Radio 270
Encyclopedia
Radio 270 was a pirate radio
station serving Yorkshire
and the North East of England
from 1966 to 1967. It broadcast from a converted Dutch
lugger called Oceaan 7 positioned in international waters off Scarborough, North Yorkshire
.
stations opened up, broadcasting from ships and coastal forts located around the UK but outside the 3 mile limit of British territorial waters. These pirate stations were not subject to British law in respect of both broadcasting rights and royalty payments. Most of them broadcast continuous recorded pop music and they funded themselves with advertising and sponsorship revenues.
In 1965 a group of Yorkshire businessmen formed a consortium to establish an offshore radio station to broadcast to the North East coast from a location off Scarborough. 28 year old Don Robinson, an entertainments promoter, began the venture with Bill Pashby (a fishing boat skipper), Roland Hill (a poultry farmer) and Leonard Dale (owner of the Dale Electrics business at Gristhorpe). These recruited Wilf Proudfoot
, owner of a chain of supermarkets and a former Conservative MP. The venture was incorporated within a public company
named Ellambar Investments Ltd.
In late 1965, Proudfoot addressed a public meeting at a Scarborough hotel in which he invited the public to subscribe for shares in the business. He indicated that the venture was a high risk one and that nobody should expect a commercial return on the money they put in. Around sixty people did subscribe with the largest single shareholding being held by Proudfoot himself. Leonard Dale became Chairman of the company while Proudfoot became its managing director.
Don Robinson and Bill Pashby both initially occupied prominent roles in what soon became known as Radio 270. Robinson prepared the first programme plan for the station which adopted a mixture of light music and lifestyle material. It was intended to provide an "up-market" offering which would compete directly with the BBC's Light Programme. Pashby was the station's first "Maritime Director" and it was he that picked out a suitable vessel for use as a broadcasting platform and supervised its fitting out.
However, the business side of the operation fell increasingly under the control of Wilf Proudfoot. The station's management was run from an office in the Scalby Road, Scarborough headquarters of the Proudfoot supermarket business. The station's office manager was Maggie Lucas, a long standing associate of Proudfoot who had acted as his secretary when he had been the Member of Parliament for Cleveland from 1959 to 1964. Proudfoot became uncomfortable with the planned programming and he engaged the services of Noel Miller as Programme Director. Miller had previous experience of commercial radio in Australia and he adopted a simple style of programming based on a Top 40 format.
A planned opening date of 1 April 1966 had to be abandoned when the station's vessel, Ocean 7, shed its radio mast. However, the station finally opened in June, broadcasting on 269 metres in the medium wave. This wavelength was used by some existing radio stations in southern and eastern Europe but these were too far away for Radio 270 to cause them any trouble. The initial results were highly successful. The station's broadcasts could be received over a large tract of England from Newcastle
in the north to Nottingham
in the south, containing as many as 15 million people. It even gained some listeners in the Netherlands. Its continuous pop music format attracted a regular audience which various estimates placed between 1.5 and 4 millions.
The station charged a basic £30 for a 30 second advertising spot. It was very successful in attracting advertising for local businesses and events in the North Yorkshire
area. Even Scarborough Borough Council paid for twelve 15 second adverts to announce events in the town's Festival of Norway. However, big-ticket advertising for national businesses proved elusive. The largest single paying advertiser was the Worldwide Church of God
which purchased a nightly 30 minute slot for a fee of around £300 per week. This covered most of Radio 270's payroll. The nightly "god slot"
contained the preaching of evangelist Garner Ted Armstrong
. Garner Ted's preaching (carried by 270 and other pirate stations) had a strong creationist theme accompanied by biblical prophecies. Although these programmes were greeted with qualified enthusiasm by listeners, the pirate stations had to take them seriously. Radio London
DJ Kenny Everett
was fired when he made humorous on-air comments concerning Garner Ted.
The second largest advertiser was the Proudfoot supermarket business. This created a complex financial situation in which there were two-way transfer charges between Radio 270 and Proudfoot for reciprocal services rendered.
The Oceaan VII was built in the Netherlands in 1939 and had spent most of its life operating out of the Belgian port of Antwerp. During World War II
it had been commandeered by the German occupation authorities. It was approximately 118 feet long and 160 tonnes in displacement. The vessel was refitted in the east coast port of Grimsby
before being brought to Scarborough where it was renamed Ocean 7. The refit involved the addition of 20 tonnes of permanent ballast in the hull in order to give extra stability. The vessel was fitted with a 150 feet high radio mast and a 10 kW RCA BTA 10J1 transmitter. The vessel's main engine was a four cylinder 240 hp diesel. Two newly installed 50 kva Dale Marine generators supplied all electricity needed for operational purposes.
