I knew Alan Crawford - I went into business with him for a brief period, and I sat in his office in Dean Street which was NOT the same address that the CNBC venture operated out of. The author attempts to link events from CNBC to Atlanta by stating that Crawford found the old CNBC plans, which of course is untrue.
Crawford's plans came from McLendon. The author also tries to explain the "Rosebud" and "Atlanta" names by suggesting that they were the work of Smedley and Crawford. However, the real story begins with Gordon McLendon of Dallas who was both a movie maverick (hence "Rosebud" from 'Citizen Kane') and proud of his Atlanta, Texas roots that began his broadcasting career.
The originator of 'Radio Atlanta' was Gordon McLendon and it was to have been funded (like GBLN before it), by Herbert W. Armstrong. Then Atlanta merged with Jocelyn Stevens' 'Radio Caroline' (named after the 'Caroline' stylesheet for 'Queen' magazine by Editor B. Miller), and it was decided to steer clear of both politics and religion since the original 'Radio Caroline' plan was aimed at trying to overturn the 'Pilkington Report' with its finding against commercial radio. That was not the original plan for 'Radio Atlanta'. Armstrong had to wait for the arrival of Don Pierson's 'Wonderful Radio London' before he was able to expand to 7 days a week beyond the Mondays and Tuesdays schedule over Radio Luxembourg.
This book is really a pick-up from the earlier Chapman work (the author admits this in his previous work on copyrights and piracy that begat the present work - which I also bought and have read. It is also an academic work, unlike the present book.) This book is also a trek with historian Coase who wrote about the BBC and ended up in Chicago. But the author does not understand the nature of the BBC as a Crown chartered corporation - it is not a "state corporation" as such. There are many other misunderstandings in the work but its strength is perhaps in its weakness.
It is really a work of laissez faire advocacy in politics and business as applied to the UK through Oliver Smedley. Therefore the "Death of a Pirate" is really a side issue while the author goes out of his way to relate many details about the 'Radio City' broadcasting staff that are covered in more precise detail with audio on the Pirate Radio Hall of Fame web site.
The author laments that there is a lack of academic work on this subject, but in so doing he has to ignore the work of Dr. Eric Gilder who many other authors have 'borrowed' from in order to create their own works. At one time Chapman contacted us for assistance, but we were engaged in our own research and publications, and so we turned down his request. Our own archives draw upon the library of documents handed to us by the late Don Pierson (WRL/SRE/BR offshore stations) and years of research into the Gordon McLendon 'Radio Nord' venture. In addition to working with Crawford we also met other leading figures such as Ted Allbuery and the engineering staff responsible for 'Radio Nord'.
Unfortunately the real story of 'Radio Caroline' ('Radio Atlanta') and the other stations has yet to be told in detail, but we are trying to cover the topics of offshore radio, piracy, copyrights and basic freedoms in our own series of published academic articles which we will eventually combine into a single volume on the subject of offshore radio.
Our suggestion is buy this book - if you have an offshore radio library. It is not a complete work but it is a handy addition for some of the orginal documented material that it does contain.
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet or computer – no Kindle device required. Learn more
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Flip to back Flip to front
Follow the author
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.
Customers who bought this item also bought
Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1
About the author
Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
