Wonderful Radio London … news around the clock !
45 years ago to-day the illegal Wilson régime proscribed the best wireless stations in the land (well, actually just off the land) and renamed the B.B.C.’s stations in line with the Labour Party’s aspirations : to remodel the United Kingdom along East-German lines.
O, for the days when Jack de Manio presented Today on the Home, the test match was on the Third and The Navy Lark on the Light !
The British government’s obsession with the regulation of broadcasting is so intense that it’s really quite surprising that the country has cellular wireless (mobile telephones) at all.
Parenthetically : The licence fee is a thoroughly inefficient way to fund the B.B.C. (and now a few other stations) ; it were much better simply to fund public broadcasting out of general taxation, thereby eliminating the cost of the fee’s collection. The only reason for the licence fee is to ‘justify’ the state’s spying on the citizenry. You might think the centre of espionage is G.C.H.Q. ; in reality it’s Ravensbourne.
ΠΞ
Marine &c. Broadcasting (Offences) Act, 1967 (15 & 16 Eliz. II cap. xli)
August 23, 2012 at 21:50
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Nothing to do with the regulation of the wireless, and regardless of my
views about the BBC, Michael Jayston’s Rogue Male is on R4Ex again. This must
be the third time I’ve heard a bit, missed a bit. Of it’s time but stlll dark
and brooding as only radio can be.
There is some good stuff to be found
here for those of a certain age. I’m still hoping there’s a ‘Round the Horne’
I’ve either forgotten, or never heard first time.
Bona, puts a smile on the
eek.
- August 23, 2012 at 22:38
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You can buy CDs of all The Jules and Sandy sketches…
- August 17, 2012 at 13:57
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Thanks for the link to Radio Caroline, MicroDave.
It was fascinating to
read all that history and get a slight taste of the inspirational flow (not
buzz!) of that time. Love, peace and all through such cantankerous kids – but
something came through, indeed. Quite magical.
International root beer and
all.
Not to mention drifting through Holland Park.
It was not easy but
there was something very creative.
Main media wouldn’t touch it, so almost
by definition, everything that is now understood of that time is just plain
wrong, except what one can find in tiny corners that have not been tidied for
the last 40 plus years.
- August 16, 2012 at 21:27
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Thats avowed in the last line. Should try to keep calm when I type
- August 16, 2012 at 21:26
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It should be a subscription service. It is a large enough organization to
compete with other subscription services. Who knows, it may even be as good as
it thinks it is, and be another ARM.
As it stands I pay the license but object to funding a largely left wing
organization which I rarely find any use for. I object to the attitude of the
Stasi it employs ( privately! ) to demand money with menaces from people who
have computers in their offices – and there wont be many without those
nowadays – on the grounds that you might be watching some of the daytime
drivel they force the sick back to work with rather than working. I object to
their imprisoning of single mothers who lack the resources to pay their
excessive tax. Was there anything other than the Olympics on the flagship BBC1
for the past fortnight?
Make it a private company funded by subscription. If it is so much loved it
may even make enough profit to be able to offshore it and avoid taxes, like so
many avoid left wing media seem to manage.
- August 16, 2012 at 14:46
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Lux”: are none of you old enough to remember Radio Luxemburg?
- August
16, 2012 at 15:44
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My mother talked about listening to Radio Normandy – which was set in
France to transmit to the UK and probably counts as the first ‘offshore’
english audience station. As for luxemburg – wasn’t that financed by Horace
Batchelor of the infamous ‘infra-draw’ method. (for the football pools-
don’t get excited)
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August 16, 2012 at 18:17
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All I remember about the Infra-Draw ads was the “K-e-y-n-s-h-a-m, near
Bristol”, address.
- August 16, 2012 at 20:05
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That raises a smile, dearieme. I can recall listening at school
after taps on 208 metres – with a pillow between the speaker and my
ear. It was a small wireless called a ‘Super 7’.
(Leather or Skai, I don’t know. Mine was cream or – à la voiture –
‘Old English White’.)
Those were the days.
ΠΞ
http://188.220.79.246/Old%20Radios/Four/Five/perdio%20super%207.gif
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August 16, 2012 at 21:42
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Some of my earliest self-learning about electronics involved working
out how to by-pass the speaker in my old bedroom radio and wire it through
a multi-switch into a rusty old set of headphones, so I could safely
listen to Luxemburg, random pirates and such BBC comedy classics as ‘I’m
Sorry I’ll Read That Again’ without interfering parents overhearing and
imposing mandatory sleep-time.