There were two studios on board, one for presenting programmes and one for news. Accommodation for crew and broadcasting staff was both confined and spartan. Living quarters consisted of a bunk room with a dining table in the middle. Food was provided from a communal galley. The entire cost of acquiring and fitting out the vessel was £75,000. The crewing was initially planned to be on a one month rotation basis. The ship's entire eight man crew including the captain were switched every month. Broadcasting staff, including disc jockey
s, initially worked on a two week rotation basis.
The Ocean 7 was among the smallest of the pirate radio ships at that time. By way of comparison, Radio London
broadcast from the 650 tonne MV Galaxy positioned in the Thames estuary. Ocean 7's initial location off Scarborough allowed its signal to be widely received over the North of England but left the vessel totally exposed to storms in the North Sea
.
Ocean 7 was registered in Honduras in the name of Radio 270's Programme Director Noel Miller (an Australian national). This effectively placed the vessel beyond the reach of the British authorities. Most pirate radio ships were kept supplied from shore by tender. However Ocean 7's small size allowed it to periodically enter Bridlington
and Scarborough harbours for re-supply purposes. The visits to harbour were usually carried out in the early hours of the morning in order to avoid disruption to broadcasting and to minimise the chances of intervention by the authorities.
Ocean 7 was very small for the purpose to which it was being put. The cramped living accommodation and lack of privacy on board soon caused tensions among the personnel. It proved difficult to maintain the vessel in position off Scarborough as the winter storms came. In November 1966 one storm was so severe that waves were breaking over the vessel's deck and water entered the living quarters and studio. The station carried on broadcasting through the early part of the storm although the presenters were obviously in fear for their lives. Listeners on-shore (including 270 staff member Paul Burnett) were horrified by what was happening. In the aftermath of the storm, the station went off the air for 8 days while repairs were carried out.
Some of the shareholders became concerned about the degree to which Radio 270's business was being integrated within that of Proudfoot's. Issues relating to the latter's management style were raised.
Conditions of employment and rates of pay were not generous. Consequently, there were a series of disputes with personnel and staff turnover rates became high. Matters came to a head after the November storm when Proudfoot was approached by three disc jockeys (including the 19 year old Andy Kirk) with a demand that Ocean 7 should move its station to a more sheltered location in Bridlington Bay or put into harbour whenever bad weather threatened. Kirk had previously conveyed his concerns about safety to the local press. Proudfoot summarily dismissed all three of the DJs.
A number of the shareholders now became restless and two attempts were made to oust Proudfoot from his post of managing director. Both of these attempts failed. Bill Pashby resigned as Maritime Director "...fed up with the continuous sackings of the crew". Proudfoot eventually responded to these concerns by moving Ocean 7's position to Bridlington Bay while moving to a one week staff rotation for most on-board personnel. The move to Bridlington Bay gave more settled conditions but it worsened reception of Radio 270's signal across large parts of its audience catchment area.
By early 1967, Radio 270's affairs seemed to be stabilising and it was reported that the station was breaking-even financially.
The pirate stations campaigned against the Act during the early months of 1967. Radio 270 was prominent in this campaign and its contributions to the campaign took on an overtly political dimension. A group of libertarian
, right wing Conservative MPs and activists became involved with Radio 270. These included the MP for Beverley
, Patrick Wall
. The station gave airtime to a number of political causes including a broadcast by Wall in which he advocated British recognition of the white minority UDI regime in Rhodesia
. Radio 270 broadcast advertisements supporting Conservative party candidates in the Scarborough municipal elections of 1967. Harvey Proctor
, then Chairman of the University of York
Conservative Society, made regular half hour current affairs broadcasts. Proctor went on to have a controversial career as a Conservative MP and prominent member of the Conservative Monday Club
.
This appeared to harden the Labour government's resolve to deal with the pirates. Postmaster-General
Edward Short stated about Radio 270 that "It is the first time in peacetime that this country has been subjected to a stream of misleading propaganda from outside our territorial waters and I do not think this is a matter for joking".
