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ShipRocked: Life on the Waves with Radio Caroline Paperback – February 19, 2015

by Steve Conway (Author)
4.9 4.9 out of 5 stars 25 ratings
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A witty, revealing memoir by Phantom FM DJ Steve Conway about the years he spent on Radio Caroline, the pirate radio ship with a rock 'n' roll history, published alongside the release of Richard Curtis' (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill) brilliant film The Boat That Rocked. Radio Caroline was the iconic pirate radio station, immediately capturing the imagination of millions of people when it started broadcasting rabble-rousing, cutting-edge music to Britain and Ireland from international waters in 1964. When he first went out to the radio ship, the Ross Revenge, in December 1985, Steve Conway, a 21-year-old IT executive, was fulfilling his dream of working on Caroline. Despite his young age, he soon became a vital part of Caroline's renegade crew, broadcasting music and news programmes, helping keep the vessel seaworthy during fierce storms, and making sure the station ran smoothly on a shoestring budget- doing it all despite staffing problems, technical crises and persistent harassment by the authorities. In this gripping memoir, Steve Conway tells of his time aboard the Ross Revenge: the excitement and danger of living on board the ship for long spells, the constant challenge of keeping complex electronic equipment working in occasionally treacherous conditions (including the collapse of the ship's main mast in November 1987), and the camaraderie of working alongside people who, like him, were completely committed to the radio station and its fiercely bohemian ideals. His wild and wonderful tale builds towards the sad demise of Radio Caroline as a ship-based station, recounting how he and his few remaining companions narrowly escaped drowning after the ship ran aground on the notorious Goodwin Sands in hurricane-force winds in November 1991. A love letter to Ross Revenge and rock music, ShipRocked has to be read to be believed.
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Previous page
  1. Print length
    211 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Liberties Press
  4. Publication date
    February 19, 2015
  5. Dimensions
    5 x 1 x 8 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1905483627
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1905483624
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Conway's evocatively written memoir is animated and engaging as it describes how he became a seasoned news reader and presenter in an often isolated environment. . . Fluidly written and idiosyncratic. --Library Journal

An original memoir of a truly unique approach to life and dedication to one's passion. --Midwest Book Review

An original memoir of a truly unique approach to life and dedication to one s passion. --Midwest Book Review

About the Author

Dublin-born STEVE CONWAY started his radio career on a small rock-music pirate station in south London, before moving to Radio Caroline, where he rose to the positions of Head of News and Programme Controller. In 1999, Steve helped relaunch Caroline on satellite, before returning to Dublin, where he is a presenter on Phantom 105.2.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Liberties Press (February 19, 2015)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 211 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1905483627
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1905483624
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8.8 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5 x 1 x 8 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.9 4.9 out of 5 stars 25 ratings

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Steve Conway

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Customer reviews

4.9 out of 5 stars
4.9 out of 5
25 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

-tag
5.0 out of 5 stars Superb
Reviewed in the United States on August 17, 2014
Verified Purchase
Very interesting facts about the very last of the offshore radio stations - and superbly written.
Helpful
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Olaf
5.0 out of 5 stars Do not start this book, if you do not have time to finish it
Reviewed in the United States on May 9, 2009
In the days of internet radio, mp3 download and music-on-demand, it is hard to believe that just 20 years ago people would go out and live for months on a lonely ship in the North Sea, just to bring good music to their listeners, because regular radio would not cater for it.

These people would not become rich by doing so, but rather was this stay illegal.

This book is the personal account of Steve Conway, one of the last DJs of "Radio Caroline", the famed pirate radio station in the North Sea. It tells also the story of people dedicated to a cause they believed in.

Even if you never listened to "Radio Caroline" and hate music, you still will enjoy this book. It is well written and keeps the right balance between giving enough detail to follow the story but not becoming a history lecture.

The fact that the story is told purely from Steve's perspective at the time of occurrence, gives the reader the chance to go on board of the "Ross Revenge" together with him and re-live what happened from 1984 to 1991. How he got in touch with "Radio Caroline", his first stay on board and the brutal, nearly lethal end.

"Radio Caroline" was all about music and of course some of the top songs of the days are mentioned. If you like music, this probably will bring back your own memories about special moments while these songs were on the radio. You might even go up to the attice, to get the box with your old records and play some tunes...
One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

peterstocker
5.0 out of 5 stars steve Conway shiprocked
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 1, 2023
Verified Purchase
a very good book about the famous radio caroline.ship .
Report
Tim Beam
5.0 out of 5 stars Best remembrance for Ronan and his Lady ever
Reviewed in Germany on October 3, 2013
Verified Purchase
Pat Edison was on the air (via satellite) while I was reading the book. Coincidently he was playing "Love you to know" from the LA Band exactly at the time when I was reading page 130, telling the events from 1988 when Peter Chicago had managed to adjust the transmitter to the new T-type antenna and Steve Conway played the first song after the Ross Revenge has lost her impressive antenna mast, which was that "Love you to know". So I e-mailed Pat in the studio and he replied on air, by saying that not everything in that book is to be believed. Even though this might have been a fair comment, it did not affect the pleasure I had reading the book. Radio Caroline is legendary and as such shrouded in stories. It has never really lost its allurement which started nearly 50 years ago. This shrouding in ledengs and mysteries appears on two levels and both are presented very intensive in the book. While reading the story you can feel the imagination growing that you yourself were somehow participating - at least when you are devoted to the station as I am.

