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Restoration 2020


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Southampton Support Group

Restoration 2019

Tony Prince interview with Elvis
Featuring Todd Slaughter
June 1977

130 Radio Caroline Videos

Ross Revenge Visitors

Anorak JukeBox

Various Caroline Events

Cambridge Rock Festival 2018

Caroline North Liverpool 2014

Aug 14th Weekend 2017

Various Anorak Photos

50th Birthday Bash

Move to River Blackwater

Anorak Man (Roland Beaney)

34 Presenter Interviews

Anorak Links

Radio Caroline History

My Vinyl Record Collection

Clive Pearce Diary 2004

Radio Caroline North June broadcast

The next Radio Caroline North broadcast of 2021 will be on this coming weekend 26th-27th of June

Presenters taking part will be, Clive Derek, Paul McKenna, Bill Rollins, John Ellery, Chris Williams, Johnny Lewis, Chris Pearson, Ray Copeland, Andrew Austin and Dave Foster

This broadcast will be back on the radio ship Ross Revenge

CAROLINE NORTH SCHEDULE and PODCASTS

Southampton Support Group meeting returns

The Radio Caroline Southampton Support group meetings will resume on Wednesday 30th June from 7pm.

Radio Caroline Facebook Page

Radio Caroline

The Northern Radio Caroline Support Group

Our Meetings are now back on the first Tuesday in each month. So please turn up and have a good time.

The venue is at the Farsley Working Men,s Club.

Farsley WMC, Back Lane, Farsley, Pudsey, West Yorkshire. LS28 5EU

Any problems ring Colin Liversidge 07814773197, Thanks.

The group have raised money for the up keep of the Restoration work on the Ross Revenge. Sometimes we have former personalities from offshore radio visit, DVD nights, but mostly it's a get together of Radio Caroline Supporters for a social evening of chat and news of the restoration of the Ross Revenge. All are welcome at the meetings which are on the first Tuesday of every month.

Carolines Rob Ashard is a busy man

Why is Rob Ashard managing 19 mix-minus feeds while taping a British TV show? When COVID keeps the audience out of the studio, Rob and his colleagues must go to them - in their homes and flats.

Rob Ashard is the lead audio mixer for The Graham Norton Show and Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway. Audience interaction is critical, and these shows have found a way to make it happen. We’ll also discuss bringing a 60 year old portable tape deck back to life, plus learn about DE-RIG mixing kits.

View on Video Player

Caroline's new hourly station ID

There is now a new voice on Radio Caroline's album channel Top of the Hour ID and presenter IDs?

It's now done by guest presenter on Radio Caroline North, Paul McKenna. Paul started as a radio presenter for quite a number of stations including Radio Jackie, Radio Caroline, Chiltern Radio, Capital London and BBC Radio 1.

He was quite a successful author too, publishing many helpful books on quitting smoking and slimming.

Caroline Flashback's new presenter

Alex Sweeney originally came from Dundee, but his home for the last 20 Years is Bournemouth. He was a successful club DJ from the mid 70s to mid 80s. He then moved into commercial radio, hosting breakfast, drive and a specialist soul show on Radio Tay for a number of years.
He then left broadcasting and become a successful nightclub manager, managing clubs all over the UK (including The London Hippodrome).
Three years ago he decided to return to broadcasting at HRB in Bournemouth where he still presents a show and from November 2020 he has been presenting a soul show and a Saturday morning show on Durhamonair.
His new show on Caroline Flashback is on Wednesdays at 4pm

Alan Watts support for the RNLI

40 years ago, Radio Caroline broadcast from the Mi Amigo for the last time when a storm sank the pirate radio vessel.

Alan Watts was an avid listener and was so moved by the bravery of the RNLI Sheerness lifeboat crew who rescued his DJ heroes he became a lifelong supporter.

He has since included the RNLI in his Will to support our lifesaving work – find out more about leaving a legacy here: https://rnli.org/support-us

Watch Alan's video HERE Number 3 on playlist

Radio Caroline's successful oil rig lifeboat conversion

aptly named the "Ronan O'Rahilly"

Thanks to the generosity of helper Roland Beaney and his wife Viv from Romsey in Hampshire, Caroline now have their own lifeboat. They purchased an enclosed oil rig lifeboat, which was then brought by road from Aberdeen to Essex and taken to a work shed. Various helpers stripped out the boat and Steve Anthony and Peter Moore removed the top. Assisted in the later stages by Pete Crisp and Howard Beer, and rewired by George Johnson and David Noakes. The boat was then rebuilt as shown below.

