This is a collection of jingles from RNI - Radio Northsea International, a radio station that broadcast from a ship, which was anchored in International Waters off the Dutch coast.
The ship was named MEBO II and was one of a long line of ships that broadcast from International Waters, off the UK and Dutch coast.
So why a radioship? Broadcasting from International Waters meant that the station was not subject the same broadcasting restrictions that land based radio stations had to observe.
RNI was one of the biggest, brightest and had by far, the strongest radio signals of any offshore radioship. It had: 2 AM transmitters, 1 FM transmitter and 1 Short Wave transmitter.
RNI survived a firebomb attack, severe storms, suffered radio jamming and changed frequencies many times; got involved in a British General Election; moved anchor - plus at one stage, they were offered a bribe - and accepted this - from their pirate rival (Radio Veronica) in return for a promise to STOP broadcasting!
On 15th May 1971, when the ship was firebombed by men who approached the vessel in a rubber dingy, DJ Alan West broadcast a live Mayday SOS message on-air alerting listeners as to what was happening and asking listeners to telephone for help.
RNI holds the dubious world record of this being the very FIRST time in history, that music was used as a backing track for a Mayday SOS call!
The station launched on 22nd January 1970 and had a chequered 4 years of broadcasting, before eventually closing on 31st August 1974, due to the passing of the Dutch Anti-Pirate law, which came into force on 1st September 1974.
After Radio Northsea International closed down, the radioship MEBO II was purchased by the Libyan government in 1977 and then sailed towards Tripoli.
Sadly, the radioship MEBO II came to a sorry end in 1981, when it was used as target practise by the Libyan Army and sank into the waters off Tripoli.
History of RNI: www.offshoreradiomuseum.co.uk/...
History of RNI: www.offshoreradio.co.uk/rni1.htm
RNI Photo credits:
The Offshore Radio Archive: www.flickr.com/photos/offshor...
Theo Dencker: www.flickr.com/photos/offshor...
Theo Dencker: www.flickr.com/photos/offshor...
Peter Halls: www.flickr.com/photos/westrow...
Spangles Muldoon (Chris Cary): www.flickr.com/photos/offshor...
Please LIKE and SUBSCRIBE!
My channel link: / @radiojingles100
Listen or download all the jingles on this channel: / radio_jingles
RADIO NORTHSEA INTERNATIONAL JINGLES Playlist: tinyurl.com/3vtuu894
10 ноя 2020
