In The Beginning, the
Irish Dimension
With the passing of Ronan
O’Rahilly in April 2020, a colossus of radio broadcasting has left a legacy
that will stand the test of time and has made a massive impression on radio broadcasting
in Ireland. While his beloved Radio Caroline was a familiar sight off the South
East of England, its influence on both radio and music in 1960’s Britain cannot
be underestimated. It forced the British Government to enact new legislation
outlawing the almost a dozen pirate radio ships that blasted pop music into
Britain and it forced the BBC to reorganise and compete with the opening of a
dedicated pop channel in 1967, BBC Radio One. In the month when Ronan passed
onto the afterlife, both BBC Radio One and Radio Caroline still broadcast
today. But while Caroline’s history focusses mainly on its influence on
Britain, Ireland has played a key role in that colourful history and this is
that story.
At the helm of Radio
Caroline was Ronan O’Rahilly. He was born in Clondalkin, Dublin in 1940, his
father Aodogan was a well-known and wealthy businessman, regarded as an
influential ally of Eamon DeValera, while his grandfather Michael O’Rahilly was
better known as The O’Rahilly, sacrificed his life during the 1916 Easter
Rising having been shot dead while leading a charge on a British position at
the end of Moore Street.
While still a teenager Ronan
left Dublin and made his way to the centre of the new music industry, London’s
club scene. In Soho, the young Ronan began to manage a music club and saw some
of the up and coming artists including the Kinks and the Animals make their
first steps into the limelight. Despite
managing several pop acts one of his favourite was Georgie Fame. He recorded a
Georgie Fame record on his own independent label, unheard of at the time. He
took the record to the BBC to try to get it played. He discovered that the record
industry was dominated by EMI and Decca. He then tried to get it played
on Radio Luxembourg, the Great 208, who were the commercial pop station
most listened to in England at the time and O’Rahilly discovered closed doors
and that the shows were 'owned' by labels like EMI, Pye and Decca. They
were essentially 'payola' shows and featured only music from the paying label.
He said, "I have recorded the guy, so I can't get it played, so we have to
start a radio station."
The ship was originally a
Baltic ferry the MV Frederica built in 1929 and purchased by Ronan O’Rahilly
for the reported £20,000. It was taken to the port of Greenore in early 1964 to
be converted into a radio station including a 180-foot aerial and renamed the
MV Caroline. He chose the port of Greenore as it was at the time privately
owned by his father Aodogan O'Rahilly who died in 2000. At the same time, the
Caroline was being fitted out as a radio station a second ship was in the port
also being fitted out as a radio station, the MV Mi Amigo which would broadcast
as Radio Atlanta. Atlanta planned to be on the air first but technical issues
forced into port for repairs and did not get on air until May 1964.
A parent company was
registered in Ireland to operate Radio Caroline in 1964. The company Planet
Production Limited was dissolved in 1981. A second company was registered to
sell advertising for the ship with Planet Sales Limited also registered
companies in Ireland. When the ship left the port, it carried out test
transmissions as it sailed through the Irish Sea. The authorities were informed
that the ship was heading to Spain but as it passed Lands End it took a sharp
left and headed up the English Channel, maintaining radio silence, to anchor of
Felixstowe on England’s east coast. Their signal would cover most of the south
coast of England including the important advertising market of London. On
Easter Saturday, 28 March, it began regular broadcasting at noon on 197.3
metres/1520 kHz announced as 199 as it rhymed with Caroline, with the
opening conducted by Simon Dee. The first programme was hosted
by Chris Moore. Within months the station was boasting audiences of 7
million listeners. The rapid sales of portable transistor radios across Ireland
created a wider audience with radio shop advertisements stating that purchasers
would easily listen to Radio Luxembourg or Radio Caroline.
In July 1964, Radio
Atlanta and Radio Caroline's parent companies merged, with Allan Crawford, an
Australian music publisher and Ronan O'Rahilly as joint managing directors.
Radio Atlanta closed at 8 p.m. that day. It was renamed Radio
Caroline South and MV Mi Amigo remained off the English east
coast while MV Caroline broadcast under the name Radio
Caroline North. MV Caroline sailed to the Isle of Man and her
new anchorage at Ramsey Bay, on 6 July 1964. The two stations were able to
cover most of the British Isles.
