Caroline Club. There are more pictures of Chris here.)

Chris Moore from the very early, middle-of-the-road, days of Radio Caroline with interruptions from Simon Dee, an extract from the Offshore Echo's tape Offshore Classics vol.7, used with kind permission (duration 2 minutes 1 second)
An undated Chris Moore show from the early days of Radio Caroline. This sounds like it may be one of the pre-recorded programmes made before Caroline launched. The other voice, identifying the station, is Simon Dee. Recording kindy provided by Albie Somerset (duration 2 minutes 4 seconds)

Ed Moreno Born on 19th June 1933 in Wimbourne, Dorset, Ed was the oldest of 12 children and grew up in south Wales. He first worked on radio in America while studying medicine there. Severe diabetes forced him to return home to the UK where he continued DJ-ing at dances held in Wembley Town Hall. In 1962 he was approached by a man called Arnold Swanson. He had made money, he said, from inventing a car seat belt and had plans to use it to launch Britain's first offshore station, to be called GBOK. Ed recorded programmes in readiness but GBOK never made it on to the air. (There is more about GBOK here.) Instead in 1964 he joined the fledgling Radio Caroline. Unfortunately Ed's stay was brief because he became extremely ill and had to leave the ship. After a prolonged hospital stay he became Programme Controller on Radio Invicta, the early sweet music station based on Red Sands Fort. Following the death of station owner Tom Pepper, Ed left Invicta. He was out of radio for a few months but appeared on the legendary Saturday evening ITV pop music show, Thank Your Lucky Stars, on 13th February 1965. In August Ed joined Radio City where, because of his continuing poor health, he recorded his What's New and Late Date programmes on land. He stayed with City until September 1966 when he moved to Britain Radio. He left there in February 1967 and, a couple of months later, became joint Programme Director of Radio 270 (with Rusty Allen). Ed stayed with the station almost until its close-down. Ed presented some shows on the BBC (a series called Favourite Film Themes on Radio 2) and was involved in the initial planning for Radio Northsea International. He was heard occasionally in the early days of that station (see The Pirate Radio Hall of Fame ‘Seventies Supplement’). When regular broadcasting work was not forthcoming, he took up a career in podiatry. We previously reported that he became a GP but, in August 2009, we heard from Jeremy Baskett who wrote: “Just thought I would correct your item on Ed Moreno as I worked closely with him between 1978-1979 in Sussex. Ed was not a GP although he referred to himself as Dr as he had a doctorate from the States. I think it was a Ph.D although I am not sure, but it was not in medicine. He never completed his medical course in the States due to his diabetes. However he became a podiatrist in the UK and worked in a Chiropody and Acupuncture practice in Burgess Hill, Sussex with myself and with an acupuncturist. He was very successful and taught me a lot as a fellow podiatrist as I had only just qualified at that time. Ed told me a lot about his broadcasting career and really missed it. His heart was always really in broadcasting but his diabetes got in the way of him being able to go back to that lifestyle. His patients thought the world of him. Ed became one of the first podiatrists in the UK to be able to give local analgesia and he also pioneered some podiatric surgical techniques which at the time were at the forefront of podiatric practice in the UK. Although I only worked with Ed for 18 months I owe him a lot. He taught me a lot about real life and he was a good friend during that time. I often still think of him as I am sure many of his patients do as they thought the world of him.” In August 1980 Ed was discovered lying in a coma and later died in hospital. The inquest found that he had killed himself with a massive dose of insulin while the balance of his mind was disturbed through depression. He was 47. (Ed had a loyal, largely female, following. Natalie Dwyer has sent us some letters that Ed wrote to her mother, Roma Roach; Grahme Wood has sent some correspondence belonging to his mother Pam; and another fan, Mavis Kemsley has sent us these photos. Many thanks to Jeremy, Natalie, Roma, Grahme and Mavis. There are also pictures of Ed, from 1964 on Radio Invicta, here and from 1966, while he was on Britain Radio, here. This photo is a publicity shot issued by Britain Radio, kindly provided by Hans Knot.)

Ed Moreno's tribute to Tom Pepper on Radio Invicta. Pepper was the station owner who drowned with two other members of staff, DJ Simon Ashley and engineer Martin Shaw, just before Christmas 1964. This tribute was broadcast while the search for Simon and Martin's bodies was still continuing. The tape was kindly provided by Natalie Dwyer and Roma Roach (duration 3 minutes 58 seconds)
Ed Moreno on two of the many stations for which he worked: introducing What's New on Radio City and reading a weather forecast on “Swinging” Radio England (the news bulletins on Radio England were usually read by presenters from the sister station, Britain Radio). Tapes kindly provided by Martyn Webster (duration 2 minutes 12 seconds)

Thanks to Martin Fokkens.

