Tag Archives: Radio Caroline International

Radio Station Archive – Radio Nordsee International (RNI)

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RNI off the Dutch coast near Scheveningen 1973.
Photo © Fred Bunzl

Owned by Swiss businessmen Edwin Bollier and Erwin Meister and broadcasting from the mv. Mebo II in international waters off the Dutch and British coasts, Radio Nordsee International (RNI) commenced regular broadcasts on 28th February 1970 using a claimed total transmitting power of 121kw. and 4 transmitters including 1 medium-wave, 2 short-wave and 1 FM.

While located off the British coast, RNI was plagued by UK government jamming on medium-wave which necessitated several frequency changes. Medium-wave frequencies used included 1607kHz (186m), 1575khz (190m), 1385khz (217m), 1367khz (220m) and 1232khz (244m). Short-wave frequencies used were 6210khz (49m), 6206khz (49m), 6205khz (49m), 6200khz (49m), 9940khz (31m) and FM 102mhz, 100mhz and 96mhz..

In June 1970, in the days leading up to the UK General Election, RNI temporarily changed its name to Radio Caroline International and broadcast publicity in support of the Conservative party for the introduction of commercial radio on the British mainland.

RNI closed on 24th September 1970 but re-started broadcasting in English and Dutch a few months later in January 1971 until closure at the end of August 1974 when Dutch law against offshore stations came into force.

After a refit in the Netherlands, mv. Mebo II was sold to Libya, renamed El Fatah and sailed to the Libyan coast, arriving there in February 1977. It then broadcast as “Radio Joumhourya” with programming in Arabic and English until about 1980. After broadcasting ceased, the ship was apparently used as target practice by the Libyan Navy and was eventually sunk. A sad end.

For more about Radio Nordsee in the Mediterranean, see Ian Biggar’s Mebo 2 illustrated timeline.

Below is a list of archived radio station recordings, air-checks and documents of Radio Nordsee International (RNI) which we make freely available to our site visitors subject to the following conditions. If you are looking for audio recordings of other radio stations (not RNI), please click here.

Limited Use
IMPORTANT: Please note that all documents on this site, including all pictures, audio and video recordings, are for historical research, academic and educational purposes only. Any other use of materials on this site, including reproduction for any purposes other than those noted above, including, but not limited to modification, distribution, or re-publication by any means without the prior written permission of CampaignForIndependentBroadcasting.co.uk is prohibited. No other use may be made without the express written permission of this site’s owners.

Trademarks
All trademarks, service marks, and trade names are proprietary to their other respective owners.

Audio Recordings
Important:
The recordings listed below are in .mp3 format within password-protected .zip files. You will need to first download the .zip file to your computer. To unzip the file you will need Winzip or 7-Zip or another fully compatible alternative software. When you unzip the file, you will also need the password which you can obtain at no cost by contacting us and explaining briefly what your interest is.
We also provide some recordings to listen to online here and here.

Document Archive
If you are looking for our document archives, please follow the following link for a list of NCRM (National Commercial Radio Movement), CIB (Campaign For Independent Broadcasting) and related documents.

Radio Nordsee International (RNI)
1970, Brochure for Advertisers
This rare 9 page brochure for advertisers includes coverage area maps and advertising rates and was printed black and fluorescent pink (scanning unfortunately changed the colour to pale orange). Inside the back cover is a pocket containing a poster with photos of the Mebo 2 and DJ’s Roger Day, Andy Archer, Alan West and Carl Mitchell. A better quality scan of the same poster can be viewed here.

1970?, Copy of DJ Contract Form. Note that the contract is between the disc jockey and RNI’s “Division Sierra Leone”.

1970?, Copy of Ship Rules which disc jockeys, news readers and announcers were expected to sign as part of their contract with RNI.

1970 25th February, 186m, Part of Andy Archer morning show, .mp3 13-1/2 mins.
Recording starts at 11.00 hrs. with Roger Day talking about how RNI started, its programming policy and life onboard m/v Mebo II.

1970 25th February, 186m, RNI’s Early Days in February 1970, .mp3 310 mins.
Andy Archer’s 11 o’clock “Coffee Break” with Roger Day discussing RNI’s origins and its programming policy, followed by:
16.00-17.00 hrs. Alan West, Carl Mitchell.
18.16-20.00 hrs. Roger Day.
22.10-00.00 hrs. Andy Archer.
00.00-00.15 hrs. (Thursday, 26th Feb.) Horst Reiner.

1970 Saturday 21st March, 186m / 49m, Part of Mark Wesley morning show followed by Alan West, .mp3 70 mins.
This recording starts at 08.40 hrs. Some morse interference near the beginning. After about 16-1/2 minutes there is a change from 186m to 49m shortwave to avoid the morse interference. Thanks to Ian Biggar for taking the trouble to determine the date of this recording.

