January 25, 2005

Pop pirates could soon be broadcasting sounds of the swinging sixties again
from off the Suffolk coast - but this time they would be entirely legal.

There would be no need for the authorities to hunt them down and run them
out of British waters, or cut off their food supplies or warn people not to
listen, as they did in the 1960s when Radio Caroline ruled the waves.

For this time the ship would be sending out its radio signal under an
official licence - as the new radio station for Ipswich, Felixstowe and
Woodbridge.

Ofcom, the Office of Communications and radio licensing body, has announced
it will advertise a licence for a new commercial station in June with the
deadline for bidders for the licence in the autumn.

Radio enthusiast Shaun Brown is hoping his proposals for an offshore station
will secure the new licence.

Mr Brown of Bredfield said: "The era of the pop pirates was just fantastic
and everybody loved the music and the jingles and the romance of them being
at sea and broadcasting in that way.

"I would love to recreate that era and atmosphere, though this time it would
be completely legal. There is something very magical about the thought of
radio being broadcast from a ship.

"The station - if it got the go-ahead - would play all sixties music, which
I feel would be very popular. We would have jingles like those of the
sixties and give people a real flavour of what it was like.

"It would be very different to the two local radio stations we currently
have - and that is very important.

"But I think people would be very interested and really enjoy it. We would
be the first legal offshore radio station.

"I would also like to arrange boat trips so people could come out to visit
the radio ship and have tours of the boat, meet the DJs and see them at
work - I feel that would attract lots of interest."

Mr Brown, who has been involved in radio stations, including community
radio, in the area, is bringing together a partnership of five to form a
company to run the station and drawing up a business plan to submit with his
licence application.

The idea would be to have the ship anchored four miles off Felixstowe.

The MV Communicator - once used to broadcast cult radio station Laser 558 to
around 10 million listeners across the south east of England and Europe - is
up for sale and talks are to take place with its owners.

Mr Brown said: "The licence is for an audience of around 500,000, but we
would be keen to see if we could also get on to satellite."

The new station is expected to go on air in 2006.

Ipswich Local Radio, a consortium run by businessmen and radio experts, has
also announced a bid for the new licence for a station with a music policy
close to Radio Two but also giving local news and information.

n What do you want to see in a new radio station? Write to Your Letters, 30
Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP4 1AN, or e-mail


http://www.eveningstar.co.uk/content...5+11:51:54:310

Hi Mike,

I must put you back in the kill filter, you seem to have slipped through the
net. Do you have to cross post everything you read into a load of
newsgroups?
I am amazed that in all the time I have been using the Internet, I have
never seen you give ANY opinion of your own, you're always copying other
peoples work or copying parts of articles.
That station will NOT get a licence, it is a dream for a few people that
seem to want to travel back in time.
I hope they give the licence to someone that will use it for a decent
station. I'm so bored of every station playing the same music in a
different order that I tune to CENTURY 105.4 now.

"Mike Terry" wrote in message
...
January 25, 2005

Pop pirates could soon be broadcasting sounds of the swinging sixties
again
from off the Suffolk coast - but this time they would be entirely legal.

Try logging onto www.offshoremusic.radio.com if you want to hear
something a little different from all the dross out there on the FM
dial.

JS,

I must put you back in the kill filter, you seem to have slipped through the
net. Do you have to cross post everything you read into a load of
newsgroups?
I am amazed that in all the time I have been using the Internet, I have
never seen you give ANY opinion of your own, you're always copying other
peoples work or copying parts of articles.
__________________________________________________ _________
That station will NOT get a licence, it is a dream for a few people that
seem to want to travel back in time.
__________________________________________________ _________
I hope they give the licence to someone that will use it for a decent
station. I'm so bored of every station playing the same music in a
different order that I tune to CENTURY 105.4 now.

Whether they succeed in gaining the license you have to admit that the
recent 'Pirate Radio BBC' local broadcast on three MW channels in the
area had rather more than a 'few listeners' tuning in to the programme
content of the 60's.

--
Philip de Cadenet
Transmitters 'R' Us
http://www.transmittersrus.com

I saw this story in the local paper. It looks like they jazzed up a bit to
raise a bit of interest but I think the paper's involved with the potential
backers. I'd be surprised if it develops beyond a pipe dream. There's money
in nostalgia but we've had a 20 year gold model running now and the people
who stand to make the money know how tolerant it is. Too strong a 60's
flavour all day won't fly. As for being on a boat, the novelty will wear off
and after that it will be irrelevant - down to the audience. Someone saw the
Communicator was up for sale again, didn't they...

In alt.pirate.radio jsfinch wrote:
That station will NOT get a licence, it is a dream for a few people that
seem to want to travel back in time.

Going back in time on the sound of a nation....

Going back in time on the sound of a nation....

On AM, FM and SW
--
Philip de Cadenet

I agree wholeheartedly with this. Aiming a station at "children of the
60s" means broadcasting to people who've been exposed to everything
that's happened since. Many of us like much of the music that's been
produced from the 50s to right now. Playing only 60s music is a killer.

I wonder if the daydreamers who thought up the idea of putting a
commercial radio station on a ship 4 miles out in the North Sea have
considered that they would be increasing their costs by something like
a factor of ten? Have they considered what they would be doing to their
cashflow?

Ofcom will take one look at this and wonder what other potty ideas the
applicant has in store. It seems likely they will put it through the
shredder at the first stage of assessment.

Going back in time on the sound of a nation....

On AM, FM and SW
--
Philip de Cadenet

I agree wholeheartedly with this. Aiming a station at "children of the
60s" means broadcasting to people who've been exposed to everything
that's happened since. Many of us like much of the music that's been
produced from the 50s to right now. Playing only 60s music is a killer.

I wonder if the daydreamers who thought up the idea of putting a
commercial radio station on a ship 4 miles out in the North Sea have
considered that they would be increasing their costs by something like
a factor of ten? Have they considered what they would be doing to their
cashflow?

Ofcom will take one look at this and wonder what other potty ideas the
applicant has in store. It seems likely they will put it through the
shredder at the first stage of assessment.