RIP Ronan O'Rahilly, founder of Radio Caroline

Conway635

Sad news this afternoon, Ronan O'Rahilly has passed away.

Famous for founding Radio Caroline, admired for keeping it running at sea for 26 years in the face of hostile governments and hostile weather.

A man who had the courage to use his station to promote love, understanding and mental positivity long before it became cool to talk about emotions.

An amazing leader, and a man from whom I learned many lessons.

RIP Ronan.

Steve Conway

yiddo59

Very sad news. May he rest in peace.

Nice tribute to Ronan by Peter Moore on the Radio Caroline homepage https://radiocaroline.co.uk/#home.html

Infoanon

Very sad news - Ronans contribution to radio broadcasting can never be underestimated - without Ronan there would never have been Radio Caroline, there would never have been Sunshine Radio, there would never have been Radio Nova.

Ronan O'Rahilly RIP

Losty Dublin

Sad, sad news. Ronan was without a doubt the single most important person in the history of music radio in Europe.

While many consider Caroline as the station that made pop music into a culture of it's own, others saw the station as a sign of liberation of people at a time when society was finally breaking away from the chains of WW2. In terms of radio however, what he did was to break the chains of radio turntables both from the label paid shows of 208 but also from the musician and union led BBC formatted shows. Granted, Caroline was not the first pirate music station ever but he definitely was the Henry Ford of the trade, and he spawned many inferior imitators along the way.

May his soul rest on a flat sea and with a stable signal

Lord Nelson

The biggest irony of his illustrious career must surely have been when he was inducted into the BAI hall of fame in 2012? This from an organisation that steadfastly refuses to acknowledge or accept that radio other than RTÉ existed in Ireland pre 1989. The same outfit which has utterly failed to provide any meaningful diversity or choice on the airwaves and consistently rolled over for media conglomerates in support of the bottom line.
An award from a quango that's a complete anathema to everything he stood for.
RIP Ronan, we desperately need people like you today.

Harry Palmr

Hard to imagine radio without him, would he approve of what we've ended up with though?

Ger Roe

Ronan O'Rahilly was a massive influence on many of us who got involved in radio and millions of listeners all over Europe, who didn't and just enjoyed the music.

Although he was very ill for some time now and the news is not unexpected, it is a very sad day for true radio fans.

Goodbye Ronan, thanks for the memories and motivation.

yiddo59

Lord Nelson wrote: »

The biggest irony of his illustrious career must surely have been when he was inducted into the BAI hall of fame in 2012? This from an organisation that steadfastly refuses to acknowledge or accept that radio other than RTÉ existed in Ireland pre 1989. The same outfit which has utterly failed to provide any meaningful diversity or choice on the airwaves and consistently rolled over for media conglomerates in support of the bottom line.
An award from a quango that's a complete anathema to everything he stood for.
RIP Ronan, we desperately need people like you today.

I'd say the irony of the BAI giving that award wasnt lost on Ronan.

Declan A Walsh

John Kenny played Caroline by Status Quo in The Classic Rock Hour tonight on Radio One, and dedicated it to Ronan O'Rahilly. He mentioned that "many of us" started in pirate radio and that some were still here!

Infoanon

Status Quo - 'Rock and Roll' with the lyrics - "radio plays on Caroline "

RoryDublin

Sad to hear about the passing of Ronan O’Rahilly. Radio Caroline has been and remains such a big part in my life as a radio listener.

ford fiesta

Last Thursday independent Irish stations were due to play the Caroline tune just before 10am.
I heard one local station playing the tribute.
Anyone else hear it?

Conway635

https://www.thejournal.ie/readme/radio-caroline-5080049-Apr2020/

Fair play to The Journal they had a decent news article on Ronan, and let me put in a personal tribute too.

Steve

Declan A Walsh

Conway635 wrote: »

https://www.thejournal.ie/readme/radio-caroline-5080049-Apr2020/

Fair play to The Journal they had a decent news article on Ronan, and let me put in a personal tribute too.

Steve

That's a great article Steve. I have both versions of Shiprocked, and I can't wait to see your next book which is mentioned at the bottom of the article!

yiddo59

Ray Clark will be speaking about Ronan on BBC Radio 4's obituary programme Last Word at 4pm tomorrow.



https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000hq2b