More Radio - or - Jim's Anorak Journey ...

I'm not sure how my interest in radio started. I remember my great grandmother listening to the racing results on an old valve radio (a GEC 4650 - still working !) & in my dad's shed there was a large wireless up on the shelf. I can recall hearing two loud stations right next to each other on my titchy red 'Transwave Six Transistor' radio, so I guess this was Radios Caroline & London, but I was just too young to register what this was all about.

At junior boarding school in the 1960's, older pupils set up the aptly named 'Radio Prison', & I followed with 'Radio 290' & 'Mike Tape Two'. I won't make this out to be more than it was - simply a couple of speakers in the hobbies room & common room fed by a collection of old bits of equipment - 2 x tape decks, 1 x record deck, 1 x microphone & a valve amplifier, but, it was another start to my radio hobby. Interestingly, I do remember having only one listener when I closed down 'Mike Tape Two', & that was because he had been 'grounded' & wasn't allowed out ! Perhaps this was a sign of things to come nearly 40 years later !

In 1970 I was 13 years old, a good age to be impressed by a brightly coloured boat in the north sea playing pop music & playing cat & mouse with government jamming transmitters ! My brother & I built an FM radio kit to be able to hear the broadcasts better, but I think we tuned up the day after the Mebo 2 had sailed back to the Dutch coast, so without success ! RNI's closedown in September 1970 must have had an effect, because when they returned to the air in February 1971 I was hooked. At this time I was at boarding school in Ipswich, an absolute black hole as far as radio reception was concerned. The only way to get Radio 1 on 247m was to hold the radio next to the straining wire of the GPO telegraph pole ! I remember listening to the test transmissions from RNI on 220m, & since I had been given a Ferguson reel to reel 4 track tape recorder for Christmas 1970, I was ready to record the opening programme & many others afterwards. I used to spend hours editing these tapes, cutting out the music & keeping the theme tunes, jingles & dj announcements - I suppose now it would have made sense to keep the music in...

Throughout 1971 & 1972 I listened to RNI constantly, even the daytime dutch programmes, & often to their broadcasts on the 49m & 31m bands, especially the sunday world service broadcasts. In particular I enjoyed 'RNI goes DX' with AJ Beirens, which introduced me to the world of short wave listening & the history of the 60's offshore stations. I also collected as many pirate radio magazines as I could, - Monitor, DeeJay & Radio Monthly, Script, SIRA, Caroline Newsletter..., & scrap books of cuttings from Disc & Music Echo & Record Mirror.