SITE UPDATED - January 2012
When European offshore "pirate" radio was in
its heyday in the 1960’s, as well as personality deejays and catchy jingles,
every station had its own theme, every deejay had their theme, and every show
had its theme.
Radio themes continued to be heard during the 70’s,
but personality deejays were becoming no longer the in thing, jingles became
shorter and less frequent, and as for themes, they just went. They did make a
brief reappearance in the 1980’s, and a few can still be heard today.
Most of the themes have sample audio clips in MP3 format, just click on
underlined theme title, or picture, to listen to them.
There
are now over 2000 MP3 audio samples of Offshore Radio Themes.
RADIO
STATION THEMES
Probably the most well known radio station theme, is Caroline by the Fortunes -
pictured left. Nearly all of the offshore radio stations had a theme tune, which
was generally played at the start and end of the days broadcasts.
| Stations A - D |
Stations E - R |
Stations S - Z |
DEEJAY
THEMES
As well as station themes, individual deejays had their own theme. So important was this style, that when a deejay was on
holiday, his show was still aired under his name.
Tony Blackburn might be on
holiday, but his theme tune would be played, announcements and jingles
proclaiming the Tony Blackburn show were aired, and if you thought Tony’s
voice had changed, then realisation might dawn when you heard it was someone
else "sitting in for Tony Blackburn". Herb Alpert & his Tijuana
Brass, pictured, were a popular choice for many a deejays theme.
| DJ's A - B |
DJ's C - D |
DJ's E - H |
DJ's J - L |
DJ's M - Q |
DJ's R - S |
DJ's T - Z |
SHOW
THEMES
Back in the 1960's, many individual shows were named and often followed a
particular theme. For example, the 5 x 4 show on Radio City featured the Rolling Stones
(pictured - note Brian Jones Radio Syd sweatshirt) and the Beatles.
| Shows A - L |
Shows M - N |
Shows O - Z |
TRIBUTES
A number of singers and groups recorded songs about offshore "pirate" radio,
probably one of the most well known being We love the Pirate
Stations by the Roaring Sixties.
A number of artists got airplay on offshore radio, some through plugged records,
or others that couldn't get plays elsewhere. Judge Dread, shown here, was banned
from the BBC for his rude reggae records, but found ready airplay on the
offshore Radio Northsea International, that helped his records chart. Judge
Dread recorded a special version of his hit Big 6, thanking RNI for their
help.
|
Tributes A - P |
Tributes R - Z |
PROMOTIONS
Numerous tracks have been used for promotions. Some have been used as backings
for commercials and jingles, others used as intro's and fillers. Also included
here are the "advertising" records produced in an attempt to get
around laws forbidding companies to advertise on offshore radio stations. Write
a song about a company, release it as a record, and it is no longer an advert,
but a hit record - at least that was the idea.
| Promo's A - C |
Promo's D - H |
Promo's I - L |
Promo's M - Q |
Promo's R - T |
Promo's U - Z |
FIRST
& LAST
There has often been some debate and confusion over the first and last records
played on the offshore radio
stations. Was it the first record, that played on a test broadcast?, or was it the
first one when programmes officially started?. Charlie Dore's Pilot of the
airwaves (pictured) was the last record played on the offshore Radio Caroline.
|
1st & Last A - L |
1st & Last M - Z |
DOCUMENTARIES
& JINGLES
Offshore radio documentaries, Jingle collection records and music samplers on
7" singles, LP's and CD's, are all included in this section.
DEEJAYS
SING
Many deejays have tried
their hand on the other side of the turntable. Most of them should probably have
kept to what they are good at, as you'll find several of the worlds worst
records in this section. Some of Tony's colleagues said that there should have
been a question mark after the title of the LP Tony Blackburn Sings. Actually
Tony wasn't that bad, he had been a singer before becoming a disc jockey.
|
DJ's
sing A - D |
DJ's
sing E - M |
DJ's
sing N - R |
DJ's
sing S - Z |
HISTORY
These pages started life in the late 1980’s, when I
produced a list of offshore radio deejays themes in association with free radio
group Anoraks UK. A number of people added contributions to this original list,
which later became the first in a series in Offshore Echo’s magazine. The
series grew to cover station themes, show themes, offshore radio documentary and
sampler records, discs of jingles, records by deejays and tracks used as fillers
and commercial backings. I continued to add to, and update these lists,
originally using a typewriter, and though a
series of computers and word processing programs - Amstrad Locoscript, Wordstar
and a numerous versions of Microsoft Word.
THANKS
Thanks to all those who've sent updates, additions and corrections over the years.
They include: Stuart Aiken, Ian Biggar, Look Boden, Jelle
Boonstra, Errol Bruce, Garry
Cobb, Stuart Cocker, Chris Cortez, Peter Crotty, Les Dale, André de Raaij, B. Dom,
Alan Field, John Forster, Keith
Hampshire, John Hogg, John Hulscher, Barry Johnson, Francois Lhote, Brian Long, Chris Mills, Dick Morecraft, George Morris,
Colin Nicol, Bob Rendle, Dave Revill,
John Ross Barnard, Arlo Shore, Dick Verheul, Willem Vlieger, Jim Wall, Alan
Watts, Martyn Webster and Eric White.
Special mention should also be made of:
Het Tunes Boek by Jelle Boonstra & Benno Roozen. A guide to themes on
Dutch radio, including the offshore stations, published by the
Dutch Society of Radio Jingles and Tunes
Terry Hounsome whose Rockrom
CD database has proved invaluable in checking record details.
Hans Knot for regular updates and the Soundscapes
Zeezenders Discography which gives much information on offshore themes, especially
on Dutch
releases. If you can't find the theme on this site, you'll probably find it
on Hans' site.
Jon Myer whose Pirate
Radio Hall of Fame website, pays tribute to the offshore radio deejays of
the 1960's.
Dr. Martin van der Ven for the Offshore
Radio Guide which is the ultimate offshore radio resource site.
And more resources at;
45cat.com A very
comprehensive database of UK single releases, highly recommended
GEMM An excellent website, with
vinyl and more from dealers worldwide, where we've
purchased a number of missing theme tunes.
Gracenote music database site, which
is used by Winamp among others, a comprehensive source of track listings.
Muziek Centrum
Nederland the Dutch Rock And Pop Institute includes an encyclopedia of Dutch
bands with discographies
YouTube The popular video clip site,
includes many offshore radio related records
Theme
tune collectors, please contact us, for details of new CD's featuring offshore
radio themes.
Please
contact us, if you can add any missing details, or spot any themes
that are missing please let us know. Also let us know what you think about the
site.