THE ALL DAY 0 MUSIC STATION =eatu ri ng he TOP Z DEE JAYS Ind new M )ersonal o stories of rz he STARS O o zi iW o WIN YOUR FAVOURITE z L.P'S. N I N OUR EXCITING CONTEST www.americanradiohistory.com www.americanradiohistory.com The famous Ships ... the Stars ... the deejays ... the lot! It's right here for you in the first ever book on the nation's first ever commercial radio network. Copyright © MCMLXV by RADIO CAROLINE, SPECTRE PROMOTIONS LIMITED RADIO All rights reserved throughout the world Published in Great Britain by World Distributors (Manchester) Ltd., 12 -14 Lever Street, Manchester 1. CAROLINE Printed in Great Britain by Fletcher Er Son Ltd, Norwich ANNUAL EDITED BY PAUL DENVER www.americanradiohistory.com Vitt 1 CONTENTS OW 7 CAROLINE CALLING Exactly six months after going on Just why has Radio Caroline This book takes you behind NON -STOP TO STARDOM the air with its No 1 broadcast, become a "must" listening -post the scenes of the two famous HOW HIGH THE BOOM? Radio Caroline's first how -they- for millions? One major answer broadcasting ships. So step right listen survey came up with the is the friendly informality - and in and see how it all ticks, meet WHY THEY DON'T GO BACK news that the two ships were brevity - of Radio Caroline's bril- the men who run the whole WHAT'S IN A NAME? winning the battle of the sound liant deejays. show, sit in on a broadcasting waves at the speed of an Olympic A 20- year -old girl put it to me session - and, for good measure, I LIKE champion. this way: -The announcers on there are many, many pages of STARS ON TEENAGERS Michael Parkin, Caroline's gen- Radio Caroline don't mouth glib pictures and originally -styled THE DAY BUCKINGHAM PALACE eral manager, was able to say show- business clichés, they articles on the Kingdoms of Pop - flatly: "We have a larger SENT FOR DAVE CLARK audi- don't talk down to us and they dom, Beatdom and Jazzdom ! ALL ABOARD THE FAMOUS ence than the BBC in our areas. don't let too many words get in It's been fun putting this book Not just on their Light Programme the way of the discs they spin. together. We hope it'll be even SHIPS - but all of their programmes." Above all, we like the unassum- better fun reading it. CHARM IN THE CHARTS In that short time Radio Carol- ing and intelligent way they go to A BEATLE SALUTES A PACE- ine had already netted a regular work ... we feel that each an- MAKER weekly audience in excess of 121 nouncer is one of us." million people - 6+ million in the I THE DISC don't think Radio Caroline SPINNERS north and 6 million in the south. could ask for a better definition CAROLINE CLUB MAILBAG And that was only the start.... of what it's trying to do. FREDDIE'S FATEFUL DAY I'D RATHER BE UP THERE SWINGING =+o COMPETITION BILLY'S FURY TOOK HIM TO jig.;The good ship CAROLINE fully THE TOP equipped and about to set sail for that famous point off the Isle of Man. EIGHT BIG COLOUR PICTURES THE HOLLIES 1 THE JAZZ SCENE NOBODY WANTED THE BEATLES WHEN THE SCREAMING HAD TO STOP! THE GREAT R Et B RUMPUS TWENTY PAGES OF PICTURES www.americanradiohistory.com When Atlanta began broad- Now let's take a closer look at This means there's an endless casting it was only a matter of the policy which has shot Radio flow of music free from wordy time before both parties started Caroline to the summit of success. distractions. On top of that, . , i r. to work hand -in -hand. Finally The bedrock principle is sim- there's never more than six came the decision to team up, plicity itself - to put out top minutes of advertising commer- and the good ship Caroline musical entertainment with a cials in any sixty minutes of air sailed up the Irish Sea to anchor minimum of announcement. It time. Which, as everybody knows, L....; in international waters 31 miles was i this basic fact that the girl is nearly all the time . : i i off picturesque Ramsey in the who spoke to the i editor in- If you aren't already a dyed - Isle of Man. stantly, and rightly, appreciated. in - the - wool Carolinian what i Incidentally, it went right on Radio Caroline's deejays pack kind of music can you expect to broadcasting on the 199 metres a verbal punch - but, even more hear? One thing is for sure - wave -length all the way north ! to the point, they pack as much somewhere along the line you'll At the same time the good ship music into each of the day's get your kind of music. That goes GARY LAINE SPOTLIGHTS THE SUPERSONIC RISE OF