The latest offshore radio related news by reporters from Europe and the Middle East, updated whenever there is a new item. Please feel free to contribute via .
The latest offshore radio related news by reporters from Europe and the Middle East, updated whenever there is a new item. Please feel free to contribute via . |
Monday December 3rd 2001
|
You will remember his famous programmes "Jukebox" and "Stan Haag Vandaag". Stan has become an offshore radio legend. He will be sadly missed.
Hans Knot schrijft:Vandaag komt het trieste bericht binnen dat op 81 jarige leeftijd in België Stanislav Haag (Stan) is komen te overlijden. Stan maakte in eerste instantie in de jaren vijftig en zestig grote forure met het schrijven van vele songteksten voor even zovele artiesten. Daarna werd hij in dienst genomen, op free lance basis, door de Nederlandse service van Radio Luxembourg. In de eind jaren zestig waren de directieleden van Radio Veronica, de gebroeders Verwey, zo slim Stan een vaste baan aan te bieden bij Radio Veronica. Hier bleef hij actief tot eind augustus 1974. Een jaar later zou hij in dienst treden bij Radio Mi Amigo, waar ook zijn toenmalige vrouw Michelle, aan het werk kon als presentatrice. Dit betekende dat de familie Haag naar het Spaanse Playa de Aro verkaste. Men zou het daar tot eind 1977 volhouden, alvorens te verhuizen naar ’t Harde op de Veluwe. Meningsverschillen met Sylvain Tack en Belgische medewerkers en het gegeven dat de toestand van het zendschip MV Mi Amigo slecht was, was de reden van het vertrek naar Radio Mi Amigo. Na enkele jaren vertrok Stan bij zijn vrouw en verliet Nederland om zich in België te vestigen. Ook hier werd hij veelvuldig gehoord, ondermeer op het lokale radiostation Radio Noordzee. Tijdens de Veronicareunië in 1999 kwam Stan nogmaals naar Hilversum om zijn oude bekenden nog eens terug te zien en vorig jaar was hij nog te horen op Radio Magedalena, waarbij te merken was dat hij zijn manier van presenteren nog steeds niet was verloren. Met Stan gaat één van de belangrijkste presentatoren uit de commerciële radioscene van de jaren zestig en zeventig van de vorige eeuw heen. Op het regionale radiostation Radio Noord Holland wordt vanavond stil gestaan bij het overlijden van Stan Haag, waarbij Hans Knot te gast is. |
Hans Knot reporting on the Dutch radio scene:
Welcome to the
last report of the year 2001
The
Dutch edition of the Business Monthly Quote has come this month with the
list of the richest persons in Holland. And then we can see that there
are a few former offshore radio people who have done very well in their
carreer. At 17 years he was allowed by his father John, who was director
of the Dutch Service of RNI, to do some technician work. Nowadays he’s
one of the richest people in Holland: John
de Mol jr. counts around 2
billion guilders. Willem van Kooten (Joost
den Draayer) from Veronica,
RNI and Radio Monique days and nowadays co-owner of Arrow Classic Rock
and Country FM counts for 350 million. As a young boy he was heard for
the first time on Radio Mi Amigo as Rob
Hudson. He has done a lot in
radio and television too, including director of the European NBC Super
Channel. He counts at 100 million. Other names: Lex
Harding 95 million guilders
and Rob Out
still at 75 million guilders. 7-11 On Radio 192 today in the
programme of Tineke
(of course Coffeetime) she flashbacked together with Bull
Verwey at the past and Radio
Veronica days. The 92 years old Bull Verwey, one of the three former
Veronica directors who survived both brothers, is still in good
condition. On the same day it was announced that another ex Veronica
deejay, Chiel Montagne, will leave Radio 192. He is offered a daily
programma on Radio Nationaal from December. Chiel was very popular in
Holland with his tv programmes showing Dutch artists. In the 70’s and
80’s his programma ‘Op losse Groeven’ was the most watched
programma on Dutch television for many years. 8-11 The unofficial Radio
London Video was brought by
the postman this morning. Showing rare footage of Swinging Radio
England, Radio London, Radio Caroline and tendering from Parkstone Qay
in Harwich. Watching the deejays on several trips to the ships and even
Cheetah II as the standbyship for Radio Caroline in 1966. It was all
promised as very rare material. Well maybe for the English market.
However the same footage was shown in Holland on the annual radioday in
1994 when Keith Skues’ book Pop went the Pirates was official launched.
The 20 min long footage was then re-edited to a 15 min video in which a
story was brougt: deejays leaving from the office to the train and then
from Harwich to the ships. For those who never ordered videotape number
39 from Hans Knot should buy this one from Pirate Johnny for it are
unique 60’s shots. He sells it for 16.50 Pounds, including package and
postage. All info you can find on his website: www.piratememories.co.uk 20.11 Last month we reported that Danny
Vuylsteke, former tenderman
for Radio Mi Amigo and Radio Caroline (also co owner of Caroline Dutch
service in 1979/1980 and one of the owners of Radio Paradijs) was put
into prison. It was thought that he was involved in a murder attempt.
