Ronan O'Rahilly

[Martin Shaw]

There was in today's paper an obituary for Mr O'Rahilly. If your under 50 the name might well not mean anything but if your an oldie, like me, he was the man who founded Radio Caroline in 1964 and so changed the sound of pop music radio in Britain. In my opinion nothing since has sounded so good and despite the BBC having had 53 years to catch up, they still haven't, and as for commercial radio! Either way RIP Ronan and thank you.

[cravensdmufan]

"This is Radio Caroline on 259 - your all day music station".

 

Ronan changed music radio in the UK with the creation of the first offshore "pirate" station. All day popular music, with competitions and the Caroline Club.  What wasn't to like?  It sounded so good, quite a change from the BBC's Light Programme.  Groovy! (nowadays it would be called "cool"!).

 

Well done Ronan - may you rest in peace.  ("Loving awareness is free").

 

 

[Johann Marsbar]

There is an interesting audio documentary about Ronan available for listening on the Radio Caroline website...

http://www.radiocaroline.co.uk/#home.html

 

[whart57]

To be pedantic Ronan O'Rahilly started the first British pirate station. The first European pirate radio operating from a ship was Danish and pre-dated Caroline by seven years. Many of us in Kent in the early sixties were also listeners to Radio Veronica which was a Dutch ship anchored somewhere on the Dutch side of the North Sea which had started in 1960.

 

One irony in the Guardian obituary is that the government acted against the pirate stations on the grounds that they weren't paying royalties to the artists whose music they were playing. Ironic because the record companies were complicit in this, the exposure a record got on Caroline or another pirate station was worth far more than any royalty payments due.

[Colin]

Several bands actually said that they became successful because of the airplay they got on the pirate stations, citing the lack of interest at the BBC re. encouraging new or more adventurous artists.

When Radio 1 started, I remember thinking “what a complete let down”, the needle-time fiasco meant that recorded music was severely limited and for much of the time we were stuck with the likes of Joe Loss or a band of session men (doubtless some of whom later became megastars) churning out awful versions of songs from the Top 20.

I soon returned to Caroline, which I believe lasted until 1968, then made a couple of comebacks in the ‘70s.

Whatever happened to The Admiral, Robbie Dale? I think he was DJ-Ing on Caroline around ‘67-68.

[Johann Marsbar]

16 minutes ago, Colin said:

Whatever happened to The Admiral, Robbie Dale? I think he was DJ-Ing on Caroline around ‘67-68.

 

Some info here...

http://www.offshoreradio.co.uk/djsd.htm#dale

[whart57]

Those of us of a certain age may also remember the great teenager split, were you a Caroline fan or did you tune to Radio London. Bit like were you a Stones fan or a Beatles fan. From what I recall most of the girls went for Caroline, primarily because of Johnny Walker on the late evening slot.

 

One thing that always puzzled me - even after I did some radio basics for my HNC - is why, in Herne Bay, we had great reception for Caroline and London - and indeed Veronica - but couldn't get good reception for Radio City, despite the fact we could see their base on the Red Sands Fort from the sea front. Perhaps they had a directional aerial pointing up the Thames and us on the back lobe missed out.

[Metr0Land]

1 hour ago, whart57 said:

Those of us of a certain age may also remember the great teenager split, were you a Caroline fan or did you tune to Radio London. Bit like were you a Stones fan or a Beatles fan. From what I recall most of the girls went for Caroline, primarily because of Johnny Walker on the late evening slot.

 

 

 

Ah yes the Kiss In The Car Club where you were meant to snog throughout a particular record.