Offshore radio is

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

broadcasting from ships or fixed maritime structures. Offshore broadcasters are usually unlicensed but transmissions are legal in

international waters The terms international waters or transboundary waters apply where any of the following types of bodies of water (or their drainage basins) transcend international boundaries: oceans, large marine ecosystems, enclosed or semi-enclosed region ...

. This is in contrast to unlicensed broadcasting on land or within a nation's

territorial waters Territorial waters are informally an area of water where a sovereign state has jurisdiction, including internal waters, the territorial sea, the contiguous zone, the exclusive economic zone, and potentially the extended continental shelf ( ...

, which is usually unlawful.

History

The claimed first wireless broadcast of music and speech for the purpose of entertainment was transmitted from a

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

craft, HMS ''Andromeda'', in 1907. The broadcast was organized by a Lieutenant Quentin Crauford using the callsign QFP while the ship was anchored off Chatham in the

Thames Estuary The Thames Estuary is where the River Thames meets the waters of the North Sea, in the south-east of Great Britain. Limits An estuary can be defined according to different criteria (e.g. tidal, geographical, navigational or in terms of salinit ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. However, the majority of offshore broadcasters have been unlicensed stations using seaborne broadcasting as a means to circumvent national broadcasting regulations, for example the practice has been used by broadcasting organizations like the

Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is an international broadcasting network funded by the federal government of the United States that by law has editorial independence from the government. It is the largest and oldest of the American internation ...

as a means of circumventing national broadcasting regulations of other nations. Unlicensed offshore commercial stations have operated off the coasts of

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, The

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, The

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. By the late 1920s, the " UK government concluded that radio was such a powerful means of mass communication that it would have to be in state control", and gave the publicly funded

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

a monopoly on broadcasting. Because of rigid governmental controls and programming mostly consisting of serious music and highbrow issues, much of the UK population began to turn to radio stations from abroad, such as Radio Lyon,

Radio Normandy Captain Leonard Frank Plugge (21 September 1889 – 19 February 1981) was a British radio entrepreneur and Conservative Party politician. Early years and political life Plugge was born in Walworth, only son of Frank Plugge (1864–1946), a co ...

, Radio Athlone, Radio Mediterranee and

Radio Luxembourg Radio Luxembourg was a multilingual commercial broadcaster in Luxembourg. It is known in most non-English languages as RTL (for Radio Television Luxembourg). The English-language service of Radio Luxembourg began in 1933 as one of the earlies ...

, especially on Sundays, when the BBC did not carry any entertainment programmes. However, English-speaking broadcast hours were limited and parts of the UK were unable to receive most stations properly during the daytime. The earliest attempt to establish an offshore broadcaster in England occurred in 1928, when

Associated Newspapers DMG Media (stylised in lowercase) is an intermediate holding company for Associated Newspapers, Northcliffe Media, Harmsworth Printing, Harmsworth Media and other subsidiaries of Daily Mail and General Trust. It is based at 9 Derry Street in ...

(owners of the ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily Middle-market newspaper, middle-market Tabloid journalism, tabloid conservative newspaper founded in 1896 and published in London. , it has the List of newspapers in the United Kingdom by circulation, h ...

'') acquired the yacht Ceto and installed radio equipment. Unfortunately, the apparatus could not operate properly on board, the signal being heavily affected by the climate conditions. The transmitter was then replaced by Siemens loudspeakers and the Ceto toured England "broadcasting" gramophone records interspersed by advertising. Unauthorized offshore broadcasting stations operating from ships or fixed platforms in the coastal waters of the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

first appeared in 1958. There were as many as eleven such stations in the mid-1960s. Ross Revenge 1984

One of the most popular offshore radio broadcasts in Europe came from

Radio Caroline Radio Caroline is a British radio station founded in 1964 by Ronan O'Rahilly and Allan Crawford, initially to circumvent the record companies' control of popular music broadcasting in the United Kingdom and the BBC's radio broadcasting monopol ...

, which developed out of both the strict broadcasting regulations in England in the 1960s as well as the fact the major labels had left little to no airtime to less established acts.Robert Chapman, ''Selling the Sixties: The Pirates and Pop Music Radio'' London: :Routledge, 1992 The Radio Caroline name was used to broadcast from international waters, using five different ships of three different owners, from 1964 to 1990. Radio Caroline was the brainchild of Ronan O'Rahilly, who dreamed up a way to air music by "unestablished" rock and roll artists Other well-known stations of the period were

Radio Atlanta Radio Atlanta was an offshore commercial station that operated briefly from 12 May 1964 to 2 July 1964 from a ship anchored in the North Sea, three and a half miles off Frinton-on-Sea, Essex, England. The radio broadcasting vessel was owned, at th ...