Today he was set free after 6 months of research. The officer of Justice
has found out that there is no reason anymore to keep Vuylsteke in jail.
Danny himself announced on tv that he knew from the first moment he
wasn’t guilty and that it was nothing else than a trap by another
person to blaim blame his good name.
21 .11 Peter
Moore is in talks with one of
the organisations which hired transponders from BSkyB to see if there is
a chance to hire cheap radiolines for the digital broadcasts from
Caroline. He went to talk about it to WRN in Vauxhall. Comment of Tony
Allan, whom I met this week:
Ronan O Rahilly and Peter Moore still think they are in the seventies
and want everything for free. Was a nice meeting with Tony and several
other radiofriends this month in a 8 days visit. One of them I hadn’t
talked to since my last visit to the MEBO II on international waters off
the Dutch coast, on August 28th 1974. Robin
Banks hasn’t changed a lot.
Still has his sense of humour and it was good talking to him again and
bringing a lot of memories back to the both of us. Once thing he told
was that he was in the eighties the responsible man who took off all the
equipment and transmitters from the MEBO II before this ship and the
sister ship MEBO I was targeted by the Lybian Navy. Tony by the way
hopes to present another programma on Caroline before Christmas. 26.11 During the last week in
which English newspapers stood full of the 7 years imprisonment of
popstar Jonathan King
(who was often on board the Galaxy to promote his songs in the seventies
and seeing his friend Tony Windsor). It also became known that Chris
Denning, another former Radio
London deejay, will not be sent to Britain by the Chzech authority.
Denning has been in jail for three years and could come out last May. As
the British authorities requested Denning to be sent back to England for
further punishment, Chzech judge decided that all things the British
wants him for have happened more than 5 years ago and he will not be
sent back. Both Jonathan King and Denning have been caught for
paedophily. The regional broadcaster Radio and
TV Gelderland has bought 50 shares in UPC. Two of them will kept within
the organisation. The other 48 will be given to listeners and watchers
who are angry on the UPC, which is responsible for the cablenetwork in
the Province of Gelderland and other parts of Holland. Omroep Gelderland
thinks that the listener/watcher has more strength to complain if they
have a share in UPC. Up till 500 persons have to leave
the NOB, the production arm of the Dutch private Broadcast Societies.
The organisation is in debts. Also a lot of the buildings, which are in
ownership of the NOB, will be sold the get more money free. In this way
they hope to make a healthy company of the NOB in the four forthcoming
years. Well not too much this time as I
was busy with writing some long stories for a few magazines and our
online Journal Soundcapes. By the way, may I remember that the radioday
will be held in Amsterdam on March 2nd. Later this month some more news
about a book which will be released early 2002. Have a look now and then at our
site greetings |
Taken from the Pirates for Peace website:
| When I first started to refit ex
H.M.S. Enterprise nearly three years ago, the concept of the Pirates for
Peace was no more than an idea, and needed to be 'driven' hard to retain
any concrete form, then Southampton Voluntary Services sent me Mark
Wilson, my No. 1, the Princes Trust came across with two sets of
volunteers, News International threw in a welcome 'start-up' fund, and we
started to get good luck and best wishes notes from people like Tony
Blair, Mary McAleese , David Trimble, Gerry Adams, Mo Molem and Richard
Branson The Pirates were becoming suddenly a solid and real entity.
