station . for the album by miss kittin see radio caroline vol .1 . radio caroline is a british radio station founded in 1964 by ronan o rahilly to circumvent the record companies control of popular music broadcasting in the united kingdom and the bbc s radio broadcasting monopoly . 1 unlicensed by any government for most of its early life it was a pirate radio station that never actually became illegal although after the marine offences act 1967 it became illegal for a british subject to associate with it . the radio caroline name was used to broadcast from international waters using five different ships of three different owners from 1964 to 1990 and via satellite from 1998 to 2013 . radio caroline currently broadcasts 24 hours a day via the internet and by occasional restricted service licence they also broadcast on dab radio in certain areas of the uk . radio caroline broadcasts music from the 1960s to contemporary with an emphasis on album oriented rock aor . the company also licenses other stations around the world to use the radio caroline name . contents 1 1964 1968 1.1 radio caroline origins 1.2 first transmissions 1.3 merger with radio atlanta 1.4 broadcasting personnel 1.5 mi amigo runs aground 1.6 radio city affair 1.7 legislation 2 1970 radio north sea international 3 caroline television 4 1972 1980 mi amigo rescued 4.1 radio atlantis and radio seagull 4.2 radio mi amigo 4.3 loving awareness 4.4 dutch legislation 4.5 wavelength changes 4.6 mi amigo sinks 5 1983 1991 mv ross revenge 5.1 mv ross revenge 5.2 radio monique 5.3 the mast collapses 5.4 1989 anglo dutch raid 5.5 1990 1991 after the raid 6 1991 present licensed support group era 6.1 restricted service licences 6.2 satellite and internet broadcasting 6.3 radio caroline at 50 years 1964 2014 6.4 medium wave campaign 7 international operations 7.1 the netherlands 7.2 spain 7.3 mediterranean riviera 7.4 ireland 7.5 italy 7.6 new zealand 8 references in popular culture 9 see also 10 notes 11 references 12 further reading 13 external links 13.1 video 1964 1968 edit radio caroline north original and radio caroline south former radio atlanta broadcast area united kingdom republic of ireland parts of continental europe slogan radio caroline on 199 your all day music station frequency wavelengths announced as 199 metres 1493 1520 khz and later changed to 259 1169 1187 khz . first air date easter saturday 28 march 1964 at noon gmt to 3 march 1968 . format variety religion news and popular music power radio caroline north 10kw later 20kw . radio caroline south 10kw later 50 kw . owner planet sales ltd radio caroline origins edit the mv mi amigo c. 1974 which had been used as the home of radio caroline south from 1964 1967 radio caroline was begun by irish musician manager and businessman ronan o rahilly . o rahilly failed to obtain airplay on radio luxembourg for georgie fame s records because it was committed to sponsored programmes promoting major record labels ; emi decca pye and philips . encouraged by scandinavian and dutch pirates in february 1964 o rahilly obtained the 702 ton former danish passenger ferry fredericia which was converted into a radio ship at the irish port of greenore owned by o rahilly s father . at the same time allan crawford s project atlanta was equipping the mv mi amigo at greenore where the two competed to be first on air . 2 financial backing for the venture came from six investors including john sheffield chairman of norcross carl jimmy ross of ross foods jocelyn stevens of queen magazine with which radio caroline shared its first office . 3 o rahilly named the station after caroline kennedy daughter of u.s. president john f. kennedy . 4 on a fund raising trip to the us o rahilly reportedly saw a life magazine photograph of kennedy and his children in the oval office that served as the inspiration for the name caroline radio . in an extant photo caroline kennedy and her brother john f. kennedy jr. are apparently dancing in the oval office as their father looks on an activity which o rahilly reportedly interpreted as a playful disruption of government . 5 6 first transmissions edit this section needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . june 2011 learn how and when to remove this template message the fredericia was renamed mv caroline and anchored off felixstowe where it began test transmissions on friday 27 march 1964 . on saturday 28 march it began regular broadcasting at noon on 197.3 metres 1520 khz announced as 199 metres with the opening conducted by simon dee . 7 the first programme which was pre recorded was hosted by chris moore . radio caroline s first musical theme was jimmy mcgriff s round midnight a jazz standard co composed by thelonious monk . in march 1964 the fortunes recorded caroline which became the station s theme . round midnight was confined to close down on radio caroline north after the world tomorrow . the station s slogan was your all day music station and it initially broadcast from 6am 6pm seven days a week . radio caroline announced a wavelength of 199 metres rhyming with the name but was actually broadcasting on 197.3 metres 1520 khz . stations in the uk announced the wavelength in metres and radios at that time were tuned using an analogue dial . the absence of precise digital readouts allowed for some leeway between the precise transmission frequency and the channel announced on the air . the dutch offshore station radio veronica was on 192 metres 1562 khz and radio atlanta broadcast on 201 1493 khz . radio caroline s transmission output was almost 20 kw achieved by linking two 10 kw continental electronics