Radio North Sea International
[nb 1] RNI broadcast for less than five years in the early 1970s and, courting both disaster and success, made a modest financial profit.
[3] The Labour government in Britain began jamming Mebo II's MW signal at 2030 hours on 15 April 1970.
On 16 May 1970 this was a improved reception for the regular programs but was adjacent to the pop music service of BBC Radio One on 1214 kHz (247 metres).
O'Rahilly headed the campaign on land, using a double-decker bus and posters depicting Harold Wilson as China's Chairman Mao.
The purpose of this transmission is to clear the channel of unauthorised and out of band broadcasting, to improve reception conditions for ships wishing to communicate with coast stations on this frequency or on adjacent maritime channels.Paul Harris's book Broadcasting from the High Seas, published in 1976,[6] suggests the UK government suspected RNI's shortwave equipment was sending coded messages to unfriendly countries, in particular the German Democratic Republic (GDR).
Harris also claimed Edwin Bollier vowed to take revenge on the British government because he felt RNI had been singled out for jamming.
On 12 August 1970, Kees Manders, a nightclub owner involved with Radio Veronica, became commercial director of RNI.
We're not going to let anybody else on board the ship, only Mr Manders, to hear what he's got to say, but Radio North Sea International will stay broadcasting until we receive a definite order from our Head office in Zurich.
So if anybody is listening in Zurich, or in London, or in our office in The Hague, in Scheveningen, perhaps they would like to do something, perhaps send a boat out, or perhaps try to make contact with us on the short-wave.
and the banging you can hear in the background is that we are taking all security precautions, and locking up the hatches to save anybody from coming down into the studio itself.
Crewmen on the Husky made to use a water cannon on the radio mast, but decided against, presumably having heard they risked electrocution.
As the day ended, Larry Tremaine went on air with this statement: Ladies and gentlemen, I am very sorry for the inconvenience today that you have had, but unfortunately we have had problems out here.
I'm out here right now with the owner of Radio North Sea International, from Mebo AG in Zurich, Switzerland and we hope we don't have too many problems.
This is the reason that we asked that only the shipping agent, Mr Erwin Meister, and myself, Larry Tremaine, to come out here to the Mebo II to see what the problem was.
As I understand, all the lines were flooded, showing your continued support for Radio North Sea International.
[3]RNI closed at less than 24 hours' notice at midday on 24 September 1970, in exchange for one million Dutch guilders (about £100,000) from Radio Veronica.
RNI agreed to close down after concerns that Veronica, which had been broadcasting for many years and very popular in Holland, could be forced off air because of the recent problems.
We're very very pleased to have you around, may I cordially suggest that you might like to call up your friends on the telephone and let them know that Radio North Sea International is back, 220 on their dial.
Spangles Muldoon on 16 May 1971: Following the fire on board the radio ship Mebo II last night, three men have been arrested in Amsterdam.
The men have been charged with planting a bomb on board the ship which started an intense fire which has burned out most of the after-ship's structure.
Within an hour of the explosion, two fire-fighting vessels were alongside and putting out the fire which was, by that time, raging throughout the whole of the stern of the ship.
The whole of the forward end, including the disk jockeys quarters, the studios, newsroom and transmission hall and AC generators, is intact and undamaged.
Verweij appeared on Netherlands television to tell how he had paid a man 12,000 guilders (approximately £1,100) to force Mebo II into territorial waters.
However, Judge Mr van't Veer ruled, These are gangster methods, totally inadmissible.Although Meister and Bollier did not want to prosecute the offenders, all five were sentenced to one year in prison.
A moment after the station closed listeners were surprised to hear "Man of Action," RNI's signature tune, on 1562 kHz.
That day RNI 2 carried separate programming from the main AM and FM service on 1562 kHz and on SW but then closed without warning the following morning, never to return.
Subsequently, the Radio Caroline ships Mi Amigo and Ross Revenge would be the only other vessels used to broadcast two mediumwave channels simultaneously.
El Fatah then broadcast as Radio Jamharia with programmes such as the Arab Voice, Libya International in English and the Holy Quran.
This continued until 1980, when Heinz Hurter, Edwin Bollier's second wife's brother was the only Swiss national to remain aboard.
[2] The Almasira and the El Fatah were said to have been used as target practice by the Libyan Navy in the 1980s, and were sunk in the Gulf of Sidra, Mediterranean Sea.