Since then Pirates for Peace has grown from an Irish cross community peace initiative into an international concept, with our second ship, the German minesweeper 'Fische' earmarked to begin work in 2004 , bringing together kids in an atmosphere hopefully free from political and religious dogma, in some other area of conflict. To get where we are today has cost about ten thousand man (and woman) hours of hard, dirty and sometimes dangerous work, all undertaken by volunteers from around Southampton, and has cost, so far, in excess of one hundred and fifty thousand pounds, with notable donations from organisations such as The Carnegie UK Trust, the Wooden Spoon Society and the local Churches Together. As Pirates began to take shape it became apparent that we were addressing another issue, we found more and more that volunteers were coming from the Criminal Justice system, ,young offenders in particular, and those struggling to free themselves from drug or alcohol abuse. Consequently we are now consciously applying the ship refit side of Pirates to youth rehabilitation programmes, and have begun to work successfully with the Youth Justice Board and the local Crime Concern. The kids tend to respond very positively on board, all the normal rules of existence are radically altered for the sake of safety and survival, teamwork is essential, and people quickly adjust in a very positive way to the unusual but intriguing regime! The last fascinating three years has resulted in Pirates for Peace now becoming the driving force, and all the volunteers on board 'Enterprise' are being swept up and carried along by the realisation that this idea is becoming a reality. All this however, still needs MONEY! - Our present budget shortfall for 'Enterprise' to complete and arrive in Newry is £ 50,000, PLEASE HELP! Donations can be for specific and mysterious bits of equipment, or for 'general funds,' either way, helping to build bridges and strengthen our children to deal with the uncertainties of our strange new future can only be of benefit to mankind. Thank You, Tom Newman
'Pirates for Peace (Ireland) is about co-operation and opportunity for the young people of Ireland, north and south, to contribute towards understanding and tolerance. A kids community radio station is being set up so that children from the north and the south, Catholic and Protestant communities can come together to learn broadcasting skills and have fun in a high tech communication orientated environment. Using all forms of information technologies, they will be able to contact and interact worldwide with others in similar situations. All this will happen in the unique atmosphere of a studio and associated facilities on board 'Enterprise', a converted ex Royal Navy minesweeper, which is currently being transformed by volunteers in Southampton With the full approval of Newry and Mourne District Council 'Enterprise' will be berthed in the Albert Basin in Newry, alongside The Quays Shopping and Leisure Centre From here Quay Kids FM will broadcast their own radio programmes three hours a day, five days a week. Programmes will range from sports, phone-ins, local news, events, film and book reviews to music, story telling, drama and even a kids soap. Programmes will be transmitted by the growing medium of internet radio, enabling the kids to communicate with their peers worldwide. In addition a conventional FM radio license has been applied for to broadcast to the local area. Pirates for Peace have already formed a close association with the Pathways Arts Project and the Southern Education and Library Board (SELB), who are running a series of very successful schools based cross community music projects in the Newry and Mourne area. Pathways and SELB will actively encourage local schools and colleges to participate in this cross community initiative. TimetableSubject to Radio Licensing Authority approval, Quay Kids FM is currently on schedule for transmission to commence early in 2002.
ContactsThe Pirates for Peace (Ireland)
Steering Committee can be contacted through: |
Tuesday November 20th 2001
| Hi Radio Friends !! Nothing new here at the moment, I am waiting for the Harry de Winter group to do its research to see if it is viable to start a peace station off (or on) the coast of Israel. This seems to be taking time, with all aspects being looked in to. When I have any concrete news, I'll be in touch. All the best |
Tuesday November 13th 2001
Your webmaster commenting:
| Review: "Radio
London: Big L - The unofficial video"
Some days ago Johnny from "Piratememories" sent me a review copy of their new Radio London video. I must tell you that I'm quite impressed. It contains footage that I myself saw never before. Keeping in mind that these recordings have been made in 1966, the video quality is quite good.
The video ends with the 5 minute Big L promotional film that was produced right after the closedown in August 1967. The video "Radio London: Big L - The Unofficial Video" lasts for 30 minutes and is available on VHS tape (or CD-ROM - playable on most versions of Windows MediaPlayer). Price £15.00 sterling - postage and packing £1.50 extra. More information at http://www.piratememories.co.uk/ Dr. Martin van der Ven |
Tuesday November 6th 2001
Hans Knot reporting on the Dutch radio scene:
| Welcome to another edition