In view of the sad passing this year of their founder and figurehead Ronan, the craft was appropriately named Ronan O'Rahilly.

She has now been launched.

New Caroline Community Radio

Caroline Community Radio is on 94.7 FM with a power of 200W, and the presenters include Ray Clark, Peter Phillips, Johnny Lewis and Graham Bannerman among others. Radio Caroline owns all the broadcast and other equipment previously owned by Saint FM. This was such an extensive inventory that Pete Crisp and Peter Moore were able to build the studio with plenty of items left over.

Caroline Community Radio serves Maldon and the surrounding towns and villages with a daily mix of music and community programming. Music programmes presented by experienced national and local radio broadcasters who also broadcast on Radio Caroline

Since this is not a 100% Caroline project it seemed unreasonable that Radio Caroline should fund all costs. The start-up costs were covered personally by Ray Clark, Peter Phillips, Peter Moore and a range of local firms and individuals. Surplus equipment will be used on the Ross and elsewhere or sold to recoup Caroline's expenditure.

The station self funds from grants and commercial advertising. Radio Caroline's advertisers are carried at no charge on the station.

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Ofcom sets out licensing plans for small-scale DAB

Local radio listeners will soon be able to tune into new stations following measures announced by Ofcom

Ofcom is setting out how we will license ‘small-scale DAB’, an innovative technology which will provide a low-cost route for local commercial, community and specialist music stations to take to the digital airwaves.

Small-scale DAB will expand local digital radio coverage and ensure that listeners will be able to tune into a diverse range of radio services across the UK, on the Digital Audio Broadcasting platform which now accounts for 40% of the UK’s radio listening.

They will advertise license's for small-scale DAB in batches, starting with 25 local areas across the UK, including five where trials are already underway. The second round will be for north west England and northeast Wales.

The first round of applications for DAB plus stations is now out and Caroline is on the applications for Winchester, Salisbury and Basingstoke.

Caroline Archive Hour

Message from Radio Caroline Flashback

Ray Robinson started making and collecting recordings of the offshore stations in 1970. That was when he was first able to buy a tape recorder with money saved from a summer holiday job while in high school. Since then, he has amassed an archive of many thousands of hours of broadcasts from all the offshore stations, and of course, Radio Caroline in particular.

A number of these recordings, often from momentous occasions, have been very skillfully edited by Alan Sheead to restore their music quality to modern day standards, while retaining all the original presenter links, jingles, commercials and promos.

Through these ‘Caroline Archive Hour’ shows, we will be bringing you the best of these restored recordings, focusing mainly on those from the 1960’s and 1970’s. More recent recordings will also be played from time to time, when their content includes music from these two decades, in line with the format of this channel. By listening to shows as they were originally presented all those years ago, you will not only hear tracks that never made the charts (and which you may well remember!), but you will also be able to re-connect with former Caroline DJ’s who became ‘friends’.

Enjoy exploring the archive with us, every Saturday and Sunday evening at 8pm UK time.

FLASHBACK SCHEDULE and PODCASTS

I'm helping Radio Caroline to raise money whenever I shop online - you could do the same? It's very simple - just visit.....

Easy Fundraising

....to register and shop with over 2000 well known retailers like Amazon, Argos, M&S, eBay and many more. Whenever I buy something, the retailer makes a donation to Radio Caroline. No extra cost to you. It really does work.

£12,570.79

raised so far (28-05-2021)

Woodley Net presents the Anorak Jukebox..

You can listen to all your favourite anorak songs and jingles on Woodley Nets Anorak Jukebox.

Songs include Caroline - The Fortunes, Man of Action, Because They're Young (Johnnie Walker theme), Peace - Peter. Also Caroline and Mi-Amigo jingles. Just added is a recording of the Caroline DJ's Xmas song from 1944 featuring Tony Allan.