Spangles Muldoon (sometimes spelt Maldoon) Born in Chester on 5th October 1946, real name Chris Cary, he joined Caroline South just as the Marine Offences Act was about to take effect, on 14th August 1967. Previously a TV maintenance engineer and club DJ, he was initially responsible for playing non-stop music through the night and, during this period, he was known as Chris Anthony. Once he had mastered the studio, he started to make the occasional announcements, changed his name to Spangles Muldoon and then took over the noon-3pm show. It became known as the Lunchtime Loonabout (“with the goon, Muldoon”). Offshore Echos magazine reveals that his theme tune was an instrumental version of Yeh Yeh by the Mark Wirtz Orchestra. For a few weeks he broadcast under the name of Herb Oscar Anderson, having acquired a jingle for an American DJ of that name (from New York's WABC). Herb's theme was The Happy Organ by Dave ‘Baby’ Cortez. In late January 1968 (*) he left Caroline South to transfer to the North ship but the station close-down beat him to it. His return to sea came in July 1970 when he joined Radio Northsea International (see The Pirate Radio Hall of Fame ‘Seventies Supplement’). He later ran the returning Radio Caroline off the Dutch coast and broadcast on Radio Luxembourg, both as Spangles Muldoon and under his real name. At the same time he was getting involved in the early video games market, later expanding into computers. Former Radio Scotland DJ Brian Webb (known as Brian McKenzie on Radio Northsea) told him about the burgeoning Irish land-based pirate scene and, together with former Caroline director Philip Solomon, Chris started Sunshine Radio in Dublin. The station manager was his old Caroline colleague Robbie Dale who later took over the station as Chris moved on to start up another, Radio Nova. This was probably the most professional and successful of all the Irish pirates. In 1986 Nova closed down and Chris moved back to the UK. He now had a company dealing in satellite equipment and for a while ran a satellite-distributed version of Radio Nova in Britain which employed a number of former pirate DJs including Paul Burnett, Mark Wesley and Tony Blackburn. He also owned a Birmingham station Buzz-FM for a time. Chris got into troule with the law over the selling of decoder cards for satellite television stations and spent some time in prison. In 2002 Chris put in a bid to take over the long wave transmitter in the Republic of Ireland previously used by Atlantic 252. Unfortunately RTE, the Irish state broadcaster which owned it, turned him down. Chris continued to run a computer business and re-launched Radio Nova on the internet. He was about to start a version of the station in Tenerife but, while visiting the island in January 2008, he suffered a stroke. He died on 29th February. The Pirate Radio Hall of Fame tribute is here. (* We previously stated that Spangles left Caroline South in March 1968 but correspondent Ian Biggar has provided a recording (see below) of him saying his goodbyes on a show dated 24th January so we have amended the above accordingly.) Many thanks to George Morris for providing this photo. There are later ones, taken at Caroline's 40th birthday party, here and, at the Radio Academy's Celebration of Offshore Radio, here. Some of the theme tune information courtesy of Kees Brinkerink, Frank van Heerde and Alan Field.
 
In November 2009 The Pirate Radio Hall of Fame heard from the original Herb Oscar Anderson, the American DJ whose name and jingle Spangles had used in 1968: “I did the morning show on WABC and used to mention I was on the air in New York and England at the same time! I think I was using my HOA jingle with a English accent.... I performed last year for Fred Olsens' Balmoral on its American inaugural cruise. Oh I almost forgot George Martin wrote a song for me to sing in my album, ‘What Would I Be’. I think they now call him Sir George.... I'm 81 and still growing strong.... They were fun times for us all and we both had the largest listenership ever.” Sadly Herb has since died. He passed away in January 2017, aged 88.

Spangles Muldoon on Radio Caroline South International from 23rd December 1967. Recording courtesy of the Offshore Radio Archive (duration 4 minutes 38 seconds)
Spangles Muldoon closing his last show on Radio Caroline South International on 24th January 1968. Recording kindly provided by Ian Biggar (duration 2 minutes 39 seconds)

