Factors Leading to Pirate Radio

     Four elements were important in the development of the British pirate stations. First was the continued monopoly of domestic British radio by the BBC (though Radio Luxembourg was widely tuned as well), despite the availability of commercial television since 1955. Although commercial radio was not licensed nationally until 1973, the logical disparity between the availability of commercial options for one medium and not the other presented a wedge for proponents of commercial radio.

     The second significant factor was the territorial jurisdiction of Britain (and other European nations) at the time, which was defined as ending three miles offshore. A ship anchored just a few miles off the coast was not subject to British laws, and a radio transmitter could be set up in such a ship or on any of a handful of derelict offshore forts without formally contravening the BBC's monopoly.

     Third was the ongoing struggle in British broadcasting between the elitists and the popularizers, or-depending on one's viewpoint-the public educators and the crass commercialiser. World War II had forced concessions to the musical tastes of enlisted troops in the shape of the General Forces Programme, a BBC service later retitled the Light Programme. However, these concessions were fought every step of the way within the BBC and by other traditionalists, so that by the 1950s the Light Programme was losing the younger, postwar­ generation audience.

     The grimly staid public atmosphere of the 1950s was the fourth major contributor to the development of pirate stations. This social climate resulted from two wars in which the British had taken a tremendous pounding, from the intervening Depression years of the 19 30s, and also from the years of severe austerity that followed World War II. The British people had faced the necessity of sacrifice and had then gone on to ​​make a virtue of it. For the younger generation, this public culture seemed impossibly stifling. Dramatic signals that a turning point had been reached included The Goon Show, the "Angry Young Man" theater and "Northern social realist" cinema of that decade, the victorious Conservative Party's slogan for its third election victory in 1959 ("You never had it so good!"), and the thrilling music of such American rock and roll stars as Bill Haley and the Comets and Elvis Presley. Popular music, and therefore a different kind of radio, were at the heart of the transition. Yet the BBC's agreement with the Musicians' Union considerably limited the needle time for this music.

Pirate Radio Stations

     Pirate stations broadcasting principally to other European countries preceded the development of pirate operations directed at British audiences. In 1958 Radio Mercur began broadcasting a few miles off the Danish coast. In 1960 Radio Nord went on the air off the Swedish coast, and in the same year Radio Veronica started transmitting off the Dutch coast. Veronica, which lasted until 1974, began an English-language service in 1961. These ventures broadcast popular music overwhelmingly targeting the youth audience, playing to that generation's growing budget for leisure products and its impatience at older styles of music. Rock and roll music from the United States had great appeal, partly because of its energy and partly because of the images it projected of a consumption-oriented culture with plenty of space for pleasurable activities.

     In Britain as elsewhere in Europe, the pirate stations' distinctive programming feature was their use of the U.S. Top 40 format, then quite foreign to European radio. Inevitably there was considerable interest in these stations on the part of U.S. record company executives, who recognized a new avenue for getting their products heard and thus sold. Some of these stations were directly backed by U.S. entrepreneurs such as Gordon Mclendon, one of those originally responsible for the Top 40 format. Radio London, one of the major British pirate stations, was backed by Texas automobile dealers and an oil baron. These stations were not exclusively musical outlets, nor did they fea­ ture just rock and roll. But rock and roll was the element of their programming that drew the most attention, both from those who loved them and those who were alarmed at their potential to influence the morals of the younger generation.

     Ronan O'Rahilly, an Irish citizen and somewhat flamboyant music entrepreneur at home in very smart and trendy Chelsea circles, spearheaded the most prominent of all the British pirate stations, Radio Caroline. Caroline began transmitting in 1964 and was named after President Kennedy's daughter. In Britain, the youthful-looking president had symbolically represented a refreshing new age, and his daughter's name was symptomatic of the fresh tide in British life of which O'Rahilly himself was part. Radio Caroline was emblematic of London's swinging Sixties."

     Radio Caroline's sponsors quickly established two ship­-based stations, Caroline North and Caroline South. Caroline North was more original in its programming, attuned both to the Merseyside (Liverpool) beat then made famous by the Beatles and to new trends in African-American music such as the hits from Motown. Caroline South found itself in increasing financial trouble for a variety of reasons and had to be rescued in 1966 by Tom Lodge, one of the key figures from Caroline North. His most important contribution to the development of British radio and popular music was the establishment of disc jockeys as the pivotal cultural entrepreneurs of the stations, with their musical intuition providing the stations' heartbeat.

     The other leading British pirate station of that period was Radio London, also established in 1964. Its format was considerably less freewheeling than Radio Caroline's and served as a model for Radio One, the BBC pop music channel begun by the BBC in July 1967 in direct response to the pirates' popularity (and also due to some internal pressure to develop a more audience-responsive programming policy). Radio London's programming was always much more culturally conservative than Radio Caroline's, and thus it attracted considerably more support from elite circles.

     A number of problematic conditions challenged the pirate station developers. The North Sea, where most of the pirate station ships were positioned, is subject to very powerful gales and stormy weather. In a number of cases there was a sharp disparity between the disc jockeys' spartan and dangerous working conditions and the ritzy administration offices in central London. A number of investors saw the pirate station ventures as instant cash cows, with predictable effects on financial policies and stability. They often wildly inflated their audience size. Only about a half-dozen syndicates owned all 21 pirate stations available to British listeners.

Decline

     A number of other troubling events shadowed the stations. Harry Featherbed, director and one of the three founders of Radio lnvicta in June 1964, drowned in circumstances that some found suspicious. Radio City, previously Radio Sutch, became the target of a control battle between Reginald Calvert and Oliver Smedley. The former launched a military-style boarding party to repossess his transmitter and was later shot dead in Smedley's home.

     These and other factors resulted in a loss of popularity of the pirate stations that enabled the British government to reassert its authority and monopoly of the airwaves. Beginning in August 1966, the Marine Offences Act effectively choked off the pirates' revenue stream by outlawing the use of their channels by British advertisers.

     Despite their relatively short term of operation and shadowy dimensions, these rebels against British radio authorities had a lasting impact on British broadcasting and culture. In addition to the change in focus from traditional music to a format that appealed to younger listeners, the language used in music radio changed from a carefully articulated southern English accent and vocabulary to a mid-Atlantic intonation and pattern. In Britain, the debate continues (mostly along generational lines) as to whether this change signified the reverse cultural colonization of the United Kingdom or its welcome introduction to the dynamism of U.S.-and especially African­ American-popular culture. 

     British pirate stations continued to operate in the 21st century-mainly urban and carrying ethnic minority content. Such stations appear and disappear rapidly and are difficult to track down. Many operate only on the weekends.