Radio Caroline North had
operated off the coast of the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea from July 1964 until
March 1968 and was well received and popular across the West coast of Britain
and across both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. It meant that
Caroline’s audience was now in excess of 25 million. The station continued as
the new Marine Broadcasting Offences Act came into force, anchored in
international waters outside the 3-mile limit. The two ships were supplied from
‘foreign’ countries namely Holland through Amsterdam supplying fuel and food
supplies by tender for Caroline South off Felixstowe and from Dundalk for
Caroline North. The Dutch tug ‘Offshore III’ (misidentified in the newspaper as the Foreshore III) was originally used to supply the
MV Caroline from the Isle of Man but with the introduction of the new Marine
Offences Act, the tender sailed to Dundalk, loaded with supplies and sailed
back and forth to the ship. The new Act which put pressure on advertisers meant
that some bills to Dutch firms were not being paid and in a co-ordinated
operation, Dutch tugboats seized both ships in March 1968 and they were towed
to Holland.
Caroline Showband &
Musical Interlude
The showband scene was
exploding in Irish dancehalls in the early sixties and as with the pop music
explosion, for airtime exposure, showbands would have to turn to the pirates.
Radio Eireann played little or no modern music on its single channel. The
opening of Radio Caroline in 1964, helped showbands reach the top of the
charts. To ride that wave, Radio Caroline launched their own showband in Ireland,
The Caroline Showband in 1964. The band, a publicity exercise to advertise
Radio Caroline around the country, received extensive newspaper coverage
especially as their lead singer Earl Jordan was a coloured singer. Jordan,
although born in Buffalo, New York, came to England with the US Air Force and
following his departure from the USAF, he arrived in Dublin in December,
1963.The band would be managed by Caroline’s representative in Ireland at the time,
Kilkenny born Jim Craig. The band made its debut at a reception in Dublin's
Gresham Hotel on Tuesday, December 22nd, 1964. The original line-up included:
Kevin Brady (RIP-Dublin-drums), Earl Jordan (Buffalo, New York-vocals), Tony
Kearns (Drogheda-sax), Reginald Dunne (Dublin-guitar), Kevin Gregan
(Dublin-bass), Tony Coffey (Dublin-keyboards), Harry Burrows (Birmingham-sax),
and Michael Burns (Sligo-trumpet). The manager was Frank Traynor of
Dublin. On stage the band wore dark blue suits with Earl decked out in a white
blazer. One of the highlights of their early success was headlining at a gala
ball held at the Powerscourt Estate in County Wicklow attended by Irish born
Princess Grace of Monaco.
While the showbands were
hugely popular with a certain generation of music listeners and goers and in
rural Ireland, the rural popularity of Radio Caroline and with the showband
fans was relatively weak. The Caroline showband were excluded from receiving
airplay on Radio Eireann and this seemed to detract from their reach in places
like Galway, Kerry and Cork. This need to expand their reach and incidents
around a barbeque held in Brittas Bay that led to violence, in July 1965, The
Caroline Showband and Jim Craig end their association with Radio Caroline.
Shortly after Jordan would leave the band, they would take on a new manager and
would be renamed.
The barbeque was a PR
disaster for Radio Caroline in Ireland in 1965. In June 1965, Radio Caroline through
its subsidiary Club Caroline advertised and sold tickets for a barbeque to be
held on Dalkey Island. The club was run by Dennis Binns and Jim Craig. The
event was to take place on Saturday June 26th 1965. The tickets were an
immediate and popular success. Over one thousand tickets at a guinea each were
sold and the plan was to transport guests across to the island by boat from
Coliemore Harbour. Several acts promoted by Radio Caroline, including the
Caroline Showband, were to appear on the bill. A week before the events the
local council stepped in and announced that no permissions had been sought or
given for the event to take place within their jurisdiction. The Gardai were
placed on standby to prevent the event taking place in the upmarket area of
South Dublin. With mounting opposition with the local community, Caroline’s
organisation in Ireland decided to change the venue and moved to a privately
owned beach at Brittas Bay in County Wicklow. Unfortunately, the event in
Wicklow was not all smoothly run, the lighting failed and the grills failed to
work. In the early hours of the morning, according to one newspaper report
‘just be before dawn’, frustrations and excess consumption of alcohol led to
violence and the intervention of the Gardai riot police.
Another group to receive
a significant boost to their careers were The Dubliners. The Ronnie Drew and
Luke Kelly led group released ‘Seven Drunken Nights’ in March 1967. The single
was released on the Major Minor label that was owned by Phil Solomons, see
Solomons later involvement in Irish radio’s revolution in 1980 later in this
article. The song, despite not receiving any airplay on BBC Radio, reached No.
7 UK charts and led to an appearance on BBC TV’s Top of the Pops and as a
result of its chart position was played on the radio. Because of the raunchy
lyrics in the last two verses of the song, the track was banned by RTE Radio.
Because it was Solomons’ record label who produced the track, Radio Caroline
heavily plugged the song and with its reach into Ireland, Seven Drunken Night
reached Number One in the Irish charts.
