Six former Radio Caroline and offshore presenters will be joining a special celebration this autumn to commemorate the pirate station’s early years on the airwaves off Suffolk.
Organisers of the event have now released more details of the weekend at Felixstowe, where listeners first heard the sounds that caused a broadcasting revolution.
The highlight of the celebration will take place on Saturday, September 9 at 5.30pm when the Felixstowe Society and Felixstowe and Offshore Radio Facebook group will be unveiling a commemorative stone at the clifftop viewing area.
Brian Nichols, of the radio group, said: “We hope to have in attendance Alan ‘Neddy’ Turner, one of the few people remaining who worked on board the MV Caroline whilst she was anchored off Felixstowe in 1964, together with Radio Caroline and BBC Essex presenter Ray Clark, who will be representing the station.
“The mayor, Nick Barber, and other councillors, along with representatives of the Felixstowe Society, and East of England Co-operative Society will also be in attendance.”
The plaque is part of a series put in place by the Felixstowe Society, marking historic events in the town’s history, and in this instance has been prepared and paid for by the Co-op.
Caroline began broadcasting on Easter Sunday, 1964, from a ship near the Cork Anchorage, and has always held a place in the hearts of radio fans for its pioneering and rebellious spirit.
Its launch sent shockwaves through the radio world which led to a flotilla of similar stations, Government action to outlaw the pirates with the creation of Radio One in its wake.
The weekend will include a exhibition in Trinity Methodist Church Hall, Orwell Road, on September 9 from 9am to 5pm and September 10 from 10am to 4pm, with a Flashback to ‘67 display, a show of vintage radios and technology, a record and CD fair on the Saturday, and Radio Caroline merchandise.
Presenters joining the events over the weekend will be Johnny Lewis, originally from Ipswich and who worked for Caroline on board the Mi Amigo in the late 1970s and the Ross Revenge in the 80s; Bill Rollins, who worked on Tower Radio and behind the scenes for Caroline in the 70s and 80s; engineer Michael Barrington; American DJ Chuck Reynolds; presenter and engineer Martin Fisher, who has been with the station from the 1970s to the present; and Ray Anderson, a presenter on Radio Atlantis in 1974, and the man behind Laser Hot Hits in the 80s.
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