I later installed an old B&W TV set, built into the wall at one end
of my attic bedroom, then extended both the channel and on/off/volume
control dials and fitted them into the wall alongside my bed – possibly
the first ever remote-control, ‘flat-screen’ TV ! I learnt a lot from
Radio & TV.
- August 16, 2012 at 11:47
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It should be noted that The Navy Lark is still broadcast; Radio 4
Extra is ace.
- August 16, 2012 at 19:45
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Now, tell me this, some-one : the time signal, which we used
to use (and sailors of small boats presumably still do use) to set the deck
watch and chronometer, comes over on digital perhaps a second late (or
early ; out of synch. anyway).
Admittedly an error of one second (of time) implies an error of only a
quarter of a mile in the tropics but is there any real point in the B.B.C.’s
continuing to use it almost as a jingle ?
ΠΞ
- August 17, 2012 at 14:13
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While there is an analogue boradcast, it is still accurate on those
channels. Digitial offers more of a problem; one can calculate how long
the encoding delay is, and offset the signal by that much, but the variety
of digital platforms and decoders will introduce different delays;
f’rinstance on Sky there’s an additional satellite bounce delay, and I’d
imagine different DAB DACs take slightly different amounts of time. I
suspect that sailors continue to use LW for both the pips and the Shipping
forecast, sidestepping the problem. For the rest of us, the pips and
Shipping Forecast provide relaxing signposts to the day.
- August 15, 2012 at 19:15
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I agree with many other commenters – the Licence Fee is the best way to
fund the Beeb.
No other form of direct taxation allows user-choosers.
But thanks for the memory of “The Tower of Power”, the station which gave
the world the unforgettable Kenny Everett.
- August 15, 2012 at 14:54
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SOME CBers caused interference, but many of us (mindful of the
authorities keeping watch) took great care to run clean stations. Now 30 years
later “Power Line Networking) aka domestic homeplugs have taken over as a
leading source of problems. And the demand for ever increasing speeds is
pushing this interference further up the spectrum. And, as if that isn’t bad
enough, the next one looming on the horizon is 4G which is likely to to make
CB generated TVI seem tame in comparison…
- August 15,
2012 at 14:18
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The CB radio pests caused interference with some stereo equipment, TV
channels, skilled radio amateurs and most importantly, radio-controlled
aircraft whose allocated frequency bands were trespassed by the rampant
rabbitting craze. If we accept that the radio broadcast spectrum is limited,
is it not reasonable that users should stick to their own allocated wavebands?
Or should the most powerful transmitter rule the roost as damn the rest?
The Maritime &c Broadcasting Offeces Act simply extended the remit of
the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949 outside of territorial waters.
The BBC originally began as a company set up by wireless-set
producers that was part sponsored by newspapers and became a corporation with
a Royal Charter in 1927 to remove American influence (ie GEC of America).
The Wireless Licence was introduced in
1904 simply in order to raise taxation (dreadnoughts didn’t come cheap).
As broadcasting to the public did not come about until 1922 (although
ship-to-shore and wireless telegraphy to newspapers started earlier), the
first Wireless Licences were handwritten!. So blame the Royal Navy
for the TV licence.
- August 26, 2012 at 20:03
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I think your being a little disingenuous in blaming the Royal Navy for
the introduction of the Wireless Telegraphy Licence in 1904, the Dreadnought
Battleship only arrived in 1906 and Naval spending actually fell slightly
with the election of a Liberal Government. The Naval arms race didn’t really
get going until 1909 and got completely out of hand in 1911 with the “We
want eight and we wont wait” campaign forcing a constitutional crises
between Parliament and the House of Lords.
You could just as easily blame it on the Lloyd George introduction of the
universal pension.
- August 15, 2012 at 13:11
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I was another who grew up to the sounds of Caroline et all. I still have
loads of recordings on reel and cassette tape that I must finish digitising. I
visited the Ross Revenge when she was moored at Southend Pier some years back.
