RADIO ATLANTA 1964 from the MV Mi Amigo Pirate Radio Ship

[drumroll] ...and now: let me take you back in time. Way back. 1964, the year the first Pirate Radio Ships appeared off the British coast. Also the last year DJ's would wear jackets and ties while on duty. Ever wondered how potatoes got peeled in the galley and what the Dutch captain's wife looked like? The smiling happy faces of the crew? Wait no longer. I proudly present to you the good ship Mi Amigo and RADIO ATLANTA!

More on the Pirate Radio Ships here: http://www.keezer.nl/radio

A unique glimpse of life on board of one of the first Offshore Radio ships (1964): Radio Atlanta. Only few audio recordings and hardly any video is left of Radio Atlanta.

This is a re-edit of original Movietone newsreel footage with audio added. The only people identified by name in the description with the footage are Colin Nichol, Captain Meyer and his wife. Probably Bryan Vaughan is also in the studio and Tony Windsor can be seen (in dark glasses) on deck.

Radio Atlanta operated briefly from 12 May 1964 to 2 July 1964 off the Essex coast. It had 2 on air studio's and a 10,000 watt AM transmitter.

Through a merger with Radio Caroline, it's vessel, the MV Mi Amigo' became home of Radio Caroline South later that year. Radio Caroline being the 3rd radio station to broadcast from the legendary Mi Amigo, the ship that would serve the longest in Offshore Radio history, still operating when she finally sank in a gale off the British coast.

The radio ship (originally MV Olga) had been originally converted and outfitted as the home of the offshore Swedish station Radio Nord. On 31 May 1960 the hold of the MV 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 Langelinie, 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.

The original antenna design called for two masts with a horizontal antenna slung between (as on Radio Veronica's ship Borkum Riff). However, the actual antenna was an inverted V supported by the single mast.

Renamed the MV Mi Amigo, the ship in 1964 became home to Radio Caroline South of the Essex coast and would serve the longest of any Pirate Offshore Radio ship in history. In the 70's the Dutch/Belgian station 'Radio Mi Amigo' broadcasted from the ship together with Radio Caroline.

Stories and detailed Photographs of this period can be found in the iBook 'Pirate Radio Ships in the 70's, available in iBooks - Apple store