Radio Monique History 3

Radio Monique - History (3)

1986

Early January 1986 brought rumours of increasing financial problems for Radio Monique and suggestions that many of the station's commercials were being aired on a 'meal ticket' basis. The lack of a tender during the first three weeks of 1986 also meant the station had no new commercials, records or up-to-date Top 50 programmes and was forced to fill its broadcasting hours with repeats of old taped shows.

Weather once again played its part in the fortunes of the Ross Revenge during 30th January 1986 when she broke from her anchor and drifted in the Force 8 gale. The Ross Revenge had drifted some nine miles from her anchorage to a point inside territorial waters near the Tongue Lightship and she was escorted back to the Knock Deep by the Sheerness lifeboat which stood by until the early hours of the following morning when the radio ship's own emergency anchor was lowered.

Although Caroline on 558kHz returned to the air briefly the 963kHz transmitter was not put on the air and Radio Monique remained silent. Transmissions from the Ross Revenge were made sporadically over the next two days until normal Radio Monique programmes recommenced at 9.00am on 2nd February and Caroline 558 returned the following day.

Radio Monique, which had been experiencing financial difficulties of one sort or another for some months was in the process of negotiating a further cash injection during the early months of 1986. However, by mid-April it was reported that the potential new financial backers had withdrawn from negotiations because of their inability to come to a satisfactory business arrangement.

The station's fortunes changed somewhat in June 1986 when Radio Monique programmes were being transmitted on three Spanish legal land-based stations for several hours each day, ostensibly for the benefit of Dutch holidaymakers. Two new major advertising contracts were also entered into at about this time, one with Citizen Watches was for spots to be played every hour the station was on the air until 31st December 1986. The second contract was with Marlboro for Texas cigarettes, with a spot every hour.

On 23rd August 1986 a poll was published in Holland by Music Media showing that 25% of the Dutch population listened to Radio Monique at some time, while 13% listened a few times a week, giving the station a potential audience of 1.44 million listeners in Holland alone. In big cities 41% of the population listened to the station regularly, the most popular programme being "Prijsbewust"- a prize quiz, which attracted 298,000 listeners daily. However, the station was not so popular in Belgium - one possible explanation offered for these low audience ratings was that it was virtually unknown in that country. The Belgian press gave little or no publicity to Radio Monique and this, coupled with an explosion in the number of FM landbased pirate stations, meant that listeners hardly ever tuned into the medium waveband.

Despite these apparently encouraging poll results - in Holland at least - reports appeared in the Dutch press and on television throughout the late summer of 1986 to the effect that Radio Monique was again in financial difficulties. It was even hinted that some DJs were planning to obtain an injunction against the station until they had received outstanding wages, although such legal action was likely to be difficult to put into practical effect against the offshore station.

November and December 1986 were punctuated by frequent transmitter and generator breakdowns causing Caroline 558, 963 and Radio Monique to go off the air for various periods.

For about ten days in November 1986 Radio Monique played non-stop music with hardly any announcements or commercials. DJs on board the Ross Revenge were disillusioned about having been left aboard the ship for weeks without a break and no sign of a tender bringing replacement staff or a fresh supply of taped programmes.

On 21st November 1986 the Radio Monique organisation, who had experienced some difficulties tendering the Ross Revenge and delivering a regular supply of programme material to the ship, signed an agreement with the same tender company used by the new owners of the former Laser 558 ship, Communicator (which was now back at sea), so that both vessels could be supplied on the one trip from Europe. A tender eventually managed to reach the Ross Revenge on 27th November 1986 and a change-over of staff took place as well as a delivery of new taped material so that by 29th November Radio Monique's programme schedule appeared to be back to normal.