 Radio Caroline Logo | |
| Broadcast area | United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, parts of Continental Europe and Internationally via Radio Caroline website |
|---|---|
| Frequencies | |
| RDS | Radio Caroline |
| Programming | |
| Language(s) | English |
| Format | Rock/Alternative
1970s : Album format 1980s: (i) 963 kHz : unformatted free-choice album format, with news. (ii) 576 kHz: continuation of above, with slightly more singles played. News service at peak hours. (iii) 558 kHz: strict pop and oldies mainstream format (no presenter music choice) with strict adherence to format clocks. DJs could choose ordering of oldies – all current pop hits in strict rotation. News at peak hours: 7, 8, 9 am, 1 pm; 5, 6, 7 pm, with headlines at 6:30 am, 7:30 am and 8:30 am. Footnotes: Caroline 'Overdrive' continued the album format during night-time once the mainstream pop service was re-established on 576, 585 and then 558 kHz. Firstly on 963 kHz, then from 1988 – August 1989 on 819kHz. |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Radio Caroline Limited |
| Radio Caroline North; Radio Caroline Flashback; Radio Caroline Album Channel | |
| History | |
First air date | 27 March 1964 |
Former frequencies |
|
| Technical information | |
Licensing authority | Ofcom |
| Links | |
| Website | [1] |
Radio Caroline is a British radio station founded in 1964 by Ronan O'Rahilly and Alan Crawford, initially to circumvent the record companies' control of popular music broadcasting in the United Kingdom and the BBC's radio broadcasting monopoly.[1] Unlicensed by any government for most of its early life, it was a pirate radio station that never became illegal as such due to operating outside any national jurisdiction, although after the Marine, &c., Broadcasting (Offences) Act 1967 it became illegal for a British subject to associate with it.
The Radio Caroline name was used to broadcast from international waters, using five different ships with three different owners, from 1964 to 1990, and via satellite from 1998 to 2013. Since August 2000, Radio Caroline has also broadcast 24 hours a day via the internet and by the occasional restricted service licence. Currently, the station broadcasts on 648 AM across much of England and DAB radio in certain areas of the UK: these services are part of the Ofcom small-scale DAB+ trials. Caroline can be heard on DAB+ in Aldershot, Birmingham, Cambridge, Brighton, Glasgow, Norwich, London,[2] Portsmouth, Poulton-le-Fylde and Woking on digital radio. Caroline can also be listened to over the internet including via music players such as Amazon echo (Alexa).
In May 2017, Ofcom awarded the station an AM band community licence to broadcast on 648kHz to Suffolk and north Essex;[3] full-time broadcasting, via a previously redundant BBC World Service frequency and transmitter mast at Orford Ness, commenced on 22 December 2017.[4]
Radio Caroline broadcasts music from the 1960s to contemporary, with an emphasis on album-oriented rock (AOR) and "new" music from "carefully selected albums". On 1 January 2016, a second channel was launched called Caroline Flashback, playing pop music from the late 1950s to the early 1980s.
- ^ Harris, Paul (1977). Broadcasting From The High Seas. Paul Harris Publishing Edinburgh. ISBN 0-904505-07-3.
- ^ "Radio Caroline now available on London DAB". 3 April 2018. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Ofcomwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "mb21 - The Transmission Gallery". tx.mb21.co.uk. Archived from the original on 14 July 2019. Retrieved 18 April 2019.