Tag Archives: Featured

A Tribute to Pirate Radio – Fifty Years On.

“It was 50 Years Ago Today” is a special tribute show which looks back to the events of 1964-68 when ‘pirate radio’ stations Radio Caroline and Radio London were declared illegal after the introduction of the Marine Offences Act.

Susy stalwarts Jim Richman, an engineer on Radio Caroline North off the Isle of Man in the 60s and David Jay, an avid teenage listener in Surrey are retelling a well known story – with a run through the history of those years at sea, plus a taste of some of the ‘turntable hits’ of the day and the material which gave the stations their unique sounds: accompanied by some personal memories, which will be the original content in this view of a moment in time which was endlessly thrilling for those who were there, and which changed the faces of radio and of music for ever.

Although Radio Caroline’s North and South services are better remembered, not least because they battled on after being declared illegal, Radio London (‘The Big L’) was by far the biggest and most successful station, and it closed for ever at 3pm on 14 August 1967.

Listen On Demand:

Eric Martin remembers “The Tower of Power”

On 4th September, 2003, when SUSY Radio was campaigning for a permanent license, a special programme was broadcast which introduced Eric Martin as a special guest of the “Alan French Afternoon Show”.

Eric was one of the pioneering DJ’s of the pirate radio era of the 1960s, and broadcast on Radio City which was based on an old war-time fort located on Shivering Sands in the Thames Estuary.

Formerly Radio Sutch, the station commenced broadcasting on 27th May, 1964 on 1542kHz (194 metres), and in September, 1964, was taken over by Lord Sutch’s manager, Reginald Calvert who invested in new equipment including a more powerful transmitter, changed frequency to 1003kHz (299 metres), and re-launched as Radio City (“your Tower of Power”).

Eric joined Radio City in 1966 as an 18 year old, often presenting the 6am – 10am breakfast programme, and stayed with the station until a few days before it closed down in 1967. He then followed a completely different career until his retirement, when the opportunity allowed him to return to the airwaves, broadcasting under the name of Richard Lee.

Audio quality isn’t the best as the recording is many years old now, and some of the included archive from the 60s is even older!

Image courtesy of www.redsandsradio.co.uk
Audio courtesy of Richard Lee and Ian Rennison

Susy Radio remembers Glen Campbell

I’ve just heard of the death of the incredible singer and musician Glen Campbell. I met Glen and his wife Kim before a concert at the Fairfield Halls in Croydon, on 20th October, 2008. Such lovely welcoming, down to earth people. I accompanied my friend, the late Stephen (Steve) Romaine who was to interview Glen in his dressing room.

Stephen went on to speak to Glen several times on air during Susy Radio’s RSL years. He became a friend of the station and was always interested in how things were going at Susy Radio. Let’s remember Glen fondly through his music which will live on forever. My condolences to Glen’s family and many close friends on behalf of Susy Radio here in the UK.

Dave 
Dave King- Susy Radio 103.4