The Radio Northsea International
Tribute Pages
An in-depth look at the story of Europes most
popuar and controversial radio station.
The Radio Northsea International
Tribute Pages
Then, at around 4am on the 27th March 1972 a test transmission was made using the second transmitter on 773khz. Initially, those present in the studio at the time, were unaware that their conversations were being broadcast, much to the amusement of engineers on board, and anyone who might have happened to have been listening in. No doubt there were a few red faces in the studio when they realised they were actually On Air.
Subsequent test were reportedly heard on 1115khz, and 845khz.
It later emerged that the transmitter was the ex-Radio 390 RCA BTA10J (10.5Kw) which had been originally installed as a stand-by unit.
 | During the month of May, 1972 English programme hours were extended by several hours, running until 6.00am on Saturdays and 7.00am on Sundays. Then at 12.30pm, on Saturday 30th September, just as Radio Veronica left it's 192 meter frequency (1562Khz), the second medium-wave transmitter on board the Mebo2 was switched on. It had been re-tuned to broadcast on Radio Veronica's old wavelength. |
Tony Allen made the following announcement :
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Broadcasts continued in English until 7.00pm, when the service closed down for the night. Transmissions resumed at 6.00am the following morning, however these were to be shortlived, for at aproximately 7.15am, the English service ceased, and the 1367khz Dutch service was relayed. At noon, the 1562Khz was switched off. With the exception of short tests made at the begining of October nothing was ever heard of RNI-2 again.
One could be forgiven for thinking that the whole exercise was an attempt to gain listeners, at Radio Veronica's expense. The official explanation however, was that the idea had been to prove to advertisers that in an emergency, the station was able to broadcast on another wavelength.
The Dutch programmes continued to be broadcast on 1367Khz during the day, with the English service taking over through the night. However, on 24th October 1972, the English broadcast failed to begin. Non-stop music was played, between occasional Dutch language programmes. It emerged that acting without the authority of Swiss owners, Meister and Bollier, Dutch programme director Jon de Mol had sacked the entire English DJ complement. His reasoning was that since the English service earned no money, there was no point in keeping it going. Meister and Bollier were said to be furious about de Mol's actions, and the English staff were reinstated. The English service returned to the air at 8.00pm on 3rd November 1972, however three days later a storm put RNI off the air for most of the day.
On November 12th 1972, the World Service returned on 6205Khz, SW. and broadcast from 10.00am until 8.00pm. The weekly Sunday broadcasts on shortwave continued, and included the DX Programme, presented by Belgian radio enthusiast, A.J. Beirens. Over Christmas and the New Year, the station broadcast 24 hours a day.
 | In the small hours of Christmas Day 1972, listeners to RNI were in for a rare treat, when shortly after 3.45am, an impromptu link up with rival station, and near neighbour Radio Caroline began. In the RNI studio, Rob Eden and Brian Mckenzie, broadcast Christmas greetings to Andy Acher and Crispian St John, on air aboard the Mi Amigo. It soon became apparent to listeners that Andy and Crispian were listening to RNI, in the Caroline studio. Meanwhile, back on the Mebo2, Rob and Brian were listening to Caroline! Further greetings were broadcast to various friends aboard the respective ships, then at approximately 4.05am, while Radio Caroline were broadcasting The Partidge Family's hit single " I think I love you " Rob Eden turned up the radio in the RNI studio, and so began a unique and moment in off-shore radio history. |  |
| ANDY ARCHER:
"If you want to listen the conversation that's about to take place between Robbie Eden on the Radio Northsea ship, and ourselves here on the Caroline ship . . . CHRIS ST JOHN: "Then you'd better have two radios, or hold two radios together . . . ANDY ARCHER:"You'll have to listen in stereo. Robbie Eden - Good Morning. ROB EDEN:"Good Morning Andy, it's good to talk to you again, after such a . . . what is it, a week or so? ANDY ARCHER:"Yeah, I think it must be, because the last time we met each other was in the harbour at Scheveningen. Robbie, I think one of the nicest things about the whole situation is that two radio stations, Caroline and Northsea, should be able to talk to each other. ROB EDEN:"Well, can they ? This is the thing Andy, I took it upon myself to literally say hello to you. And you never know the consequences of the actions as such. ANDY ARCHER:"Well, the consequences don't really matter Robbie, because you and I are friends, and Chicago is a friend of yours, and Crispian also, so don't worry about things like that. PETER CHICAGO:"If you're ever out of a job, you know where to come to . . . ROB EDEN:"Chicago, Pete, thanks very much. It's nice. It's nice to talk to so many people that are so good friends of mine. And on this Christmas Day, infact, I really am so, what's the word, not drunk . . . PETER CHICAGO:"I think we're all very happy! ROB EDEN:"Yeah, that's the word . . . |
And so the conversation went on. In fact it continued for a further 32 minutes, with more and more people dropping to the respective studios, to speak with friends accross the water. Just what, if any, were the consequences of this un-authorised link-up is not known, and indeed it's uncertain just how many people actually heard the broadcast, or knew of it's existance at all. Needless to say, Caroline's spirit of "Loving Awareness"was much in evidence that night.
Wuth the Christmas and New Year celebrations over, plans were made to extend the World Service. And to that end, on the 26th January 1973, tests were made on 9780Khz in the 31 meter band. Further tests were carried out on 29th January, and again on 4th February. However, plans for further tests had to be put on hold, as we will see, on the following page, as RNI was to face yet more problems.
