29th March 1964, RADIO CAROLINE launches off the coast of S.E. England.

[roger]

Hello All.

Today [[29th March 2014) marks the 50th anniversary of the launch of Radio Caroline, which started broadcasting off the coast of South East England on Easter Sunday 1964.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-26769631

The station operated from a ship moored in International waters a few miles off the Essex town of Harwich, playing "Pop" music and broadly adopting a U.S. "Top 40" radio format.

Until that time pop music fans in the U.K. had very little to listen to on the Radio, the BBC had a few hours of airtime each week where new "Pop" releases were aired and at night we were able to pick up a handful of stations playing "Pop" music from Continental Europe [[most notably the English service of Radio Luxembourg) but reception of these night-time stations was frequently poor.

This was the time of the British "Beat-Music" boom, led by Liverpool based groups such as THE BEATLES, and at the time that Radio Caroline launched the U.K. charts were dominated by this type of music.

This is the U.K. Top 20 on the day that Radio Caroline launched ....

1 - LITTLE CHILDREN: BILLY J KRAMER AND THE DAKOTAS
2 - JUST ONE LOOK: HOLLIES
3 - NOT FADE AWAY: ROLLING STONES
4 - ANYONE WHO HAD A HEART: CILLA BLACK
5 - I LOVE YOU BECAUSE: JIM REEVES
6 - BITS AND PIECES: DAVE CLARK FIVE
7 - THAT GIRL BELONGS TO YESTERDAY: GENE PITNEY
8 - CAN'T BUY ME LOVE: BEATLES
9 - BOYS CRY: EDEN KANE
10 - DIANE: BACHELORS
11 - I BELIEVE: BACHELORS
12 - TELL ME WHEN: APPLEJACKS
13 - THEME FOR YOUNG LOVERS: SHADOWS
14 - I THINK OF YOU: MERSEYBEATS
15 - LET ME GO, LOVER: KATHY KIRBY
16 - A WORLD WITHOUT LOVE: PETER AND GORDON
17 - STAY AWHILE: DUSTY SPRINGFIELD
18 - NEEDLES AND PINS: SEARCHERS
19 - CANDY MAN: BRIAN POOLE AND THE TREMELOES
20 - VIVA LAS VEGAS: ELVIS PRESLEY

http://www.itv.com/news/anglia/2014-...line-was-born/

Radio Caroline, soon to be joined by a competitor "Offshore" station Radio Atlanta, mixed in current U.S. R&B releases with the current big U.K. hits and soon the upper reaches of the U.K. charts were featuring records by the likes of MARY WELLS, DIONNE WARWICK and THE SUPREMES. Within a year around a dozen "Offshore" stations were broadcasting around the coast of the U.K.

Restrictions on the "Offshore" stations were imposed by the British Government in 1967 but Radio Caroline, in one form or another, has continued up to the present ..

http://www.radiocaroline.co.uk/#home.html



Roger

[westgrandboulevard]

Good to hear that Radio Caroline North will be broadcasting to Liverpool for 28 days next month.

And good to see Tony Prince still going strong, and being interviewed yesterday with Peter Antony on BBC Breakfast show.

Must admit I did seem to favour Radio London, for some reason.

But without the pirate radio stations, and Radio Luxembourg, I wouldn't have heard most of the wonderful Motown and soul 45s from that time, and which are still celebrated, and particularly here, fifty years on.

[144man]

When Radio London launched it didn't have many records. The Marvelettes' "Too Many Fish In the Sea" seemed to be on permanent rotation.

On Radio Caroline Tony Blackburn would play obscure Motown records like Sammy Ward's "You've Got to Change".

Great days!

[roger]

When Radio London launched it didn't have many records. The Marvelettes' "Too Many Fish In the Sea" seemed to be on permanent rotation.

On Radio Caroline Tony Blackburn would play obscure Motown records like Sammy Ward's "You've Got to Change".

Great days!

Interesting reminiscences 144man .. I see that THE MARVELETTES were in the first ever Radio London chart at #30 on 24th January 1965 with "Too Many Fish in The Sea".

http://www.radiolondon.co.uk/rl/scrap60/fabforty/65fabs/jan65/fab240165/fab240165.html

Sticking with Motown it is Interesting to see that the FOUR TOPS are also in that first ever Radio London chart at #13 with "Baby I Need Your Loving", THE SUPREMES are at #18 with "Come See About Me" and MARVIN GAYE is at #27 with "How Sweet It Is" :)

Roger