This is Your Life on
Board, Noel Andrews
A brother of Eamonn
Andrews, who famously presented What’s my Line and This is Your Life on TV,
Noel broadcast his first show ‘Andrews Live’ on Radio Caroline on Tuesday
December 1st 1964 as Caroline was now averaging a listenership in the British
Isles of 28 million every day. The first track he played was fellow Irishmen
The Batchelors who were now heading for stardom in Britain. A popular
broadcaster with the housewives previously on radio Eireann where he presented
‘Housewives Choice’ programmes and also was extremely popular on sponsored
shows, many of them produced by his brother’s production studio. Not only was
he appearing on Radio Eireann presenting the Irelands Top Ten show (broadcast
on a Monday at 6.45pm for 30minutes) When he returned to Radio Eireann he was
relegated to presenting Children’s programmes.
Caroline House, Looks
Over the Irish Parliament
With the arrival of
Caroline off the Manx coast, their transmissions were heard widely across
Ireland and an opportunity to grab some of the lucrative advertising pie. With
this in mind, Jim Craig was appointed Caroline’s representative in Ireland and
they opened offices in August 1964 at 27 Molesworth Street, dubbed Caroline
House. Today that building is incorporated into Buswells Hotel. These offices
were directly across the road from the Irish parliament building, Leinster
House.
Caroline Racing, Speeds
into Print
In a further attempt to
keep the Caroline prominently featured in newspapers across the British Isles,
Radio Caroline began to sponsor a car racing team. They entered a Brabham
Formula Junior car in the Irish championship, their car driven by D Romano. The
team entered the Leinster Trophy scratch race at Dunboyne raceway and it
warranted the arrival of Ronan O’Rahilly himself, who newspapers reported had
flown into Dublin on a private jet to be greeted by his father. Unfortunately
for O’Rahilly it was a wasted trip as his car failed to qualify for the
starting grid. He flew back to London the following day.
The Caroline Shop,
Belfast Sales
Radio Caroline proved
extremely popular in Northern Ireland. In order to create a buzz and publicity
on Saturday December 12th 1964, Radio Caroline opened a record shop on
Andersonstown. The official opening was performed by one of the most popular
DJ’s on Caroline Simon Dee. He recounted that his arrival at Belfast was
greeted like that of a pop star with hundreds lining the street outside the
shop in anticipation of his arrival. Also, on hand for the opening was Jim
Craig, the Caroline manager in Ireland.
The Holy Trinity, Solomons,
Robinson and Cary
A more important link to
Caroline from an Irish legacy point of view is not just that it was an Irishman
who built up the station but in 1966 the running and financial input from
another music impresario into Caroline was hugely significant, the involvement
of Phil Solomons. Solomons in the early sixties was the sole Decca Records
distributor in Ireland. Two of Caroline’s most popular DJ’s were Robbie Dale
and Spangles Muldoon and these three men would revolutionise Irish radio, all
directly linked to Radio Caroline. It was Solomons’ money who financed Robbie
Robinson’s (Dale) and Chris Cary’s (Muldoon) opening of Sunshine Radio in 1980
broadcasting from the Sands Hotel in Portmarnock. They three men saw the lax
Irish broadcasting regime and while their originally plan was to put Sunshine
on a ship, they had bought and berthed in Waterford harbour, why go back on
rough seas when you could broadcast from plush surroundings of a hotel with
little fear of a raid from the authorities and even if you were, the equipment
confiscated had to be returned to you. The early sabotage of Sunshine’s aerial,
explosives used by Radio Dublin owner Eamon Cooke, encouraged Solomons and Cary
to sell their shares to Robinson. Cary having seen the success of Sunshine
returned to the Dublin airwaves with perhaps the greatest and most popular
station the capital ever saw, Radio Nova which opened in 1981 and the rest the
say is history. (See the Radio Nova History in this Blog) All thanks to the
connections made at Caroline.
The Legacy
Radio Caroline
revolutionized radio for a generation, shining a light on a dark world. It led
to the creation of BBC Radio 1 to compete for the ever-growing audience of
young listeners. It provided an outlet for new music and it gave enjoyment to
millions. It is still on the air, there is a nostalgia and a reverence for what
Caroline was. It was a rebel, it was an influencer, it was a genuine attempt to
provide what the listening public wanted.
In Ireland, Caroline
opened up the possibility of an alternative to State media, and while we never
had a pirate radio ship broadcasting into the country, Caroline’s success
created a community of pirate radio pioneers across Ireland (some using the
Caroline moniker in homage) and this pirate radio tidal wave eventually created
the industry that broadcasts today.