of "News from Holland". 5-10 In Belgium three men were held for the murder of a book keeper. Doudah Marzouk (27) is the murderer. One of the suspects is 47 year old Danny Vuylsteke who is known as organizer behind the scenes for Radio Mi Amigo in the late seventies. He was also one of the men who ran the Dutch Service for Radio Caroline in 1979/1990. He is suspected of giving the order to murder. No confession has been made yet. 8-10 In the programme Theatre of the Sentiment, on Dutch Radio 2, today the year they looked back was 1975. Old newspaper articles were brought back and the big question today was: What has happened with the tender-people who were arrested in Holland and how was Radio Mi Amigo organized after the Dutch law became Act. Hans Knot was interviewed on the Mi Amigo period from August 74 until the end of the station in 1979. 11.10 On Dutch Television is a new quiz called National News Quiz. In this people are questioned about things from the past. Today shots were shown of the last transmission from Radio Veronica on the North Sea. Question related to the shots was who was the last voice to be heard on Veronica, which was Rob Out of course. The quiz is presented by former Veronica newsreader and presenter Harmen Siezen. 14.10 Today I got an email from Beverly Hills in California in which the writer brings his compliments about our site at the university, which now simply can be find on www.soundscapes.info. He was very surprised to see his photo from 1970 on the site. No other than Larry Tremaine, who was deejay and programme director on RNI, was the writer of the e mail. Nowadays he's running a big art gallerie. 22.10 Charlie Wolf, former Laser deejay, is one of the few American deejays who stayed in Europe. He now works for Talk Sport but will be leaving soon and heading for Ireland. He will work for RedFM in Cork. Tony Brandon, known from Radio London days, will be working soon for the digital station Saga FM. 24.10 In Holland several newspapers are bringing the news that Dutch producer Harry de Winter is doing research to see if there are possibilities to start a station either on a ship or by satellite to provide the left wing Jewish people with a radio station like the Voice of Peace between 1973 and 1993. When they can find enough people to put money into the project they will start preparation for such a station. Who does remember Luc de Rooy (Luc Dardin) from Radio Monique. Nowadays he is the voice over at TV station Yorin. He worked in radio with RTL Rock Radio, VARA en AVRO and from the end of October he will be presenting a late night rock show on Radio 192, the regional station in Hilversum, where a lot of former offshore deejays are working. 29-10 More and more old jocks are coming back on the scene. Today we heard from Barry Everitt. He worked on Radio Seagull in 1974 and was also known from Radio Geronimo in 1970. He works at the Borderline Music Club in London. He wrote that he worked for radio in the USA, for instant with WPLJ in New York, KSML in Lake Tahoe and KFAT in Gillroy. As mentioned before there are plans to bring Radio Caroline on the cable networks in Holland. In Groningen for instance Love Radio, which is the sister station of Radio 10FM, has to give their frequency to Caroline. Listeners of Love Radio are now asked to sign a petition that they do not agree that Caroline will take over the frequency. Love Radio is a non stop sweet music station. The people in Holland who buy articles which have to do with commercials related to websites are not keen if these commercials are played on the radio. A research showed that 40% of the questioned people told that TV was the most important place to learn about these products. This while it gives, in combination of sound and vision, a good view on the offered product. The most irritating form for commercials is the banners which come in on Internet sites. 75% of the questioned people mentioned this. 17.10 The Sport programma 'Langs de Lijn' which has several times on Dutch Radio 1 during the week, has won the Marconi Award during the broadcast congress held in Hilversum. They did become it as the most informative program on Dutch Radio. During the last six years they were nominated 5 times for this price already. Radio 2's Sjors Fröhlich got the price for the best program maker. Arend Langenberg, former Veronica newsreader, and nowadays newsreader at Radio 538 and Sky Radio, got the price for the Voice of the Year. 18.10 The Board of directors of the VARA dismissed deejay Giel Beelen from Radio 3 while he asked in the show the listeners to sent envelopes with white powder to the KRO, his former bosses. Reason he still owns money from the company. After KRO got many envelops they took contact with the VARA and Bielen was out again of the studio of Radio 3. 22.10 Intromart announces that Radio Nationaal 1296 AM has got within two months after they started to use the powerful transmitter in Engeland, a share of 2% off all listeners in Holland. Never before this happened in Holland. Radio Nationaal hopes that at the end of this year they have a share of 4% or more. Well that's all for this time. See you next month Hans Knot |
Wednesday October 24th 2001
Hans Knot reporting:
De Winter and The Voice of Peace Dutch tv producer Harry de Winter is seriously looking for possibilities to bring back the Voice of Peace as an offshore radio station off the Israeli coast. The Radio Veronica weekly magazine reports that de Winter is busily searching for ways to raise money. He is trying to convince rich jews to investigate enough money. Then he wants to restart the station that was silenced by its founder Abie Nathan in 1993. De
Winter has been helding talks with possible partners at the recent television convention in Cannes/France.
So let's wait what we will see (and hear)...Het Veronicablad meldt dat TV Producer en presentator Harry de Winter druk bezig is fondsen bijeen te brengen voor een heropstart van de Voice of Peace om de vredesboodschap voor de kust van Israel te hervatten, daar waar Abe Nathan er in 1993 mee is gestopt. Hij is bezig belangrijke en financieel sterke mensen binnen de Joodse gemeenschap warm te maken geld te investeren. Ook heeft hij recentelijk op de tv beurs in Cannes toekomstige partners gesproken. We wachten af... Uit de Veronica gids (nr.43) blz. 42 bovenaan: "Tv-producent Harry de Winter is druk bezig met het waarmaken van plannen om voor de Israelische kust een zogenaamd vredeszendschip neer te leggen, dat de boodschap van vrede verkondigt. Inmiddels is er een geldinzamelingsactie gestart, warbij de Winter een beroep doet op vermogende joden. Ook op de tv beurs in Cannes was de Winter actief met zijn project en heeft hij opnieuw met mogelijke partners gesproken, die willen deelnemen in de financiering van de nieuwe zeezender." |
