Offshore Radio
Royal Academy
Offshore Radio
Celebration
Finally, it was time for the last session, “No Man Will Ever Forget”, which charted Caroline’s progress on the midnight of August 14th 1967 and afterwards, with Robbie Dale and Johnnie Walker from Caroline South while Mark Sloane described the different situation that affected the North ship off the Isle of Man. The session was chaired by Phil Martin, who had originally worked on Britain Radio and Radio 355 (photo left: Phil Martin, Mark Sloane, Robbie Dale and Johnnie Walker).
Robbie described how he and Johnnie had come off shore leave to go back onto the “Mi Amigo” on 14th August, full of adrenaline, only to be faced with colleagues who had previously declared their intention to stay, now changing their minds in the wake of the impending legislation. The result was there were only two DJs on board, although a later tender brought a couple of new DJs. Johnnie had discussed with Ronan beforehand what he was going to say at midnight and Ronan suggested that they thank Harold Wilson and the Labour Government for recognising their right to be there. Mark described joining the North ship on the 14th being cheered on by the crowds in Ramsey. The Isle of Man was not covered by the legislation of the 14th, as the local Government had refused to pass the Marine Offences Act – this was only ratified when an Order in Council was passed on 31st August, forcing the Isle of Man to comply.
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Robbie Dale and Johnnie Walker |
In the audience, Ronan O'Rahilly (centre left), Bud Ballou and Roger Day (right) |
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Johnnie said that the first impact they felt after 14th August was the loss of the daily tender with mail and newspapers - they felt cut off, although one holidaymaker, who was indignant about the Act, came out in a dinghy and kept them supplied with newspapers for the week or so he was on holiday. Having said that, when the mail did arrive, it was a bumper load and the DJs felt encouraged by the positive comments from the listeners. From the 14th, the North ship was supplied from Dundalk in Ireland. Mark mentioned how Don Allen had made it a practice to give on-air name checks to various businesses on the Isle of Man, which resulted in them giving him hospitality when he was back onshore. The common thread on both ships immediately before 14th and beyond was that the playlist changed. Caroline had adopted a “pay per play” policy that included the playing of records on the Major Minor label, owned by Caroline director Phil Solomon. The DJs had hated them and Robbie Dale described the difficulty of persuading the DJs of the importance of playing these as they were keeping the station alive. Johnnie described the situation on 3rd March 1968 – he had completed his usual 9-12pm show the previous evening and had been woken up early to be told they were being towed away by the tug from Wijsmuller’s. They felt frustrated at not being able to tell their listeners what was going on. In the weeks that followed he had realised it was all over for Caroline. During the session, Ronan O’Rahilly’s presence was announced and sure enough, there he was, quietly tucked away in a corner – the audience acknowledged his presence with a resounding round of applause and I managed to sneak a long distance photo of him – he saw me taking a shot of him and waved to me, I replied with a grin and a thumbs up.
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