Radio Caroline was the first and most famous of the UK’s pirate radio stations. It started transmissions in 1964, on Easter Sunday, from a ship anchored in international waters off the coast of Felixstowe, Suffolk. Radio Caroline is now legal though with broadcasts over satellite and online.
The internet version is 10 years old this year. This really shows how the internet has progressed so quickly, and how some organisations have really made great used of the internet to raise awareness and keep their ship afloat.
The original station broadcast at 197.3 metres (long wave) although it referred to it as 199 Radio Caroline, simple because it rhymes. The satellite radio station, available on Sky freesat, is 0199. Good of Sky to keep this channel open for Radio Caroline.
This year a film, The Boat That Rocked, is due to be released later this year. It was written and directed by Richard Curtis (Four Weddings and A Funeral, Notting Hill, Love Actually) and also stars Rhys Ifans, Kenneth Branagh, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jack Davenport, Nick Frost, and Emma Thompson.
It is inspired by the Radio Caroline story and parts of the studio on our radio-ship Ross Revenge were used to re-create the pirate ship. Ex-Caroline man Johnnie Walker acted as adviser during filming. More details can be found on the Radio Caroline website.
Radio Caroline provide several methods to listen online, including:
- Abacast / VLC (Mac) or Winamp (PC) (aacPlus 48 k•) – the highest quality stream. Unlimited listener capacity. Suitable for broadband users
- Flash (mp3 64k•) high quality stream for broadband users
- RealPlayer (mp3 64k•) high quality stream for broadband users
- iTunes or Winamp (mp3 64k•) high quality stream for broadband users
- Windows Media Player (WMA 22k•) Office friendly stream also suitable for dial-up users.
- Windows Media Player (mp3 64k•) high quality stream for broadband users
- Mobile Listening – iPhone / iPod Touch
To learn more or listen to Radio Caroline visit their website – Radio Caroline (radiocaroline.co.uk).