Radio Caroline
 
Radio Caroline was born out of the frustration that Ronan O'Rahilly had whilst trying to get an artist's record played on the radio that he represented. In not so many words, after being given short shrift from the BBC and Radio Luxembourg the story goes that he said he'd have to have his own radio station then to play the record. Landbased broadcasting was not possible, so sticking a transmitter and aerial on a boat was the answer.

The station having been born in the sixties, outlawed by the government in 1967, towed into harbour in 1968 after a misunderstanding and subsequently impounded rose again in the seventies first via radio Northsea International, later from its own boat again in 1972. It survived on a trickle of money throughout the seventies until disaster hit in 1980 when the boat sunk. The legendary status of the station came to its aid, and in 1983 it came back bigger and better from a new ship, 'The Ross Revenge'. A hugh antennae linked to a 50 kW transmitter which when at sea in combination reputably offered up triple the ERP gave coverage across western Europe.

The stations popularity in the eighties drew competition from Laser (a new offshore station), and together they both again altered the course of UK legitimate radio.

In an insane exhibition of political incompetence, the Dutch and British governments raided the boat in 1989 in what was later proved to be an illegal act.

Badly impacted by the thuggary that took place the station was never the same, and in the early nineties went on extremely low power, and again suffering from a lack of finance, the ship came into harbour from the sea.

In the nineties, exploitation of the UK's RSL (Restricted Service Licences) enabled short 28 day broadcasts to be commenced to a restricted listening area, however, this (In my opinion), was not what the station was about.

The growth of satellite technology and other delivery methods in the late 90's has enabled broadcasts to recommence when opportunity occurs via these new mediums, with August 14th 1998 marking a remarkable event with Radio Caroline being hear around the world on Satellite, Short Wave, and FM frequencies.

Tell Me More About Radio Caroline

The airchecks below are from various era's.
 

All Files Real Audio Format

Clip 0 - Radio Caroline 558 khz -  Taster ! - Mark Matthews 5th March 1987 - 10.30 - 12.05 (45 Seconds - 67K)

Clip 1 - Radio Caroline 558 khz - Mark Matthews 5th March 1987 - 10.30 - 12.05 (9 Mins 5 Seconds - 1M)
 
Clip 2 - Radio Caroline 558 khz - Kevin Turner 1st February 1987 - 12 Midday (1 Min 25 Seconds - 167K)
 
Clip 3 - Radio Caroline 962 khz - Stuart Russel June 23rd 1978 ? - Top of Hour Aircheck (1 Min 56 Seconds - 229K)

Clip 4 - Radio Caroline 319 M - Roger Matthews January 1978/9 ? - 11 pm Top of Hour Aircheck (2 Min 13 Seconds - 261K)