Ronan O'Rahilly, founder of Radio Caroline, himself shrouded his "Lady" in stories from the very beginning. At first, to beat his rival Alan Crawford and his Radio Atlanta, which eventually became Caroline South. Later Ronan had to hide his organisation from governmental proceedings, and he had to put his creditors off to keep the station running despite increasing lack of revenues. Also he had to keep his business partners believing, that there is actually a ship with sound equipment being afloat in the Northsea. Relaunching the station with the Ross Revenge, its powerful transmitter and the tallest mast ever put on board of a vessel, is a very impressive symbol of devotedness, committment to a vision and convincing capabilities. This spirit was present throughout the entire Caroline organisation, with its supporters on land and the staff on board, which were prepared to face prosecution or the constraints and hazards of staying for quite long and desolated periods on board of radio ships with no destination. This was the active level of shrouding Caroline in ledengs and mysteries.

On the reactive level we'll find all those fans of Radio Caroline, to whome the interest goes beyond just listening to a good selection of music. They are attracted by something mysterious. Is it the radio station, which was quite often rather off the air and is still struggeling to maintain its broadcasting cabability (now loosing the satellite service due to lack of budgets)? Is it the rusting ship never moving to anywhere, but instead being exposed to the elements just to fight against the establishment (like pirates did)? Is it the programmes brought to us listener by young presenters out on the high seas just for the sake of bringing us the music we want to hear? Or is it - as I believe it to be more likely - the adventurous curiousness of us listeners witnessing the ongoing events as they happen in troubled waters in conjunction with admiring sympathy with the boys being out there. As far as I am concerned, I never fancied the programmes from Mi Amigo or Monique, unless they came live from board. The admiration for Caroline is probably also due to the fact, that she always used to be the last one. But even though Radio Caroline did survive all the circumnavigating the laws, all the driftings in rough seas and all the losses of equipment, she did not win herself in the end. Her victory is hidden behind the success of indepentend (commercial) broadcasting in Europe and the breakthrough of indenpendend record labels. Nowadays there is more freedom in the internet than Caroline could ever imagine.

Steve Conway, somehow infected by the Ronan/Caroline spirit, has written about his participation in a storied radio station, that was relaunched surprisingly despite ongoing hopes and mysteries, rising to a climax forcing the authorities to take the act of piracy against a pirate radio station once again - and having her continouing, once again. Steve has written in a manner, that infects also you as a reader. The spark of enthusiasm jumps across and you nearly want to come on board as well. It does not matter, whether everything of the book is to be believed. It is in the nature of the legends and mysteries that we like - and Steve serves the Caroline Legend very well. Actually, nobody will really ever know the full true story. Even Ronan O'Rahilly, suffering from vascular dementia, is left with fading memories - which is having some very sad irony of fate: The Legend lives on.
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T. Longhurst
5.0 out of 5 stars a super pirate adventure
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 18, 2009
Verified Purchase
Steve's book is a gentle and thoughtful description of life as a pirate radio DJ. Although not set in the "golden era" of 60s pirate radio, the book is none-the-less a fascinating description of the joy, the difficulty, loneliness and some would say foolhardy endeavour of broadcasting from the sea.

The book is all the more enjoyable for me as it features, not those well-known radio characters that eventually turned legit, jumped ship to the BBC and became household names, but those anonymous individuals who loved the medium, had a passion for music and an unquenchable desire to share it from a precarious and often dangerous locations just outside UK waters.

All in all, a super book that details life as a pirate and the trials and tribulations of watery wireless.
2 people found this helpful
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Olaf
5.0 out of 5 stars Do not start this book, if you do not have time to finish it
Reviewed in Germany on May 5, 2009
Verified Purchase
In the days of internet radio, mp3 download and music-on-demand, it is hard to believe that just 20 years ago people would go out and live for months on a lonely ship in the North Sea, just to bring good music to their listeners, because regular radio would not cater for it.

These people would not become rich by doing so, but rather was this stay illegal.

This book is the personal account of Steve Conway, one of the last DJs of "Radio Caroline", the famed pirate radio station in the North Sea. It tells also the story of people dedicated to a cause they believed in.

Even if you never listened to "Radio Caroline" and hate music, you still will enjoy this book. It is well written and keeps the right balance between giving enough detail to follow the story but not becoming a history lecture.

The fact that the story is told purely from Steve's perspective at the time of occurrence, gives the reader the chance to go on board of the "Ross Revenge" together with him and re-live what happened from 1984 to 1991. How he got in touch with "Radio Caroline", his first stay on board and the brutal, nearly lethal end.

"Radio Caroline" was all about music and of course some of the top songs of the days are mentioned. If you like music, this probably will bring back your own memories about special moments while these songs were on the radio. You might even go up to the attice, to get the box with your old records and play some tunes...
One person found this helpful
 Report
Mr. M. J. Wakely
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book for a fan or listner.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 4, 2020
Verified Purchase
I Have read many books about offshore radio and this is one of the best. Great sections about the mast collapse and the last weeks at sea.
One person found this helpful
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