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Swinging Radio England
Swinging Radio England ("SRE") was a top 40 offshore commercial station billed as the "World's Most Powerful" that operated from 3 May 1966 to 13 November 1966 from a ship in the North Sea, four and a half miles off Frinton-on-Sea, Essex, England. While the station was dubbed a pirate radio station, its operation took place within the law and its offices were in the West End of London. Its representation was by a company formed earlier in the year to represent in Europe the ABC radio and television stations of the United States.
Both the studio and the 50 kilowatt AM transmitter of Swinging Radio England were in two prefabricated rooms lowered into holds of the MV Olga Patricia (later renamed MV Laissez Faire), a World War II vessel built in the US as a supply ship. The station shared the studio and transmitter holds with a 50 kW AM sister station named Britain Radio billed as the Hallmark of Quality and broadcasting easy listening music.
Swinging Radio England was the brainchild of Don Pierson who lived in Eastland, Texas, US. According to an interview by Dr. Eric Gilder with Don Pierson published by Sibiu University Press in Romania during 2001, Don Pierson got the idea following the success of his earlier venture called Wonderful Radio London.
Like Wonderful Radio London, its jingles were made by PAMS in Dallas, as part of "The Jet Set" series 27 originally made for WABC, New York. Its rapid fire bannerline news at 15 minutes past the hour was borrowed from WFUN in Miami. The on-air staff were known as boss jocks, although the offshore version only slightly resembled the style of KHJ in California which originated the name. (See footnote section below regarding Tommy Vance on KHJ in November 1965 and Radio Caroline South in January 1966.)
Don Pierson delegated transmitter and antenna work to the Continental Electronics (CEMCO) company in Dallas, Texas, as a turn-key operation. Pierson had obtained advice from consulting radio engineer Bill Carr of Fort Worth, Texas, who had worked on the antenna construction of Wonderful Radio London. When Pierson began to run out of time getting the twin stations on the air due to difficulty in getting financial underwriters, he revised his plans. The project was divided into three: the ship; the stations and advertising. As a result, it was not until the beginning of 1966 that a final contract was completed with CEMCO. CEMCO relied on experience of similar work for agencies of the United States government. While Carr understood the necessity of working within the time and money available to commercial ventures, CEMCO were used to working on massive projects underwritten by governments where time delays and cost overruns were normal.
The studios for Swinging Radio England and Britain Radio were in adjoining rooms, and like the transmitters which were housed in a prefabricated building lowered into one of the holds of the ship, the two rooms were located in a similar building lowered into the second hold of the ship. When Don Pierson planned the station in 1965, his engineer Bill Carr suggested 665 kHz and 795 kHz or 815 kHz. By the end of November that year, Don Pierson had still been unable to finance either the purchase of a ship or the two offshore stations. By the time financial arrangements were completed, New Year 1966 had arrived and he decided to speed up the operation. This was divided into a ship purchase and a package purchase for both stations and the antenna to be designed, manufactured and installed by Continental Electronics.
Both studios were going to be automated using ideas that Pierson had planned for Wonderful Radio London. At that time, some stations in the US were using this method to program both easy listening and top forty formats because they required fewer staff, which in turn kept expense to a minimum. At the last moment Pierson was persuaded by one of the disc jockeys hired from nearby WFUN in South Miami to make a further purchase for the top forty station to install a Collins Radio control board and to staff the station with live announcers who would live on the ship. As a result, most of the automation for both stations was moved to the Britain Radio studio to create more space for the new board and equipment.
Among other suggestions by Bill Carr had been the erection of a 200-foot mast to which the transmitter signals would be shunt-fed to the top using a similar but higher placed method to the Wonderful Radio London ship station. On board ship at dock in Miami, CEMCO installed a second mast attached to the original to support a third outstretched triangular boom. At the end of that boom was a heavy insulator that hung down to provide attachment for a large swinging cable that stretched down to the transmitters below deck. This cable shunt-fed signals to the top of the mast from which radiating antennas were then attached.