As 14 August approached, it was initially suggested that Radio 270 could continue broadcasting but with Ocean 7 being supplied from the Netherlands and the station's management being shifted to that country. However, it was soon realised that this was not a viable option. DJ Vince "Rusty" Allen closed the station at one minute to midnight on 14 August 1967.
, whose own ships had been seized by creditors. However, none of these enquiries resulted in a sale. The transmitter and other broadcasting equipment from Radio 270 were placed in storage and in 1970 found their way to the Dutch-based pirate Capital Radio
(which had no connection to the later British radio station of the same name
). Ocean 7 was scrapped in 1969.
The proceeds from the disposal of the vessel and its equipment raised a total of around £12,500. By the time creditors had been paid off there was no cash available to allow a significant return of capital to the Radio 270 shareholders. As far as is known, none of the shareholders ever achieved a direct financial return on their investment.
The Labour government closed the pirate stations six weeks before the BBC's new pop music channel Radio 1
came on the air. This six week hiatus was a very conspicuous feature in the lives of many young people at that time, not least because it started in the middle of the school summer holidays. Those young people may have punished the government in the general election of 1970
. This election was the first in which the voting age was reduced to 18 and the Conservatives achieved a surprise win.
Wilf Proudfoot stood as the Conservative candidate in the marginal West Yorkshire
constituency of Brighouse and Spenborough
, where he ousted the sitting Labour MP Colin Jackson
by a majority of only 59 votes. The closure of the pirate radio stations is believed to have been a key issue in a number of marginal seats. Proudfoot himself lost his seat in the February 1974 general election
. Thereafter he spent some time in the USA where he trained as a hypnotist in Los Angeles. He later established the Proudfoot School of Clinical Hypnotism and Psychotherapy based in Scarborough.
Don Robinson continued his career as an events promoter and entrepreneur. He is credited with having saved Hull City football club
('The Tigers') from extinction in 1982 when he bought the club out of receivership. As club Chairman from 1982 to 1989 he presided over a revival in the club's financial and football fortunes that saw it enjoy a series of league promotions. The newly promoted Hull City narrowly retained its Premier League status in the 2008/09 football season.
Many former Radio 270 staff, such as Roger Gale
, Paul Burnett
, Philip Hayton
and Mark Wesley went on to enjoy distinguished careers in mainstream broadcasting. The station's office manager, Maggie Lucas, went on to become secretary to the Chairman of the Australian Broadcasting Commission. Although Radio 270's life was brief, it had a significant impact on North East England and many tributes were paid to it on the 40th anniversary of its closure.
Radio 270 formed the factual inspiration for the 2009 film The Boat That Rocked
and Paul Burnett made a cameo appearance in the film.
Pirate radio
Pirate radio is illegal or unregulated radio transmission. The term is most commonly used to describe illegal broadcasting for entertainment or political purposes, but is also sometimes used for illegal two-way radio operation...
station serving Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
and the North East of England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
from 1966 to 1967. It broadcast from a converted Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
lugger called Oceaan 7 positioned in international waters off Scarborough, North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is a non-metropolitan or shire county located in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England, and a ceremonial county primarily in that region but partly in North East England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 it covers an area of , making it the largest...
.
Origins
From 1964 onwards a number of pirate radioPirate radio
Pirate radio is illegal or unregulated radio transmission. The term is most commonly used to describe illegal broadcasting for entertainment or political purposes, but is also sometimes used for illegal two-way radio operation...
stations opened up, broadcasting from ships and coastal forts located around the UK but outside the 3 mile limit of British territorial waters. These pirate stations were not subject to British law in respect of both broadcasting rights and royalty payments. Most of them broadcast continuous recorded pop music and they funded themselves with advertising and sponsorship revenues.
In 1965 a group of Yorkshire businessmen formed a consortium to establish an offshore radio station to broadcast to the North East coast from a location off Scarborough. 28 year old Don Robinson, an entertainments promoter, began the venture with Bill Pashby (a fishing boat skipper), Roland Hill (a poultry farmer) and Leonard Dale (owner of the Dale Electrics business at Gristhorpe). These recruited Wilf Proudfoot
Wilfred Proudfoot
George Wilfred Proudfoot is a retired British Conservative Party politician and former Member of Parliament . He was also a prominent North Yorkshire businessman, well known for his ownership of the Proudfoot supermarket chain and Radio 270...