Jim Murphy Born in Beeville, Texas, on Easter Sunday 24th March 1940, “Murf The Surf” grew up in Tuleta, a small town between San Antonio and Corpus Christi. His hobby was ‘pole squatting’ and once spent 49 days up a pole! He worked on a number of Texan radio stations, including KAML, WAKY, KILT and KIBL before heading for Europe in 1965. Jim was on his way to Spain but stopped off in England and never got any further. After a brief stint on Radio Caroline South, he moved to the North ship and it was there that he made his name, particularly with his Midnight Surf Party. Offshore radio historian Hans Knot has identified the theme tune for this show as Amen by Baby Face Willette but, as can he heard on one of the clips below, he used Guitar Boogie by Chuck Berry too. Jim also hosted the Country & Western Jamboree, a show which was taken over by Don Allen when Jim returned to the States in 1966. Jim continued to work in broadcasting but, following his retirement for medical reasons in 1990, lived in Austin, Texas, and operated a fascinating website dedicated to the memory of Radio Caroline North. The Pirate Radio Hall of Fame exchanged a number of emails with him until these suddenly stopped. His website was not updated after September 1998 and some of his former colleagues feared the worst. One of them, David Williams, confirmed these fears when he found a record of Jim's death on the web. David says: “Sadly it would appear that Jim died in June 2000. No further information is available but I know, when I talked to him in 1998, that he was incapacitated with some long standing illness contracted when serving in Vietnam. He was an eccentric (who else can claim a world record for sitting on top of a pole?) and I have fond memories of him and particularly remember being fog bound at Blackpool airport while trying to get back to the Isle Of Man for Mick Luvzit's wedding. We made it with minutes to spare.” Jim's website has now been retrieved and preserved by Chris and Mary Payne. He was obviously very proud of the time he spent on Radio Caroline. Let's hope that, during the last few years of his life, the feedback he received via the site let him know just how much he was appreciated by the listeners. (Photo issued by the Caroline Club.)

Jim Murphy ending a Midnight Surf Party on Radio Caroline North in October 1965. The “cruise” along the coast, referred to by Jim, never took place because of bad weather. See here for more details (duration 2 minutes 36 seconds)
Big Jim Murphy on the Midnight Surf Party on Caroline North, 26th July 1966. The voice at the end of the clip, plugging the evening show, belongs to Jack Spector. Recording courtesy of the Offshore Radio Archive (duration 4 minutes 11 seconds)

Thanks to Colin Nicol for this poster advertising a Caroline Club Ball in New Brighton. What a great line-up.
On the bill was a singer called Ronnie Jones who cut a record produced by Radio Caroline boss Ronan O'Rahilly.
Ronnie is still singing and is now based in Italy. More details can be found on his website www.ronniejones.it.

Mitch Murray was one of the leading song-writers of the beat boom era. In 1963 alone, he wrote (or co-wrote) I'm Telling You Now and You Were Made For Me, top 3 hits for Freddie and the Dreamers, and How Do You Do It and I Like It, both number 1s for Gerry and the Pacemakers - as well as many more. So it was a surprise to see his name mentioned by Gerry Bishop in his book Offshore Radio as being a DJ on Radio Caroline South. The Pirate Radio Hall of Fame had no recollection of ever hearing him. So we got in touch with Mitch. Had he been a Radio Caroline disc-jockey?: “I was probably the shortest-lived DJ on Radio Caroline and it was a spur of the moment thing. I had gone on board to be interviewed. I can't remember who conducted it, but it definitely wasn't Tony Blackburn. He'd finished his shift and left on the tender on which I arrived. Suddenly I was stranded by stormy weather which prevented the tender from returning that day. As I found myself spending the night on Caroline, someone suggested that I present a show of my own. I came up with The Seasick Show. I'm pretty sure the original presenter was present but I can't recall the balance of contributions. I think the show lasted a half-hour, one hour tops. Then the tender arrived and my Radio Caroline DJ career was over. I hadn't been paid, so frankly, my dear, I didn't give a damn.” So Gerry Bishop was right. Mitch was a DJ, although his offshore broadcasting career lasted only an hour or less. Colin Nicol remembers Mitch's visit: “As ‘Mister Murray’ he had a comedy hit at the time with Down Came The Rain. He came aboard to promote it with me. We had a bit of fun, he sang a bit of it live on air and I got someone to tip a bucket of water over him! I don't remember who. It may have been ‘The Child Scientist’ (engineer Patrick Starling).” Unfortunately Mitch himself doesn't remember the bucket of water incident, as can be heard in the interview clip below. Following his visit to Caroline, Mitch continued to write hit songs but has recently concentrated on speech-writing and humour books. One of them, How To Write A Hit Song, apparently inspired Sting to become a songwriter. A long-time resident on the Isle of Man, Mitch's song-writing career was celebrated by the island's Post Office in 2020 when it issued a set of stamps featuring some of his best-known songs (details here). (Many thanks to Mitch and Colin for their help. Does anyone have a recording of ‘The Seasick Show’?)

In February 2017 Keith Skues interviewed Mitch Murray for his BBC local radio show and asked him about the visit to Caroline South. Recording kindly provided by Keith (duration 1 minute 28 seconds)