42 years of Radio Caroline! 1964 - 2006.
Updated 01 December 2007
Breaking News - Caroline launched onto Sky epg 12 June 2006. Have a listen on epg number 0199
Many of you will have fond memories of Radio Caroline. The pirate radio station broadcast from a succession of ships from the North Sea from the early 1960's until the end of the pirate era in the early 1990's.
MV Ross Revenge - the final ship for Radio Caroline.
Tuning Information
Did you know Radio Caroline is still going?
They are available (although as a pay service) on the WorldStar satellite radio system,
Frequency: 1.478 GHz R Transponder 5 (Beam: West)
6th November 2004: Another new frequency on Eurobird 1 at 28.5E
11390MHz H SR 27500 FEC 2/3 Audio pid = 2332
This is currently only a mono transmission.
The programmes now come from a land based studio in Maidstone. With ongoing heavy maintenance to what was effectively a floating wreck in 1990, there may be the possibility of future transmissions from the Ross Revenge. However, the transmitters are currently out of commission, so it will be a few years yet before they are fired up.
Ross Revenge is occasionally open to the public at maritime events in the south east of England, and if you get the chance to visit, do so. I was lucky enough to visit in 1995, when RR was moored at Canary Wharf. Seeing round the ship was a fascinating experience.
The Radio Caroline website has lots of information and photos on it, with all the latest news about the station on it. Click on the banner below to visit their web site:
Radio Caroline now has it's own sales web site. Details of all their merchandise:
Did you know that:
Radio Caroline started Easter Sunday 1964.
At one point there were 2 Carolines, North (moored off the Isle of Man) and South (moored in the Thames Estuary).
Caroline survived the sinking of their ship Mi Amigo on 20th March 1980...... :-(
In huge seas, the elderly hull took a hell of a battering on the seabed, and the last words ever transmitted off Mi Amigo were from DJ's Tom Anderson & Steve Gordon.:
'It's not a very good occasion really, we have to hurry this because the lifeboat is waiting. We're not leaving and disappearing, we're going into the lifeboat hoping that the pumps can take it, if so, we'll be back, if not, well we really don't like to say it. I'm sure we'll be back one way or another. For the moment from all of us, goodbye and God Bless.....'
Sadly, with the bottom of the boat leaking badly. the pumps couldnt keep up, a few minutes after the crew were rescued by lifeboat "Helen Turnbull" the seawater reached the generators, the lights went out, the pumps failed, and Mi Amigo sank onto the seabed :-(
Poor old Mi Amigo. The remains of the transmitting mast stood for several years before finally collapsing at the end of July 1986.
Caroline returned in 1984 with a new ship - MV Ross Revenge.
Ross Revenge was originally a fishing trawler and was involved in the 1974 Icelandic Cod Wars.
The first Ross Revenge antenna was a 300 feet tall mast which was the tallest mast ever erected on a ship. The Guiness Book of Records refused to ratify this record, since they decided that Caroline was an illegal operation...
Caroline saw off the challenge of the American financed pirate station "Laser 558" in 1985.
The 300' mast collapsed in a storm, and narrowly missed the bridge and accomodation areas. Members of the crew had to cut the wreckage free at great risk to their personal safety as the mast was threatening to capsize the ship. The station was back on air within a few weeks after the crew managed to rig up a temporary transmitting aerial.
In 1990, Ross Revenge was almost wrecked on the Goodwin Sands, and is thought to be only the second ship ever to be safely refloated off the Sands.
At one point, Ross Revenge spent 3013 consecutive days at sea (almost 8 years !)
In 1996, Ross Revenge was moored at India Dock in the City of London. A few days after the ship was towed away back to its permanent anchorage, the whole area was totally wrecked by an IRA bomb.
Have a look at the Ross Revenge web site for details of whats happening with the ship, and the heavy maintenace she has been receiving. The transmitter room pages have a sad pic of the Ross dismasted after the 300 foot mast collapse in October 1987 whilst the main page has a nice pic of the Ross covered in a dusting of snow.
After operating off the Sky epg for well over a year, Caroline finally joined Sky on epg 0199 on 12th June 2006.
More pirate radio news:
If you remember the great days of "Laser 558" during 1985 / 1986, you might be interested to know that their ship "MV Communicator" still exists. After many years of disuse and almost sinking at anchor in Holland, she returned to the UK in December 2003! Update June 2006 - its being reported MV Communicator has been sold for scrap :-(
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