Ronan O' Rahilly R.I. P.

For anything about people who are not Shadows members

Moderators: David Martin, dave robinson, Iain Purdon, George Geddes

Ronan O' Rahilly R.I. P.

Postby anniv 63 » Tue Apr 21, 2020 11:10 am

Just been announced that he has passed away at the age of 79.
As the founder of Radio Caroline, the station certainly was a major influence in bringing
many new Mod bands such as The Who, Small Faces etc to a wider audience at the time.
I think in its very early days, it played records on the Cannon label and discs that come to mind
are Geronimo and Theme For Young Lovers by The Alan Moore 4 featuring Vic Flick!!!

Mike
anniv 63
 
Posts: 744
Joined: Sun Jan 10, 2010 5:16 pm
Full Real Name: mj shiach

Re: Ronan O' Rahilly R.I. P.

Postby Derek Mowbray » Tue Apr 21, 2020 8:04 pm

After Pirate radio became illegal he could travel to this country without fear of prosecution as he was Irish, I used to listen to Radio Caroline by placing the radio next to the water taps to pick up the signal.
User avatar
Derek Mowbray
 
Posts: 303
Joined: Sat Sep 19, 2009 7:36 pm
Location: Leeds, Great Britain
Full Real Name: Derek Mowbray

Re: Ronan O' Rahilly R.I. P.

Postby Iain Purdon » Tue Apr 21, 2020 9:36 pm

A lot of Shadows numbers were used as theme tunes on Radio Caroline and the others. Without Caroline we wouldn’t have had BBC Radio 1 nor the ILR stations when we did. Ronan O’Rahilly changed the game.
Iain Purdon
site admin group
User avatar
Iain Purdon
Site Admin
 
Posts: 3326
Joined: Sat Sep 12, 2009 3:21 pm
Location: Axmouth, Devon
Full Real Name: Iain Purdon

Re: Ronan O' Rahilly R.I. P.

Postby anniv 63 » Wed Apr 22, 2020 2:14 pm

As regards Radio Caroline North Ship, the DJ'S in the main were very enthusiastic about the music they
played and presented to the audience.
Guys such as Tom Lodge' Mike Ahern etc started off with great DJ theme tunes like Rinky Dink(Johnny Howard Band)
Buckeye (Johnny& Hurricanes) etc so your interest was captured immediately.
Chat was sometimes good too!! i.e " And today the weather is sunny over the Isle of Man and here are The Beach Boys
with California Girls and oh yes and some are doing a spot of nude sunbathing on Ramsey Bay beach!!!
Now Wouldn't that be Nice!!!

Mike
anniv 63
 
Posts: 744
Joined: Sun Jan 10, 2010 5:16 pm
Full Real Name: mj shiach

Re: Ronan O' Rahilly R.I. P.

Postby Iain Purdon » Wed Apr 22, 2020 8:34 pm

That’s right. Caroline North had that feel to it. Caroline South was in the shadow of Radio London and not winning. So Ronan brought Tom Lodge back from the North ship to revitalise South. He introduced the same ethos there. Any DJ not up to it was sent ashore. South became tons better while London started losing its best guys. By the time the law changed, both Carolines were ready to carry on into the (uncertain) future. Ronan knew what he was doing.
Iain Purdon
site admin group
User avatar
Iain Purdon
Site Admin
 
Posts: 3326
Joined: Sat Sep 12, 2009 3:21 pm
Location: Axmouth, Devon
Full Real Name: Iain Purdon

Re: Ronan O' Rahilly R.I. P.

Postby JimN » Thu Apr 23, 2020 2:19 am

Iain Purdon wrote:Without Caroline we wouldn’t have had BBC Radio 1...


You make that sound like a good thing.

I firmly believe that BBC Radio was much better before the 1967 bonfire. The Third Programme survived reasonably intact, likewise the Home Service.

The Light Programme had been a generic light entertainment station and was not just there for presenters to chat, play records and develop the cult of their personalities. There was a lot of live music performed (and recorded), probably because of the need to avoid confrontation with the MU over needle-time agreements, but this petered out in the years following the change to Radio 1 and 2.

