Radio Mercur History 3

Radio Mercur - History (3)

Radio Mercur had become a huge commercial success, but this itself led to internal conflict - many presenters felt that the inclusion of so many commercials was affecting their programme content and the management style of those in charge also caused internal friction.

Matters came tp a head in mid 1961 when a number of Radio Mercur staff broke away from the company to start their own offshore station. The new station - known as DCR (Danmarks Commercielle Radio) started broadcasting on 15th September 1961 with a transmitter power significantly more than Radio Mercur’s.

DCR’s style and programme content differed significantly from Radio Mercur, with more classical music, operas, plays and discussions being broadcast. In addition commercials were carefully placed between programmes to avoid the ‘over commercialisation’ which was now heard on Radio Mercur.

In the face of competition from DCR, Radio Mercur immediately increased its Danish language broadcasting hours to 15 hours a day. At about the same time Radio Mercur also acquired a theatre (‘New Scala’ ) in central Copenhagen, which it renamed Radio Mercur City.

With two radio ships now broadcasting from off its coast, but no legislation as yet to outlaw them, the Danish authorities felt they needed to take some action to make life as difficult as possible for the stations. On 29th September 1961 the Danish Post Office instructed coastal radio stations not to accept communications to or from the radio ships, except in emergency situations.

As well as creating practical difficulties for the operators this ban also had programming implications, particularly for Radio Mercur which had previously used Lyngby Radio to transmit interviews and news reports to their ship for re-broadcast later during daily programmes. The Danish authorities were also engaged in talks with their Swedish counterparts to find a way of jointly tackling the growing number of offshore radio stations. By this time, October 1961, Sweden also had two stations beaming programmes to its population - Skanes Radio Mercur in the south and Radio Nord anchored in the north off Stockholm.

In November 1961 the original Radio Mercur vessel, Cheeta returned from Norwegian waters to a new anchorage at Elefantgrunden, between Fyns Hoved, Funen and Reersa, Zeeland and resumed her role as a radio ship enabling Radio Mercur to achieve wider coverage of Denmark by the introduction of a second service. Transmissions of what became Radio Mercur (West) started from this anchorage on 25th November, using two directional aerials to beam local programmes to Aarhus and Ordense.

A few weeks later, during a storm on 14th December 1961, the Cheeta's new aerial mast collapsed and Radio Mercur (West) was temporarily put off the air. It was then decided that the two ships in the Radio Mercur network should swap places -the larger Cheeta 2 being better able to cope with the rough seas at the Zeeland anchorage, while the Cheeta could ride at anchor in the calmer waters of Oresund off Copenhagen.

Radio Mercur programmes were still recorded in the Copenhagen studios but now two copies of tapes were made, one for each ship. The same pre-recorded programmes were broadcast simultaneously from both ships, apart from two and a half hours a day when each station (Radio Mercur (East) off Copenhagen and Radio Mercur (West) off Funen) provided listeners in their respective areas with local programming.

Pre-recorded programme tapes were delivered to the ships, along with other essential supplies by a tender or if weather conditions at sea were bad the station used its ow Radio Mercur's private tendering aeroplane n private aeroplane.

In December 1961 talks started between representatives of DCR and Radio Mercur, with a view to a merger of the rival stations, under the Radio Mercur call-sign and this was completed in early 1962.

1962

DCR ceased separate transmissions on 29th January 1962 and Radio Mercur (East) programmes from Cheeta were also relayed from the Lucky Star. Meanwhile Cheeta 2 continued to broadcast Radio Mercur (West) programmes.

With three ships (Cheeta, Cheeta 2 and Lucky Star) at its disposal Radio Mercur now had the potential to achieve complete coverage of Denmark and become a truly national station. However, shortly after the merger with DCR the Cheeta (then still anchored off Copenhagen) found herself in difficulties during a gale on 12th February 1962 and put out a distress call. The ship was assisted to Langeline Quay in Copenhagen by a tug and once in port she was immediately detained by police. Investigations subsequently revealed that after Panama withdrew its registration (in August 1958) the ship had remained stateless, although the station's owners had always claimed the vessel was legally registered in Honduras.

Fortunately, because of the recent merger, the former DCR ship Lucky Star was able to fully take over the broadcasts of Radio Mercur (East) instead of just relaying the Cheeta's output.