Broadcast Pirate

Why were they called pirates?

Because they broadcast from the sea. In 1964 the only licence to broadcast radio in Britain belonged to the BBC, and monopolies are not famous for asking what you’d like to hear. At noon on 28 March 1964 Radio Caroline began regular programmes from a ship anchored outside the three-mile limit. It had no licence, but out past the limit it wasn’t breaking British law, which tells you somebody on board had read the small print.

Parliament closed the gap with the Marine, &c., Broadcasting (Offences) Act 1967, a title that gets one word in and shrugs. From midnight on 14 August 1967 it was an offence for anyone in Britain to supply or advertise on an unlicensed offshore station, so the ships were welcome to stay out there for as long as they could manage without British supplies or British advertising money. Every other station shut down on or before that night. Caroline kept going.

Today the rules are in the Wireless Telegraphy Act 2006, and making an unlicensed broadcast is an offence that can mean up to two years in prison, which is a long stretch to go without your record collection. So the toolbox on this shirt is strictly for show, and the transmitter inside it exists only in ink. What she’s putting out is the look of someone who has never once waited for a committee to hand her the microphone, and you can wear that anywhere without a licence.

Evidence: Radio Caroline, Wikipedia, August 14 1967, midnight: showdown for the pop pirates, The National Archives, Wireless Telegraphy Act 2006, section 35