, owner of a chain of supermarkets and a former Conservative MP. The venture was incorporated within a public company
Public company
This is not the same as a Government-owned corporation.A public company or publicly traded company is a limited liability company that offers its securities for sale to the general public, typically through a stock exchange, or through market makers operating in over the counter markets...
named Ellambar Investments Ltd.
In late 1965, Proudfoot addressed a public meeting at a Scarborough hotel in which he invited the public to subscribe for shares in the business. He indicated that the venture was a high risk one and that nobody should expect a commercial return on the money they put in. Around sixty people did subscribe with the largest single shareholding being held by Proudfoot himself. Leonard Dale became Chairman of the company while Proudfoot became its managing director.
Don Robinson and Bill Pashby both initially occupied prominent roles in what soon became known as Radio 270. Robinson prepared the first programme plan for the station which adopted a mixture of light music and lifestyle material. It was intended to provide an "up-market" offering which would compete directly with the BBC's Light Programme. Pashby was the station's first "Maritime Director" and it was he that picked out a suitable vessel for use as a broadcasting platform and supervised its fitting out.
However, the business side of the operation fell increasingly under the control of Wilf Proudfoot. The station's management was run from an office in the Scalby Road, Scarborough headquarters of the Proudfoot supermarket business. The station's office manager was Maggie Lucas, a long standing associate of Proudfoot who had acted as his secretary when he had been the Member of Parliament for Cleveland from 1959 to 1964. Proudfoot became uncomfortable with the planned programming and he engaged the services of Noel Miller as Programme Director. Miller had previous experience of commercial radio in Australia and he adopted a simple style of programming based on a Top 40 format.
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
in the north to Nottingham
Nottingham
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
in the south, containing as many as 15 million people. It even gained some listeners in the Netherlands. Its continuous pop music format attracted a regular audience which various estimates placed between 1.5 and 4 millions.
The station charged a basic £30 for a 30 second advertising spot. It was very successful in attracting advertising for local businesses and events in the North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is a non-metropolitan or shire county located in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England, and a ceremonial county primarily in that region but partly in North East England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 it covers an area of , making it the largest...
area. Even Scarborough Borough Council paid for twelve 15 second adverts to announce events in the town's Festival of Norway. However, big-ticket advertising for national businesses proved elusive. The largest single paying advertiser was the Worldwide Church of God
Worldwide Church of God
Grace Communion International , formerly the Worldwide Church of God , is an evangelical Christian denomination based in Glendora, California, United States. Since April 3, 2009, it has used the new name Grace Communion International in the US...
which purchased a nightly 30 minute slot for a fee of around £300 per week. This covered most of Radio 270's payroll. The nightly "god slot"
The World Tomorrow
The World Tomorrow is a now-defunct radio and television half-hour program which had been sponsored by the Radio Church of God which ran from 1934 to 1994...
contained the preaching of evangelist Garner Ted Armstrong
Garner Ted Armstrong
Garner Ted Armstrong was an American evangelist and the son of Herbert W. Armstrong, founder of the Worldwide Church of God, at the time a Sabbatarian organization that taught strict observance of seventh-day Sabbath, holy days typically associated with the Jewish faith, and other observances...
. Garner Ted's preaching (carried by 270 and other pirate stations) had a strong creationist theme accompanied by biblical prophecies. Although these programmes were greeted with qualified enthusiasm by listeners, the pirate stations had to take them seriously. Radio London
Wonderful Radio London
Radio London, also known as Big L and Wonderful Radio London, was a top 40 offshore commercial station that operated from 16 December 1964 to 14 August 1967, from a ship anchored in the North Sea, three and a half miles off Frinton-on-Sea, Essex, England...
DJ Kenny Everett
Kenny Everett
Kenny Everett was an English comedian, radio DJ and television entertainer. Born Maurice James Christopher Cole, Everett is best known for his career as a radio DJ and for the Kenny Everett television shows.-Early life:...
was fired when he made humorous on-air comments concerning Garner Ted.
The second largest advertiser was the Proudfoot supermarket business. This created a complex financial situation in which there were two-way transfer charges between Radio 270 and Proudfoot for reciprocal services rendered.