As mentioned above the station is still operating – their home page is here:
http://www.radiocaroline.co.uk/#home.html
I was also one of those “rather odd people that were into “CB”
radio” Many moved on to become licenced amateurs, but others found the
“illegal” aspect was the main interest, and going legit seemed rather boring
by comparison. The Beeb should most definitely have their wings clipped, and
go back to providing a public service, leaving music to others who can do it
far better…
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August 15, 2012 at 12:54
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***Foams at mouth, prepares rant***
Please join us at biased-bbc.com
- August 15, 2012 at 12:20
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The TV License is an anachronism, and one which becomes even more so as the
plethora of platforms proliferates, as we no longer receive ‘live signals’ on
a single, large, brown box in the corner of the living room, but can watch or
listen on all manner of ever-integrating electronic devices. The TV License
model no longer fits. But how to replace it ?
Certainly the £100m they spend every year merely collecting the license fee
is an outrageous waste of money, itself almost justifying a change to funding
from general taxation.
As Engineer identifies above, the BBC does produce some genuine quality
product, but in small volumes for a discerning audience – the vast majority is
now populist dross presented in a downward spiral of chasing ITV on a lowest
common denominator basis.
The solution is probably to strip back the BBC to the basics – to do that
public service broadcasting which the commercial firms wouldn’t do. A pair
each of TV and Radio channels should suffice. Fund that from general taxation,
but that should amount to no more than 10% of the BBC’s current budget. Then
let the audience decide with their individual debit-cards whether to subscribe
to top-ups from commercial providers or just take ITV-type ad-funded
programming – we can be pretty confident that the commercial world will fill
any real vacuums of opportunity post-BBC.
The TV License system is broke, so it does need fixing. The BBC needs
fixing too.
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August 15, 2012 at 11:24
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Engineer – yes, I also had a flat in the UK that had no telly and I used to
get frequent letters from the BBC license dept. They were always carefully
worded and, I think, designed to scare, with lots of details about what they
could do to you if you had an unlicensed telly. Their problem today of course
is that the old TV detector vans that used to be able to scan for televisions
don’t work with modern ones, so they have no way to detect if you are using a
telly or not. Although they have the right to enter your premises if they have
reason to believe you are operating an unlicensed TV, they have no way of
creating such a belief apart from trespassing on your land and peering through
your window. Simply not having a license is not a good enough reason.
Ultimately they have to rely on honest punters and scare tactics.
- August 15, 2012 at 11:21
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It made sense to licence radio receivers in the early days when they could
interfere with transmissions. Nowadays it makes no sense at all, after all we
are subject to electromagnetic radiation whether we or the Government like it
or not (foreign broadcasts, the Sun etc.).
The Wireless Telegraphy act is just a complicated way to fund the BBC (my
MP doesn’t agree but then he is a LibDem). Why does the millionaire with a
multi-generation family and a TV in every room pay nothing, just because
Granny lives in, yet the minimum wage, bedsit youth pays full whack?
Why is it a criminal offence not to have a TV licence? It doesn’t sting the
millionaire it just hits the single-parent mum with a £1000 fine and
imprisonment for non-payment. Why the assumption of guilt? The letters they
send out are horrible, with a pathetic little apology at the end that ‘maybe,
just maybe, no that can’t be true surely?’ you don’t have a TV. I don’t have a
licence for a wild animal, shot gun or still either but so far the authorities
seem to trust me on those.
On balance I think a block grant would be the best way to fund the BBC but
only if they get rid of that vile anonymous female who bursts into Radio 2
every 20 minutes to tell us in her best M&S voice what well-known
presenters are perfectly capable of telling us themselves.
- August 15, 2012 at 10:17
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The Labour Party, gladiolys, would always refer to the government of S.
Rhodesia as ‘the illegal Smith régime’ ; it’s a play on that.
Not, I would add, original : I’m merely copying the master – Peter
Simple (Michael Wharton), writing in the Daily Telegraph of
the day.
Ah, 45s. — and one of those ‘Dansette’ portable gramophones.
Portable ! What would to-day’s teen-ager think of using the word to
describe such a device ? Or even the cell-phones of the
1980s ?
Not suggesting it, Single Acts ; merely assuming it. I
agree with the premise of your contention : the government should
use tax-payers’ money only for what it must do — which can hardly be said to
include elective broadcasting.
Yes, the only good thing about the licence fee is that it is a tax one can
opt out of. One can do that, however, with quite a few
things ; e.g. the vehicles-excise licence, by running an old
motor-car or a Toyota Prius. Ought those that like watching television
to be forced to pay the TV tax, if they never watch the B.B.C. ?
