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Radio North Sea International |
Radio Nordsee International (RNI) also known as Radio North Sea International in English and Radio Noordzee International in Dutch, was a European offshore pirate radio station, run by the Swiss firm Mebo Telecommunications, jointly owned by Swiss engineer, Edwin Bollier, and his business partner, Erwin Meister. RNI broadcast for fewer than five years in the 1970s and, courting both disaster and success, made a modest financial profit.1
After RNI ceased broadcasting in 1974, Mebo evolved into a supplier of specialist electronic equipment. In the 1980s, Mebo's links with the Gaddafi regime in Libya would cause Meister and Bollier's firm great difficulties, culminating with their alleged involvement in the December 1988 Lockerbie bombing.2
In 1968 Erwin Meister and Edwin Bollier intended to broadcast as Radio Gloria from the former Radio London ship, Galaxy. On 2 July 1968 the German government scuppered their plans by passing a law banning off-shore broadcasting. The Gloria project collapsed. Meister and Bollier decided to buy their own vessel and set up a radio station. They renamed their first ship Mebo, then Mebo I, and finally Angela. Fitted with studios and transmitting equipment, Angela was found too small for broadcasting but too big for regular use as a tender. However, Angela supplied Mebo II when off the English coast.
Originally Silvretta, and built in Slikkerveer in the Netherlands in 1948, the 630-tonne vessel was 8.85 metres wide, 3.25 metres deep and 53 metres long. In 1969 Mebo Telecommunications purchased Silvretta, fitted her out as a floating radio station, and renamed her Mebo II. Since Angela was too big to tender Mebo II off The Netherlands coast, RNI used a smaller vessel, called Trip Tender, the same vessel as Radio London (when she was called Offshore 1.) The psychedelically-painted Mebo II carried a MW transmitter at 105 kilowatts (more than twice the 50 kW TXs used by Radio London and Radio Caroline), though in practice it was operated at 60 kW or less.
One of five RCA-built prototype transmitters, and the only one still in service, it rarely if ever broadcast at full power, and had the highest power rating of any ship-based radio station. Mebo II also had SW and FM transmitters, the best fitted of all ship-based radio stations, able simultaneously to broadcast four different streams on four different channels.3
Arguably the most popular of all ship-based radio stations, RNI's staff were trained to standards that still, in recordings, convey a palpable warmth, over 30 years after the station's closure. RNI's theme, Man of Action, was also popular.
On 23 January 1970, Mebo II began broadcasts from the Dutch coast, in English and German. When regular broadcasting began on 11 February 1970 it was more popular in the United Kingdom than the Netherlands. On 23 March 1970 Mebo II sailed to the East coast of England, arriving at 09:00 on 24 March 1970 and anchoring in international waters, five miles from Clacton.
The Labour government in Britain began jamming Mebo II's MW signal at 20:30 on 15 April 1970. RNI responded with pro-Conservative party political messages for the general election on 18 June 1970. On 13 May 1970, RNI responded to complaints about interference by changing its MW channel to 1230 kHz (244 metres). This improved reception but was adjacent to the pop music service of BBC Radio One on 1214 kHz (247 metres). Jamming followed five days later, causing interference to BBC Radio as well as RNI, especially in Kent, south-east England.
On 13 June 1970, five days prior to election day, Radio North Sea International changed its name to Radio Caroline International, and launched a propaganda campaign in support of the Conservative party. The name change and political campaign were supported by Radio Caroline's founder Ronan O'Rahilly. Listeners were told that their freedom to listen to the radio station of their choice was under threat and that if the Labour party were returned to power then the station would close: their vote should therefore be Conservative, the only party that supported commercial radio. Ronan O'Rahilly headed the pro-Conservative party campaign on land, including a double-decker bus and posters depicting Harold Wilson as China's Chairman Mao.
They believed Conservative promises to restore Free Radio would mean an end to the jamming. Conservative party policy was to establish local land-based commercial radio in the UK.
At a 'Fight for Free Radio' rally the weekend before the election, Conservative party loudspeaker-vans were being used to urge participants to 'Vote Conservative and fight for free radio'. Although the Conservatives went on to win, there is no evidence that the Caroline and RNI political campaigns made any difference to the result of the UK's 1970 general election.
Two days after the election, the station reverted to its original RNI name. Because jamming of transmissions continued, however, Mebo II returned to The Netherlands coast on 23 July 1970.
