Readers who are followers of anniversaries of significant radio moments in history, will realise that this weekend marks the 30th anniversary of off-shore pirate ‘Laser 558’ going on-air.
I won’t go into all the background information, if you are not familiar with this influential, though short lived station, then a google search on Laser 558 will should bring you all you need and more.
Laser 558 left the air on November 6th 1985, for our topical audio clip from the sound archive this week, we have a news report on the subject from fellow North Sea radio station ‘Radio Caroline’.
The original source of this recording I do not have full details of. I obtained it when it was broadcast as part of a Radio Caroline feature around 1993/94 by “Bob Layne” of the “Radio Program” on Manchester land based pirate “The Superstation”. Incidentally Bob’s YouTube Channel is highly recommended with hours of interesting stuff, even for the trainee or closet anoraks.
Finally to note in this tangled web, the picture above is of the MV Communicator, just before being broken up for scrap. This was the original Laser 558 ship, which a couple of decades later found itself for a few months the home of “The Superstation Orkney” and just in case you hadn’t guessed the link between the two “Superstations” is a certain “Dangerous” Dave Miller.
This is another item in my ‘Sound Archive’ series.
Photo Credits: “MV Communicator” by paddy patterson
