EOIN BUTLER talks to Steve Conway, Phantom FM presenter and former DJ with Radio Caroline, now the subject of a film by Richard Curtis
What was Radio Caroline, for those of us too young to remember?Radio Caroline was a pirate radio station that transmitted from a ship, the Ross Revenge, anchored in international waters. It started in the early 1960s and by the end of the decade was pulling in a British audience of 20 million. I started work there as a newsreader in 1987 and worked my way up. I was on board in 1991 when the vessel was finally shipwrecked.
Why broadcast a radio station from a boat?At the time, access to pop music was limited. Top of the Popswas on television for half an hour a week. But there was no internet, no YouTube or MySpace – only the BBC Home Service and Radio Luxembourg. Commercial stations came in later, but there were still strict limits on the amount of music they could play within a 24-hour period.
What was the rationale behind that? It sounds like something out of 'Footloose' . . .It was a union thing. "Needle-time" restrictions dated back to the birth of radio in the 1920s, when the broadcast of non-live music threatened the livelihoods of dance band orchestras. The legitimate stations had ways of getting around it. They'd have phone-ins, lots of chatter. But they couldn't play back-to-back hits.
Was it difficult putting in three-month stints at sea?It was very hard. Ship-to-shore communication with pirates was prohibited. So, once you were out there, the only communication with the outside world was when a supply boat arrived every few weeks. There was a crew of 12 and it was like Big Brotherin a way. We worked together, ate together, socialised together, bunked together. It was very intense.
How were you able to keep up to date with new music while bobbing around on the high seas?Well, officially, the record labels weren't supposed to have anything to do with us. Yet somehow, pre-release singles always seemed to make their way out to us. Occasionally we'd resort to more unorthodox methods. I remember when Tracy Chapman's Fast Carcame out, the BBC had the only advance copy. So we recorded it from the radio, put it on to a cartridge and immediately put it on high rotation! But 90 per cent of the time we were very well organised.
There must have been fun times too, of course. In your book you recount an episode where the entire crew played a game of hide-and-seek.Absolutely. We were all young, in our early to mid-20s. By 27, you'd be considered an old hand. So there would have been a fair amount of drinking. The arrival of a supply boat would inevitably lead to a few wild nights in the mess room. As newsreader, I had to be up at 5am, so I tended to miss out on that.
Your career with Radio Caroline ended in near disaster. What happened?In 1990, broadcasting was suspended for legal reasons. Income dried up and the ship fell into disrepair. In November 1991, the ship ran aground at Goodwin Sands, which is notorious for shipwrecks. The lifeboat that came out to rescue us ran aground itself. At this point the ship was tilting at a 45-degree angle and we sincerely believed that we were about to die. We said our goodbyes to each other, which is something I'll never forget doing. Luckily, an RAF helicopter was able to rescue us, for which we were profoundly grateful, I can tell you!
Richard Curtis has just based a film on the story of Radio Caroline, albeit set in the 1960s. Are you excited about that?It's wonderful. Because even fans of Radio Caroline probably have no idea what went on behind the scenes. I've only seen clips of [ The Boat That Rocked], but everything I've seen is very true to the life that I remember. It's purely coincidental that my book is coming out at the same time. But for me, obviously, it's a happy coincidence!
Steve Conway hosts Random Accesson Phantom FM on Sundays from 7pm-9pm. His book Shiprockedis published by Liberties Press.