Spot on about the quality of the conversations … and the general
ambiance.
I’ve never quite understood the supposed difference between ‘socialist’ and
‘communist’.
I can recall Willie Whitelaw’s getting up on his hind legs and pompously
announcing the establishment of what his inept department – the Home Office –
had decided would be called ‘Open Channel’. At a stroke the vast
quantity of American kit already on the market became, for British users,
unavailable.
(By the way, I – not our esteemed landlady – am responsible for this
piece.)
ΠΞ
P.S. Just out of interest : who nicked the caption from
the picture ?
- August 15, 2012 at 11:29
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Yes… Sorry Pericles… I realised about five minutes after I commented… Oh
well…
- August
15, 2012 at 10:16
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I grew up in Essex listenning to pirate radio and like others have never
forgiven the Labour party for the way they closed them down. It was for me the
wake up call on government abuse of freedom.
Interestingly while holidaying
in mid-France last year I wore a Radio Caroline T shirt – numerous dutch and
english holidaymakers approached me to talk about it, pirate radio was an
important shared culture of 60s and 70s youth. Of particular note to me was
John Peel’s 12-2am Radio London show, Screaming Lord Sutch and his ‘book at
bedtime’ when he read banned books from a wartime fort in the Thames estuary
and the sheer tenacity and anti-authoritarian spirit of Caroline which
remained in service and transmitting for years after the act.
It’s worth
noting that radio Caroline is still in existence and still transmitting, now
legally, on Sky and the Internet. Just Google.
- August 15, 2012 at 09:46
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“The British government’s obsession with the regulation of broadcasting
is so intense that it’s really quite surprising that the country has cellular
wireless (mobile telephones) at all.”
Indeed Anna, do you remember how our wonderful government shafted those
rather odd people that were into “CB” radio… The “rigs” were all on AM and
that’s what everyone used (I understand), then along came the government with
a desire to “regulate” and AM sets became illegal overnight, if you wanted to
continue using CB you would have to buy a new set… Few did, and CB was
dead.
I am not particularly hostile to the yanks even though they seem to hate
Brits, I find it difficult to have a strong opinion and reciprocate… Wilson
though, was the only PM in my lifetime to stand up to them, unlike “traitor”
heath.
On the licensing question, I reckon that the BBC should get its funds from
subscribers, like Virgin and Sky subscribers… Then we could own a set and NOT
be forced to pay for something that we might not want/need…
Certainly wall to wall Olympics, and 24hour communitarian broadcasting, are
not at the top of my list of daily requirements.
- August 15, 2012 at 09:20
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What is the BBC for, apart from providing a lot of lefty/liberal luvvies
with a very comfortable living?
The quality of it’s output is not the
issue; it’s why do we have a massive national broadcaster competing at every
level?
The reasons for HMG to have a tame national broadcaster have long
disappeared; if it didn’t exist nobody would be clamouring for it to be set
up.
Another legacy organisation way past it’s useful life.
- August 15, 2012 at 10:23
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Hear, hear.
The BBC does do occasional good things – Test Match Special is sublime
broadcasting – but has developed into a sprawling, overstaffed monolith with
a vastly over-inflated sense of it’s own infallibility and importance. News
and comment are available from any number of sources, the evening television
output became steadily less interesting over about the last couple of
decades, BBC Comedy is a contradiction in terms (except I’m Sorry I Haven’t
A Clue and Dad’s Army repeats), and they show little sport of note except
the Six Nations. Michael Wood’s history series was a rare recent exception,
but that could be watched on the iPlayer if you have a computer – and thus
at your own convenience. I can’t comment on daytime TV because I do other
things then.
Consequently, I’ve got rid of the telly. Not that TV Licensing believe me
– they assume the default position that all people are congenital liars. May
the fleas of a thousand badgers infest their crotches, and may their arms be
too short to scratch.
I may obtain a telly again, but not before the BBC shrinks a lot, and
returns to making high quality programmes in much smaller quantity. Two
channels should be plenty – leave the populist mind-numbing crap to the
commercial sector. If the Beeb did that, it’s ratings would, ironically,
probably soar.
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August 15, 2012 at 15:18
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I got rid of my tv ages ago and, yes, still get pestered about my
“need” to have a licence. But there are things I catch up on with iPlayer.
