September/October
2001
There is a plan by a Dutch TV producer Harry de Winter to start a new offshore Peace station off the coast of Israel. As far as I know, this is NOT an attempt to refloat the Voice of Peace (the name is copyrighted to Abie Nathan ), but to start a new offshore station dedicated to peace. It is being talked about on the web and in other circles, so I can write to you and tell you.
Let me direct you to the Radio Visie site, www.radiovisie.com where you will find more on the proposed station, and my comments on it.
I just hope that this is not another attempt to start a peace station like about 2-3 years ago, when I got involved with a Canadian who wanted to restart the VOP, and when he realized how much time and money it would take to get it going, ran back to Canada.
When I can reveal more, I will be in touch.
Keith King wrote:
I have received a copy from the States of the new 4 CD Rhino box set Nuggets 2, containing many rare 60's British Psychedelic singles. It's complete with a book packed with detailed information about many artists featured on Big L such as Dantalion's Chariot, Episode 6, Davy Jones and the Lower 3rd, etc. It features a reprinted "pop art" 1967 Raver's Map of London's West End with Boutiques, Eateries and Discotheques. The Big L Discotheque is shown on Charing Cross Road near Soho Square. Do you have any information about this, for example was there a connection with the station or was it just people trying to cash in on the Station's popularity at the time?Interestingly enough, I read a review of Nuggets 2 while we were in the States recently. The track the reviewer regarded as outstanding was 'Going Nowhere' by Los Bravos, which of course was in the Fab Forty in Dec '66, having been Tony Blackburn's climber. It was played it quite a lot during Big L '97.
"You're living in the past." (Doo, doo de doo)The Radio Magazine recently published two articles by Tony Currie. In them he contemplates whether radio has lost its way, and whether there is a place for the sort of programming that are a feature of the Radio London, RNI and other, RSLs, or are we all living in the past. Both articles can be found on Hans Knot's Soundscapes site: |
Tony: Lost, or just living in the past? |
Thanks, Ian. We're glad to hear that everyone at Susy Radio had as much fun recreating Real Radio as we did with Big L.Hi, good day to you, Big Lil.
Just dropping you a quick E to say, looks like you had a great time with your most recent RSL. We were doing ours at the same time, up on 531khz. Which for us "Old Hacks" was a REAL pleasure and a treat doing "Medium Wave" again. Real Radio!!! Sadly I couldn't pick you up over here in West London (Hounslow), but maybe one day I shall. Keep up the great work. Enjoyed browsing the web-site.
The Museum of Commercial Radio has just launched a new station called GRI2 - ROCK OF THE NORTH and it appears on the museum website alongside Golden Radio International. This is a great station to have playing all the time as it is 24/7 with NO repeats. The format is the best in classic rock, soul and a sprinkling of contemporary country. Some really great stuff, old and new.
The host is sonicnet.com and it is a very clean audio stream using their own system. Either link from the museum at www.themcr.freeserve.co.uk or use this: www.sonicnet.com/listen/TheMCR.jhtml
The October update to the Pirate Radio Hall of Fame, includes a gallery of photos taken during his time aboard the Galaxy, by Big L's tall guy, Duncan Johnson www.offshoreradio.co.uk/album8.htm
Says Jonathan:
"The indoor photos (Kenny and Cash, TW) are a bit blurry because they were taken without a flash but I think they are still worth bringing to a wider audience. I have been nagging Duncan for ages to dig them out from his garden shed so I am glad he has finally done it. He has also given me some photos from his time on RNI so if I ever extend the Hall of Fame to cover the seventies I have some pictures ready to roll."
Oct 8th
"Just when I've been able to catch my breath from the events of September 11, the retaliation began yesterday during my shift at KOGO. We immediately went to wall-to-wall "war" coverage and called in all available news people. After beginning my shift at 4am, I was finally allowed to leave around 2pm. Tired?? You bet. And I have to go in again shortly for another long shift."
