50 years on, people are now realising that history was being made with Caroline and London. Great film, thanks for the memory.

We Cumbrians could see Caroline, the rocking ship when anchored at Ramsey Bay. Heck those were the days. Bless xxx

Great to hear of this adventure on the high seas. As a founding member of a community radio station OCRM in Victoria Australia you realize that creative work broadcasting is still limited .

This is terrific! The movie (Pirate Radio) released a few years ago was dreadful by the way. We had absolutely no music for young people in those days and Caroline was a lifeline for us. Signal wasn't very strong but I could get good reception at night time. I remember when they defied an order to shut down and at the Midnight hour, the DJ says,"Radio Caroline gos on" and he plays "All you need is love" by the Beatles. Its all we had back when. Thanks for this Video!

That's really good to watch. My dad John Hawkins helped make this film . In the interview with the secretary, you can briefly see him

I love Radio Caroline may it last forever and its music permeate the airwaves

I remember pedalling my bike home from school to listen to this. I was a real bonus when Radio Caroline North came on with a much better signal. Thanks for the film. It is a real part of history.

Thank you, what a great film, memories of when I was a 12 year old schoolboy listening to Caroline and all that great music.

Wonderful memories of a very influential and exciting period of time - from the first time I heard the pirates I knew I wanted to work in radio - great to relive the atmosphere with this rare footage

Excellent. Just a couple of little things though, When The Mi Amigo first arrived on the scene, it was anchored just a few miles from MV Caroline. It was the broadcasting base of Radio Atlanta and when Radio Caroline closed down at 6pm Atlanta used the same frequency for their test transmissions. The two stations merged after a few months and it was then that MV Caroline (which was named after President Kennedys' daughter) sailed around the south coast of England and into the Irish Sea to its' new home in Ramsey Bay. At quite a big risk to the vessel, Radio Caroline continued broadcasting while on the move to the Isle of Man.

radio caroline radio caroline 24 hours a day our favourite radio station we lived in kent in the 1960s regards from australia

Many Thanks for making this invaluable piece of British Offshore Radio history available to a Worldwide audience.It adds more precious minutes to a remarkable archive which is gradually appearing from all manner of sources.Congratulations on making excellent use of that 16mm camera & cassette recorder. "I think that Caroline has a wonderful future.""It's an adventure in a way, isn't it?" It certainly was a wonderful future & an adventure - one that continues to this day. radiocaroline.co.uk

The second song is indeed High Flyin' Bird performed by Carolyn Hester, but it's a different version than the popular single from 1965. I was able to find out a live version similar to the one in the documentary (Live at Town Hall) . However, I think that the version presented here was slightly alterated by the tape speed. Thanks for that great documentary.

This is awesome !Thanks for the film. It is a real part of history.

het was een super mooi tijd toen wet er nog radio gemaakt

This a great record of Caroline in 65. Thanks for publishing this.

Great little film, thanks for posting. I've fond memories of Caroline North.

i was a mobile dj 79-84, hard work after a day 9-5, bloody luvved to be on radio, im 63 now

The Fantastic Tony Blackburn at 5.03 minutes on radio Caroline

Yes did abit when I was younger well enjoyed it 👌

Cool tape-recorders!

I recognised -- 2:20 Keith Skues, From 5:05 Tony Blackburn & 6:22 Pete Brady - who launched the first show on Radio London

Those old cans look uncomfortable, glad we had padded ones on the revenge lol

Excellent Historic.

The Fredericia was renamed Caroline by Ronan O;Rahilly and was in a race with Alan Crawfords ship the Mi Amigo to be the first radio station off shore. Caroline started first then Radio Atlanta (Mi Amigo) started soon afterwards. Both ships fitted out at Greenock in Ireland. They later merged and the original Caroline steamed North transmitting as she went. Mi Amigo stayed off Frinton on sea, Essex as Caroline South!

The revox roll on and on

199 Caroline ...1520 Kilocycles in the Medium waveband .. it's DEE TIME .......

Six minutes per hour advertising, those were the days!

Thank you 👍💯

Blackburn a proper spring chicken 🎙️🎧🎶

Great footage Paul.

I was looking to see if Norman Barrington was on film he did the jingles, he's still around and has his own website, worth a visit. some of the old jingles are downloadable.... unless its changed

Interesting to see that some of the DJs wore ties.

Great Film

You forgot to mention chief engineer, Patrick Starling, nicknamed by the team as "Child Scientist" He appears several times and they really could not have done without him.

At 5:47, an interesting comment about the swaying of the ship in bad weather affecting 33 rpm playback but not 45.

The remark about relying on 45s is a bit ironic, since in the 70s Caroline was an album station.

The song playing after the announcement was covered by Jefferson Airplane at Monterey.

You could try A.I. colour of this film

I've sean radio corline before and I have been pass on a boat

Great

Loved all these 'pirates'. Caroline and London were the ones I most tuned into! Shame they all had to end! The EVIL BBC struck early!

Teac R-310 reel recorder (Concertone)

'we five' did a version too

The original Radio Caroline/ Caroline North Ship was Fredericia, not Frederica. It's a common error.

This is a unique collection of film bits and bobs from 1865. Unfortunately so much rubbish has been written about this period that the real story has become obliterated. Someone (below on this site) commented that Caroline was named after JFK's daughter, and this is a myth that is totally untrue. Radio Caroline was born in the offices of the fashion magazine called 'Queen' and its editor had been using the 'Caroline' name for years to describe its targeted reader for advertisers. Originally the station was to have become a sort of magazine of the air, but that did not happen and it was not until Ted Allbuery created Radio 390 that this format was actually put on the air. But Allbuery did not have a fashion magazine. The game changer was the General Election that brought Labour to victory by a slim margin, and the original idea of the offshore station which was to prove the Pilkington Report wrong in that the British public did not want commercial radio, was abandoned since there was no hope of the Labour government awarding commercial land licenses. This entire story will be spelled out later this year in a new book to be called 'YesterAir;.This unique film shows how very much of a suit and tie the original Radio Caroline was, and this was after it had left the clutches of its very prim and proper members of the Establishment who financed the venture.

What was the objective of Radio Caroline? Why they had to do it through PIRACY?

Storming! What's the second song used in the documentary?

Well that typo (1865) will immediately trigger a response from defenders of the myth. I did of course mean to type 1965.

what was the first song?

Ronan O'Rahilly 1940-2020

Ronan should have given you some money for more stock

Was it an AM station?

judy henske ,high flying bird, a cover of jefferson airplane i think

Класс!

That´s not True Radio Caroline started on Easter Saturday from the Radio Ship ´´MS FREDERICA´´ The Radio Ship ``ME Amigo`` was a month later on the air and was later then Radio Caroline North. But the first on Britain Free Radio was ``Radio Caroline``from the MS FREDERICA!!# Later it was Caroline South. Sorry for you. But I´m now 69 and I was very young at this time and one of the first lessoner of ``THE PIRAT STATION`` so I know what I say.

carolyn hester is my guess..100%

that where the days ,now its just shitty programs on public radio