Ocean 7
In 1965, the promoters of Radio 270 identified a Dutch built fishing lugger named Oceaan VII as being suitable for their purposes. This was acquired for £2,500.The Oceaan VII was built in the Netherlands in 1939 and had spent most of its life operating out of the Belgian port of Antwerp. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
it had been commandeered by the German occupation authorities. It was approximately 118 feet long and 160 tonnes in displacement. The vessel was refitted in the east coast port of Grimsby
Grimsby
Grimsby is a seaport on the Humber Estuary in Lincolnshire, England. It has been the administrative centre of the unitary authority area of North East Lincolnshire since 1996...
before being brought to Scarborough where it was renamed Ocean 7. The refit involved the addition of 20 tonnes of permanent ballast in the hull in order to give extra stability. The vessel was fitted with a 150 feet high radio mast and a 10 kW RCA BTA 10J1 transmitter. The vessel's main engine was a four cylinder 240 hp diesel. Two newly installed 50 kva Dale Marine generators supplied all electricity needed for operational purposes.
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
s, initially worked on a two week rotation basis.
The Ocean 7 was among the smallest of the pirate radio ships at that time. By way of comparison, Radio London
Wonderful Radio London
Radio London, also known as Big L and Wonderful Radio London, was a top 40 offshore commercial station that operated from 16 December 1964 to 14 August 1967, from a ship anchored in the North Sea, three and a half miles off Frinton-on-Sea, Essex, England...
broadcast from the 650 tonne MV Galaxy positioned in the Thames estuary. Ocean 7's initial location off Scarborough allowed its signal to be widely received over the North of England but left the vessel totally exposed to storms in the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
.
Ocean 7 was registered in Honduras in the name of Radio 270's Programme Director Noel Miller (an Australian national). This effectively placed the vessel beyond the reach of the British authorities. Most pirate radio ships were kept supplied from shore by tender. However Ocean 7's small size allowed it to periodically enter Bridlington
Bridlington
Bridlington is a seaside resort, minor sea fishing port and civil parish on the Holderness Coast of the North Sea, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It has a static population of over 33,000, which rises considerably during the tourist season...
and Scarborough harbours for re-supply purposes. The visits to harbour were usually carried out in the early hours of the morning in order to avoid disruption to broadcasting and to minimise the chances of intervention by the authorities.
Operations, 1966 to 1967
Although Radio 270 quickly established itself as a successful local radio station, its affairs soon became complicated. Various factors contributed to this.Ocean 7 was very small for the purpose to which it was being put. The cramped living accommodation and lack of privacy on board soon caused tensions among the personnel. It proved difficult to maintain the vessel in position off Scarborough as the winter storms came. In November 1966 one storm was so severe that waves were breaking over the vessel's deck and water entered the living quarters and studio. The station carried on broadcasting through the early part of the storm although the presenters were obviously in fear for their lives. Listeners on-shore (including 270 staff member Paul Burnett) were horrified by what was happening. In the aftermath of the storm, the station went off the air for 8 days while repairs were carried out.
Some of the shareholders became concerned about the degree to which Radio 270's business was being integrated within that of Proudfoot's. Issues relating to the latter's management style were raised.
Conditions of employment and rates of pay were not generous. Consequently, there were a series of disputes with personnel and staff turnover rates became high. Matters came to a head after the November storm when Proudfoot was approached by three disc jockeys (including the 19 year old Andy Kirk) with a demand that Ocean 7 should move its station to a more sheltered location in Bridlington Bay or put into harbour whenever bad weather threatened. Kirk had previously conveyed his concerns about safety to the local press. Proudfoot summarily dismissed all three of the DJs.
A number of the shareholders now became restless and two attempts were made to oust Proudfoot from his post of managing director. Both of these attempts failed. Bill Pashby resigned as Maritime Director "...fed up with the continuous sackings of the crew". Proudfoot eventually responded to these concerns by moving Ocean 7's position to Bridlington Bay while moving to a one week staff rotation for most on-board personnel. The move to Bridlington Bay gave more settled conditions but it worsened reception of Radio 270's signal across large parts of its audience catchment area.
- "The living conditions on the Radio 270 ship were not pleasant. It was extremely cramped. To add to their discomfort, some of the DJs were prone to sea-sickness. Paul Burnett even endured the ultimate indignity of throwing up live on air (while reading a commercial for Proudfoot bacon). There was a high turnover of disc-jockeys and a certain amount of technical trouble, both of which upset the investors. On a couple of occasions Wilf Proudfoot had to contend with stormy shareholders meetings. However he survived their attempts to oust him." - from the history of Radio 270
By early 1967, Radio 270's affairs seemed to be stabilising and it was reported that the station was breaking-even financially.
