60 years of Radio Caroline: The U.K.’s Enduring History of Pirate Radio Stations

The U.K. has a long and lasting history of pirate radio stations. These are stations that were set up on ships and broadcast from international waters. The BBC had a monopoly on the airwaves in the 1960s, and the selection of music was still old and a little stale.

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According to author Ray Clark, who spoke to ABC News in 2024, “Back in the ’60s, kids in America had a wealth of radio stations to listen to.” He continued, “Here in the U.K., we had one, the BBC, and they hadn’t discovered The Beatles. We needed Radio Caroline, from a ship three miles off the coast, to hear that pop music that we craved for.”

Radio Caroline, the brainchild of businessman Ronan O’Rahilly, was a radio station hosted on a former Danish ferry, christened MV Caroline. She was retrofitted with broadcast equipment at the Irish port of Greenore. The idea of Radio Caroline came after O’Rahilly, a music manager, was unsuccessful in getting his artist’s music played on the BBC. At the time, record companies also had control over the airwaves, primarily playing their own artists. If you weren’t part of an established record label, most likely your music wouldn’t get any airplay.

The MV Caroline, fully fitted out to broadcast, set off on March 23, 1964, leaving from the port of Greenore in Ireland and allegedly heading for Spain. However, the vessel altered course through the English Channel, into the North Sea where she then anchored off the coast of Suffolk.

March 27, 1964: Radio Caroline Begins its First Broadcast Off the Coast of Suffolk

The broadcast began at 6 p.m. GMT on March 27, playing Jimmy McGriff’s “Round Midnight” to kick things off. Eventually, Radio Caroline gained a regular audience of 7 million listeners.

In July 1967, Radio Caroline merged with Radio Atlanta, another pirate radio station. They formed Radio Caroline South and Radio Caroline North. After the merger, MV Caroline sailed to the Isle of Man, broadcasting the entire journey. She then anchored at a sand bank in Ramsey Bay. A majority of the British Isles were now covered by the two pirate radio stations.

There were many setbacks and stalls over Radio Caroline’s impressive 60 years. Still, the story isn’t over. From the U.K.’s Marine Offences Act in 1967 looking to shut down pirate stations, to being docked due to financial problems. Then, losing one ship in 1980 and almost losing another in 1991, Radio Caroline has weathered many storms. However, the station is still alive today.

The Lasting Legacy of the U.K.’s 60-Year Pirate Radio Station

Sure, Radio Caroline is now based in a studio on land, but once a month a crew heads out to sea. They broadcast from the MV Ross Revenge, the current vessel housing the station. The station also streams online, so listeners around the world can tune in to the nostalgic broadcast.

“You couldn’t write a novel that would be like this. When you tell people that it is factual, you say, no, that surely didn’t happen,” Ray Clark told ABC News last year. “Battles with governments, battles with the weather, battles within the organization. The whole story is unbelievable and still, 60 years on, Caroline still exists. It defies all the odds. It should have been beaten a week after it started in 1964. Here we are in 2024, still going strong.” Now, we’re looking down another year of Radio Caroline, and the station doesn’t show any signs of stopping.

Featured Image by Evening Standard/Getty Images