Interesting to see Radio London charts published. If there was a book, I would certainly subscribe to it. I was actually a 70s teenager and an avid listener to the Luxembourg Top 30, and particularly Capital Radio's Capital Countdown, which tended to ignore the sales of records if it didn't agree with them, e.g. no novelty records, but Peter Gabriel or Bob Marley at number 2, even pre-releases and a Stevie Wonder LP track in the chart! Most commercial radio stations used to do this sort of chart in the 70s and even then, I was aware that Radio London had pioneered this approach in Britain. I listened to Radio Caroline and RNI in the mid-70s so I was always interested in offshore radio.
From September 16th to October 3rd, Chris and Mary were in St Petersburg near Tampa, Florida! |
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Better than Clacton beach, but not the same without Big L! |
The tourist industry in the US is suffering from cancelled vacations. Beach bars and hotels are nearly empty. As well as tourists, many hotels on the Florida coastline usually accommodate company courses, seminars and meetings. Flags fly at half-mast everywhere, while people try and get on with their lives as best they can. |
Peter Young has sent us the sad news that award-winning writer and broadcaster,
Jeremy Pascall, passed away on August 30th after
a long fight against throat cancer.
Jeremy made an impact both as a broadcaster and a writer. He was the devisor
and presenter of Capital Radio (London)'s comedy quiz show You
Ain't Heard Nothin' Yet and Brunch. Brunch,
an innovative Sunday morning mixture of music and comedy, was fronted by the
late Roger Scott, featured Paul Burnett and early appearances of Angus Deayton,
Jan Ravens and Steve Brown. Jeremy Pascal, Angus Deayton and Geoffrey Perkins,
co-wrote The Uncyclopaedia of Rock, the winner of the 1986 Monaco International
Radio Festival Award, which also appeared as a book.
Jeremy co-wrote the current Radio Four sketch show, The
Right Time.
PY, who regularly appeared on YAHNY, says:
Jeremy's funeral will be on Wednesday, September 12th.Those shows we did all those years ago are something I treasure, and we had a lot of laughs both on and off the air. May he rest in peace.
Andy Cadier says:
Could I point people to the recently formed RadioAnoraksUk@yahoogroups.com which is happy to let people talk about anything and everything related to 'free radio'. It's not a list specifically for one station, but for anybody who's an anorak, so you're never 'off-topic'. There are already nearly 100 members, and nearly 50 postings, and it's only been going a week!
To join it send a blank mail to
RadioAnoraksUk-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
and or go to
groups.yahoo.com/group/RadioAnoraksUk
JW and BB enhance RL the Website, that is! |
More Radio London Exclusives!You loved our exclusive photograph of a special offshore reunion in August's What's Happening and now Howie Castle, aka Bud Ballou, has very kindly forwarded this photo which was taken in the BBC Radio Two studios when he visited the Johnnie Walker Show in July 2001. Differences between radio in the UK and the USA are marked. Johnny was amused to hear from Howie, who works as a news anchor for KOGO in San Diego, California, that while 'travel news' here refers to traffic jams, in San Diego the travel news concerns airline information! Just as we were putting the site to bed, the following news arrived hotfoot from Howie at KOGO:
Terrific news, Howie, and we're glad we received it on time! Congratulations to you and to all the hard-working team at KOGO. Referring to the C-A-R-O-L-I-N-E story, below, Howie says:
Neither can we! Thinking about it, that song bears more than a passing resemblance to V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N, by Connie Francis a summer hit in '62. |
Typically, I spent quite a few minutes looking at the envelope, trying to work out what it was... why do people do that instead of just getting on and opening it? Well I could never have guessed... my very first (and probably my very last) news-script, laminated and preserved for posterity! What a lovely idea, thank you.
I've now played back most of the programme and it all sounds rather good. That'll bring back a lot of happy memories in the years to come. I thought the interview and newscasts went pretty well, and even dared to play them over to a couple of friends this morning.
We
Fort The Law: Knock
John, now derelict and eerie,
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|
Andy
Cadier aka Martin Kane, reports: At noon on Saturday Sept 1st, most of the former staff from the offshore
pirate station Radio Essex (later known as BBMS) attended a luncheon in
a banqueting suite at Kettner's Restaurant in Romilly Street, London W1.
The event celebrated the memories of the fort "Knock John" and the little
radio station that was so very active 35 years ago. Radio Essex was the
first British station to broadcast 24 hours a day and the only pirate
at that time to dedicate itself as a pioneer to local commercial radio. |
Among the goodies this month are: three audio clips from Radio 270, plus a couple from Caroline and one from Radio Atlanta, more names have been inducted into the roll of honour, we hear from Steve Merike and the long-lost Doug Kerr.
PLUS!
Radio Two assists listeners to find Big L 2001!
Congratulations to Jonathan on his site being Radio Two Website of the Week!
Jonathan says:
You might have heard the Hall of Fame mentioned on BBC Radio 2 on 15th August. There was a sudden surge in visitor numbers (nearly 1500 people visited on the following day) and even now, two weeks later, there are between 150 and 200 people accessing it each day. 4912 in total this month. It's good to know that so many people are still fascinated by the subject after all this time. It's not just me!
Of course not, Jonathan! There were thousands of avid listeners to the offshore
stations and they haven't all emigrated!
RNI's Dave Rogers, one of the star presenters of Big L 2001, whom we were pleased to meet up with again during the RSL, tells us that he owned a Dewtron wave trap and that it proved to be an extremely useful gadget. Dave says when he lived in the West Country during the Sixties, the Dewtron, a device about double the size of a matchbox, enabled him to listen to Big L on the beach at Weston-Super-Mare. People would come up to him and say, "That's a good radio station. What is it?""Trouble getting Luxembourg, Caroline, London? They're all yours for only 39/6 with the fabulous Dewtron wave trap. Just place near your transistor portable and boost all distant stations! Extend battery life! Use in car instead of aerial!"?
Meanwhile, Ian 'Wombat' Damon revealed yesterday (September 1st) how disappointed he was to wake up on a Saturday and NOT have to drive to Clacton. Instead, he went to a different seaside Brighton. The Wombat, who has thoroughly enjoyed presenting shows on the four Saturday afternoons of the August RSL, is hoping to record a Big L 'Christmas Special' for Internet transmission.
E-D-I-T-I-N-G J-I-N-G-L-E-S on C-A-R-O-L-I-N-E!On August 14th, Big L 2001 received an unexpected exclusive offshore
news story from Bud Ballou. A little after
3.00pm, Dennis Jason played the single,
C-A-R-O-L-I-N-E by Roy Hastings. Bud,
who was shortly due to depart for his return trip to California, was on
the opposite side of the pier, looking out to sea, and listening with
a group of friends. He was amazed to hear the Roy Hastings single, because
that was the very record he had edited to make a Caroline jingle, while
aboard the Mi Amigo ! He was amazed to hear that Caroline still
uses it today! |
Ballou samples a brew: taking a break from editing jingles |
As viewers can probably guess, Hans's son Markus became an artist. Markus's work can be viewed at the URL above.Listening to your web feed from Clacton Pier at 18:48 GMT on live365.com. I heard you playing Summertime with Billy Stewart and speaking out my name....! I have not heard that one for decades! Thank you very much for the information Mary! And thank you for Painter Man by the Creation also. Wow, what a great record it was and brought up some good memories from the winter and spring early 1967.
My eldest son, born 1974, graduated from high-school 1994 and then I gave him a cheque and a dedication containing quotes from Painter Man. If you take a look at his website: woima.com/markus/Homepage.htm I think you will understand why.
Yes, you are quite right, his fling for pinball-games and machines is a result of overexposure to the "Tommy" album as a small baby...
Stevie Gordon tells us:
The winter schedule is upon us, and the Stevie Gordon Show has been upgraded into a better slot. (At least, I suppose it's a better slot). Every week, from Sunday, August 26th, the programme will be going out live between 10am and midday CET. Your requests, dedications and anorak gossip, are all welcome either at jingles@online.no or post@radio-hamar.no
For those of you living outside the service area, remember our address is www.radio-hamar.no but only with Media Player.
Please tune in. I am looking forward to talking to you on Sunday morning.