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Radio Sutch & City - Part 10

The Sands still Shiver more adventures from the Thames Estuary Radio Fort

Issue : 14 Updated : 28th November 2022

With thoughts and comment from former Radio City Boys; Ross Brown and Ian MacRae

Radio City Programme Schedule 1967

Shivering Sands in 1967

Shivering Sand Army Forts

Home of Radio City on 299 mmw the Shivering Sand Army Forts with the rented big mast removed very soon after the station closed down in February in 1967

Ross Brown in Radio City T Shirt

Ross Brown gets the first 1966 Tower of Power T'Shirt

"It seems I was very camera shy in the 60s the only photo I have is this one with beard wearing Radio City T'Shirt taken at the London Office" - Ross Brown (RB)

Finished in Blue on White imagine the shock I had when presenting at Invicta Radio Group a listener arrived proudly wearing his original 1966 T'Shirt! - Ed 

Oxford Cinema

The former Oxford Cinema

Next door to the Radio City Office at 20a Oxford Street Whitstable, became a Bingo Hall

"I remember the record shop that doubled as an office for the South Thames region, & the funny cinema next door!" "These days my wife & I love traveling we have been to Spain, Portugal & many countries" - RB

Pictures of the Record Centre at 20a Oxford Steet in Sutch & City - Part 8

In its Cinematic days breakdowns were common, the programme invariably began late, lip sync' sound was unheard of

More often than not just one of the old two 1930's projectors worked at any one time so reel changes took an age to complete!

Come back senior projectionist Wally Duke all's forgiven

See the Oxford Cinema's second projectionists comments in Sutch & City - Part 5

City Sudio 1966

The Radio City Studio (1966)

Ian MacRae on air

Ian MacRae with the hits of the day

Here's one of me in what was laughingly called a studio - Ian MacRae (IM)

* Hat to help keep warm, the forts were cold drafty old places in the winter months - Ed

Fred Flintstone

Fred Flintstone

Radio City Yabadabadoo - IM


Audio

Ian McRae post closedown before Engineers messages 4th July 1966

Recording is an edit of a full sketch for a character that would be introduced to the Comedy Show the Auntie Mabel Hour'


Press Cutting Prisoners listen to Radio City Press Cutting Prisoners listen to Radio City

Whitstable Times

Music on the run - Extract from the Whitstable Times

Eric and Dorothy

The other Eric Martin with Dorothy Calvert in Control Tower Studio (1966)

Dennis Straney

Dennis Straney (1966)

General Electric TCK-7 transmitter rebuild

General Electric TCK-7

Thank you for your "Radio Sutch & City " pages, here's the General Electric TCK-7 transmitter, I mentioned - Bob Bartola (BB)

Thanks again from your friends across the pond - BB

26/12/07 - Picture above from Bob Bartola seems to show a TBA, a higher-power HF rig running a pair of 833s - Rob Flory (RF)

General Electric TCK-7 transmitter rebuild

General Electric TCK-7 transmitter, close-up

Pictures of the General Electric TCK-7 rebuild by Bob Bartola, similar model transmitter used by Radio City

See original Radio City transmitter picture & detail in Sutch City Part 4

26/12/07 - The General Electric TCJ medium wave TX covers 300 to 600kc, 837 master oscillator, 807 Intermediate power amplifier with a pair 813s in the final amplifier. CW and MCW modes, 400 watts output at 1800V on the plates - 73, RF

Ian McRae on Harvester II

Ian McRae on Harvester II

Shivering Sands June 1966

Shivering Sands from 'Harvester II' (1966)

Radio City Flyer 1966 Neil Christian

Radio City Flyers (1966)

Alf Bullen tasked by Oliver Smedley of Project Atlanta (Caroline South) to assemble a crew of Dockers for some business in the Thames Estuary

In the early hours of Monday 20th June, Smedley, Bullen along with Kitty Black and eight others boarded Shivering Sands from the Gravesend tug 'Vanquisher' and forcibly closed the station over ownership of a transmitter

Shivering Sands G1 Roof June 1966 Alf Bullen June 1966

Shivering Sands Southern Gun Tower 1 Roof, Alf Bullen centre Raid leader Alf Bullen on the Walkway of Southern Gun Tower 1

Aerial view of Shivering Sands June 1966

Newspaper Aerial view of five of the six Gun Towers at Shivering Sands (June 1966)

Helicopter photograph, there were a group of the eight raiders and contingent of police aboard Fort