Friday October 12th 2001
Hans Knot reporting on the Dutch radio scene:
| Welcome to another edition
of "News from Holland". Delta 171 The organisation behind the Delta 171 project have been given a 'no' from the Dutch ministry who are responsible for the licences. Delta got a temporary licence for the year, allowing them to start with building of the transmitting site. As they have not started yet the responsible minister will not give a new licence for 2002. They have been given the ultimatum to either start at once or they will be forced to go to court to get an official decision. Veronica The organisation behind former commercial radio and tv station, who sold their licences to the HMG Group have been allowed again to use the name Veronica for a new radio and television station in a proposed joint deal with satellite station The Box. When the deal will come Veronica will fill the hours from 18 hrs up till 1 in the night. Also talks have been going on with the Wegener Publishers Group to step into Radio10FM. Wegener have been trying to sell the radio station for over a year, so as they can invest more in publishing. Three Minute Silence observed On September 14th most stations observed the three minute silence at midday. DAB Investment Under minister for media, Van der Ploeg, will be giving 20 million guilders to the public broadcasters to give them support for research for the new media technologies. This investment is for 2002 and will go up to 45 million Euros in 2005. This funding has been clearly earmarked for DAB experiments, new internet plans and satellite improvements. Dutch Radio Group plan for two stations The Dutch Radio Group, a sister company of the publishing group - Imca Investment Group, are planning two radio stations, during the forthcoming frequency auction. The two stations - a pop station Aloha Radio (named after a famous glossy Dutch music magazine) and a 24 hour news service - Nieuws FM. Radio Day The next 'Radioday' will be held in Amsterdam on March 2nd, next year. Guests will include Brian Anderson and Johnny Lewis and Hans ten Hoge as well as technician Pieter Damave of RNI will be there. More info can be got from Hans Knot at: Hknot@home.nl Easy FM Deejay and jingle producer Ferry Maat who started his career with RNI in 1971, wants to start his own radio station in the Netherlands. He all ready has a licence to start Easy FM, a station like Radio 390 in the sixties. Research is being conducted to determine the financial possibilities for such a station in the advertising world. If this research is positive Maat wants to start the station early 2002. More from Holland next month. |
Wednesday October 10th 2001
Paul Rusling reporting:
| A recent story about Chris Cary and Longwave 279 is not correct. It is possible that someone is trying to make some mischief or achieve some publicity perhaps. May I tell you the facts - The MusicMann project is not stopped at all. On January 26 2001 we learned that the INDEPENDENT planning Inspector would recommend that permission not be given for the transmission facility, for reasons of visual impact and for the wrong use of land (it is not designated for a transmitter or any type of development, because it was part of the coast land). The Isle of Man Government were not very happy as they want the project to go on the air, and as quickly as possible, but they are a democracy which must obey the recommendation of the INDEPENDENT planning Inspector, who came from the UK. Since then we have been exploring other sites. That has been very difficult as most places are 'out of bounds' - that means you cannot go onto them without much difficulty, due to the foot and mouth regulations. The isle of Man did never suffer from any foot and mouth and they take things very seriously, every vehicle and passenger entering the islands is disinfected twice. We HAVE however found some suitable sites and we have taken considerable trouble to assemble a thoroughly professional application for the necessary permission to go ahead and build the transmission facility. We have not made any announcement as this is a sensitive matter, and raising people's hopes before all the delays and problems are overcome would be wrong. The CFA definitely IS working. We have seen four working, two of them at high power with 100 kilowatts. We did not rely on our own eyes and ears but paid a world known company to go and test these for us and take the usual professional measurements. They confirm that the CFA does work, and work very well. The small test version in England is nothing to do with our project and we understand that is not operating because the people trying to market it failed to pay some bills and the work has not been completed. For the avoidance of doubt, IMIB has NOT held any discussions or entered into any agreement with Radio Nova, or Exidy or any such company. Chris Cary is in the Island having medical treatment and my wife and I briefly met with Chris and his wife socially, but only because we are very old friends going back about 28 years. I expect that if IMIB handed back its licence he might apply for it, along with many other applicants. As we anticipate approval of our site shortly we do not propose handing back the licence. If Chris, or anyone else had permission for a suitable transmission facility we would consider using it but he hasn't and we do not expect him to obtain such permission. Those expectations are based on close contact with the Isle of Man Government for many years. We shall make an announcement as soon as we have some firm news to report. |
Saturday September 22nd 2001
| Congratulations to
Howard Rose (Crispian St. John or Jay Jackson on RNI, Voice of Peace
and Caroline), who is marrying his fiancée Patricia today. Howard had
been playing records for her on RNI in 1971...
Best wishes from Hans Knot, Martin van der Ven and all offshore radio enthousiats |
Sunday September 16th 2001
Mary and Chris Payne reporting:
| Chris and Mary Payne
reporting from Dallas, Texas.
