The Radio Northsea International
Tribute Pages - Chapter 12
An in-depth look at the story of Europes most
popuar and controversial radio station.
The Radio Northsea International
Tribute Pages - Chapter 12
| "Well, I had finished my programme. I had read the news, and I thought it was rather peculiar at the time when I was reading the news, the ship sort of - tipped over a little too much, as far as I was concerned to the right or to the left. Anyway, I came upstairs after finishing the news, and looked out of the window. It was a very clear night. But I was very amazed to see the faces of people, and cars going by. I thought well, it's a very clear night, but this is bloody ridiculous! It's not THAT clear - I'm sure that we're within about a mile from shore. The Captain and Mike Ross were playing cards at the time and I said: "Are we drifting ? " The Captain said: "No, that's ridiculous . . ." I said well at least come here and look out through the porthole window. They reluctantly got up and looked out of the porthole window, and as soon as they saw our position, you know, everybody immediately - MAYDAY ! Brian McKenzie's Rock & Roll show was going out at the time, and we immediately had to cease broadcasting. I went downstairs and said that as we thought we were inside territorial waters we're now going off-air, we believe we're drifting. And sure enough we were drifting. We were, I would say at the closest, no more that 600 yards from the shore ". |  |
| " The time now is 15 minutes to the hour of 1 o'clock, Central European Time, and we stop transmissions, as we believe that our anchor chain has broken. There is no need for alarm, the anchor chain on board the Mebo 2 has broken, and this has been spotted in time. We are now ceasing transmissions until we are safely into international waters. This is Radio Northsea International, now going off air. We have broken our anchor chain, or are dragging our anchor chain, and we are inside the three mile limit. We are going off-air momentarily until we are back into international waters" |
| "It was a very frightening experience. Everyone was told to put on their lifejackets, forget about your suitcases, just worry about yourself. I can just imagine had we drifted ashore, everybody in lifejackets holding up their passports. But we did manage to get out to sea again, it took us, I think, a day and a half to eventually get the ship back out there. It was a steady grind because there was a storm going on. A storm brewed up after we'd broken anchor, and we were fighting against the storm, trying to get back to our position. At one stage, we went past Caroline. They thought that we were anchored and THEY were drifting! And they started sending out red flares, it really caused a mayday crisis. Both ships were sort of panicking. Especially Caroline because they had no motor at all. And they were sending up red flares. The whole sea was lit up with red flares all over the place from the Caroline ship because they thought they were drifting, and we KNEW we were drifting. But as I say, eventually, a day and a half later, we got another anchor. A ship came out immediately and the put on a new anchor on the ship. That was it. I never experienced anything like that again ". |
With the Mebo 2 safely back at her usual postition, complete with new anchor, broadcasting resumed. The medium wave signal however was on a reduced power of 10Kw. Urgent work was needed to done on the main transmitter, so the ex-Radio 390 standby unit was used. During March, further tests were made in the 31meter band, and by the begining of April, the main 105Kw medium wave transmitter was brought back into service, at almost full power.
On 2nd April RNI fell victim once again to a severe storm, as a result signal quality deteriorated to such an an extent that it was decided to cease transmissions that day at 5.00pm. The station returned to the air the following afternoon, at approximately 1.15pm, but on a much reduced power. Engineers on board discovered severe damage to the FM antenna system, and as a result, FM broadcasts were suspended untill repairs could be carried out. The FM service returned to the air on 24th April 1973.
In July the station experience yet more problems with the medium wave transmitter, and yet again the standby transmitter was put into use, offering a much reduced signal strength. It had been reported that the high-power RCA transmitter was one of only five prototypes built by the company, still in use. Then in October, generator problems meant that a crane ship had to be commissioned in order to lift the the deck generator to facilitate urgent maintainance. On the 21st October, the Mebo2 found itself being pounded by storms and considerable damage was done, causing the FM service to be off the air for 10 days. When it returned on the 31st October a reduced power of 250 watts meant that the FM signal was only audible along parts of the Dutch coast. Further transmitter problems arose during November. At the time there was no qualified engineer onboard, Erwin Meister went out to the ship and repaired the transmitter himself, eventually getting all three transmitters back up to full power.
On 11th November, the English service was extended. English broadcasts were now being heard between 8.00pm and 6.00am, with the exception of Mondays. RNI was once again broadcasting 24 hours a day. Over Christmas and New Year 1973, the World Service was broadcast again on shortwave. As the new year began difficulties were experienced in obtaining sufficient supplies of oil, but somehow the 24 hour format was maintained, despite numerous transmitter breakdowns. The equipment had been in almost constant use for three years, and was in a poor state of repair. Without qualified technicians on board, the Swiss owners made several unsucessful approaches to engineers on the other ships, and so had to return to the Mebo2 to do the repairs themselves. By April 1974 breakdowns were still a regular occurance.
Meanwhile, off the Dutch coast, things were getting rather crowded, along with the Mebo2, was the Radio Caroline ship Mi Amigo, and the Radio Veronica Ship Noordeney. A new ship had just arrived, the MV King David, and began broadcasting as Capital Radio, although the life of the latest station was somewhat short. There was talk of yet more ships joining those already established. The situation, as in England some years before, was clearly getting out of hand. The Dutch parliament was coming under increasing pressure to ratify the Marine Broadcasting Offences Act, in line with several other European countries. Rumours began to circulate that if Radio Veronica applied for legal status, it was likely to be granted a license. Veronica would be absorbed into the Dutch state broadcasting system, as part of a radical shake up and given airtime on both radio and television networks. No doubt, to Dutch politicians, this seemed an obvious way out of an otherwise impossible situation.
Despite a vigourous campaign by RNI supporters ashore, it looked as if the days were numbered for the troubled radio station . . . .
On 27th May 1973, the World Service was closed down. According to Mebo Telecom, this was due to " technical problems ". However, as in the past, A.J. Beirens DX Programme continued to be heard on Sunday mornings. At this time the Zurich management handed over all programming to the Dutch office, and the station was re-branded RNI Radio 220 (Radio Twee Twee Nil).