Close down
The pirate radio stations attracted opposition from within the British political establishment. It was claimed that their broadcasts interfered with emergency service communications, and this led to enactment of the Marine Offences Broadcasting Act of 1967, which took effect at midnight on 14 August of that year. This Act prohibited the management, funding, support or supply of pirate radio ships from the British mainland.The pirate stations campaigned against the Act during the early months of 1967. Radio 270 was prominent in this campaign and its contributions to the campaign took on an overtly political dimension. A group of libertarian
Libertarianism
Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
, right wing Conservative MPs and activists became involved with Radio 270. These included the MP for Beverley
Beverley (UK Parliament constituency)
Beverley has been the name of a parliamentary constituency in the East Riding of Yorkshire for three separate periods. From medieval times until 1869, it was a parliamentary borough, consisting solely of the market town of Beverley, which returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons...
, Patrick Wall
Patrick Wall
Major Sir Patrick Henry Bligh Wall KBE , MC, VRD was a British senior commando in the Royal Marines during World War II and later a Conservative politician. He was Member of Parliament for Haltemprice, East Yorkshire and subsequently for Beverley...
. The station gave airtime to a number of political causes including a broadcast by Wall in which he advocated British recognition of the white minority UDI regime in Rhodesia
Rhodesia
Rhodesia , officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state located in southern Africa that existed between 1965 and 1979 following its Unilateral Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom on 11 November 1965...
. Radio 270 broadcast advertisements supporting Conservative party candidates in the Scarborough municipal elections of 1967. Harvey Proctor
Harvey Proctor
Harvey Proctor was a British Conservative Member of Parliament. He represented Basildon from 1979 to 1983 and Billericay from 1983 to 1987. Proctor became known for his right-wing views and for the manner in which scandal forced the end of his Parliamentary career.- Background :Proctor's father...
, then Chairman of the University of York
University of York
The University of York , is an academic institution located in the city of York, England. Established in 1963, the campus university has expanded to more than thirty departments and centres, covering a wide range of subjects...
Conservative Society, made regular half hour current affairs broadcasts. Proctor went on to have a controversial career as a Conservative MP and prominent member of the Conservative Monday Club
Conservative Monday Club
The Conservative Monday Club is a British pressure group "on the right-wing" of the Conservative Party.-Overview:...
.
This appeared to harden the Labour government's resolve to deal with the pirates. Postmaster-General
United Kingdom Postmaster General
The Postmaster General of the United Kingdom is a defunct Cabinet-level ministerial position in HM Government. Aside from maintaining the postal system, the Telegraph Act of 1868 established the Postmaster General's right to exclusively maintain electric telegraphs...
Edward Short stated about Radio 270 that "It is the first time in peacetime that this country has been subjected to a stream of misleading propaganda from outside our territorial waters and I do not think this is a matter for joking".
As 14 August approached, it was initially suggested that Radio 270 could continue broadcasting but with Ocean 7 being supplied from the Netherlands and the station's management being shifted to that country. However, it was soon realised that this was not a viable option. DJ Vince "Rusty" Allen closed the station at one minute to midnight on 14 August 1967.
Aftermath
On 15 August Ocean 7 sailed up the coast to Whitby. It was laid up there whilst a buyer was sought. It was advertised for sale via Tuckley and Co, a local estate agent with a reputation for amusing property ads. Various enquiries were received from prospective buyers including one from the operators of Radio CarolineRadio Caroline
Radio Caroline is an English radio station founded in 1964 by Ronan O'Rahilly to circumvent the record companies' control of popular music broadcasting in the United Kingdom and the BBC's radio broadcasting monopoly...
, whose own ships had been seized by creditors. However, none of these enquiries resulted in a sale. The transmitter and other broadcasting equipment from Radio 270 were placed in storage and in 1970 found their way to the Dutch-based pirate Capital Radio
Capital Radio (pirate)
Capital Radio was a pirate radio station which operated from international waters off the coast of the Netherlands in 1970.The station was set up by Canadian idealist Tim Thomason...
(which had no connection to the later British radio station of the same name
Capital Radio
Capital London is a London based radio station which launched on 16 October 1973 and is owned by Global Radio. On 3 January 2011 it formed part of the nine station Capital radio network.- Pre-launch :...
). Ocean 7 was scrapped in 1969.
The proceeds from the disposal of the vessel and its equipment raised a total of around £12,500. By the time creditors had been paid off there was no cash available to allow a significant return of capital to the Radio 270 shareholders. As far as is known, none of the shareholders ever achieved a direct financial return on their investment.