1970 Sunday 22nd March, 186m, Part of Andy Archer programme with Alan West sitting in, followed by first part of Top 40 show with Carl Mitchell, .mp3 40 mins.
Starts at 11.36 hours. Near the end of this recording some morse interference is audible, which according to notes made at the time, is from the UK coastguard station at Portishead, Somerset. This was Carl Mitchell’s first time presenting the RNI Top 40 show.

1970 Sunday 12th April, 190m, Nifty 50 Show with Roger Day, .mp3 191 mins.
This recording starts at 11.57 hrs. running continuously for more than three hours to 15.08 hrs. and includes the last few minutes of the Andy Archer programme leading into the whole Roger Day Top 50 show followed by the first minutes of Duncan Johnson’s show.

1970 Monday 1st June, 244m, .mp3 191 mins.
Starts at 19.19 hrs. Andy Archer, Roger Day, “Clacton Flashing”, Duncan Johnson.

1970 Wednesday 10th June, 244m, Part of Andy Archer programme, .mp3 130 mins.
These three recordings start at 18.26 pm and end at 21.20 pm and were made during the time RNI’s medium wave frequency was being jammed by the UK government. Includes promotions for Free Radio Association (FRA) and Campaign For Independent Broadcasting (CIB) as well as a break due to “transmitter adjustments”.

1970 Tuesday 4th August, 220m, Part of Mike Lindsey evening show, .mp3 27 mins.
Recording starts at 18.07 hrs. At this time RNI was located off the Dutch coast. Thanks to Ian Biggar for determining the date of this recording: “I believe this one to be 4th August 1970 as Mike (Lindsey) says that FM is back on 96 MHz and according to Gerry Bishop’s Offshore Radio book this was on August 4th.”.

1970 Saturday 29th August, 220m, .mp3 83 mins.
Starts at 08.20 hrs., Mark Wesley, Alan West, Andy Archer.

1970 Saturday, 29th August, 220m, RNI hijack attempt, .mp3 156 mins.
These two recordings of RNI’s attempted hijacking start at 14.45 hrs. and include the voices of Larry Tremaine, Carl Mitchell, Andy Archer, Alan West, Mark Wesley and Mike Lindsey.

1970 Sunday 30th August, 220m, .mp3 191 mins.
Starts at 21.21 hrs., Spangles Muldoon, near the end of his show, discovers that all other DJs have left for a party on a nearby Dutch frigate guarding Mebo II following the previous day’s hijack attempt.

1970 Saturday 5th September, 220m, Andy Archer, Alan West & Stephen Ladd, .mp3 13 mins.
This short recording includes the last few minutes of the Andy Archer morning show, midday news with Alan West and the first part of the Stephen Ladd show.

1970 Saturday 5th September, 220m, Saturday afternoon with RNI, .mp3 362 mins.
This recording starts at 1.22 pm and runs all the way through to 7.34 pm.. Includes Stephen Ladd, Alan West, Andy Archer, Carl Mitchell, Mark Wesley, Spangles Muldoon, Mike Lindsey and Dave Gregory.

1970 Saturday 12th September, 220m, Part of Mark Wesley show, .mp3 28 mins.
Starts at 15.15 hours.

1970 Saturday 12th September, 220m, Part of Mike Ross show, .mp3 53 mins.
Recording starts at 18.20 hrs. Thanks to Martin Polhill and Ray Robinson for correctly identifying Mike Ross’ voice on this recording.

1971 29th January, Copy of telex from RNI’s Eva Pfister announcing resumed broadcasting from February 1971 from Mebo 2 now located off the coast of Belgium.

1971 Saturday 27th February, .mp3 256 mins.
This recording starts at 08.17 hrs. and continues until 12.33 hrs. with DJs Tony Allan, Martin Kayne and Dave Rogers.

1972 Friday 31st March, .mp3 48 mins.
This FM Good Friday recording starts at 17.55 hrs. with last five minutes of Dutch programming, then the Rob Eden show with news read by Paul May.

1972 7th April
Copy of letter from RNI’s owner Edwin Bollier to the European Broadcasting Union.
Copy of letter from RNI’s owner Edwin Bollier to the International Telecommunications Union.

1972 Sunday 23rd July, .mp3 46 mins.
Sunday evening FM recording starts at 22.45 hrs. with the last 15 minutes of the Terry Davis “Cloud Nine” programme followed by the first part of the Kent Request Hour.

1972 Friday 11th August, .mp3 46 mins.
This FM recording was made in Holland. Start time about 6.55 p.m. with the last few minutes of Dutch language programming followed by the Mike Ross show with Rob Eden reading the news on the half hour.

