FORMER Radio Caroline North DJs, newsreaders and engineers returned to the Island at the weekend to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the radio station's departure from Manx waters.
It was the first gathering in the Island of staff and fans to remember the ship that operated off Ramsey bay between 1964 and 1968.
More than 100 delegates attended the convention, from the station's founder, Ronan O'Rahilly, and newsreader Nick B
ailey to fans from across the UK.
Among the DJs were Alan Turner, who was one of the three DJs who broadcast continuously on the MV Caroline's journey from Harwich to Ramsey in July 1964.
It was a particularly special event for DJ Mick Luvzit who married the sister of another DJ, Ray Teret, live on air 42 years ago on Saturday.
Newsreader Nick Bailey – who now works for Classic FM – was joined by former colleague John Aston and the original chief engineer, Ove Sjostrom, flew in from Sweden to link up with past collaborator Trevor Grantham.
During the weekend they visited the Pirates of the Irish Sea exhibition at the House of Manannan in Peel and attended a conference at the Manx Museum where former staff shared their experiences and talked about the history of the radio station.
On Sunday they visited Ramsey – formerly the centre of the radio station's operations.
They went to the Ellan Vannin (formerly the Commercial Hotel) and the Mitre, which were both used by Radio Caroline as a residential base for crew from 1964-68.
They then went to their former office in East Street before going to North Shore Road, where the ship used to be anchored.
Conference organiser Andy Wint said: 'To go to Ramsey where it all used to happen was extremely poignant for a lot of people.
'Some people hadn't seen each other for 40 years.'
He added: 'Everyone thought the exhibition at the House of Manannan was first class and was good enough to be at a museum anywhere in the world.'
When Caroline arrived in 1964 the Isle of Man found itself at the centre of the swinging 60s. Non-stop pop music poured out of her transmitter across the North of England and Ireland, pop stars visited the ship and daytime commercial radio became available to the UK for the first time.
Her transmission area was a radius of 300 miles – more after dark – serving several million listeners.
When the UK Government announced its plans to introduce legislation to close down Radio Caroline, the Manx Government opposed it and sent an emergency delegation to London to put forward a case that the Island was exempt from the legislation.
They were unsuccessful which caused a constitutional crisis.
And following political and legal pressure and unpaid bills, the radio ship was towed away in the middle of the night with the few remaining DJs still onboard.
However, in those few years, Radio Caroline became a watershed in British broadcasting history and provided a blueprint for many of today's radio presenters.
