Pirates Ahoy

Some 55 years after the Marine, &c., Broadcasting (Offences) Act 1967 came into effect it’s great to see that radio producers are still doffing their collective caps to the pioneers of offshore pirate radio.

This Friday Absolute Radio 60s will become Absolute Radio Pirates for the day (10 am to 10 pm, with the full 8-hour sequence broadcast twice). Taking part are two original pirate jocks, Tony Blackburn and Johnnie Walker. There are archive recordings of Kenny Everett and Tommy Vance with the last Radio London FAB 40. We’ll hear from Susan Calvert, daughter of Reg Calvert who was at the centre of the infamous Radio City incident. David Lloyd provides an historical perspective, whilst Tim Blackmore, Leona Graham and Shaun Keavney talk about the influence of the pirate stations. Adding a more up-to-date spin are Jordan and Perri from KISS Breakfast who look at more recent land-based pirate radio stations. Zeb Soanes will be reading some news bulletins from the original offshore pirate era.   

Absolute Radio Pirates has been part-funded by the Audio Content Fund and is produced for unsual by Laura Grimshaw, formerly of Radio 4 Extra.  Absolute Radio Content Director Paul Sylvester said “Modern radio wouldn’t exist without these titans of broadcasting who introduced British audiences to the likes of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Aretha Franklin. We’re proud to pay tribute in a typically unique Absolute Radio way, disrupting the airwaves with an incredible soundtrack, legendary voices, compelling archive and the recreation of vintage news bulletins and ad-breaks.”

You can hear Absolute Radio Pirates on the Absolute Radio 60s website here. I've also uploaded to Mixcloud with edits for adverts.

Not unsurprisingly Boom Radio is acknowledging the events of the 1960s and they have changed their schedule for Sunday 14 August. Making another appearance is Johnnie Walker and John Peters plays that final FAB 40.Boom regular Roger Day talks about his time at Swinging Radio England, Caroline and RNI. In the evening it’s the return of DLT, his first radio appearance since his time on United DJs and ends with Cardboard Shoes (just why did Radio Norfolk end Keith’s Sunday night shows?).  “We know this era really chimes with our listeners,” commented Boom Content Director Paul Robey. “The day is a chance to celebrate the influence of what happened back then on the radio we hear today.”

And of course Radio Caroline and Radio Caroline Flashback will also be marking the anniversary over the weekend.

Audio of some of the above programmes will appear on this page in due course.

Between 10 am and noon Johnnie Walker presented this show from his home studio in Dorset. 

From noon John Peters played records from the final Radio London FAB 40 singles rundown. This final chart rundown was played by Tommy Vance on 6 August 1967.

 

At 2pm Roger Day beamed in from his home in Spain to recall his time on air and play some of his favourite records from the time. He marks the timer at 3pm when back on 14 August 1967 Radio London went off air for the last time.

At 6pm DLT was back to talk about his time on the pirate stations and recalls a jam session with Bobby Vee.

And finally at 9pm Keith Skues introduced an hour of pirate stories, featuring Paul Burnett, Johnnie Walker, Tony Blackburn, Colin Berry, Roger Day, Tom Edwards and Nick Bailey.