Britain jammed Mebo II's broadcasts with tones, usually an 800 Hz heterodyne supplemented from time-to-time with a pulsed beep (whistle and "pip pip"). Norway's interference with RNI on 6215.0 kHz was explained thus:
"this is a transmission from the Norwegian coast station Rogaland Radio operating in single side band mode, upper side band, with a carrier frequency of 6215.0 kHz. The purpose of this transmission is to clear the channel of unauthorized and out of band broadcasting, to improve reception conditions for ships wishing to communicate with coast stations on this frequency or on adjacent maritime channels."
Paul Harris's book Broadcasting from the High Seas, published in 1976,4 suggests the UK government suspected RNI's shortwave equipment was being used to send coded messages to unfriendly countries, in particular to the German Democratic Republic (GDR). A collage of 1970s archive material related to the suspicion that RNI might have been a front for GDR spying activities concludes with a BBC Radio Humberside interview on 30 August 2004 in which RNI's DJ Steve Merike sought to dispel the spy ship theory.5
Harris also claimed RNI's joint owner, Edwin Bollier, vowed to take revenge on the British government because he felt RNI had been singled out for jamming.
On 12 August 1970, Kees Manders, a nightclub owner involved with Radio Veronica, announced he had become commercial director of RNI. But RNI's managing director, Larry Tremaine, said nothing had been agreed with Manders. Edwin Bollier and Edwin Meister had invited Manders to start a Dutch service from the Mebo II, and offered him a directorship in RNI, but as soon as Manders leaked the story, Meister and Bollier withdrew the offer. A few weeks later, on Saturday, 29 August 1970, a salvage tug named Husky was spotted approaching Mebo II at about 13:30. Accompanying the tug was a launch, the Viking, aboard which were Kees Manders with a woman and a child. In the studio, DJ Andy Archer interrupted his programme to broadcast a series of announcements appealing to listeners to contact RNI's offices and inform them of what appeared to be a threatening situation:
Spangles Muldoon reported:
Andy Archer:
Manders' demands were refused. He returned to the Viking issuing a threat to cut the anchor chain and tow the Mebo II back to port. Crewmen on board the Husky made ready to use a water cannon on the radio mast, but decided against, presumably having heard the message that in doing so, they would risk electrocution. While Archer and Muldoon continued to broadcast, others on board armed themselves with knives and petrol bombs and prepared to repel boarders. Switchboards in London, The Hague, and Zurich received calls from listeners. Station owner Erwin Meister arrived on the scene on board a fast launch, followed by the Eurotrip tender and other craft. Husky and Viking immediately left, and were never seen again. Later that day van Ness, a frigate of the Royal Netherlands Navy stood by. As the day drew to a close, managing director of RNI, Larry Tremaine, went on air with this statement:
RNI ceased broadcasting at less than 24 hours' notice at midday on 24 September 1970, in exchange for a payment of one million Dutch Guilders (about £100,000) from Radio Veronica. Mebo II remained at anchor in international waters off Scheveningen in the Netherlands.
On Friday, 29 January 1971 Mebo II recommenced broadcasts, on 220 metres MW and 48 metres SW, channels the station would use until its forced closure in 1974. The station identified itself on 14 February 1971, with the words,
Regular English language programming restarted at 14:00 on Sunday, 21 February 1971. Flemish programming began on 6 March 1971.
On Saturday, 15 May 1971 at 22:50 DJ Alan West interrupted his regular English language program to say that there had been an explosion and the ship was on fire:
At 23:40 the transmitters were switched off and Mebo II abandoned. The following morning, at 02:30, Mebo II recommenced broadcasting, closing at 03:00 as normal, and normal Flemish language programming began at 06:00 on Sunday 16 May 1971.
Spangles Muldoon on 16 May 1971:
On 17 May 1971, 48-year-old Norbert Jurgens, the advertising manager at Radio Veronica was arrested and questioned by Dutch Police, and the following day Veronica director Bull Verweij was also held. Verweij appeared on Netherlands television to tell how he had paid a man 12,000 Dutch Guilders (approximately £1,100) to force Mebo II into territorial waters. Then once inside the three-mile limit, the ship would have been liable to arrest or confiscation by creditors. In September 1971, all five suspects re-appeared in court, where it became clear how the plan had been developed and implemented. According to one of the three frogmen, Jan P, their motivation was money and adventure. Besides they had heard that RNI was involved with espionage for the eastern bloc. However, Judge Mr van't Veer ruled,
Although Meister and Bollier did not want to prosecute the offenders, all five were sentenced to one year in prison. The bombing of RNI convinced The Netherlands government that it was time to outlaw the radio pirates. The Marine Offences Act came into force on 1 September 1974.