transmitters . broadcasting hours were 6am to 6pm to avoid competition from radio luxembourg . after its close down the station returned at 8pm and continued until after midnight . this was to avoid competition with popular television programmes . most of radio caroline s pop music programmes were targeted at housewives and some later programming was aimed at children . without serious competition radio caroline gained a regular daytime audience of some 10 million . merger with radio atlanta edit emperor rosko on 2 july 1964 radio atlanta and radio caroline s companies project atlanta and planet productions . announced the stations were to merge with crawford and o rahilly as joint managing directors . radio atlanta closed at 8pm that day . it was renamed radio caroline south and mv mi amigo remained off frinton on sea while mv caroline broadcast as radio caroline north . mv caroline sailed from felixstowe to the isle of man broadcasting as she went . the only broadcast staff on board were tom lodge and jerry leighton . mv caroline arrived at her new anchorage in ramsay bay on 6 july 1964 . the two stations were able to cover most of the british isles . later some programmes were pre recorded on land and broadcast simultaneously from both ships . in october 1965 o rahilly bought crawford s interest in the mv mi amigo and engaged tom lodge from radio caroline north to make programme changes and regain the audience from radio london . lodge hired new djs and introduced free form programming which by august 1966 had succeeded creating an audience of 23 million . citation needed when the us backed radio london arrived off the coast of england there was an unsuccessful attempt to merge its sales operation with that of caroline before radio london started transmissions . citation needed . the new station introduced british audiences to slick american style top 40 radio with electronic jingles produced by dallas based pams and was an immediate success . citation needed broadcasting personnel edit radio caroline s first programme on 28 march 1964 was presented by chris moore . 8 presenters tony blackburn roger gale mike allen ray teret roger day simon dee tony prince spangles muldoon keith skues johnnie walker robbie dale dave lee travis tommy vance paul noble bob stewart and andy archer became well known . some djs from the usa and commonwealth countries such as graham webb emperor rosko steve young keith hampshire colin nicol and norman st john were also heard . dj jack spector of the wmca good guys in new york regularly recorded for radio caroline . syndicated shows from the us and recorded religious programmes were also broadcast . bbc radio 2 newsreader colin berry and classic fm s nick bailey started their careers reading the news on radio caroline south . tom lodge was a radio disc jockey for radio caroline from 1964 until his death in 2012 in mid september 1965 the crew and djs on mv mi amigo were joined for the weekend by 1960s pop singer sylvan whittingham who visited the ship to promote her single we don t belong . whittingham was unable to leave on the tender when a storm arose . the only singer to stay overnight she helped present programmes make jingles and close the station at night . 9 mi amigo runs aground edit on 20 january 1966 the mv mi amigo lost its anchor in a storm drifted and ran aground on the beach at frinton on sea . the crew and broadcasting staff were rescued unharmed but the ship s hull was damaged and repairs were carried out at zaandam netherlands . between 31 january and 1 may radio caroline south broadcast from the vessel cheeta ii owned by britt wadner of swedish offshore station radio syd which was off the air because of pack ice in the baltic sea . 2 the cheeta ii was equipped for fm broadcasting so it was fitted with the 10 kw transmitter from the mi amigo feeding a makeshift antenna . the resulting signal was low powered but ensured that caroline south s advertising revenue would continue . the mi amigo returned to its frinton on sea anchorage with a redesigned antenna and a new 50 kw transmitter and attempted to resume broadcasting on 18 april nominally on 259 metres to enable the same jingles as radio caroline north on 1169 khz to be used but actually 252 metres . the transmitter was initially too powerful for the antenna insulators . on 27 april the mi amigo was fully operational . radio caroline south s 259 metres signal was now near those of radio london on 266m 1133 khz and the bbc s light programme on 247m 1214 khz . radio caroline north subsequently moved to 257m 1169 khz but also called it 259 . radio city affair edit in october 1965 negotiations began for radio caroline to take over radio city which broadcast from shivering sands army fort a second world war marine fort off the kent 2 coast . one of radio caroline s directors major oliver smedley formerly of radio atlanta entered a partnership with radio city s owner pop group manager reginald calvert and installed a more powerful transmitter on the fort . however according to gerry bishop s book offshore radio this transmitter was antiquated and failed to work . smedley later withdrew from the deal . 10 on 20 june 1966 smedley boarded the shivering sands fort with 10 workmen to repossess a transmitter that smedley had supplied but had not been paid for . the next day calvert visited smedley s home in saffron walden essex to demand the departure of the raiders and the return of vital transmitter parts . during a violent struggle calvert was shot dead . smedley s men occupied the fort until 22 june . 2 smedley was charged with calvert s murder on 18 july but this was