What a year!
Retreating back into 2023 briefly: We had been able to refit our studio in mid to late 2023 and this persuaded the team that a 24/7 online radio station was viable. That launched with a live event at Christmas 2023.
Just two months later an arson attack on the LV18 caused havoc and our fledgling station was off the air. We were then faced with writing off the entire studio equipment having only just managed to configure it how we wanted it.
(For more details about the fire and the ship see our ship’s website https://lv18.org/2024-in-review/ )
Almost two weeks later we established a temporary studio off the ship and put Radio Mi Amigo back on the air.
Somehow we managed to clean the ship so that a planned Radio Caroline 60th Anniversary event at Easter went ahead.
The studio equipment that had been running from a temporary location was rebuilt on the ship just a day before the studio was broadcasting live shows.
We were joined in the studio by Roger ‘Twiggy’ Day (top, left) and Keith Skues, both veterans of Radio Caroline in the 1960s
Steve Scruton did a live BBC Essex broadcast from the LV18 on Easter Saturday.
A special live event was held on 23rd June, hosted in the Mi Amigo studio by Garry Lee. This was the first time anyone had openly discussed the arson attack on our station.
We reconvened in the studio for our August live event. This was held the weekend before the 14/08 anniversary, and ran 9th to the 11th.
On the 11th, however, Keith Skues received a call from Johnny Walker during his Sunday afternoon show. That call has been recorded and is available on this site.
There were a number of special radio shows during the late summer and autumn, including an August 14th special and a themed Halloween night which included a show from Stephen ‘Foz’ Foster.
One of the biggest events of the year was the Radio London 60th Anniversary in December. This took several months of planning in order to secure all the relevant permissions.
Radio Mi Amigo was one year old at Christmas 2024 but remains focussed on providing the best music content of the 60s and 70s whilst remembering the important role that the pirates played in UK media.
Station personnel at December 2024:
Station Manager – Tony O’Neil
Programme Director – Heather O’Neil
Studio Engineer – Shiraz Turvey
Email studio@lv18radio.uk