Radio Caroline 1970s History 7

Radio Caroline 1970’s - History (7)

As they were climbing on board the station's engineer managed to switch off Radio Mi Amigo's taped programmes and activate a microphone in the Radio Caroline studio. Startled listeners then heard police enter the studio and a heated argument taking place during which the engineer was repeatedly told to turn the microphone off. He resisted for a short time, trying to convince police that a tape was being played, however, at 3.01pm the microphone was abruptly cut off by the boarders. Police and officials from the Home Office Radio Regulatory Department then systematically searched the Mi Amigo and confiscated a number of papers and programme tapes.

Four men were removed from the Mi Amigo and taken to Southend Police Station where they were questioned and charged with offences under the Marine etc. Broadcasting (Offences) Act 1967. All four appeared before Southend Magistrates on 15th November 1975 and were subsequently fined at hearings in December 1975 and February 1976. Additionally and most significantly, the Magistrates made an order giving the authorities power to seize the MV Mi Amigo should she ever enter British territorial waters again and authorised the confiscation of items of equipment, papers and a transmitter crystal which had been removed from the ship by police.

After this raid Radio Caroline (and Radio Mi Amigo) remained silent until nearly a week later, when on 23rd November 1975 the radio ship left the South Edinburgh Channel anchoring at a position back in the Knock Deep Channel, 17 miles off Margate and, after a further three days, transmissions started again.

1976

Test transmissions on 197m and 192m took place at irregular intervals during March and April 1976. These tests were in preparation for an all-day English language service which eventually began at 6.00am on 15th May 1976.

The broadcasting schedule from the Mi Amigo now looked like this:-

Radio Mi Amigo (253m) 6.00am - 7.00pm Dutch/Flemish

Radio Caroline(192m) 6.00am - 7.00pm English

Radio Caroline(253m and 192m) 7.00pm - 6.00am English

Within two weeks Radio Caroline's parallel transmissions on both frequencies during the evening and overnight had ended. The daytime Caroline English language service on 192m continued, but a separate Caroline Service was introduced after Radio Mi Amigo's closedown on 253m.

Weather once again played its part in causing problems for those aboard the Mi Amigo in September 1976. The first indication that the crew were experiencing difficulties came in a coded message to the landbased office, broadcast during Radio Mi Amigo's programmes on 10th September. Although a severe storm was buffeting the radio ship the only damage sustained at that stage had been caused by a wave breaking a porthole and flooding the Radio Mi Amigo studio. This forced operations to be transferred to the Radio Caroline studio and Radio Mi Amigo programmes were then transmitted simultaneously on both frequencies - the 192m Caroline English Service being temporarily suspended to enable the revenue-earning Dutch station to broadcast as normal.

Radio Caroline then started its programmes at 7.00pm and apart from a reference to the Radio Mi Amigo studio having been flooded earlier that day, DJ Ed Foster did not tell listeners of the greater drama going on at the time. The first mention of this over the air came an hour and a half later when he interrupted a record to broadcast this message:-

"This is Radio Caroline broadcasting in the medium wave band from the radio ship Mi Amigo. We are on a sandbank and in distress and require assistance from shore."

The Mi Amigo's anchor chain had snapped, but programming did continue as normal throughout the rest of the evening until the transmitter went silent during the early hours of the following morning. A tender eventually arrived beside the silent radio ship and, when the weather had calmed sufficiently, the necessary repairs were carried out and a new anchor and chain installed.

However, the radio ship remained stuck on the sandbank for a total of five days until another tender with a relief crew arrived and managed to tow the Mi Amigo back to her anchorage on 16th September 1976. Radio Caroline programmes then re-commenced that evening but, because the 192m transmitter had been damaged by flooding it was not possible to reintroduce Radio Caroline's daytime service until a week later.

As 1976 came to a close a number of technical changes took place on board the Mi Amigo when both stations swapped frequencies. Radio Mi Amigo now used the 192m wavelength and the 50kW transmitter in an attempt to improve reception in the Netherlands and Belgium. Meanwhile Radio Caroline used the 10 Kw transmitter tuned to 253m (announced as 259m) 24 hours a day.