Following the horrific events of Tuesday 11th Sept, the US Density Reunion still went ahead, but with reduced numbers. Being in America at this time, has been unbelievable. Our reports of the week's events are at |
Monday September 10th 2001
Mary and Chris Payne reporting:
| There are two pages of pictures from August's
Big L 2001 RSL in Clacton at
http://www.radiolondon.co.uk/rl2001/rsl2001index.html. More will be put up, with sound bites in a few weeks. Chris and Mary Payne are attending the US Density Reunion in Dallas, Texas, which is taking place from 12th to 15th Sept, and hope to be able to report on it a few days later while still in the US. Until John S Platt made contact just over a year ago, the crew of the Density, which became Radio London's ship, the mv Galaxy, didn't know of her second life in the UK! They were informed by the US Navy that she was scrapped in 1954. Not only did she serve with honours, in the Second World War, she fought another battle against the British government in the 60s! The crew are excited about meeting people concerned with the station, and two of the surviving Texan backers, Tom Danaher and Ben Toney will be attending, to give their side of the Radio London story. Ex-Big L DJ Norman St John will also be attending, all the way from Australia! Info on the Reunion can be found at www.radiolondon.co.uk/rl/galaxy/reun2001.html |
Tuesday September 4th 2001
Hans Knot reporting on the Dutch radio scene:
| Welcome to another edition
of "News from Holland". First of all the date for next years annual Radio Day, as organised by the Freewave Media Magazine and Foundation for Media communication. Next year the day will be held on Saturday March 2nd at the Koningszaal, Plantage Middenlaan 41-43 Amsterdam, next to Artis Zoo. There will be several quests invited and the first two names we can already mention are Johnny Lewis and Brian Anderson. Brian started his radio career in the early seventies when he worked for Radio Seagull, Radio Caroline and Radio Mi Amigo International. Nowadays he has his own Syndicate company where he produces radio programmes for the Asian Market. Johnny Lewis worked for stations like Radio Caroline, Laser 730, the Voice of Peace and a lot of Independant Local Radio stations. Nowadays he works at Thanet Local Radio in Kent. Of course more names will be mentioned in the months to come. 7.8. On Radio 1 VPRO Radio brought a 20 minutes long documentary on the activities of The Principality of Sealand which is on a former Second World War Fort off the coast of Harwich. Roy Bates and his family were interviewed on their activities within radio in the sixties of the last century and all the things, which have happened and will 'happen' in the future with the isle. Roy's only words (he's already 80) were only things like 'it all goes about freedom'. And he still knows how to make money. Bringing the interview team to the fort for 150 Pound a person and that for free publicity! 9.8. During heavy weather and thunderstorms off the coast of IJmuiden a temporary radio ship was anchored today and all the last technical work was done. During night hours the first tests were done. On the 11th and 12th of August programmes were transmitted on FM and AM as well on the world wide web under the name Muziek uit Zee. This while the city of IJmuiden celebrated the fact that the canal between the town and that of Amsterdam was digged 125 years ago. The programmes were relayed on medium wave too by Radio 192. Several former offshore radio deejays from the sixties, seventies and eighties came once again together for this weekend. Voices which could be heard doing a program, were from Erik Beekman, Marc Jacobs, Krijn Torringa, Will Luikinga, Hugo Meulenhof, Look Boden, Hans Knot, Walter Zwart, Rene van Elst, Johan Visser, Nico Stevens, Ted Bouwens, Marc van Amstel and Edo Peters. Next to that several people who worked in offshore radio came along. Even Peter Chicago took the ferry to Holland to enjoy the party. A tender went every half hour from the harbour to the ship to bring listeners on the ship, who could stay there for an hour. The programmes were well listened too. Many requests came in as well as emails. Even from California Shaun Brennan sent an e-mail. In many newspapers the Monday afterwards reports were published and two television stations had made a special on the transmissions. 14.8 On this date in 1967 most of the British offshore stations went off the air due to the Marine Offences Act. On the London RSL, which is on the air till the end of this month from Clacton on Sea, attention was paid to the MOA. Also on Radio 192 in Holland several flashbacks to the sixties radio were done. On AVRO Radio 2 they invited former Veronica programme director Rob Out to talk about his number one hit 'Kom uit de bedstee' from the sixties. Producer Ton van Draanen told he was too drunk to tell a common word. 18.8 In the sixties and seventies Radio Veronica had on Saturday afternoon's the programme De zaterdamiddaggebeurtenis. From today this programme, with an old top 40 every time form the offshore area days, is back every Saturday on Radio 192. It is presented by Peter Teekamp. He worked on Radio Caroline in 1979 under the name Carl the Jong. 27.8 In the television programme Single Luck today the Dutch group Tee Set was highlighted. This group, which had several hits in Holland, also became international stars with the massive hit 'Ma belle amie'. In the special they told that thanks to Veronica and RNI they became a success and also they told for the first time they paid RNI for playing their records. So payola happened in Holland too in the early seventies. 