A Pirate Radio Patchwork Quilt – 125 Pirate Radio Themes, Jingles & Souvenirs of the ’60s & ’70s.

This audio clip

includes many of the theme tunes popularised by the offshore pirate radio stations of the 60s and 70s with the accent on Radios 270, Caroline, London, Scotland and Veronica.
In addition I’ve added some of the jingles of the time as well as a few other audio souvenirs.

Below is a list of all the items in order from start to finish.
Each item is numbered referring to the number of hours, minutes and seconds (approx.) from the start of the clip.
When a year is mentioned, it is the date the piece of music was first published.:
Don Allen00:00:00
“We Love The Pirates” by The Roaring 60’s (1966).
00:02:40
“You have been found guilty…” promo against the UK government’s 1967 Marine Broadcasting (Offences) law.
00:03:20
Robbie Dale on Radio Caroline South followed by “Caroline” by The Fortunes (1964).
00:05:05
The Radio Caroline bell with Simon Dee and “On The Sunny Side Of The Street” by Tommy Dorsey Orchestra (1945).
00:08:10
Radio London’s “Home Town” theme (1964).
00:09:30
Radio London jingle followed by Kenny Everett’s jingle compilation of “All the Wonderfuls”.
00:10:15
“Nut Rocker” by B Bumble And The Stingers (1962), theme for the Kenny & Cash programme on Radio London.
00:11:55
Radio Veronica jingle “Men vraagt en wij draaien” followed by “People Will Say Were In Love” by Ray Conniff (1958).
00:16:10
Radio Veronica jingle for DJ Klaas Vaak followed by “Scarlet OHara” by Jet Harris & Tony Meehan (1963). Same theme used also by RNI’s Roger Kent & Dave Rogers.
00:17:35
Dave Cash early morning on Radio London with a run-down of the day’s programmes followed by “Reveille Rock” by Johnny & the Hurricanes (1959).
00:20:55
Radio London jingle followed by Tony Blackburn’s theme “Beefeaters” (with Arnold barking) by Johnny Dankworth Orchestra (1964).
00:22:25
Intro to the Roger Day show on Radio Caroline South with “Green Grass” by the Ventures (1966).
00:24:40
Radio Veronica jingle followed by “A Banda” by Herb Alpert’s Tijuana Brass (1967).
00:27:00
Radio Scotland ID with “Black Bear” by Frank Cordell Orchestra (1960).
00:29:25
Radio 270 short extract with Vince “Rusty” Allen’s theme “Deep In The Heart Of Texas” by Duane Eddy (1962).
00:32:25
Radio Nordsee International (RNI) jingle followed by “Man of Action” by Les Reed Orchestra (1970).
00:35:20
Radio Caroline South intro by Johnnie Walker for the Andy Archer Show with “Flamingo” by Herb Alpert (1966). Same theme tune used by Tony Allan & Alan Black on Radio Scotland and Mark Sloane on Radio 355.
00:37:10
Radio Veronica jingle with “Asia Minor” by Kokomo’s piano & orchestra (1961).
00:39:25
Radio Caroline South intro for the Spangles Muldoon Show (aka Chris Cary) with “Yeh Yeh” by Mark Wirtz Orchestra & Chorus (1967).
00:43:25
Radio Veronica jingle for Tineke’s Coffee Time Show and theme “Georgia Camp Meeting” by the Swe-Danes (1962).
00:45:30
Radio London jingle and extract “Pausing with Windsor” followed by Tony Windsor’s theme “Waltzing Matilda” by Frank Ifield (1963).
00:49:10
Radio Caroline South intro to the Dave Lee Travis show with “A Touch Of Velvet A Sting Of Brass” by Mood Mosaic (1966).
00:53:05
Radio Veronica “juke box” jingle with “Little Black Samba” by Norman Petty (1960).
00:55:10
Radio Caroline intro for DJ Henry Morgan aka Gerry Burke with “Sucu Sucu” by Laurie Johnson Orchestra (1961).
00:57:30
Radio Veronica jingle for DJ Lex Harding with “Holiday” by Andre Brasseur (1967). Also used by Crispian St. John on RNI and Radio Caroline. Note: Music also known as “The Kid” because the record company stuck the wrong labels to the “A” and “B” sides of the single.
01:00:15
“Happy Organ” by Dave Baby Cortez (1959), Stevi Merike’s theme on Radio Scotland.
01:02:10
RNI jingle “What good are friends…” followed by “Peace” by Peter (1970).
01:06:20
Promo for “Keefers Commotion” programme on Radio Caroline South followed by Keith Hampshire’s theme “Sidewinder” by Wes Dakus & The Rebels (1964).
01:09:00
Radio Veronica “Teenager Muziek Expres” jingle followed by “Rocking Goose” by Johnny and the Hurricanes (1960).
01:11.10
Intro by Johnnie Walker for the Ross Brown show on Radio Caroline South with “We Shall Overcome” and Ross Brown’s theme “Raunchy ’65” by Ernie Freeman (1965).
