Radio Caroline 1970s History 8

Radio Caroline 1970’s - History (8)

1977

Yet more technical changes took place on board the Mi Amigo early in March 1977. On the 3rd of that month Radio Caroline broadcast for the last time on 253m - the station's signal on this frequency now that it was only using the 10Kw transmitter had become almost intolerable for listeners so a decision was made to change to a clearer channel. A week later, on 9th March 1977, the station started broadcasting its regular programmes on 319m.

In June 1977 Radio Caroline's DJs started appealing during their programmes for listeners to send £1 donations to the station. Radio Caroline had never before asked its listeners to contribute towards the running of the station, but embarrassed DJs explained that funds were now so low that continuing the station at all was very difficult and it desperately needed a higher power transmitter. It had therefore been decided to introduce a listener subscription system, but the appeals were halted after a few weeks when only £400 was raised.

Normal programming on Caroline 319 was suspended without explanation at 9.30am on 4th August 1977 to be replaced by continuous music and station identity announcements at the top of each hour. By 3.50pm both transmitters on the Mi Amigo had gone off the air and remained silent until just after 8.00pm that evening when Radio Caroline returned to 319m.

The crew, having discovered severe flooding in the engine room, some of the cabins and the record library on board the radio ship had spent most of the day trying to trace the cause and pump the water out. The ship was starting to list to starboard and at first it was feared the Mi Amigo may be starting to sink as water appeared to be coming in through a hole in the hull. After many hours spent removing metal plates and floorboards the water was eventually discovered to be pouring from one of the generator cooling pipes in the engine room and there was actually no danger of the vessel sinking.

The strain of trying to operate a 24 hour a day offshore radio station in the late 1970s began to show during the autumn of 1977. In late August Radio Caroline had only two English speaking DJs on board the Mi Amigo, who between them tried to keep the station on the air for over two weeks.

As well as presenting live programmes they also used old tapes made by former DJs, which were repeated a number of times. Also various album and tape documentaries were each broadcast two or three times during this period. Two Radio Mi Amigo DJs who were also on the ship presented some live programmes for Radio Caroline as well as their own programmes on Radio Mi Amigo in both English and Dutch so that they could be simulcast on 319m as well as 212m.

This arrangement lasted as long as humanly possible - until 13th September 1977 when Radio Caroline started to close at 8.00 or 9.00pm, but by 17th September five new DJs had reached the ship, enabling normal 24hour programming to resume once again.

Radio Caroline's troubles were not over, however, frequent breaks in transmission occurred during September, October and November 1977 and major problems with the generator ultimately resulted in a ten day silence from both stations on the Mi Amigo in November. This silence, together with severe storms in the North Sea and inaccurate press reports led to speculation that the Mi Amigo had lost its transmitting mast and Radio Caroline would be silenced forever. However, both stations on the Mi Amigo returned to the air on 21st November 1977, although there were a number of other minor breakdowns caused by the still faulty generator.

Further changes in the broadcasting arrangements for both stations on board the Mi Amigo took place on 1st December 1977. Although Radio Mi Amigo had the use of the 50Kw transmitter tuned to 212m reception was still poor in the station's target area of Belgium and the Netherlands, while Radio Caroline on 319m with only 10Kw of power had a much better signal reach. Therefore it was decided to swap transmitters and wavelengths.

1978

Hurricane force winds caused extensive damage in the North Sea and the Kent and Essex coastal area of Britain on 11th January 1978, completely wrecking Margate Pier - only 15 miles from the Mi Amigo's anchorage, and ripping the North Hinder Lightship (30 miles from the Mi Amigo) from her moorings. Although both stations on board the Mi Amigo were already off the air because of generator problems the radio ship survived what turned out to be the worst storms in the area since 1953. Both Radio Caroline and Radio Mi Amigo eventually returned to the air on 15th January 1978.