©   2014-2022 Offshore Radio Museum

 
Home Basement Ground Floor 1 Floor 2

Radio 558 - Key Dates

1988

9th July 1988

Radio Caroline handed over its frequency to Dutch language station, Radio  819, allowing it to broadcast temporarily as Radio 558

11th July 1988

An  international news service, in English, was introduced with two bulletins daily at 8.30am and 3.30pm.

23rd  July 1988

An hourly Dutch news service is introduced with headlines on the half hour

11th August 1988

Research by daily newspapers in Holland indicate only 2% of  their readers had heard of Radio 558

31st August -

8th September 1988

Technical problems kept Radio 558 off the air for long periods


22nd September 1988

The news service in Dutch was discontinued because  interference from the Ross Revenge's shortwave transmitter was affecting the on-board telex facility, used for news gathering

mid-October 1988  

A full Dutch news service resumed after a new telex receiver had been installed aboard the Ross Revenge

22nd October 1988

Radio 558 did not come on air until 1.57pm.  At 3.05pm it was announced that Radio 558 had changed name and frequency to Radio 819, but programmes were simulcast on 558kHz and 819kHz for another two weeks

5th November 1988

From midday Radio 819 was heard only on 819kHz







6th July 1988

A series of explosions and fires destroyed the Piper Alpha North Sea oil drilling platform killing 167 people.


20th August 1988  

A cease fire between Iran and Iraq took effect after 8 years of war.


29th September 1988

Space shuttle Discovery was launched, marking America's return to manned space flight following the Challenger disaster.


19th November 1988

Benazir Bhutto was elected Prime Minister of Pakistan.








In other  N E W S



Where       next ?

History

Key Dates

Ship and Location

Technical

Staff

Programmes

Ship and Location Technical Staff Programmes History

Back to Britain Gallery

Britain

Back to Netherlands/Belgium Gallery

Netherlands/Belgium

Back to Radio 558

Radio 558