Also features the 1972 Radio Luxemburg broadcast of an Elvis Presley special. It was called "The Elvis Presley Gramarathon". It was presented by Tony Prince and Mark Wesley and includes a rare interview with Elvis and also quite a few words with a young Todd Slaughter.

To go to the popup player click HERE

Radio Caroline on DAB in London

Radio Caroline can be heard on DAB+ throughout the London area. This is great for suitably equipped London car users who cannot hear the 648AM signal with clarity and don't want to mess with mobile device/bluetooth solutions. If you are located within the M25, the nearer to central London the better, simply give your DAB+ radio a full scan and then you should find it. If you're technically minded the frequency is 'Block 9A - centre Frequency 202.928MHz'.

Predicted coverage map as of 2016 – this does not take account of transmitter additions since then.

Caroline is also broadcasting to the following areas on DAB/

Brighton and Hove on DAB+. The area is home to 275,000 people, not counting the outskirts where the signal may also carry.

Aldershot. Previously the Aldershot area was covered by a transmitter in Woking but reception was patchy so another transmitter has been opened in Aldershot in addition to the transmitter in Woking which is still on air. Reception reports have been received from Fleet and Farnborough and further down the M3

Birmingham area. Try doing a search on your DAB Radio and save it on one of the buttons. Please let me know the results of your search on the contact button below .

Glasgow, fourth largest City in the UK with 1.2 million residents and home to over 40% of the Scottish population.

Portsmouth area in DAB +. Some radios that do not support DAB+ will be unable to find this new service. According to Solent Radio who are operating this new service the DAB digital radio transmitter was relocated to Fort Widley on Portsdown Hill and Ofcom have also kindly allowed a change to the transmission antenna which will result in an effective doubling of power. This means that coverage should be improved in the Southsea, Gosport, Hayling Island and Waterlooville areas.

Caroline and Caroline Flashback are both available on Norwich DAB+.

Caroline and Caroline Flashback are both available on Cambridge DAB+.

Listen to Radio Caroline on Google Home Mini Device

Caroline are on Google Home and Mini devices, via tune-in. To listen simply say: "OK Google, play Radio Caroline" or "OK Google, play Radio Caroline Flashback" or even "OK Google, play Manx Radio" for Manx Radio weekends

A powerful little helper. Google Home Mini keeps you informed and up to date with instant news, weather and commute updates without lifting a finger. Master the kitchen: Google Home Mini helps with timers, step-by-step recipes, and conversions and substitutes. By using your voice, ask for things like translations, calculations, nutrition information and unit conversions, or other information.

All the Mini needs is a mains supply and a Wi-Fi connection. It is a brilliant Internet Radio, just start by saying, "Ok Google, Play (name of station)" No setting up presets. Just say what you want and its there. Control volume with your voice also. This also works with Alexa devices

How to build a AM Frame / Loop Aerial

The picture shows a design for an aerial that was very popular in Radio Caroline's AM days when they were broadcasting from the North Sea and it pulled in a good signal over a wide area. Might be useful once more now Radio Caroline are on 648KHz AM

How to build a Frame / Loop Aerial

This aerial replaces the long wire and is very compact and and can conveniently sit next to the radio and as long as the radio has its own built in ferrite rod aerial, no connections to the set are needed. It is directional and after tuning in the aerial, it can moved in different directions to cancel out interference.

Materials needed

6 ft of 1 and a quarter inch timber 100 ft of single plastic coated wire 1 x 400pf variable tuning capacitor 8 large rubber door stops screws, wire clips and solder

Assembly

Cut timber into two lengths of 25 inches and four lengths of 5 inches and assemble the frame as per the drawing. Where the wire goes round the corners cut 16 evenly spaced grooves (17 on the corner where the wire starts and finishes) the wire must start and finish on the same corner.

Tack the start of the wire onto the frame and start winding it on, keeping each turn nice and tight. When you have 16 turns of wire on the frame bring the wire back down the same leg you started on and make secure with tacks.

Solder the two ends of wire onto the two terminals of the tuning capacitor, it does not matter which one goes where just as long as they are well soldered.

The capacitor should be fixed with araldite or similar in the corner.

Fix the rubber feet as on the diagram.

The aerial is now ready for use. Try different positions for the frame as all sets have their ferrite rods aerials in different places.

Good luck with this, we would appreciate any comments on the construction.

