Radio Nord

Radio Nord was a Swedish offshore commercial station that operated briefly from 8 March 1961 to 30 June 1962 from a ship anchored in international waters of the Baltic Sea off Stockholm, Sweden. While the station was dubbed as a pirate radio station, its actual operation took place within the laws of the day and its offices were located in the heart of Stockholm. Its ownership was vested in a company which had been specifically formed by Texas broadcasting and political interests that included Gordon McLendon and Clint Murchison.

hip and station

On May 31, 1960 the hold of the MS Olga was converted into studios, transmitter room and crew quarters at the Norder Werft shipyard in Hamburg, West Germany. Due to laws restricting work on the unlicensed installation of broadcasting equipment at the port, the ship, now renamed Bon Jour, was taken to the free port at Langeline, Copenhagen. A 125 foot mast to support the broadcasting antenna coupled to two 10,000 watts LTV-Continental Electronics (CEMCO) transmitters was then assembled and installed. The transmitters had been flown in from the factory at Dallas, Texas in six thousand parts.

When the vessel finally arrived off the coast of Sweden in early 1961 a series of technical problems forced the radio ship Bon Jour to continue finding safe haven in order to carry out repairs. On February 4, 1961 the radio ship left the Finnboda shipyard in Stockholm and sailed for Orno for further on air tests, but these were met by a storm two days later and the ship had to return to port. Following more repairs the Bon Jour left port on February 21 and sailed for her broadcasting anchorage. More technical problems forced her to return to Finnboda and was not able to return to her anchorage until March 1, 1961.

On March 2, 1961 the Swedish Parliament that allowed authorities to seize her broadcasting equipment should she return to a Swedish port again while pressuring Nicaragua to withdraw her registration. The owners of Radio Nord promptly renamed the vessel M.V. Magda Maria and registered her in Panama.

On December 2, 1961, the Magda Maria became victim of another storm that lasted for days. On December 6 she lost her anchor, ceased transmissions when it appeared that the antenna might collapse. The vessel then put into port of Sandhamn but the new law was not applied against her since her arrival had been forced by emergency to save the vessel from becoming a nautical wreck. Repairs were carried out and she left port for her anchorage on December 8.

Following passage of a new Swedish law aimed at silencing her broadcasts, Radio Nord ceased broadcasting at the end of June 1962, one month before the law was due to come into effect. On July 4, the MV Magda Maria sailed for El Ferrol, Spain and docked on August 2 where further repairs were carried out under the new name of Mi Amigo.

Programming format

The station was heard in Sweden, southern Finland and parts of eastern Europe. The on air studio and 10,000 watts AM transmitters of Radio Nord were located on board the radio ship.

Radio Nord programming was inspired by Gordon McLendon of Dallas who had developed many radio formats. While he was not the inventor of top 40 radio, he is looked upon as an owner of American radio stations who then somewhat refined it. Part of the McLendon style was to use jingles and they became a part of Radio Nord programming in addition to many commercials for products and services that had links to American companies.

When Radio Nord closed down for the last time her transmissions concluded with a specially-edited jingle montage.

Further history of ship

On September 14 she sailed for an anchorage off the coast of south-eastern England in the North Sea where she remained until January 10, 1963. This move was in preparation for an immediate sale to Project Atlanta, Ltd., a British consortium of political, banking, publishing and music industry interests.

Project Atlanta Ltd., was managed by Australian Allan Crawford who between 1955 and 1959 had been the British agent for U.S. publishers Southern Music publishers. By the early 1960s Crawford had formed Merit Music and was producing cover versions of popular music on his record labels. His idea had been to purchase the former Radio Nord to promote his business in Britain. Others who associated with Crawford attempted similar projects with CNBC; GBLN and GBOK. While CNBC did make it on the air with limited test broadcasts aimed at Britain, it is rumored that GBLN also made some tests from the Mi Amigo anchored off Britain.

When another Scandinavian offshore radio station ran afoul of the authorities and produced news articles that alarmed the original investors behind Project Atlanta, Limited, the talks with interests in Texas representing Gordon McLendon fell through and the ship moved off the British coast to the coast of Ostend, Belgium. On January 19, 1963 the Mi Amigo was reported to have made a port call at Flushing and then another at Brest to repair her steering gear and left for Galveston, Texas on January 26.

The Mi Amigo arrived in Galveston on March 4 where the engineers at the McLendon station KILT in Houston began removing her broadcasting equipment. The ship remained in port for most of the remainder of the year during which time Ronan O'Rahilly who had also heard of Crawford's plans, came to Texas to inspect the Mi Amigo. O'Rahilly represented members of the British Establishment who planned to start their own offshore station called Radio Caroline.

After months of continuous negotiations Allan Crawford finally signed a contract with the Texas owners of the Mi Amigo which was listed as Rosebud Shipping of Panama. The name seems to have been derived from McLendon humor due to his movie interests and the closing words of the film Citizen Kane. Evenually a contract was signed with interests represented by Allan Crawford. Rosebud Shipping initially chartered their ship to Rajah Anstalt of Liechtenstein, which in turn leased the vessel to Atlantic Services Anstalt of Liechtenstein, which was under the control of Project Atlanta, Limited of London.

Once again the Mi Amigo crossed the Atlantic Ocean and once again suffered storm damage to her radio mast. Because her radio broadcasting equipment had been disassembled in Galveston, it was necessary for work to be undertaken to make her ready to broadcast. This work was carried out at a private shipyard in Ireland that was owned by the father of Ronan O'Rahilly.

Radio Atlanta eventually came on the air on May 12, 1964 and on July 2 she became a part of the Caroline Network as Radio Caroline South.

The troubled and sometimes interrupted history of the Mi Amigo continued as a radio ship until she finally sank in off the British coast in a North Sea storm on March 20, 1980.

ee also

*Gordon McLendon
*Clint Murchison
*Radio Atlanta
*Allan Crawford
*Oliver Smedley

References

External links

* [http://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/DATABASES/RP2/Nord01.html Pictures of the ship, transmitter & personnel]
* [http://www.ungermark.se/mediaradionordeng.html "The true Pirate Story"]
* [http://radiohistoria.jvnf.org/indexnord.htm Radiohistoriska arkivet page on Radio Nord] - has numerous streaming audio clips