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Swinging Radio England AI simulator
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Swinging Radio England
Swinging Radio England ("SRE") was a top 40 offshore commercial station billed as the "World's Most Powerful" that operated from 3 May 1966 to 13 November 1966 from a ship in the North Sea, four and a half miles off Frinton-on-Sea, Essex, England. While the station was dubbed a pirate radio station, its operation took place within the law and its offices were in the West End of London. Its representation was by a company formed earlier in the year to represent in Europe the ABC radio and television stations of the United States.
Both the studio and the 50 kilowatt AM transmitter of Swinging Radio England were in two prefabricated rooms lowered into holds of the MV Olga Patricia (later renamed MV Laissez Faire), a World War II vessel built in the US as a supply ship. The station shared the studio and transmitter holds with a 50 kW AM sister station named Britain Radio billed as the Hallmark of Quality and broadcasting easy listening music.
Swinging Radio England was the brainchild of Don Pierson who lived in Eastland, Texas, US. According to an interview by Dr. Eric Gilder with Don Pierson published by Sibiu University Press in Romania during 2001, Don Pierson got the idea following the success of his earlier venture called Wonderful Radio London.
Like Wonderful Radio London, its jingles were made by PAMS in Dallas, as part of "The Jet Set" series 27 originally made for WABC, New York. Its rapid fire bannerline news at 15 minutes past the hour was borrowed from WFUN in Miami. The on-air staff were known as boss jocks, although the offshore version only slightly resembled the style of KHJ in California which originated the name. (See footnote section below regarding Tommy Vance on KHJ in November 1965 and Radio Caroline South in January 1966.)
Don Pierson delegated transmitter and antenna work to the Continental Electronics (CEMCO) company in Dallas, Texas, as a turn-key operation. Pierson had obtained advice from consulting radio engineer Bill Carr of Fort Worth, Texas, who had worked on the antenna construction of Wonderful Radio London. When Pierson began to run out of time getting the twin stations on the air due to difficulty in getting financial underwriters, he revised his plans. The project was divided into three: the ship; the stations and advertising. As a result, it was not until the beginning of 1966 that a final contract was completed with CEMCO. CEMCO relied on experience of similar work for agencies of the United States government. While Carr understood the necessity of working within the time and money available to commercial ventures, CEMCO were used to working on massive projects underwritten by governments where time delays and cost overruns were normal.
The studios for Swinging Radio England and Britain Radio were in adjoining rooms, and like the transmitters which were housed in a prefabricated building lowered into one of the holds of the ship, the two rooms were located in a similar building lowered into the second hold of the ship. When Don Pierson planned the station in 1965, his engineer Bill Carr suggested 665 kHz and 795 kHz or 815 kHz. By the end of November that year, Don Pierson had still been unable to finance either the purchase of a ship or the two offshore stations. By the time financial arrangements were completed, New Year 1966 had arrived and he decided to speed up the operation. This was divided into a ship purchase and a package purchase for both stations and the antenna to be designed, manufactured and installed by Continental Electronics.
Both studios were going to be automated using ideas that Pierson had planned for Wonderful Radio London. At that time, some stations in the US were using this method to program both easy listening and top forty formats because they required fewer staff, which in turn kept expense to a minimum. At the last moment Pierson was persuaded by one of the disc jockeys hired from nearby WFUN in South Miami to make a further purchase for the top forty station to install a Collins Radio control board and to staff the station with live announcers who would live on the ship. As a result, most of the automation for both stations was moved to the Britain Radio studio to create more space for the new board and equipment.
Among other suggestions by Bill Carr had been the erection of a 200-foot mast to which the transmitter signals would be shunt-fed to the top using a similar but higher placed method to the Wonderful Radio London ship station. On board ship at dock in Miami, CEMCO installed a second mast attached to the original to support a third outstretched triangular boom. At the end of that boom was a heavy insulator that hung down to provide attachment for a large swinging cable that stretched down to the transmitters below deck. This cable shunt-fed signals to the top of the mast from which radiating antennas were then attached.