Talkin’ Lke A Pirate and Saying So Long Me Hearties To UK Offshore Pirate Radio

To capitalize on International Talk Like a Pirate Day, (September 19th) a stunt that attracts attention on social media, New York University has prepared “Pirate Lingo 101.”

It features an associate professor of linguistics, but it is not a for-credit course. It is not a course at all. It is a video that features two fast-moving minutes about the origins of phrases like “arrgh” and “shiver me timbers.”

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Our celebration of International Talk Like A Pirate Day includes a tribute to Radio Caroline and pirate radio.

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On Easter, 1964, Radio Caroline began broadcasting from a ship anchored in international waters off the coast of Essex in southeastern England. Moves to outlaw the station were under way within a week. But by the time Radio London, a station with a slickly professional sound and commercial clout, opened in December, the airwaves of the United Kingdom were cluttered with unlicensed broadcasters operating from either ships or disused marine defense emplacements.

Audience figures grew through 1965 as listeners embraced the formula of young, flamboyant disc jockeys and jingles and station identifications imported from the United States, punctuating a Top 40 playlist impervious to the “needle time agreements” between the BBC and record companies that forced the Light Programme to substitute live versions played by dance bands for the real hit records.

It was not until July 1966, however, that the Marine Broadcasting (Offences) Bill began the parliamentary process that would outlaw offshore radio on August 15, 1967. By then the BBC’s new Radio 1—with ex-pirate disc jockeys such as John Peel, Kenny Everett, and Tony Blackburn playing Top 40 hits peppered with American-made jingles—was only six weeks from its launch, and only Caroline among the major players risked prosecution, remaining on the air until March 1968.

SOUREC Brittanica Enc and NY Times