John S. Platt reporting:

The Radio Caroline RSL in Harwich

The second week of the Caroline RSL has brought a bigger audience and further advertisers. The weekend crew replaced us weekday boys and continued spreading the Caroline sound over the medium wave and when I say the "Caroline sound" I do mean it.

Having worked on the other RSL's I can honestly say that the "Caroline" thing is totally different. The atmosphere is very relaxed, there are no enormous ego's to feed and everyone is there for the station not themselves. It has been a very enjoyable experience for me.

The most significant thing last week was the weather, it was atrocious! We had two force nine severe gales which had the ship going up and down like a lift. Having experienced a gale on a vessel tethered to a pier and in a sheltered mooring I now have the greatest admiration for those who really did the job out in the North Sea.

Most of the drainage outlets became blocked for a few days and a couple of the DJ's, arriving at night and not being able to see where the water had pooled, ended up with wet shoes and feet. Behind the on-air studio is a deck and the water was 5 inches deep there.

Also, one evening we were surrounded by the most violent electrical storms. The lightening was almost continuous but sufficiently far away that the thunder never reached us. It was very strange, is that the Caroline effect I wonder.

The production studio has had a few changes made to it, as has the main studio. More equipment has been added downstairs and the on-air studio has been changed to make for a more comfortable working environment.

We have continued to receive messages from all over the world with those listening on medium wave all commenting on the quality of the audio. The number of phone calls has increased as the word of our RSL gets around. Note the picture of John Day dealing with the 200th call to him that morning.

Over the week end we had some welcome visitors who were able to take advantage of the large shop we now have on board. Every kind of Caroline memorabilia is available together with a stock of RNI items. So if you want the latest stuff, you know where we are.

One of the strangest events was the visit to the ship by a fish! At about 2 p.m. last Tuesday a large flock of Seagulls were making a hell of a racket on the bow of the ship. I looked out the studio window to see them fighting over a small flat fish that was on the deck. It wasn't flapping around so I must assume that it had been dropped by another bird and this lot were fighting for a free lunch. The fish made no comment before being eaten by a Herring gull and was unable to visit to shop due to lack of mobility.

The breakfast show is now being presented by Colin Lamb, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
by uncle Phil Mitchell, he is followed by Paul Maclaren, Barry James or Riga Steve do the 8 p.m. to midnight slot and then I grace the airwaves until 3 a.m. when Steve Sisco takes care of you all until 6 a.m. I believe a change will take place next week in the afternoon.

I have, I believe, so far only repeated 3 tracks during the first two weeks and only have another 683 tracks to go before I run out of music. When I do I will sit and read the daily newspapers to you.

More to come next week.

See ya.

Big John

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