31.8 On this day, in 1974, most of the Dutch offshore stations went off the air due to a Dutch version of the Marine Offences Act. On Radio 192 the whole day former offshore deejays doing shows again. On Radio 10 FM from 19 - 22 h a special with former RNI deejays Hans ten Hoge, Nico Steenbergen, Leo van der Goot and technician Ferry de Groot. Also Peter Holland and Tom Mulder (Klaas Vaak) could be heard during the interviews. All was very fine produced with old jingles and airchecks. 20-8 Vice Minister for Telecommunications has decided to extend the licences for the commercial FM stations up to September 1st 2002. This due to the fact the rules for the auction of the frequencies. 22.8 Q the Beat, as well as television stations TMV, Kindernet 5, Cartoon Network Fox Network and The Box are not allowed anymore to transmit commercials for companies who sell alcoholic refreshments. The stations are selected by the Foundation for Responsible Alcoholic Use (STIVA). Reason is that these stations are targeting the youth. 28.8 Sky Radio mentioned the name of the listener who won the big game 'Have a nice year. It's 24 year old Petra Koppe. A dream car, a whole year free shopping, phoning, cheques for new furniture, going to the movies, flying, free patrol and so on. Next to that she gets every week 1000 guilders on a bank account. She was voted out of 175.000 people who did the play with Sky Radio. Have a nice year was organised due to the fact that the station was 12,5 years old this year. But also Radio 10 has a game. In the past 13 years the station is on the air up till August 28 1.993.995 songs were played. The listeners who can tell the best when number 2 million will be played will get 2 million Dutch cents, which is about 6000 Pounds Well that's all for this month Greetings Hans Knot |
Sunday September 2nd 2001
Andy Cardier reporting:
| Radio Essex - 35 Years
Later
On 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. |
Wednesday August 15th 2001
From DX Listening Digest 1-107 Aug 11th:
 Ship project is still in the works. The vessel named the "Katie" is lying in Boston harbor. As soon as we raise about $30,000.00 we shall fit her with a studio, refit the interior, and then commence broadcasting via WBCQ. As you know our main backer backed out in June so things have been on hold. This is not an unexpected thing.Shipborne radio projects seem to have this problem of raising funding. In any event, we really want to do this project. It would be a great promotional thing for shortwave radio. A floating studio promoting the medium --- traveling from port to port broadcasting good programs via WBCQ. Cheers, (Allan Weiner, WBCQ Central, August 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) |
| Hi All , Thanks to some of you inquiring to my well being - haven't been blown up by a terrorist bomb yet. As I wrote, the Israeli Government are a little busy at the moment, so their No.1 priority is not to hound Arutz 7, so there is little offshore radio news from here recently. This appeared on Arutz 7's Internet site recently. Arutz 7 TV . It's only on the Internet, and I wouldn't call it a TV station, but we have some Pirate satellite TV stations here, so maybe one day Arutz 7 will join them. At the moment they are making experimental broadcasts on the Internet. All the best to you all - We could sure do with the Voice of Peace here now. Mike Arutz Sheva is inaugurating its TV broadcasts with the following internet news clip. We are working to improve the quality and offer different bandwidth options. Play Video 56K: http://128.242.214.118/metafiles/asx/eng-video/01/august/sceviscuder-36k.asx |
Monday August 6th 2001
Big L 2001 August 4th – August 31st, 1134 kHz - 266mLIVE Stream Radio London RSL (use Winamp)Visit the Radio London website for further details on the Big L RSL broadcast. |
| Muziek Uit Zee
In het kader van 125 jaar Noordzeekanaal en IJmuiden organiseren Radio Monique en Radio 192 op 11 en 12 augustus
"MUZIEK UIT ZEE" Seaport Marina is bereikbaar met het openbaar vervoer vanaf Amsterdam CS met buslijn 82 of 83, vanaf Haarlem CS met buslijn 70 en vanaf Beverwijk met buslijn 74. Ook kun je vanuit Amsterdam met de draagvleugelboot van "Fast Flying Ferrys" (ligt achter het Centraal Station) naar Pontplein in IJmuiden. Vanaf dat punt neem je buslijn 82 of 83 naar "Seaport Marina" IJmuiden. Onder de slogan 'Muziek uit zee' brengt Radio 192, hét Radiostation van oud Radio Veronica medewerkers, in samenwerking met Radio Monique uit IJmuiden het 'zeezender gevoel' weer terug via AM 1332 en diverse kabelfrequenties.
