August 2004
(July 2004 is here...)

 Quote of the Week (for the final week of August) (received as a spam message):
 "When cream puff of hockey player prays, squid inside trembles."
Tom in the News
 Mike Terry has drawn our attention to a great newspaper story about Big L founder, Tom Danaher, written August 22nd, by Lee B. Weaver. Tom, who celebrated his 80th birthday in May (see this 'Happenings') has certainly never settled for a quiet life! The fascinating feature appears in Tom's local paper, the Wichita Falls Times Record News, in Texas.
Twiggy in Tilbury
 The Radio Caroline RSL from the Ross Revenge in Tilbury has been proving a great success.

John Sales wrote on Thursday 26th: "Roger 'Twiggy' Day did an absolutely cracking breakfast show on Radio Caroline this morning. It was all 1964 to 1968 material and stories from this period."

You can see the schedules and listen via the link above.
Communicator Houses Superstation
 The MV Communicator has arrived in St Margaret's Hope in the Orkneys to become The Superstation. The vessel left Lowestoft on Saturday, towed by the tug Goliath. The station's website says:

"You will be able to listen online via our 'listen live' link at the bottom of the page, or in Kirkwall and surrounding areas on 105.4 FM for the duration of our 3-month RSL"

A group of friends
commemorates August 14th 2004
with a few surprise guests
(See our photo montage)

and read a big 'Hail Citizens!' from
the Roman Emperor, who says:

"Please pass on my thanks and best wishes to all the fans all over the world."
Veronica Special Broadcast
 Stichting Norderney is a Dutch foundation set up to preserve memories of Radio Veronica from the days before the station came ashore.

The group is staging a 16-day commemorative broadcast from 0500 UTC on 16 August to 1600 UTC on 31 August on 828 kHz, one of the mediumwave frequencies licensed to Ruud Poeze. This will include re-runs of old Veronica programmes from 1960-74.

Stichting Norderney is also organising a four-day event at Hotel Lapershoek in Hilversum on 28-31 August, where from a specially-built studio, many former DJs and staff will speak about their memories of Radio Veronica. The four days are open to the public for an admission price of EU5.00. There will also be items for sale such as T-shirts, DVDs, CDs and LPs. The double CD 'The Veronica Story' which sold out some time ago, has been re-pressed especially for the event.

The current, on-shore, version of Radio Veronica will broadcast live from the hotel with Bart van Leeuwen at 0700-1000 UTC on 31 August.
Shagging on the Internet
 Our old friend Fessa John Hook, from North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, has set up his own Internet station, Endless Summer Network. John says:

Beach Music and Shag evolved under different names and styles in many places for nearly 60 years. Some call it good time oldies, Soul, and Rhythm 'n Blues. In other parts of the world the same music is the foundation for Steppin' and Modern Soul. This is the oldest site on the web for news, charts, and now free Webcasts for Beach Music from the Edge of Paradise with Fessa John Hook.

Now you can listen to ALL the Top 40, the Bubbling Under tunes, and the great hits of the past. (And, you can e-mail me your requests, dedications, with time-to-play, and I'll get as close as possible.)

Beach Music and Northern Soul have a great deal in common, and those who enjoy NS will be pleased to know that Kev Roberts, author of 'The Northern Soul Top 500', will be presenting a Sunday show on the station.
Communicator on the Move
Mark Keable of Pirate Alley UK, who wrote in last month's Happenings about his trip to the Communicator being 'the best £5 he ever spent' says:

As you know I live a few miles from Lowestoft where the Communicator is... well was!

On 20th August a tug was seen moored alongside and with the impending start of the Super Station on 1st September, it seems the time has come for a departure from the port.

I've updated pirate alley to show some pictures of the tug.

Pirate Alley UK address: www.thunderbaynet.com/pirate

With its initials reminiscent of the sound you would utter when your head hits the ship's mast in a force ten, the FNAOR has taken place in Vancouver! This photo was taken in the foyer of a city radio station, where we were interviewed in one of the studios by a TV news crew.
(Don't ask!)

