Laser Hot Hits History 3

Laser Hot Hits - History (3)

The return of Laser, albeit under a slightly different title, was a major embarrassment to the British authorities who, twelve months previously, thought they had silenced the station for good - at a cost to the taxpayer estimated to be well in excess of £100,000. The Department of Trade announced that they would be starting another blockade to prevent supplies reaching the Communicator from Britain, while Coastguards and HM Customs and Excise also planned to monitor all vessels visiting the radio ship.

The IBA, representing Britain's local commercial radio stations, expressed their displeasure at Laser's return, Deputy Director of Radio, Peter Baldwin declaring the situation "very unsatisfactory" and saying: "For many years we pressed the Government to take a more positive stance and in the end they did. We were very pleased with the action they took against Laser originally and we trust they will do the same in the future."

Regular transmissions from Laser Hot Hits started on 7th December 1986, with programmes presented by American DJs, including some from the former station on board the Communicator, Laser 558. There was also a full schedule of commercials with news bulletins presented at the top of each hour by ex-BBC Radio One "Newsbeat" presenter, Andrew Turner.

Laser Hot Hits continued broadcasting for just over two weeks until the early hours of 15th December 1986 when the station closed because damage had been caused to the aerial during a Force 10 storm. It was ten days before Laser Hot Hits reappeared with programmes of non-stop music being played at various times until early on 31st December when the station once again went off the air without warning.

1987

While Laser Hot Hits was silent the Communicator was battered by severe storms on 5th January 1987, resulting in the front mast partially collapsing and the rear mast bending in half, causing the aerial rigging to fall in a tangle on the deck.

Temporary repairs were carried out and a new 80' aerial tower was constructed using some spare sections of the old lattice mast, which were still stored on board the ship from Laser 558 days. A 'T' aerial was then rigged from this tower to the remains of the original front mast, enabling weak test transmissions to start again on 22nd January 1987.

These tests continued for over a week with various breaks each day for maintenance, then, on 1st February 1987, announcements were made about the station's imminent re-launch and a number of new American DJs were heard during the course of the test broadcasts.

Laser Hot Hits was officially re-launched at 6.00am on 2nd February 1987, with a new team of DJs and new commercials, including in-house promotions for T-shirts, sweat shirts, car stickers as well as a book about Elvis Presley, a Mowtown Chartbusters album, Ski Plan Holidays and the Sunday Sport newspaper. News bulletins were broadcast every hour on the hour. A Laser spokesman in New York announced shortly after the station's return that one of the "Power Play" spots had been sold to a particular record company for 12 months and that these plug records alone would pay for the running costs of the station.

Following Laser's official re-launch the DTI announced that they would "put an end to the station for good", but did not explain exactly how that was to be achieved, except to hint that there would be someone in every British port employed specifically to look out for illegal tendering operations.

Throughout February and March 1987 there were many further breaks in transmissions from the Communicator. These were due mainly to the bad weather causing arcing of the temporary aerial array and, in order to avoid damage from feedback, the transmitter was usually shut down immediately. This unsatisfactory technical situation culminated in the station going off the air completely on 26th March and it remained silent until 5th April 1987 while engineers tried to solve the aerial problem. Laser Hot Hits then programmed fairly normally for two further weeks, but at the end of transmissions on Easter Monday, 20th April 1987, reference was made to the lack of diesel fuel on board the Communicator as well as a shortage of DJs. The station then closed for the day, but did not re-open as scheduled the following morning.

In the meantime rumours about a financial crisis affecting the station appeared in the press but the US management denied these stories, saying that Laser Hot Hits would return 'within ten days' thanks to a fresh cash injection from new backers. A station spokesman acknowledged, however, that Laser Hot Hits had suffered from a succession of technical problems since its return in December 1986, resulting in frequent periods off the air, and that there had been a cash-flow crisis due to lack of advertising revenue. This in turn had led to staff not being paid on time and the ship running low on fuel supplies.