On September 30, 1972 Radio Veronica changed its frequency from 1562 kHz (192 metres) to 557 kHz (537 metres, announced as 538), announcing that it would close at 12:30 PM and reopen on its new frequency at 1:00 PM. A moment after the station closed listeners were surprised to hear "Man of Action" on 1562 kHz. This was followed by announcements in both English and Dutch by RNI DJ Tony Allan acknowledging Veronica's 12-year history and welcoming listeners to the new sound of "RNI 2". At 1:00 RNI 2 relayed part of Veronica's reopening broadcast. Thereafter for several days RNI 2 carried separate programming from the main AM and FM service but then closed without warning, never to return.
The station's management claimed that RNI 2 was set up to prove that RNI could broadcast additional frequencies in case of emergency, although the nature of that emergency was never specified. Sceptics claimed that it was just an attempt to grab some of Veronica's audience.
With the launch of RNI 2, the Mebo II became only the second radio ship to broadcast two separate mediumwave stations, the first being the Olga Patricia / Laissez Faire which broadcast Swinging Radio England and Britain Radio and their successors in 1966-7. Subsequently the Radio Caroline ships Mi Amigo and Ross Revenge would be the only other vessels used to broadcast two mediumwave channels simultaneously.
From June 1971 until the end of August 1974 Radio North Sea International was a regular and reliable broadcaster from international waters, four miles from Holland. The main MW transmissions continued at about 50 kW on 1367 kHz, shortwave using 10 kW on 6205 kHz and VHF FM on 100 MHz. Dutch programs, which were mostly taped on land, were extended eventually to 20:00 Central European Time (CET). Programs in English extended at the weekends from 03:00 until 06:00, when Dutch language programming began. The second 10 kW AM TX was tested on medium wave 773 kHz, and for a period as RNI 2, a second stream on 1562 kHz, in addition to the main stream on 1367 kHz, and intended to assure advertisers that, if need arose, Mebo II could continue transmissions on another frequency. The main English language closed at midnight on 30/31 August 1974, and the Dutch transmissions ceased on 31 August 1974 at 20:00.
Thirty one of the original RNI jingles in English, Dutch and German are recorded in RealAudio and can be downloaded here.
More Radio Northsea Jingles available here (mp3) http://www.esatclear.ie/~cavalier/mp3/nova_full_jingles.mp3
While the two vessels were laid up in Holland, both were fully refitted. Early in 1977, Angela and Mebo II were sold to Libya. They sailed, each with a crew of nine, for Libya, arriving Tripoli on 9 February 1977. Mebo II was renamed El Fatah, and Angela was renamed Almasira. El Fatah then broadcast as Radio Jamharia with programmes such as the Arab Voice, Libya International in English and the Holy Koran. This continued until 1980, when Heinz Hurter, Edwin Bollier's second wife's brother was the only Swiss national to remain aboard.6
One of RNI's former DJs, Robin Banks (né Adcroft, not to be confused with DJ Robin Banks), accompanied the vessels to Libya, and stayed with them as a transmitter engineer until 1980.7 The Almasira and the El Fatah were said to have been used as target practice by the Libyan Navy in the 1980s, and were sunk in the Gulf of Sidra, Mediterranean Sea.8
For two brief periods in 1999 and 2000, RNI successfully re-started its broadcasts. In August 1999, using a former Trinity House light vessel (LV18) moored off Clacton on Sea, RNI's Mebo III broadcast on the 190m band at 1575 kHz. Part of the proceeds from this RNI session went to support the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI). On April 11, 2000 Mebo III again sprang to life for a six-week period, when it was moored at the Old Railway Pier in Harwich and broadcast to Tendring, South Suffolk and "the world".9 Edwin Bollier congratulated the organisers of the RNI revival and said that as soon as the Lockerbie trial was completed, he intended to get "back into the offshore radio business again".10
Although the trial finished in January 2001, when Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi was convicted of the bombing, and an appeal against conviction was rejected in February 2002, there has been no sign yet of any further offshore broadcasting activity by Bollier. However, the Lockerbie case is not completed. Megrahi has been granted a second appeal against conviction which is scheduled to take place in Scotland's Court of Criminal Appeal in 2009.
UPDATE 2008
There is now an Internet version of RNI which can be accessed via www.radio-northsea.co.uk This is an automated service with live programming on Sundays, so if you remember the sounds of RNI then you are welcome to tune in and grab a feel of the original.
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