26 YEARS AGO, RADIO CAROLINE
LEFT THE AIRWAVES!

Radio Caroline was once famous around the world as one of the pioneers of free radio. Her programming and free spirit captured the attention and imagination of many millions. By 1990 she had been broadcasting for almost thirty five years.

November 3 1990. Radio Caroline, unknowingly, began broadcasting her last programmes from the MV Ross Revenge on the high seas. The station had more or less survived after the boarding of the Dutch authorities in 1989 put an end to the Radio 819 broadcasts, the Dutch station which made it possible for Caroline to survive.

Then there was a battle to try to keep Carolines 558 frequency. In a confrontation move, the British government allocated this frequency to a local radio station in London.
After Radio 819 finished, and the Dutch were no longer involved, Caroline soon ran into supply problems, especially with fuel. The Caroline UK land organization tried to overcome these challenges, but logistics and more importantly money was in short supply. The British government was also on the point of voting in a law, which under certain conditions, would allow the boarding of the ship even if
in international waters.

The station lost the first battle, that of the frequency. Caroline gave up 558, which was now inaudible in the London area because of the broadcasts of Spectrum Radio. Caroline moved to 819.
November 4 1990. Radio Caroline normally closed at 2 o'clock in the morning. The station did this as usual, after the end of Neil Gates’ programme. However this was the last time that Caroline was heard from the free waters of the Northsea. 

The Ross Revenge remained at sea, with a skeleton crew, for almost a year, waiting to see if a third world licence package could be found to enable the station to survive. The miracle never happened.
 During storms at the end of 1991, the Ross Revenge broke her anchor and drifted onto the Goodwin Sands, a notorious graveyard of shipwrecks.

The Ross was salvaged, but it was the end of Radio Caroline's role as a free voice and a free spirit on the international waters of the high seas.

Radio Caroline with an airchecked recording featuring DJs Rico, Neil Gates, Alex Rodgers & Caroline Martin on Halloween day - 31 October 1990.
Hear Caroline in one of her final offshore radio days.

Price: £15.99
 

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