The BBC does produce quality stuff (“Episodes”, “Shadowline” to name two
that I’ve watched recently … and sorry, but Dr Who can be fab) that
wouldn’t get made by others if it’s not seen as “profitable”, which is, in
my eyes, the definition of public service broadcasting.
- August 20, 2012 at 17:05
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This is a me too comment!
Yes, I too got rid of the TV, maybe 5
years ago. Or should I say rid of aerial and licence. Again, the
licensing people won’t believe me but who cares.
I now just pick up
old videos and dvds from charity shops and boot sales. Other interesting
stuff like news and documentaries I get on the internet.
For those
still clutching onto their tv, you will find how amazing it is not to be
dominated by the box in the corner every day. It is truly liberating!
Neither myself or my wife regret dumping it..
If we want to watch
something, it is an active choice to look at something specific and then
switch off. The TV is not permanently switched on like many or most
homes, to be suckled at constantly.
I read far more than before and
we talk far more than before. Home is now home, not a filling station
for alien propaganda.
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August 20, 2012 at 19:28
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Well put, Bob. Quite apart from the extent to which the
output of the TV stations is a mindless regurgitation of left-wing
propaganda, I don’t like the way everything leans so heavily on
computer-generated imaging (C.G.I.) and just annoying computer
effects.
Talking of C.G.I. : films are no better ; I
even gave up watching Bond films, when they portrayed a
helicopter ‘hovering’ over a street market — with the rotor-tip-plane
path at an angle of 45º or so to the horizontal !
ΠΞ
- August 15, 2012 at 20:16
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The concept of “left” & “right” in politics needs updating.
Ed
Griffin does a rather good job of it here.
~~~
- August 15, 2012 at 07:55
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The one-and-only time I joined a protest march (they were very much in
vogue at that time) was to protest Wilson and his Marine Broadcasting Act. I
got a free poster of Wilson in a Mao suit and red star on his cap for my
efforts. What that legislation did was awaken me to the idea that government
wanted to control my choices, not much has changed. Wilson was close to being
a communist, Heath was not much better.
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August 15, 2012 at 07:44
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I disagree with the idea of funding the BBC through general taxation. At
the moment the BBC raises its funds itself under rules and powers laid down by
parliament. This is an entirely different thing from funding by taxation.
Specifically if you don’t have a TV you don’t have to pay. And if the
government funded the BBC through taxation, don’t you think it would be
subject to even more state interference than now?
Like Gladiolys, I listened to Radio North Sea International. I can still
play the jingles for “Summertime RNI” in my head, and it’s also responsible
for the fact that I can say 1972 in Dutch
-
August 15, 2012 at 07:45
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P.S. I *love* the conversations one can have here!
- August 16, 2012 at 22:40
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I also disagree with funding the BBC through general taxation. Let the
BBC fund itself as a subscription service. if it is half as good as its
presenters and employees seem to think it is, we’ll all be queuing up to
subscribe, but we do not seem to have a government of any colour that is
willing to give people the freedom to make their own choices. I wonder how
much Marcus Brigstocke would earn if he was dependent on having people want
to hear him.
- August 15, 2012 at 07:30
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“it were much better simply to fund public broadcasting out of general
taxation”
Better still not to assume other people’s money is not yours to do with as
you will. Better not to coercively extract money by force to give to DJ’s in
the state employ and allow subscription funding.
By suggesting mandatory tax-funding (if that’s what you are doing) you are
equally Wilsonian.
- August 15, 2012 at 06:35
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Paul Kaye finished the final show with ‘A day in the life’, and that
evening the Beeb showed newsreel of the dejected DJs arriving at Harwich. Pete
Drummond was actually carrying a box of 45s!
Most youngsters within earshot of the pirates hated Wislon after that, but
what’s different – we all hated him before anyway!
But hey,we got wall-to-wall Tony Blackburn didn’t we?
- August 15, 2012 at 06:15
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I was brought up to the sounds of Radio Caroline and later Radio North Sea
International… happy days and a sign of the times don’t you think.? Those
stations challenged the boring BBC and its radio set up was changed as a
response. Pirate stations still operate across cities and they are great fun
(if professionalism is not at the top of their priorities).
Why was the Wilson government (or as you write “regime”) illegal?
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