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Peter Moore’s Radio Caroline broadcasts mainly from dry land |
Caroline didn’t sink, it’s afloat in Archway
Never mind the Richard Curtis film, Radio Caroline is still on air but now based in north London and its boss tells Dan Carrier how the spirit of free broadcasting lives on
UNDER the cover of darkness, he would head to a foggy port in the Thames estuary or along the Essex coast and wait for the signal. It was vital Peter Moore wasn’t spotted by the forces of law and order, who would be on the lookout for any suspicious behaviour.
His possessions were not the sort of baggage someone heading out on a fishing trip would take – and had the police or customs officials given him the once-over, his real motive for standing on freezing cold jetties in
the middle of nowhere would be clear.
Peter’s boxes contained no fishing tackle; instead, they held all the latest records, as well as other vital supplies to keep Radio Caroline – the famous pirate radio ship in the North Sea – broadcasting the latest sounds to mainland UK.
Now, as the station reaches its 45th birthday, a new film by Richard
“Four Weddings” Curtis is in the cinemas. Called The Boat That Rocked, it
purports to tell the fictional story of a pirate radio station, but it seems the whole world believes it’s based on the life and times of Radio Caroline, the ocean-going vessel that pumped teenagers’ transistors with the latest offerings from Britain’s burgeoning rock and pop scene. And this is a galling link for station stalwart Peter Moore, who not only thinks the
film is terrible, but also believes misinformation
in the film’s plot does the station a great disservice.
The station is still on air – it can be found via Sky and the internet and
is based in Archway. But the end of Curtis’s film suggests the sinking of
Caroline’s boat and the implementation of the Marine Broadcasting Act that stiffened the statute books in the fight against unlicensed stations spelt
the end in 1967.
Peter is quick to point out that this was simply not the case – radio
pirates still operate today.
He was disgusted by the film – and found the whole premise so tiresome he even walked out half-way through the swanky red carpet West End premiere.
“Richard Curtis did not have the courtesy to come and talk to us,” he
fumes. “He said he did not want to do any research because he wanted it to come solely from his imagination. But The Boat That Rocked was clearly based on a true story. Everyone has made the connection.”
Peter is of the generation that recalls Caroline when it first started. He was a teenager in the early 1960s and like many of his contemporaries had
just the BBC to listen to.
He saw the Beeb as purveyors of sugary gimmick music that had no relevance to him. “As soon as the pirates came along, it was like a magic thing for us,” he recalls. “It meant you had a choice – you didn’t have to listen to the awful s*** they played on the BBC.”
It had a virtual monopoly on broad - casting and was still running it as if the war was still on. “The function of the BBC was to keep the workers
happy on the production lines,” says Peter.
“The fact we did not need to build any more Lancaster bombers seemed lost on them.
They were self-appointed moral guardians and chose “uplifting” music – it was simply anodyne easy listening. It was stuff you were meant to sing along to, but we were teenagers and we wanted some fun, and to get into trouble.”
He remembers hearing Radio Caroline for the first time. “I was in a mate’s
kitchen and I heard Mick Jagger singing Let’s Spend The Night Together. I thought: that’s more like it. And for all the young people in the country at that time, Radio Caroline quickly became a way of life.”
But Peter only made the leap from listener to active participant when the government began to persecute the pirates and get them taken off the air.
“When it became obvious the government were out to shut these stations down, I got in a right state about it,” he recalls.
“I couldn’t help thinking that this was simply undemocratic.
People wanted to listen to it so why were they stopping them? The government was refusing to bow to the will of the people and I thought bugger this, if there is a chance for me to help out, then I am going to.”
He then met a man who worked for Radio Caroline and he asked if there was some work he could do. Peter, a trained engineer, quickly became a vital member of the Caroline team.
“A radio ship is, after all, is just one big piece of machinery,” he says. “I was made welcome.”
Part of his role meant taking supplies in under the cover of night deep
into the North Sea on small fishing smacks, as well as help service the
boat.
And he developed a code with the DJs who sent him messages about what they needed.
“I’d listen in at an appointed time and the DJ would say something which seemed harmless to everyone else, but were really instructions for me to follow.”
This meant regular trips to places like Ramsgate and Brightlingsea – sometimes followed by staff from the Department of Trade and Industry who
were trying to force Radio Caroline to stop their broadcasts.
“I’d come out of the night and crawl onto a fishing boat,” he recalls.
“We’d have to keep everything very quiet. It was like a big game of cat and mouse.”
Since 1967, Radio Caroline’s struggle has continued. It was boarded – illegally, it turned out – by the Royal Navy and Dutch forces and had equipment taken away and vandalised.
The boat ran aground on the infamous Goodwin Sands off the coast of Kent, where it crashed over on its side and the DJs had to be airlifted to safety.
So most of Caroline’s history happened after the Curtis film version would have us believe the game was over.
And the station is still going strong – it now mainly transmits (legally) from dry land. But occasionally – this Easter weekend, for example – DJs board its third vessel the Ross Revenge, now docked in Tilbury, and relive the offshore experience. The boat has been lovingly restored to its former glory.
Peter ensures it is ready to set sail any time it is needed, and the story of pirate radio and freedom of speech carries on today. |
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