radioship mebo 2

So, what had started in 1958 with Radio Mercur off the coast of Denmark as Europe’s first offshore radiostation, came to an end in March 1968 with the close down of Radio Caroline: part one of the European offshore radiostations. In those 10 years stations came and went. Radio Mercur, Syd, DCR and Nord off the Scandinavian coast, Radio Veronica and RTV Noordzee off the Dutch coast, Radio Antwerpen off the coast of Belgium, Radio Caroline North and South, Radio Scotland, Radio 270, Radio London, Radio England, Britain Radio, Radio Essex, Radio 390 and Radio City off the UK coast. By March 1968 Radio Veronica was the only one still broadcasting from international waters and we all thought she would still be broadcasting from the Norderney in the year 2000, all the others had closed down but the Dutch government left Veronica alone. Offshore radio anoraks were in for a surprise, out of nowhere Radio Nordsee International started broadcasting her MUSIC FOR YOUNG EUROPE on January 23, 1970 from the radio ship Mebo 2 anchored 4 miles off the coast of Skeveningen Holland. RNI or Radio North Sea International was heard on medium wave 186 mtrs, 49 and 31 short-wave and on fm. The station was the brainchild of two Swiss entrepreneurs, Meister and Bollier. A lot happened between 23 January 1970 and 31 August 1974.

23-1-1970 First test transmission on 186 mtrs mediumwave.

28-2-1970 Start regular programmes in German and English.

23-3-1970 Mebo 2 now 7 miles off the Essex UK coast.

27-3-1970 British authorities start jamming the medium wave transmissions from RNI.

13-6-1970 RNI renamed into Radio Caroline for one week and start a campaign to influence UK elections.

20-6-1970 Back as Radio North Sea.

23-7-1970 Mebo 2 once again off the Dutch coast.

29-8-1970 Boarding party try to take over control of the radio ship.

24-9-1970 RNI closes down, end of part one of this floating circus. More to come……..

7-1-1971 Meister and Bollier back onboard Mebo 2.

6-3-1971 Re start of RNI, Dutch programmes during the day, English at night.

15-5-1971 Explosion onboard the Mebo 2, ship on fire.

2-8- 1971 Dutch service introduce live programmes from the ship, the legendary Driemaster between 16 and 18 hours.

30-8-1974 Close down of the English programmes.

31-8-1974 Close down of the Dutch programmes.

1-9-1974 Dutch government introduce their anti offshore radio law. The fun is over.

10-9-1974 Mebo 2 arrives in Slikkerveer for maintenance.

16-1-1977 Mebo 1 and 2 sold to Libya, purpose: relay transmitters for the Libyan Broadcasting Service.

11-1-1979 Close down of all transmitters onboard Mebo 2 in Libya.

1981 Both Mebo 1 and 2 sank in the Med.Sea after the ships were used as target practice for the Libyan Air force.

Instead of using the ships as target practice they should have used ,,Uncle Ghad” as a target practice.

There are people who still question her mission off the Dutch and UK coast, others believe the 2 Swiss owners were 100% offshore radio anoraks. Fact is that RNI for that one week in June 1970 became a political broadcaster from international waters, and that never should have happened.

The programming of the station was a mixture of English personality radio live from the MV Mebo 2 and very boring Dutch prerecorded programmes during daytime hours. Lucky for us they introduced live Dutch programmes in the early morning and late afternoon.This once again showed that live programmes from the radio ship gives it that extra dimension. The music format was top 40 radio, however the English deejays also played a lot of album tracks and there was a country music show weekly.

Radio North Sea International between 1970 and 1974: a remarkable station from a remarkable ship.

ANDY ARCHER, SHOWING THE WHITE FLAG, LITTLE DID HE KNOW THAT THE MEBO SHOWED THE WHITE FLAG IN SEPTEMBER 1970 AND RNI CLOSED DOWN. REASON: THEY RAN OUT OF MONEY, THE STATION DID NOT ATRACT ADVERTISERS.

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: SPANGLES MULDOON, ERWIN MEISTER,ANDY ARCHER, ERWIN BOLLIER IN THE LIVE/ PRODUCTION STUDIO.

