-- eaturing .heTOP :DEE JAYS and new _Jersonal Fstories of _he STARS WIN YOUR FAVOURITE L.P'S. IN OUR EXCITING CONTEST -----7-="lielP.1""«411.11.1111.111'11-LIMIM CAROLINE • e. I. • •IM Copyright rü , MCMLXV by RADIO CAROLINE, SPECTRE PROMOTIONS LIMITED All rights reserved throughout the world Published in Great Britain by World Distributors (Manchester) Ltd., 12-14 Lever Street, Manchester 1. Printed in Great Britain by Fletcher Et Son Ltd, Norwich 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. RA 110 CAROLINE ANNUAL EDITED BY PAUL DENVER CONTENTS CAROLINE CALLING NON-STOP TO STARDOM HOW HIGH THE BOOM? WHY THEY DON'T GO BACK WHAT'S IN A NAME? I LIKE STARS ON TEENAGERS THE DAY BUCKINGHAM PALACE SENT FOR DAVE CLARK ALL ABOARD THE FAMOUS SHIPS CHARM IN THE CHARTS A BEATLE SALUTES A PACE- MAKER THE DISC SPINNERS CAROLINE CLUB MAILBAG FREDDIE'S FATEFUL DAY I'D RATHER BE UP THERE SWINGING COMPETITION BILLY'S FURY TOOK HIM TO THE TOP EIGHT BIG COLOUR PICTURES THE HOLLIES THE JAZZ SCENE NOBODY WANTED THE BEATLES WHEN THE SCREAMING HAD TO STOP! THE GREAT R Et B RUMPUS TWENTY PAGES OF PICTURES Exactly six months after going on Just why has Radio Caroline This book takes you behind the air with its No. 1 broadcast, become a "must" listening-post the scenes of the two famous 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 news that the two ships were brevity -of Radio Caroline's bril- the men who run the whole 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, champion. this way: "The announcers on there are many, many pages of Michael Parkin, Caroline's gen- Radio Caroline don't mouth glib pictures and originally-styled eral manager, was able to say show-business clichés, they articles on the Kingdoms of Pop - flatly: "We have a larger audi- don't talk down to us and they dom, Beatdom and Jazzdom! 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 - but all of their programmes." Above all, we like the unassum- better fun reading it. In that short time Radio Carol- ing and intelligent way they go to ine had already netted a regular work .. we feel that each an- weekly audience in excess of 12+ nouncer is one of us." million people - 6+ million in the I don't think Radio Caroline north and 6 million in the south. could ask for a better definition eatt-ary And that was only the start.... of what it's trying to do. it t _ The good ship CAROLINE fully equipped and about to set sail for that famous point off the Isle of Man. NON-sTOP TO flee . % I.e. • •••••_ • •e•••• e. .• se) s• • • • • * • • • - • • • • •s • • •• •• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • e • • eee • • • • • • • • • e •: • • • • • • • • •••• : • • •••••‘._e • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • ••••••• • ID. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • • • • • • ee • •605655e • • • • • • • • lee e•••••es •••••Ie • • • GARY LAINE SPOTLIGHTS THE SUPERSONIC RISE OF RADIO'S SWINGIN' SHIPS Radio Caroline went into action embarked on regular broadcast- Then, six weeks from the start, with one overall aim - to give ing. Radio Atlanta sailed in, dropping round-the-clock musical enter- Not only were the national anchor some 14 miles from Carol- tainment. Instantly, it met a Press fascinated. So were the ine. Between them, the two ships staggering untapped demand for experts of the Gallup Poll. They aimed at and reached the second non-stop music - and itself reported that in its first three largest English-speaking audi- soared non-stop to broadcasting weeks Radio Caroline had won ence on earth. stardom. the allegiance of almost 7 million On 3 July, 1964, both ships See how it all happened.... listeners - a figure which did not merged under the Radio Caroline The first Radio Caroline motor even take in those under the age call-sign. Actually, Ronan O'Ra- ship took up position off Harwich of 17. hilly, who ran Radio Caroline, on Good Friday, 1964. That same But this was only the begin- and Allan Crawford, the boss of night it began test broadcasting. ning. For Caroline was beaming Radio Atlanta, had been having The impact was immediate. By to an area containing more than merger talks ever since Caroline next morning news of Radio 19 million people - so polls were first went on the air, and the ships Caroline's unsuspected existence outdated almost as soon as they had been closely linked from the had hit the newspaper headlines. were written. Nothing like it had start. Both were fitted out at By Easter Sunday the ship had ever happened before. Greenore in Southern Ireland. Ronan O'Rahilly, joint chief of the whole Radio Caroline network. Son of an Irish father and an American mother, Ronan has been in England five years, founded London's famed R AND B spot, the Scene Club. And here's the my CAROLINE, ultra-heavy anchor down and everything ready for your all-day music broadcast. 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, 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, in international waters 3 miles was this basic fact that the girl is nearly all the time .. off picturesque Ramsey in the who spoke to the editor in- If you aren't already a dyed- Isle of Man. stantly, and rightly, appreciated. in -the -wool Carolinian what 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 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 general - but now under the A famed jazz musician once as Top Fifty chart-makers. "Un- Radio Caroline call-sign. held that the key to success was knowns" are given a broadcast- Ronan O'Rahilly and Allan "few notes but good notes". For ing break as often as possible Crawford put out a joint an- Radio Caroline disc jockeys it's because Radio Caroline deejays nouncement in which they de- few words but good words. make a point of spinning discs clared: "The decision to merge Above all, few! was taken in view of the enoi - mous interest from the public and advertisers in other parts of England outside the original broadcasting areas. This net- work will now cover the most populous areas of Great Britain." When the first Caroline ship went into action its signal was heard in London and the South- East - as the organizers had 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 Ireland, Wales and Scotland. And Radio Caroline South even gets through to Holland, France, Den- mark, Sweden, Norway, Belgium and Finland. Just for the record (no pun intended) the Late Late Show, which goes 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. 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. nation-wide and now the letters the airing of its music but also When Radio Caroline started, were more like an avalanche - because of the arrangements the ship not only attracted legions not only from the South but made to pay fees to the Society of listeners -its programmes also from the densely populated which looks after the interests attracted shoals of letters.