1965: Radio, what?

A look at all of Britain's major pop weekly papers for 1964 and the first part of 1965 reveals a total disinterest in the arrival of Radio Caroline or anything else offshore, and then very slowly they begin to take an interest. But what is clear is that this is no 'Swinging Sixties', because these offshore radio ships and ex-forts are playing the same sort of mixture of music as the British Broadcasting Corporation, and their announcers are more like BBC announcers than UK versions of  American Top 40 djs.

But that is not what the plethora of books would have you believe. Maybe the later version as told by Rob Chapman who was only 12 when Radio Caroline began, is closer to the mark. But even then, he, and his academic pal in Chicago seem to have both got bogged down with creating a kind of Asa Briggs version, a very, distorted version of the story.
 
Rob was recently on a podcast so we all know exactly what he thought as a 12 years-old in 1964  - the answer is nothing, he was not even aware of Radio Caroline at first while growing up in Bedfordshire. We also know what he thinks he knows now. But what he thinks he knows and and what he should know, are two totally different things. However, his university friend (Adrian Johns) could not even get the geography of London right in his book, let alone the details of what happened to create offshore radio in 1964, or even why it happened.

We are of course revealing all, little by little and Online, and of course we are doing it free of charge.

​So in keeping with our editorial policy of providing independent education for all in the public interest, here is our gleaned research from two pop weeklies that provide a time-stamped glimpse of what the Melody Maker was reporting in its special feature that was published in early 1965, and what Pop Weekly was reporting about the 1964 program line-ups for both Caroline and Invicta.