Radio City (pirate radio station)

On 27 May Radio Sutch began broadcasting on 194 metres (announced as 197), 1542 kHz, from the south tower of Shivering Sands.

The transmitter, from a Handley Page Halifax bomber, was powered with a cascade of car batteries, a scaffold pole with a skull-and-crossbones flag as an antenna.

[2] By September 1964 Sutch had become tired of it and sold it to his friend and unofficial (unpaid)[3][page needed] manager Reginald Calvert for a reported £5,000.

At Christmas 1966 the show featured a parody of Alice in Wonderland and included the DJs singing new comic lyrics to instrumental versions of popular songs.

Calvert then talked to Radio London about a merger, in a venture called UKGM (United Kingdom Good Music).

In the early morning of 20 June 1966, a business associate of Calvert, retired Major Oliver Smedley (who claimed ownership of the transmitter), sent men to take possession of Shivering Sands with the intent of holding it for ransom.

[3][page needed] The killing spurred the government to shut offshore stations, passing the Marine, &c., Broadcasting (Offences) Act 1967.

Exterior shots of the visit were filmed on and around Shivering Sands, with actor/musicians climbing the ladders used by Radio City DJs.

The film crew hung a Radio City banner on one towers, bigger and more professionally made than the crudely painted sign used by the station.

In real life interviews on pirate stations would have been taped on land rather than exposing musicians to hazardous and expensive sea crossings.

An episode of Patrick McGoohan's Danger Man (known in the U.S. as Secret Agent), "The Not-So-Jolly Roger", was filmed on Red Sands Fort in early 1966 when "Radio 390" was broadcasting (shut down a year later).