On 14 Aug 2017 at 6:56am Jolly Roger wrote:
Today is the 50th. anniversary of the Marine Offences Act becoming law; which made it illegal for anyone to work on or supply the popular pirate radio stations broadcasting just off our coasts.
For me, this was probably the most significant event of 1967, a sad day that curtailed a harmless source of pleasure to many teenagers, and others. I remember DJ Johnnie Walker announcing "No man will ever forget August the fourteenth 1967"
I would be interested in hearing any one else's memories or opinions on this subject.
On 14 Aug 2017 at 10:23am Earl of Lewess wrote:
It seems extraordinary now, in the age of podcasts. But pirate radio still continued - anyone remember Radio Jackie? - and pressure grew from the IBA to allow commercial stations begin in 1973. I'm a big fan of the BBC, but giving them a monopoly was something you'd expect in the Soviet Union.
On 14 Aug 2017 at 11:33am The Greek wrote:
Radio Jackie was the first commercial licence obtained I believe and still broadcasts from Tolworth Tower. Have a drive around the M25 and you can still pick up plenty of London pirate radios, usually drum and bass or hip hop.
On 14 Aug 2017 at 1:05pm Caroline wrote:
I was ten nearly eleven and I remember it well. I was on holiday with my parents, brother, aunt and family friends. We were staying in a big house in Fairbourne, North Wales. We used to listen at night under the bed sheets pretending to be asleep.
On 14 Aug 2017 at 2:16pm Old Mod wrote:
Remember listening to crackly old Radio Luxembourg in the late seventies
One of the few that played punk at the time
On 14 Aug 2017 at 3:53pm Older Rocker wrote:
Tried listening to Luxembourg. in the 60's . But being near to Kingstanding on Ashdown forest, kept getting crosstalk from the " secret " BBC world service. Just a *******ing call sign duh duh da da duh duh.... ad nauseam
On 14 Aug 2017 at 4:24pm Simon Dee wrote:
I wondered why Tony Blackburn was being interviewed on Radio 4 this morning. ......I thought he'd died.
On 14 Aug 2017 at 5:28pm Earl of Lewess wrote:
Radio Luxembourg was great, apart from the signal that kept drifting in and out. I'd only ever hear half of a new Slade hit. I remember the Top 30 being on Tuesday nights until 11pm, which meant that I was always tired at school the next day.
On 14 Aug 2017 at 5:32pm Tango wrote:
Ah, Luxembourg! The Royal ruler, the emperor Rosco. Stuart Henry. Great days. Signal fading away and constant twiddling of the dial!
On 14 Aug 2017 at 9:40pm Wilfred pickles wrote:
And adverts for Cedarwood aftershave and Aqua Manda
On 15 Aug 2017 at 2:32am wrote:
I’m just a bit too young to remember Caroline, but remember Luxembourg pretty well – and also the rarely spoken of, Laser 558.
I have a feeling it was only their novelty and removal from the establishment that attracted me, they were exotic and non-conformist, and so, by extension, was I.
Let’s be honest though, for all its faults, BBC radio was, and still is, perfectly good. The signal was always better and they covered most niches if you were discerning. Maybe not in the 60’s but certainly by the early/mid 70’s. The idea of being a fan of a DJ is quite absurd, but I’d readily admit to being a John Peel fan any day.
One of my Brighton friends really impressed me once, in the early nineties, by telling me he spent every Sunday afternoon, rain or shine, standing in the corner of various fields manning a pirate transmitter. I was over pirate and commercial radio by then though, I had already decided that one of the few thing in life I hate more passionately than radio advertising is amateur radio advertising
And then there’s that pitiful mess of a film about pirate radio, The Boat that Rocked - a ghastly story of leaden no-hopers, misfits and losers failing to succeed at anything meaningful. Hang on, maybe that was exactly the point?
On 15 Aug 2017 at 10:43am Sensible wrote:
The illegal radio stations of the 1960s, by broadcasting on unauthorised frequencies, interfered with legitimate emergency services communications leading to loss of life. Radio frequencies are important and limited natural resources that must be regulated by authority in the same way as mineral extraction rights. Furthermore, the decline in morality that their disgusting programmes and records promoted has led to generations of irresponsibility, religious non-observance and disrespect for one's betters. The young people began to choose to miss Mass on Sundays because they were up too late the night before listening to illegal radio or, worse, meeting people of the opposite sex outside the homes of their parents. We missed the opportunity to clean up the media in the 1960s. Encouraging immoral behaviour leads only to destruction and condemnation. God will not be mocked.
On 15 Aug 2017 at 12:42pm I missed Mass wrote:
'cause of Father Fiddler- Now I follow Subud.