Shivering Sands Army Fort: The Pirate Radio City

Shivering Sands Army Fort is a WWII army fort built near the mouth of Thames estuary for anti-aircraft defence. It is made up of several interconnected towers, and is located 9.2 miles off land. Since being decommissioned in the late 1950s, the towers have been used as a filming location and most famously in the 1960s, as a pirate radio station. The towers featured in the 1975 movie Slade In Flame, when the fictional band went out to them, to be interviewed by a pirate radio station. The DJ who interviewed them being a parody of the eccentric shock rock musician and (for a short time) DJ, Screaming Lord Sutch. In reality Sutch along with the help of his manager Reginald Calvert, did set up a pirate radio station, Radio Sutch, in May 1964. To compete with Radio Caroline, a pirate radio station that had started broadcasting from a converted ferry anchored out in international waters, in the March of 1964.
Sutch had planned to broadcast from a 60 foot working fishing boat called the Cornucopia. The Cornucopia would do its fishing in the morning, and Sutch planned to broadcast from it in the afternoon and into the night. But as he set sail one time into the Thames estuary, he came across the Shivering Sands Army Fort. He had all his radio transmitting equipment loaded onto the fort, claimed squatters rights, and thus began Britain's first ever "Teenage Radio Station".  Sutch's idea was to counter Radio Caroline's more adult themed programming, with his weird brand of radio show. He'd often play his own songs, the first song played on air was his own 1963 single Jack The Ripper. The station would play whole album sides uninterrupted, and Sutch would sometimes come on-air to give readings from banned books like "Lady Chatterley's Lover". Broadcasts were sporadic, due to the cobbled together car-battery powered transmitting equipment they were using. 
The Government were obviously not happy about Sutch and his pirate crew taking over Shivering Sands, and sent in a Navy battle ship to remove them. Sutch and his motley crew refused to move, and the battle ship turned back. With a newspaper headline the next day declaring "Lord Sutch Turns Back The Navy". By September 1964, Sutch had become bored of the radio station, and wanted to back on the road with his band The Savages. He sold the station to his manager Richard Calvert for a reported £5,000. Calvert installed better transmitting equipment and renamed the station Radio City.

The towers of Shivering Sands were interconnected by catwalks. Calvert had the catwalks repaired, and expanded the radio station into five of the still connected towers, building loving quarters and new studios. The eclectic style of programming continued, and even featured the only radio comedy show of any pirate radio station, called The Auntie Mabel Hour. In September 1965, merger talks began between City and Radio Caroline. A transmitted was installed on the fort, for use by Radio Caroline when it jumped ship and joined the crew on Shivering Sands. The deal fell through however, and the new transmitted never got paid for. 
In the early morning of June 20th 1966, a business associate of Calvert, retired Major Oliver Smedley (who claimed ownership of the transmitter), sent men to take possession of Shivering Sands. That evening, Calvert visited Smedley's home and in a scuffle was shot by Smedley. Smedley was charged with murder but cleared on grounds of self-defence. The killing was the final straw for the Government, who wanted to close down all the pirate radio stations. By 1967 ten pirate radio stations were broadcasting to an estimated daily audience of 10 to 15 million listeners. The Government created legislation to close the "international waters" legal loop-hole, passing the Marine Broadcasting Offences Act. However prior to this legislation, it was established that the fort, which was actually within British waters, was covered by existing legislation. On February the 8th 1967, at midnight the station was closed.
The establishment of pirate radio in the UK broke the BBC's virtual monopoly of radio, and forced their hand. The BBC up to that point wasn't catering for the burgeoning youth audience. In reaction to the popularity of pirate radio BBC radio was restructured in 1967, establishing BBC Radio 1, Radio 2, Radio 3 and Radio 4. Most notable of these new stations was Radio 1, which began to play "pop" music, staffed by DJs who came from pirate radio stations. 
Tony Blackburn had been a pirate radio DJ, on both Radio Caroline and Radio London between 1964 and 1967. He joined BBC radio in 1967, and was the first voice heard on the new Radio 1 when it was launched on September 30th 1967. The first words he spoke on BBC Radio 1 were "...and good morning everyone! Welcome to the exciting new sound of Radio 1". Followed by the first ever song to be played on Radio 1, Flowers In The Rain by The Move. And thus the glory days of pirate radio in the UK were over. Although Radio Caroline continued to broadcast sporadically right through until 1990. 
The First Lord Of Horror Rock: Screaming Lord Sutch - Infamous horror rock musician, who had some of the greatest rock musicians in history pass through his backing band The Savages.
The Dial-A-Poem Poets - A New York City poetry project started in 1968, by poet John Giorno. It used the telephone system, to spread poetry recorded by poets and artists.