The Labour government closed the pirate stations six weeks before the BBC's new pop music channel Radio 1
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
came on the air. This six week hiatus was a very conspicuous feature in the lives of many young people at that time, not least because it started in the middle of the school summer holidays. Those young people may have punished the government in the general election of 1970
United Kingdom general election, 1970
The United Kingdom general election of 1970 was held on 18 June 1970, and resulted in a surprise victory for the Conservative Party under leader Edward Heath, who defeated the Labour Party under Harold Wilson. The election also saw the Liberal Party and its new leader Jeremy Thorpe lose half their...
. This election was the first in which the voting age was reduced to 18 and the Conservatives achieved a surprise win.
Wilf Proudfoot stood as the Conservative candidate in the marginal West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....
constituency of Brighouse and Spenborough
Brighouse and Spenborough (UK Parliament constituency)
Brighouse and Spenborough was a parliamentary constituency in the West Riding of Yorkshire, comprising the areas of the two municipal boroughs of Brighouse and Spenborough...
, where he ousted the sitting Labour MP Colin Jackson
Colin Jackson (UK politician)
George Colin Jackson was a British Labour Party politician, barrister, lecturer and writer.He was twice Member of Parliament for the marginal constituency of Brighouse and Spenborough, in West Yorkshire...
by a majority of only 59 votes. The closure of the pirate radio stations is believed to have been a key issue in a number of marginal seats. Proudfoot himself lost his seat in the February 1974 general election
United Kingdom general election, February 1974
The United Kingdom's general election of February 1974 was held on the 28th of that month. It was the first of two United Kingdom general elections held that year, and the first election since the Second World War not to produce an overall majority in the House of Commons for the winning party,...
. Thereafter he spent some time in the USA where he trained as a hypnotist in Los Angeles. He later established the Proudfoot School of Clinical Hypnotism and Psychotherapy based in Scarborough.
Don Robinson continued his career as an events promoter and entrepreneur. He is credited with having saved Hull City football club
Hull City A.F.C.
Hull City Association Football Club is an English association football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, founded in 1904. The club participates in the Football League Championship, the second tier of English football...
('The Tigers') from extinction in 1982 when he bought the club out of receivership. As club Chairman from 1982 to 1989 he presided over a revival in the club's financial and football fortunes that saw it enjoy a series of league promotions. The newly promoted Hull City narrowly retained its Premier League status in the 2008/09 football season.
Many former Radio 270 staff, such as Roger Gale
Roger Gale
Roger James Gale is a British politician. He is the Conservative Member of Parliament for North Thanet in Kent.-Early life:...
, Paul Burnett
Paul Burnett
Paul Burnett is an English radio disc jockey, who began his radio career while in the Royal Air Force in the Persian Gulf in 1964. In 1966 he joined offshore radio station, Radio 270, broadcasting off Scarborough, North Yorkshire...
, Philip Hayton
Philip Hayton
Philip Hayton is a British television presenter. He was born in Keighley in Yorkshire and was educated at Fyling Hall School, an Independent school near Robin Hood's Bay in North Yorkshire in Northern England.-Career:...
and Mark Wesley went on to enjoy distinguished careers in mainstream broadcasting. The station's office manager, Maggie Lucas, went on to become secretary to the Chairman of the Australian Broadcasting Commission. Although Radio 270's life was brief, it had a significant impact on North East England and many tributes were paid to it on the 40th anniversary of its closure.
Radio 270 formed the factual inspiration for the 2009 film The Boat That Rocked
The Boat That Rocked
The Boat That Rocked is a 2009 British comedy film written and directed by Richard Curtis, with pirate radio in the United Kingdom during the 1960s as its setting. The film has an ensemble cast featuring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Rhys Ifans, Nick Frost, and Kenneth Branagh...
and Paul Burnett made a cameo appearance in the film.
External links
- "Pirates of the airwaves" from the Evening Press (now The PressThe Press (York)The Press is the local daily paper for a substantial area of North and East Yorkshire, based on the city of York. It is printed by the Newsquest Ltd, a subsidiary of the Newsquest Media Group....
), first published Monday 30th Dec 2002 - Echo TV history of Radio 270, from 2007
- Audio diary of Radio 270 DJ Leon Tippler, recorded by Tippler in late 1966
- final 5 minutes of Radio 270, Rusty Allen closes down Radio 270 at midnight on 14 August 1967