Radio 270
[1] In 1965 a group of Yorkshire businessmen formed a consortium to establish an offshore radio station to broadcast to the North East coast from a location off Scarborough.
The station's office manager was Maggie Lucas, a long-standing associate of Proudfoot who had acted as his secretary when he had been the Member of Parliament for Cleveland from 1959 to 1964.
Miller had previous experience of commercial radio in Australia and he adopted a simple style of programming based on a Top 40 format.
[4] A planned opening date of 1 April 1966 had to be abandoned when the station's vessel, Oceaan 7, shed its radio mast.
The largest single paying advertiser was the Worldwide Church of God which purchased a nightly 30-minute slot for a fee of around £300 per week.
This created a complex financial situation in which there were two-way transfer charges between Radio 270 and Proudfoot for reciprocal services rendered.
In 1965, the promoters of Radio 270 identified a Dutch built fishing lugger named Oceaan VII as being suitable for their purposes.
Oceaan 7 was registered in Honduras in the name of Radio 270's Programme Director Noel Miller (an Australian national).
The visits to harbour were usually carried out in the early hours of the morning in order to avoid disruption to broadcasting and to minimise the chances of intervention by the authorities.
In November 1966 one storm was so severe that waves were breaking over the vessel's deck and water entered the living quarters and studio.
Matters came to a head after the November storm when Proudfoot was approached by three disc jockeys (including the 19 year old Andy Kirk) with a demand that Oceaan 7 should move its station to a more sheltered location in Bridlington Bay or put into harbour whenever bad weather threatened.
The move to Bridlington Bay gave more settled conditions but it worsened reception of Radio 270's signal across large parts of its audience catchment area.
Paul Burnett even endured the ultimate indignity of throwing up live on air (while reading a commercial for Proudfoot bacon).
However he survived their attempts to oust him.By early 1967, Radio 270's affairs seemed to be stabilising and it was reported that the station was breaking-even financially.
This act prohibited the management, funding, support or supply of pirate radio ships from the British mainland.
The station gave airtime to a number of political causes including a broadcast by Wall in which he advocated British recognition of the white minority UDI regime in Rhodesia.
Harvey Proctor, then Chairman of the University of York Conservative Society, made regular half-hour current affairs broadcasts.
Postmaster-General Edward Short stated about Radio 270 that "It is the first time in peacetime that this country has been subjected to a stream of misleading propaganda from outside our territorial waters and I do not think this is a matter for joking".
[7] As 14 August approached, it was initially suggested that Radio 270 could continue broadcasting but with Oceaan 7 being supplied from the Netherlands and the station's management being shifted to that country.
DJ Vince "Rusty" Allen closed the station at one minute to midnight on 14 August 1967 with the playing of the national anthem.
Various enquiries were received from prospective buyers including one from the operators of Radio Caroline, whose own ships had been seized by creditors.
[2] Wilf Proudfoot stood as the Conservative candidate in the marginal West Yorkshire constituency of Brighouse and Spenborough, where he ousted the sitting Labour MP Colin Jackson by a majority of only 59 votes.
[13] Many former Radio 270 staff, such as Roger Gale, Paul Burnett and Philip Hayton subsequently worked in mainstream broadcasting.
