The Boat That Rocked – Pirate Radio

April 10th, 2009 | Posted by Paul |

The Boat That Rocked – Pirate Radio movie. Today we went to see The Boat That Rocked – the new British comedy movie about pirate radio broadcasting in the North Sea during the 1960′s. Here’s the movie trailer:

It is excellent! Go see The Boat That Rocked today!

Back in 2004 Radio Caroline came to Tilbury, Essex, and your truly went to have a look…..

Asda Supporting Radio Caroline at Tilbury, Essex

For those who don’t know, Radio Caroline was perhaps the most famous of all North Sea pirate radio stations. In fact, as you’ll see from some of these pictures, I’m guessing that The Boat That Rocked was based most heavily on it! In 2004, Radio Caroline was broadcasting off the Ross Revenge, a former fishing trawler:

Ross Revenge Lifebelt

In The Boat That Rocked you’ll see “Rock Radio” painted in white letters on the green deck of the ship. Just the same as the word “Caroline” is in the deck of the Ross Revenge:

Radio Caroline Painted On The Ship Deck

And it also has a bloody big radio mast on the deck of the ship, (which also has an active part in the movie!):

Radio Caroline Mast

Of course, one of the main reasons why Radio Caroline and other great pirate radio stations of the 60′s flourished so much was due to the characters – the wild and wacky DJs on board these floating musical barges. Here I captured a few of the more modern “Pirates”:

Pandora on Radio Caroline

And also down in the galley:

Radio Caroline DJs in the ship's galley

For me, radio is the best medium and the best form of entertainment. It’s true, I do spend a lot of time making silly videos and putting them on YouTube etc. But “back in the day” – at college – I used to do a weekly 3 hr hospital radio programme on Radio North Tees General, at North Tees General Hospital in Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland. It was a blast – so much fun. My ideal job would be to have my own radio programme.

The next three pics are arty black and white versions I did of the photos I took of the original broadcast studios of Radio Caroline:

Radio Caroline Original Broadcast Studio

And the next:

Radio Caroline Original Broadcast Studio Again

And finally:

Radio Caroline Original Broadcast Studio Once More

Of course it was a bit of a thrill to be able to be in the second studio, (whilst Radio Caroline was broadcasting away in the studio next door!), of the more modern broadcast studios:

Me In The Radio Caroline Studios

Remember now this is back in 2004 before I had my laser eye surgery, hence I’m still wearing my specs! Without the large bespectacled tourist, the studio looks like this:

Radio Caroline Second Studio

Nowadays, like most things, computers have their part to play. Here we see a very clever software programme on the DJ’s pc which basically controls all the broadcast for him in rotation:

Radio Caroline Main Studio

And this brings me round in full circle again. If you’re a fan of the 60′s music, (The Boat That Rocked has a great sound track), an even bigger fan of pirate radio broadcasting, or just want to be entertained by a great British movie – then go and see The Boat That Rocked today!

Update: There’s only one way to get to the top of the Google blog search for The Boat That Rocked: