Radio Caroline North
| Broadcast area | United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, parts of continental Europe |
|---|---|
| Slogan |
"Radio Caroline on 199 your all day music station" (1960s) "Love, Peace and Good Music" (1970s) "Europes Best Music on Europe's Best Music Station" (Caroline 558) |
| Format |
Various: broadly according to era and frequency: 1960s : mainstream pop. 1970s : Album format 1980s: (i) 963 kHz : unformatted free-choice album format, with news. (ii)576 kHz: continuation of above, with slightly more singles played. News service at peak hours. (iii)558 kHz: strict pop and oldies mainstream format (no presenter music choice) with strict adherance to format clocks. DJs could choose ordering of oldies – all current pop hits in strict rotation. News at peak hours : 7, 8, 9 am, 1pm; 5,6,7 pm, with headlines at 0630, 0730 and 0830. footnotes: Caroline 'Overdrive' continued the album format during night-time once the mainstream pop service was re-established on 576, 585 and then 558 khz. Firstly on 963 kHz, then from 1988 – August 1989 on 819kHz. |
| Power |
Radio Caroline North = 10kW (later 20kW). Radio Caroline South = 10kW (later 50 kW). Caroline 319 = from 8kW to 25kW Caroline 558 = approx. 5-6kW |
| Owner | Planet Sales Ltd |
| Broadcast area | Southern England, western Europe, Northern England, Ireland and Scotland |
|---|---|
| Frequency | wavelengths announced as "259" metres |
| First air date | 15 August 1967 following passage of the Marine Offences Act |
| Format | popular music and news |
| Power | 50 kW |
| Owner | Legal status unclear due to a need to conceal actual legal ownership. |
| Broadcast area | Broadcasting from various locations offshore to Western Europe |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 244m MW, 100.0 MHz FM, 6205 kHz SW |
| First air date | Sat 13 June – Fri 19 June 1970 |
| Format | popular music and news |
| Power | 105 kW MW |
| ERP | 90 kW MW |
| Affiliations | A brief name change from Radio North Sea International during the UK General Election campaign, after which the station reverted to its original name. |
| Owner | Mebo Ltd |
| Broadcast area | Broadcasting from various offshore locations to Western Europe |
|---|---|
| Frequency | various |
| First air date | 1972 |
| Format | album rock |
| Power | 10 kW later 50 kW |
| ERP | 27 KW (highly variable) |
| Owner | Status unclear and mainly operated by supporters |
| Sister stations | Radio Atlantis 1973 and Radio Mi-Amigo 1974–1978 |
| Broadcast area | Geographic areas bordering upon North Sea |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 963 kHz (wavelength announced as "319" metres) later moving to 819 kHz with additional transmitter in 531–594 kHz range (principally 558 kHz) |
| First air date | August 1983 |
| Format | album rock and news |
| Power | 50 kW (second 10 kW transmitter later added) |
| ERP | 27 kW (highly variable) |
| Owner | Ownership was hidden due to illegality of operation. |
| Broadcast area | UK Worldwide (Internet); Europe (up to September 2013) (Eutelsat 28A) |
|---|---|
| Frequency | Various Internet streams UPC Ireland: Channel 927 Smallworld Cable: Channel 855 Eutelsat 28A (to 30 September 2013): Freq. 11.426 GHz Polarisation: Horizontal Symbol Rate: 27.5 FEC: 2/3 |
| First air date | 1999 |
| Format | AOR (Album/adult oriented) |
| Owner | Radio Caroline Ltd. and Caroline Support Group (originally called the Ross Revenge Support Group). |
| Website | http://www.radiocaroline.co.uk |
Radio Caroline is a British radio station founded in 1964 by Ronan O'Rahilly to circumvent the record companies' control of popular music broadcasting in the United Kingdom and the BBC's radio broadcasting monopoly. Unlicensed by any government for most of its early life, it was a pirate radio station that never actually became illegal, although after the Marine Offences Act (1967) it became illegal for a British subject to associate with it.
The Radio Caroline name was used to broadcast from international waters, using five different ships of three different owners, from 1964 to 1990, and via satellite from 1998 to 2013. Radio Caroline currently broadcasts 24 hours a day via the internet and by occasional restricted service licence, they also broadcast on DAB radio in certain areas of the UK. These services are part of the Ofcom small-scale DAB trials. Caroline can be heard on DAB in Aldershot, Birmingham, Brighton, Glasgow. Norwich, Portsmouth and Woking. In May 2017 Ofcom awarded the station an AM community licence to broadcast in Suffolk and north Essex.
Radio Caroline broadcasts music from the 1960s to contemporary, with an emphasis on album-oriented rock (AOR).
"Radio Caroline on 199 your all day music station" (1960s) "Love, Peace and Good Music" (1970s)
Various: broadly according to era and frequency: 1960s : mainstream pop.
1970s : Album format
1980s: (i) 963 kHz : unformatted free-choice album format, with news.
(ii)576 kHz: continuation of above, with slightly more singles played. News service at peak hours.
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