Both taped Flemish and mostly live English programmes were broadcast until the station was forced off the air by the Dutch Marine Offences Act.
)[2] It was originally intended that programmes would begin on 15 July 1973, using Mi Amigo's 10-kilowatt transmitter on 773 kHz (388 metres, announced as 385).
Consequently, when Radio Atlantis launched it was on Mi Amigo's 50 kilowatt transmitter, on Caroline's main frequency of 1187 kHz (253 m), although all of the DJ announcements originally gave the wavelength as 385.
The Caroline DJs who played the Atlantis tapes soon realised that many of the programmes overran their allotted lengths and had to be faded out early to make room for the following ones.
A new studio had to be built from scratch, and Atlantis commissioned a new antenna mast from a Dutch shipyard to replace the ship's existing T-aerial.
In an attempt to achieve better coverage of Belgium the ship was anchored close to the Belgian border, 12 miles (19 km) from Knokke.
Presentation was to be upbeat, fun and humorous, and punctuated by frequent American jingles, as a homage to the pirates of the previous decade.
British DJ Ray Warner recorded his programmes in England, in deliberate contravention of the 1967 Marine Offences Act.
With its cobbled-together transmitter (the power of which was gradually increased to almost 3 kilowatts), inefficient antenna, repeated frequency changes and interrupted broadcasts, Atlantis never achieved very strong coverage in the United Kingdom, but nevertheless gained a small but loyal cult following.
The wealthy Van Landschoot's response was to cancel all advertising contracts and meet the station's running costs (estimated at the equivalent of £1,500 sterling per week) out of his own pocket.
The station had been broadcasting announcements asking fans to meet the ship at Vlissingen and say their goodbyes, and a crowd of 1,000 turned up to greet Janine's arrival.
In September 1974, several people with broadcasting equipment, including a 10 kilowatt transmitter, boarded the long-abandoned Gunfleet Lighthouse off the British coast and began to make structural improvements and modifications.
It was not until 1999 that Van Landschoot admitted the open secret that he had been involved with the relaunch of his former rival station, again aimed at the promotion of his Carnaby clothing and boutiques, and records of artists he was managing at the time: Dream Express, its offspring L.B.S., Luke and Puzzle.
The LP was produced by Chris Edwards and featured numerous interviews with the station's staff and DJs, as well as airchecks and jingles provided by Steve England.