N.B The Swedish Coaster 'Ribersborg' collided with the Fort on 7th June 1963, demolishing Gun Tower Two, effectively seperating the Searchlight Tower containing the Generators

The Tower's unmanned so the ship limped away with parts of the Catwalk on her deck, the toppled Tower was removed by Trinity House in the summer of 1966

See Sutch & City Pics 11

Shivering Sands 1966

French Press photograph (June 1966)

Showing Shivering Sands G1, Bofors behind, G4, Control legs of G2 and part of G3

Shivering Sands

French Press photograph (June 1966)

Showing Shivering Sands G1 and Control Tower

City Raid

French Press photograph (June 1966)

Tony Pine crossing the Jungle Walk from Gun Tower 1 to the Control Tower

Junglewalk

French Press photograph shows Phil Perkins on Junglewalk (June 1966)

Shivering Sands June 1966 G1 Close up

Raiders and Police at Shivering Sands (June 1966)
Raiders and Police at Shivering Sands Photograph by Philippe Le Tellier (June 1966)

Note Left image Shivering Sands Southern Buoy and station Tender 'Harvester II'

City Raid

French Press photograph (June 1966)

Close Up G1

French Press photograph (June 1966)

Radio City Cook Luc Dunne on Crane Palett, Tony Pine, Ian McRae, un-named raider, with Ian West at Crane Operatives Window

Shivering Sands June 1966

Photograph by Philippe Le Tellier (June 1966)

Luc Dunne at the Crane Hatch and Alf Bullen far right, the other raiders wouldn't give their names

City Raid

Photograph by Philippe Le Tellier (June 1966)

Raiders leave Shivering Sands June 1966

Daily Express (Monday 27th June 1966)

Radio City's Tony Pine (left) with Tom Edwards shaking raid leader Alf Bullen's hand with three other members of the Boarding Party look on

Ian, Tom, Luc & Paul

Ian McRae, Tom Edwards, Luc Dunne & Paul Elvey (June 1966)

Barge Kethole leaves Shivering Sands June 1966

Daily Express (Monday 27th June 1966)

The barge 'Kethole' leaves Shivering Sands at just after 9pm on Sunday 26th June 1966 with the Boarding Party Raiders

The transmitter crystals had been left behind but hidden, located by Ian West and Tony Pine Radio City returned to the air

Alongside Gun Tower 1 Shivering Sands

G1 & Control Towers with antenna

Listening to BBC radio news

Control Tower listening to BBC

Shortly after being found guilty & fined £100 by Romford Magistrates Court under the Wireless Telegraphy Act of 1949 for using a transmitter without a licence, Dorothy Calvert arrived at the Fort at 11.00am on 8th February 1967

 

Tom Edwards, Adrian Love, myself, Paul Kramer & Dorothy Calvert in the Control Tower listening to BBC news telling us Radio City has been found within the re-drawn territorial water limit & had to close - IM

Radio City closed down for the last time an hour later with the transmitter shut down for the final time at just after midnight

Dorothy Calvert

Dorothy Calvert holding 'William' with Paul Elvey & Ian West leaving Shivering Sands (February 8th 1967)

Leaving Shivering Sands

Leaving Shivering Sands (1967)

Ian MacRae on tender back to shore

Ian MacRae on 'Harvester II'

Note: The Southern Shivering Sands Buoy which could be heard on-air

Me going ashore to Whitstable on one of the Harvester Tenders. We were trying to
beat a storm, you can just see the approaching storm clouds building in the North West - IM

Daily Sketch 9th February 1966

Radio City off Air (Daily Sketch Thursday 9th February 1967)

Shivering Sands Equipment Removal

The Harvester II taking equipment from the Bofors Tower

Fred Downs on Harvester as kit lowered by hand, watched by Tom Edwards and another from the Control Tower Walkway

Sutch wants City Cutting

Daily Mail (11th February 1967)

A final word from David yet another publicity stunt!

Tony Pine, Ian MacRae & Bob Le-Roi

Tony, Ian & Bob

Tony was in the middle of a plumbing job at a leisure site on Seawall, West Beach, Whitstable on Tuesday 2nd May 2006

Tony Pine & Ian MacRae

Tony Pine & Ian MacRae

Catch up on the foreshore at West Beach Whitstable

Shivering Sands in 2005

Shivering Sand Army Forts

Shivering Sands from the Paddle Steamer (PS) Waverley on 29th September 2005

Shivering Sands from Waverley

Shivering Sands from The Waverley

Leaving Shivering Sands behind from the PS Waverley on 29th September 2005

Waverley off Scotland

The Waverley cruising in home waters off Scotland

The story continues in Sutch & City Part 11

See & hear Ian MacRae & his fellow presenters on Australia's 2UE

12/112/06 - Dear Sir, Going through the 10 parts of the Radio City 299 history a few questions remain open:

1. I cannot see any of the metal guy ropes which should hold the mast. Difficult to imagine the engineer could do without them. As space on the Fort was limited, I imagine, stabilizing the mast was a problem. Or not?