DUTCH LIVE DEEJAY LEO VD GOOT DURING THE SUPERB DRIEMASTER PROGRAM LIVE FROM THE MEBO 2 EVERY AFTERNOON BETWEEN 4 AND 6

WHILST THE TAPED DUTCH PROGRAMMES WERE BORING, THE LIVE SHOWS FROM THE MEBO WERE EXCELLENT. CREDIT GOES TO LEO VD GOOT, NICO STEENBERGEN AND HANS TEN HOOGE< HOGENDOORN>

ANOTHER DUTCH DEEJAY AND NEWSREADER MARC VAN AMSTEL IN THE PRODUCTIONSTUDIO ONBOARD WORKING AT ONE OF THE REVOX RECORDERS.

THE MAIN STUDIO ONBOARD, USED BY THE DUTCH LIVE TEAM DURING DAYTIME AND THE ENGLISH SERVICE AT NIGHT.

IT LOOKS AS IF THE MEBO WAS CLOSE TO THE BEACH, INFACT SHE WAS 4 MILES OFF SHORE IN INTERNATIONAL WATERS. IN THE BACKGROUND DEN HAAG AND SKEVENINGEN.

AFTER THE CLOSE DOWN OF RADIO NORTH SEA INTERNATIONAL IN AUGUST 1974 THE MEBO 2 WAS AT THE DE GROOT VAN VLIET SHIPYARD NEAR ROTTERDAM FOR ALMOST 2,5 YEARS WAITING FOR A NEW FUTURE.

STUDIOS WERE REBUILT BY ENGINEERS BOB NOAKES AND ROBIN BANKS. THIS IS THE REBUILT MAIN STUDIO IN 1975.

THE TRANSMITTERS ONBOARD THE MEBO 2 WERE TO BE USED AS RELAY TRANSMITTERS FOR THE LIBYAN BROADCASTING SERVICE

Van: "Andy Cadier" Aan: "Paul Dehaan" Onderwerp: Radio Northsea International. Datum: dinsdag 19 februari 2002 22:50 The studio equipment at Radio North Sea International aboard the Mebo 2 was probably the most simple and uncomplicated to operate. An Engineer told me that the modular constructed panel was better suited to a disco rather than a radio station. The number of controls were certainly kept to the minimum but I never noticed any lack of audio quality and found the ease of operation quite refreshing. The 2 studios were similarly equipped with 2 auto-start turntables and 2 cartridge players and two Revox tape machines. The larger of the two studios also contained the record libary and was mainly used for production purposes. The studio was near the front of the ship in the hold with the transmitter hall being in the centre of the vessel more or less beneath the mast. DJ's cabins were also near the front of the ship in purpose built cubicles with a radio monitor in each. Some rather elaborate personal washing facilities existed down a passage..on the way to the engine room and central heating system. In 1971 the 105kW MW transmitters was running at about 70kW on 220 metres, with one of the two SW transmitters operating on 6205kHz and the 1kW FM operating on 100MHz. The second SW transmitter was at that time not operational, the SW facilities had originally been intended to carry religious programming. The SW antennas were mounted fairly low at the bow of the ship and each resembled an inverted V. Apart from the 1971 test broadcasts which were in English, all day time programmes were in Dutch with the English Service broadcasting during the evenings until 2 am Central European Time. The Dutch programmes were all recorded in studios at Hilversum and delivered to the ship in plastic waterproof containers. The British DJ's were responsible for playing the tapes and changing the spools each hour, with an inaudible change-over (a bit like a cinema projectionist). The English Service followed a similar format which did not go down too well with some UK listeners, who were not happy with the joint nationality programming policy. Of course the revenue was coming from Holland and 'he who pays the piper calls the tune'. However I did manage to get permission to leave the format during the late evenings and on weekdays played romantic love songs, the kind of music for that kiss in the car. Having a fairly soft voice this not only suited me very well but earned me the nick-name of "Cuddles". Now lot's of stations have their 'Love Zones' during the evenings but now played by computer. Andy Cadier. Martin Kayne 02/02

,, Radio North Sea International, there is so much to write about this station", he said.