BBC - Scotland in the Sixties

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16 October 2014

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Ships played a big part in the story of radio.

In the early sixties there were very few radio stations and the ones which were around played very little pop music. On top of this, there were rules as to which particular record labels could be played on the radio in the UK.

Pop music was becoming more important to young people but where could they hear it?

Radio Caroline’s ship Mi Amigo anchored off shore.

Pirate radio stations were the answer. These were radio stations which would be broadcast from ships based just outside British waters. This meant they could avoid all the rules that other stations had to work within because they weren’t on British-owned land.

The first pirate station broadcast in the UK was Radio Caroline in 1964. Scotland had its own pirate station - Radio Scotland which began broadcasting on New Year’s Eve 1965. Radio Scotland was hugely popular. When it was finally forced to shut by the government in 1967, more than 2 million people signed a petition to try to keep it going. This was unsuccessful and so Radio Scotland and all the other pirate radio stations were closed down.

Hear a clip of DJ Jack McLaughlin on Radio Scotland.

Two ex-pirate radio DJs at the launch of Radio 1.

Many of the DJs who had been involved in pirate radio, however, did become DJs on Radio 1 when the BBC launched its first popular music channel in 1967.

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