, Radio London, Radio 270 (broadcasting of the coast of

Filey Filey () is a seaside town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. It is located between Scarborough, North Yorkshire, Scarborough and Bridlington on Filey Bay. Although it was a fishing village, it has a large ...

, Yorkshire)

Radio 390 Radio 390 (1965–1967) was a pirate radio station on Red Sands Fort, (near Whitstable), a former Maunsell Fort on the Red Sands sandbar in the River Thames estuary. Previously the fort had been used by Radio Invicta (c June 1964 – February 1 ...

, Radio Scotland, Radio Northsea International and Radio City. Most offshore broadcast is usually associated with European unlicensed radio stations; the trend never caught on as much in the

as most organizations that could afford an offshore broadcasting boat would instead buy a legal station. Still, there were a few American offshore stations that made a lasting impression. The first station to broadcast in the U.S. from international waters was RXKR off of the coast of

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. and broadcast from May 1933 until August 1933. It was operated from a cargo carrier named the S.S. City of Panama, a ship that was actually supposed to be advertising tourism in

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

to Americans from

. The operators of the ship actually broadcast popular music and advertisements, fooling the Panamanian government and eventually being shut down at the request of the U.S. Department of State.

Suppression

Unlicensed ''Radio and TV Noordzee'' since August 1964 used REM island offshore platform for broadcasting aimed at the

. On December 12, 1964, a law, which split the North Sea into continental sections was passed in the Netherlands. The sea bed under REM Island, to which the structure was attached, was declared Dutch territory. Five days later, Dutch Marines boarded the platform and ended the broadcasting. The

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; , CdE) is an international organisation with the goal of upholding human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it is Europe's oldest intergovernmental organisation, represe ...

in 1965 passed the " European Agreement for the Prevention of Broadcasts transmitted from Stations outside National Territories" to address this loophole, although some member states were slow to implement this in national law. Radio broadcasts from ships that are unauthorized under the laws of the recipient may cause radio frequencies to be unusable. This can be potentially detrimental to certain emergency and security services. The 1965 agreement was an attempt to resolve this by treaty.''Oppenheim's International Law (Vol.I) (9th Edition) - Peace, 9th edition'' edited by Jennings, Sir Robert; Watts, Sir Arthur (19th June 2008), Part 2, Ch.6, Radio Communication and the High Seas. In 1967, the UK Government enacted the Marine, &c., Broadcasting (Offences) Act 1967, outlawing advertising on or supplying an unlicensed offshore radio station from the UK. Several other European countries passed similar legislation.

List of offshore stations

;Aimed at British listener
#
*

* Laser 558 * Radio London * Radio City (previously Radio Sutch) *

Swinging Radio England Swinging Radio England ("SRE") was a top 40 offshore commercial station billed as the "''World's Most Powerful''" that operated from 3 May 1966 to 13 November 1966 from a ship in the North Sea, four and a half miles off Frinton-on-Sea, Essex, En ...

Britain Radio Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...

* Radio Scotland *

(Previously Radio Invicta, KING radio) * Radio 355 * Radio 270 *

* Tower Radio * Radio Seagull * Radio Essex (later BBMS) *

CNBC CNBC is an American List of business news channels, business news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group, a unit of Comcast's NBCUniversal. The network broadcasts live business news and analysis programming during the morning, Day ...

Commercial Neutral Broadcasting Company ;Netherlands and Belgiu
#
* Radio Northsea International -also targeted British and (occasionally) German listeners * Radio and TV Noordzee *

Radio Veronica Radio Veronica was an offshore radio station that began broadcasting in 1960, and was on air for over fourteen years. It was set up by independent radio, TV and household electrical retailers in the Netherlands, to stimulate the sales of ra ...

* Radio Monique * Radio Atlantis * Radio Mi Amigo Internationaal * Radio Delmare *

Capital Radio Capital London is an Independent Local Radio station owned and operated by Global Media & Entertainment as part of its national Capital (radio network), Capital Network. As Capital Radio it was launched in the London area in 1973 as one of Bri ...

* Radio 819 *

Radio Antwerpen Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connected to ...

aka Radio Uilenspiegel * Radio Paradijs * Radio Dolfijn * Radio 227 ;Scandinavi
#
: * Radio Nord (Sweden) * Radio Syd (Sweden) * Radio Mercur (Denmark and Sweden) * Danmarks Commercielle Radio Denmark ;United State
#
: * RXKR 1933 * Radio Free America 1973 * Radio Newyork International 1987-88 ;New Zealan
#
*

Radio Hauraki Radio Hauraki is a New Zealand rock music station that started in 1966. It was the first private commercial radio station of the modern broadcasting era in New Zealand and operated illegally until 1970 to break the monopoly held by the state- ...

;Middle Eas
#
* Voice of Peace (Israel) *

Arutz Sheva ''Arutz Sheva'' (), also known in English as ''Israel National News'', is an Israeli media network identifying with religious Zionism. It offers online news articles in Hebrew language, Hebrew, English language, English, and Russian language, R ...