You can click on the picture to see a larger version and make your own list of who you think these guys are, or cheat, by viewing Radio London's three-page reunion photo montage, with feedback from guests.

More Pics in the Hall
 The Pirate Radio Hall of Fame also contains two pages of Vancouver reunion photos, courtesy of Kenny Tosh. Also in the August update, David Sinclair shares pictures from his time on Radio 270 and Reg Calvert's daughter Susan recalls the start of Radio Sutch. Since his July update, Jonathan has added a full tribute to Tony Allan.
Clips from the Hall
Busy Pirate Radio Hall of Fame webmaster Jonathan, also supplied offshore radio clips for Steve Wright's Radio 2 pirate feature on Friday 13th. Tony Blackburn, Johnnie Walker and Steve Merike (via phone) discussed both the fun and the seasickness of watery wireless. Johnnie and Steve routed for Caroline as 'the station with soul', while Tony, who served both on Caroline and London routed for Radio London as the top station.

Ed Stewart indicated that he would commemorate the Radio London closedown during his Sunday afternoon Radio 2 programme, (Aug 15th) between 17.00 and 19.00 BST, while Keith Skues was featuring Ray Clark's acclaimed documentary, previously heard on Pirate BBC Essex. Between 10.00pm and 1.00am every Monday evening, Keith reverts, werewolf-like, to his former piratical self, evil seaman Cardboard Shoes, to take over the BBC Radio Norfolk airwaves (networked over several counties) as Pirate Radio Skues.

Sutch and the City
Bob le Roi writes:

We're now a multi-browser site and in the process of improving our audio streaming. More from the forts this month in Scrapbook with a return to Shivering Sands for Part 7 of Sutch and City, whilst in "One Subject One Link" it's "Childs Play".

Picnic Time Again!
August 1st was the date of the 2004 Annual Mass Picnic organised by Fran and Roger Cooper and after the success of last year's, Runnymede was again chosen for the venue. This was handy, because Runnymede is beside the Thames and Roger's good friend, Colin Pattenden (late of Manfred Mann's Earth Band) just happens to have recently purchased a boat.

Mary and Pauline were lucky enough to be invited on one of her maiden voyages, to toast her with a slurp of champagne! We have suggested to Colin that the boat, though a little cramped, might be a useful site for Radio Pattenden FM. (Colin's wife is called Jacky, but that name is already taken!)

The picnic again broke attendance records with 105 people and 6 dogs enjoying the sunshine (see Roger's report on his website). The people seemed to mix better than the canines!

Left, CK, Chris and Pauline.
Right, Colin 'Cap'n Pugwash' Pattenden takes Mary and Pauline for a spin
Ian's thoughts on Analogue Airspace
In Ian MacRae 's on-line newsletter The Radio Wave #30, Ian wonders what all those vacated frequencies on AM and FM are going to be used for when the big switch-overs to digital occur, both in the UK and Oz. He says:

Can't imagine all that suddenly available spectrum being unused. Or Governments not foreseeing a way of making lots of money auctioning off the analogue airspace.

The newsletter announces the launch of a new Aussie Gold Internet station, which is likely to offer more interesting fare than the norm and continues its series on publicity stunts which went dreadfully wrong.

A Name from the Past
A message arrived from Chris Faulkner

Chris from Holyhead here, hope things are well with you. I now live in Shetland and work with the Coastguard here.

I am currently on watch with a guy called Charlie, who you might remember as the engineer aboard the Ocean Defender. He sends his regards and is over the moon and proud as punch to see his name mentioned on your website.

Everyone who was involved with Big L 97/8 over the festive season will remember Charlie, who particularly enjoyed the Kenny Everett promos we played. Pauline Miller says: "I do remember Charlie very well, especially for his Kenny Everett impression!"

(Left) Charlie and Mary wash up after Christmas Dinner, December 25th 1997


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