Sunday, 1 December 2013

Memories Are Not Made of This

Hardly a month goes by without one of the offshore pirate radio guys popping up and talking about life on the ocean wave. Just try stopping them!  So it was no surprise when a Mark Dean, DJ on Radio Caroline North, came in to speak to Alison Butterworth on her late-night BBC Radio Lancashire show this week.

After about an hour or so of gentle coaxing from Alison little in the way of anecdotes about life onboard MV Caroline was forthcoming other than he’d interviewed Gene Pitney a number of times and that he’d heard of but not met Bob Stewart. Then it all got rather interesting when pirate radio guru Paul Rowley phoned in. This recording starts just before that moment. I’ll leave it to you to make up your own mind.



For an A-Z of broadcasters who worked on offshore radio visit The Pirate Radio Hall of Fame.

5 comments:

Peter Madison, 'The Teenage Pensioner'! said...

I have never heard of him, but of course, I'm not memorable either! What did he hope to gain by giving this interview I wonder?

Unknown said...

Dear Emma Butterworth,

I have just listened to an excerpt from your show on Thursday, 28th, with regard to, Radio Caroline North.

For some years, I have run a website dedicated to the memory, and promotion of; Radio Caroline North. Almost 50 years AFTER the station ceased broadcasting, the group has over 800 members; which is indicative of just how special Caroline North was...

https://www.facebook.com/groups/201099863848/

A few thoughts spring to mind which I thought you might like to look at.

Tom Lodge senior (Sadly deceased) didn’t live in Australia and run a sheep farm….

He was transferred to Caroline South in 1965 in an effort to bring the programmes of Caroline South up to standard.

Mike Ahern…. (Sadly deceased), he too was transferred to Caroline South in late 1965….Mike had great success in bringing the mid morning show ratings up and equal to , that of Radio London Big L.

Carl England….? Steve England worked on Caroline in the 70’s…

Mark Dean? Who? No such DJ on RCN.

The definitive list is here:

http://www.offshoreradio.co.uk/

How can you not know Bob Stewart if you worked on RCN 65-67?
He was a massive personality, later he went to Luxembourg with another RCN renegade, Tony Prince.

RCN tendered from Dundalk in Irish republic from 31/8/67, not from Holland .

A trip from Holland to Ramsey Bay , Isle of Man; would be prohibitive in terms of time. Dundalk was the nearest port in the Irish Republic , and even then; a stormy tender trip to Ramsey could take 2 days in bad weather.

The MOA applied to Caroline North from 31/8/67, whereas it applied to Caroline South on August 14th, the delay was due to the fact that The Isle of Man is not part of the UK but rather part of the Commonwealth; and so an Order In Council was needed hence the delay.

Senior DJ from May, 1964 to August 8th, 1967, was Jerry Soopa Leighton who did the breakfast show. It is an impossibility that Jerry Leighton’s name did not tumble automatically out of the mouth. Also, Daffy Don Allen (sadly deceased) is such a legend of Caroline North that his programmes are to THIS DAY, rebroadcast on Internet station; SurfRadio by Annoeska-a female DJ who was not even born when Daffy Don’s legendary Caroline North shows were first heard.
This man, Mark Dean, is the most unlikely sounding DJ/Presenter!

His voice has none of the inflection, timbre, tone and polish one would expect of a DJ of some years experience. Caroline North was one of the first stations to employ DJ’s with regional accents; Mike Ahern was from Liverpool for example.

However, Caroline North’s programming is generally regarded as being superior, at least equal to that of Big L...Caroline North did not employ lemons! This man's voice is not Radio trained or experienced. He sounds like a bilious dog on crack.

In 1967, age 10, and using a page from my primary school exercise book, I wrote to Radio Caroline North at P.O. Box 3, Ramsey, asking to be a DJ on Caroline North.

I received a reply from Jerry Soopa Leighton, advising me to finish my education first….

Best wishes,

John Bennett.

Voice of Peace

Blue Danube Radio

RBA Radio Algarve

BBC Radio York

C94 France/Channel Islands

ILR Various

West and North Kent Radio said...

I have actually found some reference to Mark Dean and Carl England here www.radioparadise.tvheaven.com but you have to go to a cached version to catch it. They were something to do with the Radio Caroline radio shows, or not as the case maybe.
You can see the full text on my post here, http://members7.boardhost.com/PirateRadio/msg/1385979528.html

Dave Martin

West and North Kent Radio said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
SexySaucySally said...

Hilarious

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