1973 Sunday 8th July, .mp3 49 mins.
This is an FM recording of part of a Sunday evening Mike Ross HitBack show. Starts at about 20.50 hrs. with news read by Don Allen.

1973 Tuesday 24th July, .mp3 45 mins.
FM recording of part of Tuesday evening’s Brian Mckenzie show. Starts at 22.35 hrs..

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Rare Pirate Radio Anthem Discs Discovered

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Do you remember a song called: Who Do You Think You Are Kidding Mr Wilson?

How good is your memory?

Well, here’s a hint… we need to go back more than 40 years…

Back in 1970 there was no Internet, no music streaming, no music downloads and if you were living in Britain and wanted music on the radio there was only 1 station: BBC Radio One. And because of union restrictions known as “needle time” even monopoly Radio One didn’t play music all the time. OK, there was also evenings-only 208 Radio Luxembourg if you were happy to put up with music fading in and out.

And millions of British people at the time were very, very hungry for more music as they had already proven after the huge success of the offshore radio stations like 266 Radio London, 259 Radio Caroline, Radio 390 and several others, all of which the then Labour government had decided to outlaw 3 years earlier in 1967.

Mr Harold Wilson’s Labour government was dogmatically opposed to any form of commercial radio but was in for a surprise when a new radio ship called Radio Northsea International (RNI) appeared in international waters off the coast of Clacton, Essex in March 1970.

His government’s reaction was to start jamming RNI’s programmes in April 1970 in an unprecedented attempt to prevent British listeners hearing its output. RNI responded with pro-Conservative political messages for the general election on 18 June 1970.

Some weeks earlier, RNI’s programme director, Larry Tremaine, had had the bright idea of recording an alternative version of the signature tune to the popular BBC-TV comedy series “Dad’s Army” as a sort of campaign song.

The lyrics were changed, the title became: “Who Do You Think You’re Kidding Mr. Wilson?” and the song was recorded at IBC recording studios at Portland Place, London — a lucky coincidence for UK commercial radio because IBC had been the company, owned by the legendary Leonard Plugge, which organised the very popular English language commercial radio programmes from Radio Normandy way back in the 1930’s.

Here is Larry Tremaine explaining to Paul Rowley on the BBC programme “The Radio Election” how “Who Do You Think You’re Kidding Mr Wilson” came to be created:

 
RNI changed its name to “Radio Caroline International” during the week of the June 1970 election and repeatedly played “Who Do You Think You’re Kidding Mr. Wilson?” which was very popular. But it was never actually issued to the public as a vinyl record.

So exactly how many acetates of the recording were made?

RNI’s programme director, Larry Tremaine has said that “major rock stars” were in the studio during the recording and he also says that only three (3) acetate record pressings of the song were made and he has one of them.

The other two copies were sent to the m/v Mebo II for playing over the air during the election campaign and one of those copies was kept by RNI DJ Alan West, who, some months later, offered it for sale.

In about 1971 Alan West attended several CIB committee meetings, at one of which he lent his acetate copy to CIB’s John Ker, who now takes up the story:
“… I met DJ Alan West who would often come to CIB meetings. In about early 1971 he lent me his copy of the acetate which I took to Graham Bunce (BBC engineer) and he transcribed the disc to tape. He took a great deal of care to ensure a really good quality transfer to tape (15 ips. filtered and re-equalized using an “Astronic” graphic equalizer). Having returned the original acetate to Alan West, I took the tape to IBC Studios (in the basement of 35, Portland Place – just opposite Broadcasting House) and had five (5) acetates cut. I was very pleased by the fact that they were recorded onto exactly the same acetate blanks as the original at IBC, i.e. near perfect clones. The only differences were that the group “The Opposition” was typed on these blanks whereas on the original “The Opposition” was hand-written and included mention of “Beacon Records”.”

According to DJ Alan West, Beacon Records was, at the time, R.N.I.’s “secret London address”.

Of those 5 acetate pressings, John Ker says he kept one for himself, he gave one to Graham Bunce and two to CIB’s Fred Bunzl. John Ker cannot now remember who had the fifth pressing!

Fred Bunzl kept his two acetate discs together with his record collection until they were all packed away into cartons when his wife and he emigrated from the UK in 1976. He didn’t give them much thought until recently when he was compiling old CIB documents for publication elsewhere on this web site.

Fred has now scanned and uploaded his two discs. You can also download a direct copy of the recording.

And here is a scan of what may be one of the original acetate pressings.

Asked what he intends doing with these two rare copies of “Who Do You Think You Are Kidding Mr Wilson”, Fred said: “I haven’t yet decided. If there’s enough interest I’d like to auction them off and give all the proceeds to charity.”

acetates
Download the audio of this rare acetate pressing here.

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