There was light and shade in the station's output. In effect, the Light Programme was like an audio-only version of a public service TV channel, where you'd never expect to see the same thing all day and all evening. When you only have airspace for a few channels, you can't have stations devoted to just one genre of music to the virtual exclusion of everything else and it is unreasonable for potential audiences to expect it. There is no hardship in being exposed to a wide range of (broadly) light music and even comedy and the daily drama of "Mrs Dale's Diary" (which was originally on the Light before being shifted to Radio Four).

It doesn't stop there. The establishment of Radio 1 led to parallel changes being made at Luxembourg, which followed the herd in moving away from structured programming towards meandering two-hour slots where the presenter was king - and which became nigh on unlistenable.

Is my distaste for the 1967 changes coming across?

And all this at the behest of the Wilson government which had a screw loose about commercial radio, even if it was coming - lawfully - from outside the territory of the UK (like Luxembourg, Manx Radio and Radio Eireann).

You hated commercial radio and wanted to stamp it out, Harold?

How did that turn out, then?

PS: RIP, Ronan, the Freddy Laker of the airwaves.
Last edited by JimN on Thu Apr 23, 2020 2:21 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
JimN
 
Posts: 4782
Joined: Thu Sep 17, 2009 11:39 pm
Full Real Name: Jim Nugent

Re: Ronan O' Rahilly R.I. P.

Postby RayL » Thu Apr 23, 2020 7:42 am

Sorry, Jim, I can't share your nostalgia for the Light Programme. A youngster like yourself won't remember how awful it was in the late 1950s when the BBC (having reluctantly accepted that they had to play rock'n'roll and other music from the hit parade) did their best to minimise enjoyment by, for example, having the records played by someone who obviously despised the music. I remember particularly David Jacobs whose preference for Sinatra and the crooners was very plain.

Then there was 'the Saturday Club mix', where a band from the charts would come into a BBC studio to play live and the studio managers (the BBC name for the guys who mixed music) would serve up a weedy, bass-light travesty of the original record. I gave up listening to Saturday Club for that very reason.

When the pirates came along, they played the records that people bought and the DJs obviously enjoyed playing them. No wonder they were successful.
Ray
User avatar
RayL
 
Posts: 1256
Joined: Wed Sep 16, 2009 4:25 pm
Location: Carshalton, Surrey
Full Real Name: Ray Liffen

Re: Ronan O' Rahilly R.I. P.

Postby JimN » Thu Apr 23, 2020 11:06 am

I had and have no problem with the so-called "pirate" ships, Ray. For a start, there were never going to be all that many of them, given the capital and revenue costs of running one.

My problem is with the government of the day and the BBC for caving in to them.
User avatar
JimN
 
Posts: 4782
Joined: Thu Sep 17, 2009 11:39 pm
Full Real Name: Jim Nugent

Re: Ronan O' Rahilly R.I. P.

Postby anniv 63 » Thu Apr 23, 2020 11:21 am

Totally agree Ray, for an example , Easy Beat on the Sunday morning Light Programme was pretty dire!!
like Danny Street crooning the latest ballads and maybe Clinton Ford doing Fanlight Fanny which was not
all that bad.
Saturday Club with Brian Matthew got much better with the Beat Era particularly with the live sessions
where session guys like Jimmy Page etc augmented Arthur Greenslade and the G Men for a pretty tight
backing group/ orchestra/combo as required.
Then there was friendly Joe Loss at lunchtime trying to get his head around The Stones or Animals!!!

Mike
anniv 63
 
Posts: 744
Joined: Sun Jan 10, 2010 5:16 pm
Full Real Name: mj shiach

Re: Ronan O' Rahilly R.I. P.

Postby GoldenStreet » Thu Apr 23, 2020 11:51 am

Of course, we did have the spontaneity and atmosphere of the Pop Go The Beatles sessions and, previous to that, Shane Fenton and the Fentones (was a big fan of the Fentones). The live audience shows such as Go Man Go! and Parade of the Pops were perhaps pretty mixed, although I have youthful memories of appearances by the Shadows on the latter from that time.

Bill
GoldenStreet
 
Posts: 1246
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2011 12:34 pm
Full Real Name: Bill Hannay

Next

Return to People

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 5 guests

Ads by Google
These advertisements are selected and placed by Google to assist with the cost of site maintenance.
ShadowMusic is not responsible for the content of external advertisements.