Caroline founder Ronan O'Rahilly

Caroline was conceived to break the UK radio monopoly and help young artists and bands advance their careers. When I saw the sometimes brutal lengths that the establishment and authorities were prepared to go to to silence Caroline, the station evolved to become a struggle of the individual or group of individuals against the system and this continues to be so.

It is amazing and sad that not once in 40 years has anyone in authority come to me to say, "Hey, you guys are not so bad, why don't we talk this over?"

At some point Caroline took on a life force of its own, twenty five years ago I told a journalist that I don't run Caroline, Caroline runs me. This links in with my views on Loving Awareness which I will just describe as a nice way for people to live and to treat each other.

Another thing that made me sad was when someone very close to me said that I had wasted my life on Caroline. I don't think that creating something that has provided harmless free enjoyment for millions of people for four decades could really be described as a waste. It probably represents the most useful way I could have spent my life.

Caroline is like a big family and anyone can join. If this website inspires you I hope you will join us and help return the Old Lady to the prominence she deserves. Many people have laughed at me over my Loving Awareness ideals, but that's OK. The fact that Caroline still survives at all, and is seemingly indestructible, proves to my satisfaction that L.A. exists.

Ronan O'Rahilly - Founder of Radio Caroline

General Manager, Peter Moore

When my friends and I tuned our Japanese five transistor portable radios to hear the new phenomenon of Radio Caroline, I never foresaw that forty years later I would be running that same station, having devoted the last sixteen years, ensuring that Caroline would not be silenced.

The lure of Radio Caroline is very difficult to define. Some have argued that the proliferation of commercial radio means that Caroline has served it's purpose and has had it's day.

It is true that there are now hundreds of commercial stations on air around Europe, but equally, you will find a branch of McDonald's in every town you drive through. Commercial radio, like McDonald's has now reached a stage where every station serves the same menu and is probably owned by the same company. The centralisation of content and ownership makes for good profits, but for very bad radio.

I have been told that Caroline is just a preservation society and to be fair, in the difficult times of the early nineties, perhaps that's all we were. However if Caroline was truly a preserved railway locomotive, that might chug up and down a few yards of track as a sad relic of it's previous glory, I would walk away tomorrow.

The point is that Caroline can return to the prominence she once enjoyed and, with new technology that did not exist in the sixties, she can achieve even greater prominence than before.

Beyond our fortieth year, this remains the challenge. We need more public awareness and we need fresh platforms to broadcast on. This will not be easy, since the radio industry closes ranks against independent stations. However, Caroline has a distinguished history of kicking down locked doors.

Since 1964, many hundreds of people have done brave and extraordinary things to ensure Radio Caroline's survival. If there is any justice, our fortieth birthday ought to be pay back time for all this amazing effort.

Frankly we deserve it, let's all try to make it happen.

Peter Moore, February 2004