This is a photographic record of a memorable afternoon, organised by the Radio Academy of Great Britain to honour the pioneers of offshore radio, which was attended by a large number of ex-offshore personnel.

The event was the brainchild of Jon Myer, of the Pirate Radio Hall of Fame and was instigated by Radio Academy Director, Trevor Dann, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the introduction of the Marine Offences Bill that brought about the untimely end of watery wireless.

The organising committee was Jon Myer (Chairman),Tim Gillett, Mary Payne, Mark Story, Brian Thompson and Gerry Zierler.

Jon had the unenviable task of compressing three-and-a-bit years of offshore radio into about one hour of audio clips!
Meanwhile, Chris Payne joined up Jon's audio with video of rough seas, DJs jumping for their lives onto tenders, being winched onto forts and trying to stop player arms flying off records. Much of this material had never been seen before, but was made available for this special occasion by George Hare, Tony Currie, Noel Miller, Keith Skues and Mark Wesley, who very generously shared their personal archives. The venue, Sugar Reef in Gt Windmill Street, was enhanced by an amazing exhibition of offshore memorabilia, thanks to Chris and Jackie Dannatt.

Five panel sessions were held during the afternoon: The Sound of the Nation (Caroline) produced and chaired by Mark Story, The Stations on Sticks (sea fort stations) produced by Gerry Zierler and chaired by Ralph Bernard; The Jocks Who Rocked (stations from the north of England and Scotland) produced by Jon Myer and chaired by Tony Currie, It's Smooth Sailing (Radio London) produced by Mary Payne and chaired by Trevor Dann and No Man Shall Ever Forget... (Caroline continues) produced by Jon Myer and chaired by Phil Martin.

The event was dedicated to the memory of the offshore pioneers who are sadly no longer with us.

Special thanks must go to Peter Magill of Adept Audio and Richard and Richard. (Confused? We were!) They looked after setting up the audio and lighting installation and succeeded in turning the venue back into a 300-seater restaurant before you could say, "Cheque please!"

Event Organiser was Lauren Beer and her professional team from the Radio Academy and Brian Thompson was Event Producer.

Below is our favourite pic from an unforgettable day!
Radio Caroline's Graham 'Spider' Webb flies the flag for Australia!