RETRO FRIDAY: “THE TRUE STORY OF RADIO CAROLINE”

If you type the term “Radio Caroline” into a Google search, you will see many links from many places and lots of ways to spend your money. 

Chances are, most of the choices have little to do with real deal: The incredibly influential pirate radio station that broadcast from a ship 3.5 miles off the English coast.

Radio Caroline from 1964 to 1967 is the only era that matters. 

Ronan O’Rahilly

The rest of the Radio Caroline's are wannabes, trying capitalize off the name, aura, and memory of Ronan O’Rahilly’s original creation that changed music and broadcasting in the United Kingdom forever.

Radio Caroline's home, the Mi Amigo

The facts are that Radio Caroline was a ship-based commercial radio station that lived in limbo between legal and felony. 

At a time when the UK did not want anyone to compete with the BBC. 

Though the purpose of Radio Caroline was to make money, it was a cultural force that touched millions of people in the UK and continental Europe.

Johnny Walker in 1964

Johnny Walker, one of original Radio Caroline DJs, tells most of the story. 

Our video includes audio of the station’s first broadcast on Easter 1964 and the night in 1967 when it all ended. 

Imagine a group of displaced commercial broadcasters singing We Shall Overcome to protest actions by the government of the UK that made supporting Radio Caroline illegal. 

Below is a YouTube video we produced based on a public radio news report we created in the year 2000. In the video you will hear why Radio Caroline started in 1964, it’s impact and how it ended in 1967.

Here is our video, The True Story of Radio Caroline 1964-`967:

Next is a remarkable documentary film called I love Caroline on 199

 from YouTube. The film was produced in 1965 by Paul O’Dell, the head of Hornsey College School of Art Film Society. It was out of circulation for many years: