h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: The Radio Revolution. - A2297324
Author: pamela - U235511

On this entry I have tried to give a brief history of Offshore Radio in the 1960's and the changes in British Radio since then. More difficult to describe is the emotionthatthe ships evoked. I was in Wales, many miles fromthe North Sea, but I could feel the spirit of adventure and challenge and admired the daring of the DJs

I would change the caption on the ship, as the one you have at present may have unpleasant connotations for some people. Wasn't it involved in some terrorist outrage?

It's an excellent start, pamela - seems a very worthy and interesting subject to me

I'm afraid that there are one or two corners that will need to be knocked off it to fit through the doorway to the Edited Guide that is the Writing-Guidelines, though. Most particularly, the pictures. Unfortunately, because you've done some good work with them, Editorial Policy is that each entry for the Edited Guide should have only one picture, and that picture should be unique to the entry in question. So I'm afraid all the pictures you've put in that make your entry look nice will have to go

What I'd recommend is that you copy the GuideML for the page as it stands, then create a new entry and paste the GuideML into that, and that will be your copy to keep as you like it. Then you can start making revisions on this one, which you've already submitted to PeerReview

But as I say, it's a good start to an interesting subject area that I like but don't know too much about - would it be worth also mentioning Radio Luxembourg, who as far as I know were a land-based pirate?

Cheers,
Number Six

I submitted the last post before I had finished it. I want to add that the DJs conveyed such a feeling of togetherness and freedom that no land-based station has ever been able to capture it. Pamela

Yes, the EG article it 'belongs' to is this one - A730900 (A Hijack on the High Seas - Part One)... I think that's probably why they say each picture should be unique to an EG entry. By the way, pamela, once an entry gets picked for the EG, there's a 50% chance that a new picture will be commissioned for it - so

I'm afraid the coloured text will have to go too...

Hello.As i said at the end of the entry I took the picture from the h2g2 picture library and pictures of the actual ships are on a website. I have taken the ALT title off the GuideML. As I am only allowed one picture for peer review could I use the Radio picture.I know that is on another entry but it's not an edited one. How can I find out which pictures are on edited
entries. I thought all pictures in the library were on entries.
I have an Internet T.V.set-top box. I can't cut and paste,so it will take me a while to rewrite all the entry.
Radio Luxemborg started broadcasting in 1933, in English from 1946. So I think it certainly could be called the first English broadcasting pirate station. It was land-based, broadcasting from the country of Luxembourg (in Europe). My entry is mainly about the pirate ships in the sixties, which is why I didn't include it. Pamela.

You can't use any picture that already exists. There is a 50-50 chance that the editors will commsission a brand new picture for the entry, but other than that the entry will have to go picture-less.

Hi Pamela,

I have to say, this topic is one that I find really interesting and I'm so excited that you've chosen to cover it.

When entries get picked for the Edited Guide, what happens is we make a copy of the original and all the edits and changes are made to the copy. It's the copy that goes into the Edited Guide and the original remains with the Researcher who created it. This is mainly because some people don't take too kindly to subediting, so we preserve their original as a compromise. But it also means that if someone wants their original to have loads of existing graphics, then they can do - so long as they remember that the Edited Version won't have them in (and as has already been mentioned, there's a good chance that your entry will end up with either a graphic or a photo of its own once it hits the Front Page).

It's a shame this wasn't written sooner, as it would have been nice to have an entry on this subject in time for the anniversary. Good start though!

Jimster

Hello Jimster.Thanks for your reply.I've got a few questions.
Does my original with the pictures stay on My Space.
If I edit now,am I editing the original or the copy.
If it's the original,how do I edit the copy.
Cyzaki says that coloured text has to go. Is BOLD or underlining allowed for the dates. From Pamela

"Does my original with the pictures stay on My Space."

Yes, it does

"If I edit now,am I editing the original or the copy.
If it's the original,how do I edit the copy."

You are still editing the original. If your Entry is selected from Peer Review, a copy will be made and given to the subeditor - you will not be able to edit it (but you will be able to change the original in any way you want )

"Cyzaki says that coloured text has to go. Is BOLD or underlining allowed for the dates"

Dates should be written in a standard format, such as 27 September, 1999. If you want to emphasise them, you could use italics (</I&gt, but that may still be changed by the subeditor.

There is more information on the correct style for the Edited Guide at A266131 - I hope you find it useful

I have taken the pictures and coloured text out of this entry . In Brunel the links look like normal text.They do not show up in a colour as they do on the other skins. So I have put them into BOLD. Is this allowed Pamela.

I'm looking at your page in Brunel (on IE version 6) and the links appear in light blue. This becomes underlined when the cursor moves over it.

A thought - followed links in Brunel appear in dark blue, which could perhaps look similar to the black text on some monitors..?

Some thoughts for areas of discussion that might help to expand the entry - hope they help!

The thing definitely worth mentioning from my point of view is that the Radio Revolution was precipitated by the Musical Revolution - these stations sprang up because, apart from a few exceptions on the Light Programme, there was nowhere in the UK that you could hear Rock n' Roll on the radio. Radio 1 was set up as a direct response to the existence of the pirate stations - to fill a perceived gap in the BBC's public service remit, no?

It's for this reason I thought it worth giving Radio Luxembourg a quick mention, as a 'land-based pirate'.

Another element that might be worth including is that as far as I know, all the pirate radio DJs were forced to broadcast under false names for legal reasons - I'm not sure if they actually *had* to change their names, but as the new names were the ones they were professionally known by, that's what they're still all known as today. A few examples of some of the birth names of some of the DJs might be nice?

With regard to Radio Caroline, I have a half memory of seeing an item on the News some time probably in the late 80s or early 90s, that they had been broadcasting from a ship moored inland somewhere (Dover?) and were being forced to shut down because a new commercial station called Radio Spectrum (I think) had been given a licence and Caroline's signal was causing interference on Spectrum's frequency.

About the links - they will appear in a *slightly* different colour, so there's no need to bold them.

Cheers,
Number Six

Radio Luxemburgh ...

As it was not granted a licence to broadcast to Britain, it could be called the first pirate radio.

Not strictly true. Radio Luxembourg had a licence to broadcast from Luxembourg so it can hardly be called a pirate. By the same criteria Radio Moscow could be called a pirate station.

It was the commercial aspect of it that went against UK Radio Licensing Laws. Before the real pirates came on the scene Radio Luxembourg transmitted a wide variety of light entertainment programmes, not just pop music. It was the pirates and the booming pop music scene that moved Radio Luxembourg to-wards pop music as well as the BBC.

Donald

I seem to remember that a frequent allegation made against the 'pirate' radio stations was that they highjacked frequencies which might be used by others. Yet when they began local radio, the frequencies used were, in many cases, the ones formerly used by the 'pirates'.

Radio London used to be on 247metres, with a jingle that went 'two forty seven, wonderful great big L' (big L being its nickname). What is on 247metres now, I wonder (note: 247m = 1215KHz)?

Hello Donald. The following is a quote from The story of Radio Luxemborg http:www.pjede.de/208/history.html 1933 'The country- no bigger than Greater London- had been allocated a low powered medium wave frequency for internal needs. The radio station refused to accept it and chose the lang wave instesd, because to make money from foreign language commercials the signal needed to cover greater distances. The British government called the broadcasts objectionable and through the foreign office condemn the violation of international agreements.The BBC embarked on a lengthy battle to scupper the station which it described as a scandal ,insolent and a pirate.'
The writer of the site is not English and there are a fer spelling mistakes, but as far as I know ,his information is all correct as it is also on other sites.
After the war, from 1951 Luxembourg did broadcast to Britain on medium wave, in the evenings only. Pamela.

Talking of spelling mistakes I see that I made one myself. It should have been 'few spelling mistakes'. Pamela.

Hello Number Six. Radio Caroline did broadcast through the 1980s on the ship M.V. Ross Revenge, which they still have, and are restoring. The frequency is now used by Spectrum Radio a local commercial station in London for the multicultural community. I will mention it in my entry, but cannot put much more as it is getting very slow. Some of the DJs real names are mentioned in their biographies in 'Pirate Radio Hall of Fame' which I have linked to in the entry .

Thanks for all replies about Brunel . The links do show up when I move over them, but I didn't know lf they were visible for everyone. Pamela.