Zaterdag 11 augustus (wijzingen voorbehouden) 10:00 Opening - Erik Beekman 07:00 Wekkerradio - Rene van Elst |
Hans Knot reporting on the Dutch radio scene:
| Commercial radiostation Q The Beat
(broadcasting from the MV Communicator on 1224 kHz) has gained 75.000 signatures form listeners who are against a sale of radiofrequencies. They got these signatures on a youth trade happening, which was held from 7th till 15th of July in Utrecht. The signatures will be sent to Dutch Parliament. Radio 192 started at 18.00 hrs officially on 1332 kHz in Hilversum. On this low power station, which can be heard in Amsterdam to the north and the Belgian Border to the south, many former offshore deejays from Veronica can be heard. It was Tineke de Nooy who opened the station. Also she had, during the evening, an interview with 91 year old Bull Verwey, still going strong as ever. On the station people like Eddie Becker, Chiel Montagne, Tineke, Krijn Torringa and Ted Bouwens are working. During the opening a lot of other former offshore deejays and technicians were present. One of them was Ferry Maat, who was dismissed by his employee NCRV Radio a couple of months ago. Suddenly, after the opening of Radio 192 in the press all kind of rumours were going around that Ferry is the next one to start on Radio 192. He officially came out with a press report a few days later in which he stated that in no way he's going to work for Radio 192 but that he has had talks with some other stations. So a follow up pressreport can be expected soon. By the way, on Sundays and Saturdays the station is playing old Veronica programmes from offshore days. There are some 2000 studiotapes left at the archive and one by one will be aired again. Only most of the commercials have to be taken out due to the rules of the Dutch Radio Authority. Talking about old names, Meta de Vries worked for AVRO Radio a long time on Hilversum 3 and from 7th of July she's also on Radio 192. Every Saturday she will present a Jazz programme. Early-in-the-morning listeners in the seventies will remember her from the RNI's Dutch service, where she presented the programme 'voor de warme bakker'. John de Mol jr, the man behind EndeMol Productions and the huge success for Big Brother all over the world, started his carreer at the age of 17 as technician on Radio Noordzee. One of the programmes he presented at a later stage was Branding. He has stated on July 9th that he will try to buy one of the radio stations in Hollland, even if he has to pay more than 100 million guilders for it. So back to his roots? Jeroen Woelwater (Soer) worked a short time on Radio Caroline in 1979. After that he worked for VARA Radio and was the managing director and co-owner of Radio 10. When he sold his shares he worked for several other radio organisations in Holland as well as Belgium. On July 11th it became known that he's now shareholder of a company called Ad Master. This company works in 15 different countries in Europe and is making industrial websites. They are responsible for billboards along the road as well as on schools. Also Ad Master is selling airtime for NFTV, a television network on schools. |
On July 23rd 2001 Alex Jenkins reported on the MediaPages.NL website:
| Radio presenter Tony
Allan received some extremely bad news this week. Tony, who has cancer,
has been told that test results have shown the cancer of the throat has
spread and may be inoperable. He had been due to enter the Royal Free
Hospital in London last Friday for a major operation following months of
high-level treatment. Tony has been told that the prognosis is poor and
that he may only have a maximum of two years life left. He did undergo one
further test this week, and if this proves positive he wil be given the
option of having an operation, wich he has been told would only add a
couple of months to his life. Tony Allan began his radio career at the age of just 16 aboard the offshore station, Radio Scotland. He became a great favourite with both fellow broadcasters in a career that has spanned Radio North Sea International, Radio Caroline, the Voice of Peace, Irish radio-including the legendary Radio Nova, ILR, etc. If you knew Tony and would like to contact him, we suggest an e-mail to this email adress. Alternatively you can write to Tony Allen, c/o Radio Caroline, 426 Archway Road, Highgate, London N6 4JH, England. |
| Rumours !?
On Tuesday 24th July 2001 Radiowaves News reported: NORTH SEA PIRACY
This afternoon
I got snapshots taken from a flat in Knokke/Belgium. On the front is a weather station which is lying there for ages but in the back there is a ship which is anchored on a structure. This ship is only there for a few days. On the same day Paul Rusling reflected:
|
26th January to 8th April 2001
1st November 2000 till 23rd January 2001
On
Saturday December 1st 2001, Stan Haag, the well
known Radio Veronica, Radio Mi
Amigo and Radio Monique presenter died in the age of 81 years. 
You
see some black-and-white footage of the Radio Caroline South ship M.V.
Mi Amigo going aground at Frinton beach in January 1966 and, most unique,
the MV Cheetah II arriving to resume Caroline's broadcasts (see Dave Lee
Travis and Tony Blackburn going on board the Cheetah). The Big L footage
is in colour and features Tony Windsor, Dave Dennis, Kenny Everett, Paul
Kaye and Tony Blackburn in the studio on the M.V. Galaxy. You see
several tenders arriving and departing (most of all the Offshore I) with
Mark Roman, Norman St. John, Paul Kaye, Chris Denning, Keith Skues, Ed
Stewart and Mike Lennox on board both the tender and the Galaxy. 
The
tender even passes the M.V. Laissez Faire (Swinging Radio England /
Britain Radio), and the film includes some additional black-and-white
footage of Ron O'Quinn in the SRE studio, along with the original sound.
Highlights of the video are some sequences taken from the mast of the
M.V. Galaxy. You can see the ship in bad weather with rolling seas, and
several sunsets were filmed as well. 
Final thoughts....a great an memorable occasion. Would we do offshore radio again? If we were in our early 20's...definitely yes! The Bates family have invited former staff to visit their new enterprise at "Sealand" based on Roughs Tower 7 miles off Harwich. (Another story perhaps!)
Je kunt niet alleen naar Muziek uit zee luisteren, maar je bent ook van harte welkom op het zendschip!
On
Sunday 29th July 
A a couple of weeks ago a well known Dutchman in Belgie said it was the Delta platform being built. I looked at the plans of the Delta platform and told him not to be so silly as it looks nothing like it! I can show you dozens of pictures of ships and platforms, all with no broadcast connection of course. It would be nice to think it really was, but I don't think so this time.