01:14:00
Radio Veronica “gaat door” promo with “Crunchy Granola Suite” by Percy Faith Orchestra (1973).
01:17:50
Radio Caroline North intro by Roger Gale with his theme “A Walk in the Black Forest” by Horst Jankowski Orchestra (1965).
01:20:55
Radio London jingle and Big-L’s “School Spot” promo with Ed Stewart & Kenny Everett.
01:22:35
Intro by Brian Mckenzie on RNI followed by “Move Over Darling” by Doris Day (1963).
01:24:50
RNI jingle followed by Brian Mckenzie’s theme “Carpet Man” by 5th Dimension (1968).
01:28:45
Radio Veronica jingle for DJ Tom Collins with “Comin Home” by Casey and the Pressure Group (1971).
01:31:55
Background for Radio Veronica promos “The Legend of Johnny Pot” by Dick Hyman (1969).
01:34:00
Radio Caroline 199 “OOOH!” promo with Radio Caroline North jingle, “time signal” & intro by “Daffy” Don Allen and one of his themes “Romance On The North Sea” by Alan Haven (1965).
01:37:10
Radio Caroline North jingle and Bulova ad with Tom Lodge and his theme “Rinky Dink” by Johnnie Howard Band (1964). Also used by Bart van Leeuwen on Radio Veronica.
01:39:50
Radio Scotland jingle followed by DJ Richard Park’s theme “Wild Weekend” by the Rockin’ Rebels (1963).
01:42:50
Radio London jingle with intro to the “Roman Empire” and Mark Roman’s theme “Wipe Out” by the Surfaris (1963).
01:46:05
Radio Caroline South jingle and extract with Emperor Rosko and mynah bird “Alfie” and theme “Memphis” by Lonnie Mack (1963).
01:50:25
Radio Caroline intro for “Weird Beard” Carl Mitchell and “Slim Jenkins Place” by Booker T & the MG’s (1967).
01:53:20
Radio Veronica “Live this weekend…” jingle with “The Horse” by Cliff Nobles (1968). Theme also used by Ferry Maat on RNI.
01:56:30
Radio Veronica promo “Wij houden stand Veronica moet aan land” with “Heather” by the Carpenters (1973).
02:00:05
Radio London jingle and Big-L promo “Tiptoe Through The Teeshirts”.
02:01:15
Radio London jingle and extract with Kenny Everett and Garner Ted Armstrong announcing “The World Tomorrow” followed by Kenny Everett theme “The Stripper” by David Rose Orchestra (1962).
02:04:40
Radio London jingle followed by Big-L promo with Ed Stewart & Kenny Everett and Radio London Sonowaltz theme.
02:06:35
Radio Caroline South “Sound of the Nation” jingle with intro to the Robbie Dale show and theme “I Was Kaiser Bill’s Batman” and “The British Grin & Bear” by Whistling Jack Smith (1967).
02:11:30
Radio Caroline extract with Keith Skues Bulova ad, jingle and theme “Mr Tambourine Man” by the Golden Gate Strings (1965).
02:14:05
Radio Scotland intro by Tony Allan followed by Stuart Henry and theme “Soul Finger” by the Bar-Kays (1967).
02:16:15
RNI jingle and extract of Graham Gill accompanying to his theme “Way Back Home” by Junior Walker & The All Stars, instrumental version, (1971).
02:21:35
Radio Veronica promo “Veronica moet blijven” followed by “What Love” by the Collectors (1968).
02:26:00
Radio Veronica “538” jingle followed by “Scotch On The Rocks” by Force Ten (1972). Also used by Hans Van Dervell/Radio Veronica, Dick Verheul/Radio Mi Amigo and Ronald Bakker/Radio Delmare.
02:28:55
Radio Caroline International jingle w intro to Stevi Merike show and theme “Billy’s Bag” by Billy Preston (1964).
02:33:50
Radio Caroline intro for Johnnie Walker show with “Because They’re Young” by Duane Eddy (1960).
02:36:10
“Rescue Me” by Fontella Bass (1965). Used by some of the offshore pirate stations as a coded distress call, as usually there was no other means of communication with their onshore head office.
02:39:00
“Warm and Tender Love” by Percy Sledge (1966). If you don’t know why this item is included, Radio Caroline DJ Johnnie Walker explains here.
02:42:30
“Cry Baby” by Garnet Mimms & The Enchanters (1963).
02:46:05
“In The Midnight Hour” by Little Mac & Boss Sounds (1966). Theme for Rick Dane and Carl Mitchell on Radio Caroline South and RNI.
02:48:25
“Stay With Me” by Lorraine Ellison (1966). Remembered from the 2009 film “The Boat That Rocked”, retitled “Pirate Radio” in North America.
02:52:05
Radio Caroline jingle and station closing theme “‘Round Midnight” by Jimmy McGriff (1962).
02:56:50
Soul Coaxing /Ame Câline by Raymond Lefèvre Orchestra (1968). Andy Archer’s theme on Radio Caroline.
 