RADIO'S SWINGIN' SHIPS Atlanta continued in business transmission hours as is hu- for everyone. from its existing position, trans- manly possible to do - by Jazz, folk music and other mitting to the Greater London cutting the dialogue to a mini- specialized varieties are beamed zone and South -East England in mum. frequently every week as well Radio Caroline went into action embarked on regular broadcast- Then, six weeks from the start, general - but now under the A famed jazz musician once as Top Fifty chart -makers. "Un- with one overall aim - to give ing. Radio Atlanta sailed in, dropping Radio Caroline call -sign. held that the key to success was knowns" are given a broadcast- round - the -clock musical enter- Not only were the national anchor some 14 miles from Carol- Ronan O'Rahilly and Allan "few notes but good notes". For ing break as often as possible tainment. Instantly, it met a Press fascinated. So were the ine. Between them, the two ships Crawford put out a joint an- Radio Caroline disc jockeys it's because Radio Caroline deejays staggering untapped demand for experts of the Gallup Poll. They aimed at and reached the second nouncement in which they de- few words but good words. make a point of spinning discs non -stop music - and itself reported that in its first three largest English- speaking audi- clared: "The decision to merge Above all, few ! soared non -stop to broadcasting weeks Radio Caroline had won ence on earth. was taken in view of the enor- stardom. the allegiance of almost 7 million On 3 July, 1964, both ships mous interest from the public See how it all happened.... listeners - a figure which did not merged under the Radio Caroline and advertisers in other parts of The first Radio Caroline motor even take in those under the age call -sign. Actually, Ronan O'Ra- England outside the original ship took up position off Harwich of 17. hilly, who ran Radio Caroline, broadcasting areas. This net- on Good Friday, 1964. That same But this was only the begin- and Allan Crawford, the boss of work will now cover the most night it began test broadcasting. ning. For Caroline was beaming Radio Atlanta, had been having populous areas of Great Britain." The impact was immediate. By to an area containing more than merger talks ever since Caroline When the first Caroline ship next morning news of Radio 19 million people - so- polls were first went on the air, and the ships went into action its signal was Caroline's unsuspected existence outdated almost as soon as they had been closely linked from the heard in London and the South - had hit the newspaper headlines. were written. Nothing like it had start. Both were fitted out at East - as the organizers had By Easter Sunday the ship had ever happened before. Greenore in Southern Ireland. hoped. Nobody thought the sig- nal would go much further - but, in fact, it got through to many other parts of the country. Even listeners in areas as far-flung as Glasgow and Bristol were able to tune in to the programmes. Fans who, try as they might, just couldn't get in on the Caro- line wave -length started writing to the station asking if some- thing could be done to expand the service. That's really how Radio Caroline and Radio Atlanta got together. Now Radio Caroline North reaches not only the North but also the Midlands and most of 111 Ronan O'Rahilly, joint chief of the whole Radio Caroline network. Son Ireland, Wales and Scotland. And of an Irish father and an American Radio Caroline South even gets mother, Ronan has been in England through to Holland, France, Den- five years, founded London's famed mark, Sweden, Norway, Belgium R AND B spot, the Scene Club. and Finland. And here's the my CAROLINE, Just for the record (no pun ultra -heavy anchor down and intended) the Late Late Show, everything ready for your all -day which goes music broadcast. out until 3 o'clock in Carl Conway was an actor in films, the morning, was actually heard radio and television before he became by sun -tanned Britons lounging one of Radio Caroline's deejays. in their holiday hotels on Spain's Costa Brava coast. www.americanradiohistory.com from small, up- and -coming re- countries followed not long frequently asked questions were cording outfits. afterwards. In America some put out in capsule form. Tin Pan Alley itself benefits States can receive as many as Then Radio Caroline became from Caroline. Not only through sixty different radio shows.