Radio Caroline, the world's most famous pirate radio
station, which is housed on the ship MV Ross Revenge, has docked just off the
shore of Bradwell after leaving its home of 10 years in Tilbury docks last
Thursday (July 31).
The station altered the face of
pop music by challenging the established radio format in the 1960s, 70s and 80s
by playing 24 hours of pop music a day, and tracks that other radio stations
wouldn't.
Now the team is back on the Blackwater
for the first time since 1993, and plan to use a temporary 28-day radio licence
to give Maldon and the Dengie a taste of the famous station whilst they apply
for an AM licence to operate permanently.
Manager
of the Ross Revenge Peter Moore, 67, who lives in Maldon and who has been
involved with Radio Caroline since 1976, said: "It's nice to be back at
Bradwell on the Essex coast again.
"We've had a lot
of support from the local community and we hope to get more involved.
"It was a hard old slog to get the boat here and we're
glad to be back – we've had a great reaction so far from the local
community."
The radio station, currently based on
its third ship, has a cult following throughout Europe, after a turbulent
history of international police raids, fires, shipwrecks and financial ruin, all
of which inspired the movie "The Boat That Rocked" starring Bill Nighy and
Phillip Seymour Hoffman.
At the height of its
power the station had up to 20 million listeners from the UK and Europe and
changed the face of radio as we know it by challenging the BBC's monopoly over
the airwaves.
Peter told the Chronicle: "It's a
totally different time now to when Radio Caroline was over the airwaves and to
think of the risks that you took even getting on the ship and playing music is
hard to believe.
"Legally you could find yourself
in prison for two years for just playing music and the boat was hardly sea
worthy.
"But it was a fantastic time to be involved
with music. Radio Caroline is like an addiction now we all work here as
volunteers and love it."
Self-confessed Radio
Caroline geek Ray Clark even wrote a book on the subject entitled 'Radio
Caroline: The True Story of the Boat That Rocked' about the history of the
ship.
He said: "I used to listen to Radio Caroline
when I was nine years old and I just loved it. It excited me.
"Before Radio Caroline I had a number of jobs but after going on the
Ross Revenge in 1987 finally radio stations wanted to listen to me, it was so
hard to get on any stations back then."
In fact the
first time Ray boarded the Ross Revenge – in 1987 – he was picked up by a trio
named Cosmic, Captain Keith and DJ Kevin Turner and taken to the ship via a
ferry to Zeebrugge and on to Dunkirk, taking 48 hours, to avoid detection by
police.
On arrival he spent eight weeks on the ship
and first played under the pseudonym Mick Williams – a real-life friend from
Witham.
"It was all very cloak and dagger back then
– but I learned more about radio in those eight weeks on board than most do in a
lifetime," he added.
"I suppose it's hard to
imagine now, but pop music wasn't around like it was after Caroline. After that,
radio bosses took note and new stations followed."
The station
relies on donations, running on a laid-back philosophy which welcomes
contributions but doesn't push them.
In recent
years it has enjoyed a revival with the rise of internet radio described by
Peter as a "miracle".
He said: "It's a marvellous
invention and we know anyone can listen from anywhere in the world, and indeed
our DJ's can if they want to."
To tune into Radio
Caroline go to h
ttp://www.radiocaroline.co.uk/
http://www.essexchronicle.co.uk/Pirate-station-Radio-Caroline-drops-anchor-River/story-22121919-detail/story.html
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