Scandinavian Offshore Radio

The first Offshore Station was Danish RADIO MERCUR. They started the 2 ofAugust in 1958 from M/S Cheeta on international water in The Sound between Copenhagen and Malmoe/Sweden. The name of the ship was Cheeta, only 100 dWT. The power from the station was 1,5 KW transmitting on the FM band. In September 15 1961 the station merged with DCR, Denmarks Commercielle Radio.The station continued transmitting to the 31 of July 1962 . Danish laws make it impossible to continue. In 1960 a bigger ship is bought (Cheeta II) and the smaller Cheeta is taken over by RADIO SYD.

In September 15 1961 the Danish Commersielle Radio started their transmissions from ship M/S Lucky Star. The ship was ride at anchor close to M/S Cheeta in The Sound. The station was on the air only four month. Transmitting frequency was 94 MHz. In January1962 they merged with RADIO MERCUR who continued to July 31 1962. As a curiosity Radio MERCUR was the first European station transmitting in stereo. This was possible by using two transmitters, their own and Radio Syd: the two ships was located only a few miles from each other. The listener needed two receivers !

In December 1958 the Swedish SKAANES RADIO MERCUR started their transmissions by renting hours from the Danish station RADIO MERCUR. The Skaanes Radio Mercurs studio was located in the city of Landskrona. Owner was Nils-Eric Svensson.

In March 1962 the SKAANES RADIO MERCUR changed the their name to RADIO SYD. The station was now owned by Mrs Britt Wadner. The station continued transmitting to the 19th of January 1966. After the Danish Radio MERCUR were forced to close Mrs Britt Wadner took over the larger CHEETA II using 15 KW on the FM band. In autumn 1965 RADIO SYD also started with TV test-transmissions in the UHF band.

Mrs Britt Wadner was sentenced to one month in jail in 1964 for continuing the transmission which now was against new institute laws in Sweden and Denmark. A petition for pardon in 1965 to the Swedish minister of communication Mr.Olof Palme was rejected. The ice situation in the winter 1965-1966 forced the station to close on the 19th of January 1966. To continue was anyway now impossible.

The Cheeta II was for a year rented to Radio Caroline, probably during 1966-67 since Radio Caroline had problems with the MI AMIGO.

RADIO SYD was again established in 1970, now in Gambia. The station is landbased and is still operating.

Radio Nord started their transmissions from M/S BON JOUR March 8 1961. Location was off Stockholm and transmitting frequency 602 kHz. They continued to June 30 1962. The station had 3 million listeners. The M/S Bon Jour was sold to Radio Caroline and named Mi AMIGO. Radio NORD become very popular and was probably the main reason behind the new institute laws.

None of the above station was illegal when they started. They were all located at international waters. The Dansih and Swedish governments could not stand their popularity, and hence passed the anti-offshore legislation, later to become a common part of all European countries' laws.