Answer 1 - Of course the mast was guyed, there are some pictures showing the detail if you look carefully

2. Shivering Sands can be seen from the coast, but there are no photographs which confirm that the coast can be seen from the Fort

Answer 2 - You're not looking in the right place, there are pictures of the Forts with coast in background

3. Radio City was not directly related to the history of World War II but I have been asking myself why the Forts were set up in the open sea where they could easily be spotted by hostile planes. I think three miles did not make a great difference, neither for the British nor for the Germans. But admittedly this question is beyond Radio City 299

Answer 3 - Fort Fax page has all the detail of why the Forts were built, we also have books CD's & DVD's for sale which are ideal to learn more

4. Why was the power of Radio City only around 2 kW (?). If any saving on installations was deemed necessary in those days then least of all on the transmitter, I think. Because any off-shore station manager or owner of the Sixties knew that kilowatts meant coverage, and coverage meant revenue from advertisement

Answer 4 - Radio City was not cash rich as our equipment testifies, the TSA was primarily London & SE of UK, but we had good reception in other parts of Britain & a good part of mainland Europe

The 299 mmw ex-US Naval rig was rebuilt & greatly modified by our 1st engineer Don Witts, later TX engineer Ian West did a fantastic job by building his own transmitter from parts which achieved around 800 watts. City never had RCA transmitters like the other stations, but produced a very acceptable signal for the required TX footprint due to the efficient 200' antenna. Radio 390 despite opinion seldom ran their 10kw at more than 5kw, like City the 150' mast did produced a signal sounding more powerful than it actually was - ED

11/12/06 - Interesting story so far ten parts of Radio City. The drawings are impressive. Unfortunately, this station was in contrast to Radio 270, Radio 390 & Caroline South too weak to be received in Northern Germany. I felt, however, that there was a station in the background. Only once on a Sunday in 1966 it broke through with a fairly strong signal & was captured with a tube-powered radio built in 1937 but was impossible with any Japanese transistor. It is regrettable that no attempts have been made to revive Radio City 299 after the pattern of Radio Caroline and BigL. DVB-S MPEG-2 in a London studio could not create the atmosphere of an off-shore fort, vinyl & the adventurousness of the staff, I think. Sincerely - Gerrit Thiessen - Germany

4/12/06 : I enjoyed the new material & especially the bits about Macca.  I have lost contact with him over the years. In fact quite a few of my "Offshore" colleagues have left the studio & are now working for the big sender in the sky.  I was shocked to find out how many have passed on.  Unfortunately I have never been a great correspondent & now regret not having kept touch with my former colleagues, what I am saying here is, your web production is a 'gem' with all its history & for me, many great memories of some really good times, I hope you keep up the steady stream of memorabilia, for one reader (me) it is precious. Thanks - Ross Brown

Ross was Ross Brown on Radio City & later Freddie Beare on Radio Caroline North

1/12/06 : Remember you asked me what I knew about the 299 transmitter, when I told you Tony & Sam took it down to the station in our band wagon? I'm pretty certain that they picked it up from Southampton, which would make a lot of sense, as Reg was based there for a few years & obviously had contacts there, also it being a Naval Port & the transmitter an ex-US Naval item. Keep up the good work - Tom Long - Pinkertons Assorted Colours

"We've been to Tonga a small Pacific island with Palm trees to attend a media conference, not bad work" "I am back in radio too reading the newspapers for print handicapped people, I read once a week on Thursday evenings for two hours & I'm really enjoying the challenge" - RB

30/11/06 : Interesting stuff. I'd forgotten all about that mucking about stuff after close-down. The first photo on the page is a great shot of the Towers with the big mast of Radio City in 1967 - Ian MacRae

Grateful thanks to Ian MacRae, Ross Brown of Pacific Media Unit in Australia, Bob Bartola, Neil Edwards,and Harm Koenders who provided and coloured many of the images for this feature

The story continues in Sutch & City Pics - Part 11

For a brief history of all the Thames Estuary Forts see Fort Fax


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