Restoring Soul Music Radio WAOK 1971 – A Day In The Life

Back in August 1971, CIB contacted several commercial radio stations in the US and other countries in order to better formulate its proposals to the UK government for the introduction of commercial radio on the UK mainland. CIB received several positive replies, including airchecks from WBZ in Boston Mass., WFIL in Philadelphia, WBAP in Dallas/Fort Worth, Radio Tarawa in the Gilbert & Ellice Islands and 2UE in Sydney Australia, to name a few.

CIB also received an aircheck tape from Ken Goldblatt, the Station Manager at WAOK in Atlanta GA – one of the very first U.S. radio stations to adopt an all R&B/Soul music format in 1956, thanks to DJ and part-owner, Zenus “Daddy” Sears.

This WAOK aircheck tape was a bit special for several reasons…

Zenas "Daddy" Sears

Zenas “Daddy” Sears

Zenas Sears (1914-1988) began his career as a disc jockey following his exposure to black music serving in the US Armed Forces Radio during World War II. When war ended in 1945, he worked at Atlanta GA radio WATL, pioneering African-American popular music broadcasting and in 1948 moved to radio WGST, where his show “The Blues Caravan” aired nightly.

In 1956 he became joint owner of radio WATL, changing the call-letters to WAOK and successfully pioneering the format to African-American popular music – Blues, Rhythm & Blues and Soul music. Zenas Sears also promoted and arranged live performances, featuring artists like Tommy Brown, Billy Wright, Chuck Willis and Little Richard.  Zenas Sears and WAOK were also responsible for the 1959 live recording of the best-selling album “Ray Charles in Person“. Last but not least, Sears was also an important supporter of the American civil rights movement.

In 1985 WAOK radio was sold and today it’s a News & Talk station.

So what about this 8 hour WAOK tape recording? …

Well, compared with other radio stations that sent us studio quality tapes recorded at 15 or 7-1/2 inches per second (ips), the tape from WAOK was recorded at only 1-7/8 ips – a low speed usually used only for speech recordings – on 4 tracks, so the sound quality is very poor … judge for yourself with this short extract

But if this WAOK tape lacks quality, it easily wins out on q-u-a-n-t-i-t-y, because the tape contains 8 complete, unedited hours of programming … all made on just one day …

So this memorable tape is like a day in the life of radio 1380 WAOK Atlanta … all recorded on Wednesday, 28th July 1971 and stretching into the early morning hours of the next day … here is the detailed program list as supplied by WAOK’s Ken Goldblatt.

Remastering & Digitizing …

Not having the know-how myself about how to rescue the recording quality, I asked my sound engineer and DJ friend in England, John Ker, for help. John, better known to many as John Harding from offshore pirate Radio Atlantis, achieved an excellent result – Thanks John 🙂 … and returned the tape to me, complete with 8 CD discs.
John says: “The tape quality is low, not Scotch brand although it is on a Scotch spool … the recording is at a low level on the tape causing the signal-to-noise ratio to be very low. The noise made the audio sound blurred. Initially I edited out clicks which were at a very high level compared to the programme material. Using Sound Forge I then sampled a fingerprint of what needed to be removed (in this case background hiss) taken from a short (less than a second) gap between commercials. Once the hiss was removed, a boost to the treble and then as they say in France “Voila”.”

I’m now in the process of uploading the contents of all 8 CDs so everyone can enjoy and re-live again the sound of Soul Music 1380 WAOK as it was back in July 1971.

Here are the details of these 8 CDs with links so you can listen online now …

Wednesday, 28th July 1971 …
Disc #1 07.00-08.00 hrs. “Wake Up Atlanta” with Burke Johnson standing in for Bob McKee.
Disc #2   11.00-12.00 hrs. The Jerry Thompson Show.
Disc #3   15.00-16.00 hrs. The Larry Tinsley Show.
Disc #4   16.00-17.00 hrs. The Duane Jones Show.
Disc #5   19.00-20.00 hrs. The Duane Jones Show.
Disc #6   20.00-21.00 hrs. The Doug Steele Show.
Disc #7   21.00-22.00 hrs. The Doug Steele Show.
Thursday, 29th July 1971 …
Disc #8   01.00-02.00 hrs. The Dream Girl (Zilla Mays).

And here is a copy of WAOK’s full programme schedule as it was in July 1971:

And finally, here’s the answer to the question:
How did Zenas Sears gain the “Daddy” nickname?
Well, the story goes that one evening, Sears was on the air at WGST, when a local hospital called to inform him that his wife had gone into labor.
Sears rushed off to the hospital with a disc still playing on the turntable. After it finished, all the listeners heard was the repetitive sound of a needle in an empty record groove for the rest of the night.
When word got around that Zenas Sears had abandoned his show to witness the birth of his twin baby boys, his Atlanta audience began calling him “Big Daddy” – later shortened to just “Daddy”.

P.S. These WAOK radio classic soul music recordings have been independently reviewed by the Stepfather Of Soul.

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