(Israel) * Odelia TV (Israel) * Radio One (Israel) * Radio Hof (Israel) * Radio Gal (Israel) * Radio Dan (Israel) * Galei Hayam Hatichon (Israel) * Arutz 2000 (Israel) ;Other
#
*

(United States Coast Guard Cutter Courier, moored off

Rhodes Rhodes (; ) is the largest of the Dodecanese islands of Greece and is their historical capital; it is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, ninth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Administratively, the island forms a separ ...

, Greece) * SPLAJBC/LBJ Libyan State Radio * Radio Brod Former Yugoslavia * World Mission Radio

British offshore radio: timeline

ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:25 PlotArea = left:125 bottom:60 top:0 right:50 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1964 till:31/03/1968 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Colors = id:onair value:blue id:t value:white ScaleMajor = increment:1 start:1964 BarData = bar:Caroline text:"Radio Caroline" bar:Atlanta text:"Radio Atlanta" bar:Sutch text:"Radio Sutch" bar:CarolineNorth text:"Radio Caroline North" bar:Invicta text:"Radio Invicta" bar:City text:"Radio City" bar:London text:"Radio London" bar:King text:"King Radio" bar:390 text:"Radio 390" bar:Tower text:"Tower Radio" bar:Essex text:"Radio Essex" bar:Scotland text:"Radio Scotland" bar:England text:"Swinging Radio England" bar:270 text:"Radio 270" bar:Britain text:"Britain Radio" bar:BBMS text:"BBMS" bar:355 text:"Radio 355" bar:227 text:"Radio 227" PlotData= width:11 bar:Caroline from: 28/03/1964 till: 02/03/1968 color:onair at:28/03/1964 shift:(0,-5) text:"Caroline" textcolor:t PlotData= width:11 bar:Atlanta from: 12/05/1964 till: 02/07/1964 color:onair at:12/05/1964 shift:(0,-5) text:"Atlanta" textcolor:t PlotData= width:11 bar:Sutch from: 27/05/1964 till: 22/09/1964 color:onair at:27/05/1964 shift:(0,-5) text:"Sutch" textcolor:t PlotData= width:11 bar:CarolineNorth from: 02/07/1964 till: 03/03/1968 color:onair at:02/07/1964 shift:(0,-5) text:"Caroline North" textcolor:t PlotData= width:11 bar:Invicta from: 17/07/1964 till: 11/02/1965 color:onair at:17/07/1964 shift:(0,-5) text:"Invicta" textcolor:t PlotData= width:11 bar:City from: 23/09/1964 till: 08/02/1967 color:onair at:23/09/1964 shift:(0,-5) text:"City" textcolor:t PlotData= width:11 bar:London from: 23/12/1964 till: 14/08/1967 color:onair at:23/12/1964 shift:(0,-5) text:"London" textcolor:t PlotData= width:11 bar:King from: 24/03/1965 till: 22/09/1965 color:onair at:24/03/1965 shift:(0,-5) text:"King" textcolor:t PlotData= width:11 bar:390 from: 25/09/1965 till: 28/07/1967 color:onair at:25/09/1965 shift:(0,-5) text:"390" textcolor:t PlotData= width:11 bar:Tower from: 22/10/1965 till: 30/04/1966 color:onair at:22/10/1965 shift:(0,-5) text:"Tower" textcolor:t PlotData= width:11 bar:Essex from: 27/10/1965 till: 06/10/1966 color:onair at:27/10/1965 shift:(0,-5) text:"Essex" textcolor:t PlotData= width:11 bar:Scotland from: 31/12/1965 till: 14/08/1967 color:onair at:31/12/1965 shift:(0,-5) text:"Scotland" textcolor:t PlotData= width:11 bar:England from: 03/05/1966 till: 04/11/1966 color:onair at:03/05/1966 shift:(0,-5) text:"England" textcolor:t PlotData= width:11 bar:270 from: 09/06/1966 till: 14/08/1967 color:onair at:09/06/1966 shift:(0,-5) text:"270" textcolor:t PlotData= width:11 bar:Britain from: 16/06/1966 till: 22/02/1967 color:onair at:16/06/1966 shift:(0,-5) text:"Britain" textcolor:t PlotData= width:11 bar:BBMS from: 06/10/1966 till: 25/12/1966 color:onair at:06/10/1966 shift:(0,-5) text:"BBMS" textcolor:t PlotData= width:11 bar:355 from: 15/03/1967 till: 06/08/1967 color:onair at:15/03/1967 shift:(0,-5) text:"355" textcolor:t PlotData= width:11 bar:227 from: 15/03/1967 till: 23/07/1967 color:onair at:15/03/1967 shift:(0,-5) text:"227" textcolor:t

References

External links