Lots more details and ideas CLICK HERE

Tony Prince and Mark Wesley Podcast

IIn 1942 Radio Luxemburg broadcast an Elvis Presley special. It was called "The Elvis Presley Gramarathon". It was presented by Tony Prince and Mark Wesley and includes a rare interview with Elvis and also quite a few words with a young Todd Slaughter. I put my Akai reel to reel tape on at the time and left it recording the show and went down the pub for an hour. Luckily Luxemburg reception was pretty good that night and I got a fairly good recording. Its been on Podomatic for quite a few years now, so I thought I'd give it a bit of a plug. Here's the Podomatic Link Or listen on the Woodley Net, Anorak Jukebox

Surrey Anoraks Society

JJust to let you know that the Surrey Anorak's Society (formerly the Caroline Movement East Surrey Branch) still meets on the first Tuesday of every month. The sasradiogroup are now back at the Home Cottage, Redhill, Surrey . Venue on Google

Ken James ran this branch from 84-90. They meet at the Home Cottage pub near Redhill railway station. Regular attendees included Graham Foy, Geoff Rogers, Ray Adams, Sue Buckle, Richard Buckle (Jackson), Gabe (Steve) Conway, Benny James and Dennis Jason. Happy days! Any queries, get in touch with Ken. email:- khtj62@gmail.com

The meetings have been held every month since January 1985. A chance to have a drink, meet old friends or new and talk about radio. Meet old land based pirate DJs, and a few of the crew of Susy Radio - Reigate and Redhill community radio).

They produce their own newsletter SAS Interference (formerly the SAS Home Pages.

The SAS now has its own website sasradiogroup.org Info from Graham Foy and Ken James

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Mini Caroline "Ships"

One of Caroline’s faithful listeners, Ron Hubbert commonly called Narrowowboat Ron, is the proud owner of a narrowboat called "Caroline" complete with bell.

Tommy Gerrard also has his own boat on a canal in Cheshire. Tommy is seen doing a bit of "rust bashing" on his boat which has the same name as Caroline's old ship Mi Amigo. But it looks like there is a bit of piratical activity going on as he finds another canal boat with the same name as our famous station and it also has its own mast proudly reaching for the sky. He is now looking forward to meeting the owner of this other vessel.

Message from Tony Lake (doughnut)

Hi There, Some of your group maybe aware of the Tug Boat Challenge that is now in Southampton? There is a big link to offshore Radio of the 1960s, in that she helped to tow all of the Sea Forts into place in WW2. She is the Tug in the picture of the Twin Legged Mansell Fort, I have been part of a team who have spent their Saturdays in Shoreham helping to put it back to sea. She is now next to the Shieldhall in Southampton Docks. Back in 1990 I was lucky or unlucky to spend 5 weeks on the Ross Revenge on the North Sea. and then worked on her in Dover and then Blackwater, Regards Tony Lake (doughnut) Click thumbnail for larger photo

http://www.stchallenge.org/timeline

Harry makes the news...

from the Sunday Times By Jonathan Leake and Jack Grimston 15 August 2010

From pirates to poltergeists. A ghost called Harry has apparently been haunting a ship that once housed Radio Caroline at sea and still does in more recent years in the River Blackwater. The spirit is said to have been seen flitting upstairs and has been blamed for pranks such as tapping crew members on the shoulder and stealing their tea.

The antics have been reported by enthusiasts restoring the MV Ross Revenge, from where Radio Caroline made its final offshore broadcast in 1990. The ghost stories have been logged by Kimberley Peters, a researcher at Royal Holloway, London University, who will present her findings next month to the Royal Geographical Society.

One crew member told Peters: "I've had several encounters with Harry. My first one goes back to 2004. Having finished work, we were sitting in the studio having a beer when we heard footsteps.

"I looked up just in time to see someone coming round the landing and going round the next set of stairs to the bridge. When we went to investigate, no one was there and downstairs the doors were still bolted."

Peters believes the hauntings could be a psychological reaction driven by the nostalgia of the restorers for the ship's history. "I cannot say whether such ghostly experiences were real, but they were real enough for the crew members who experienced them," said Peters. "Underlying it is a very real sense of seeing apparitions, conveying something else, like lost heritage."