31/07/2024
A tribute to the first out gay radio presenter in the United Kingdom will be broadcast on Saturday night August 3rd, on an important community radio station. Although, given its development from theatre and music halls, radio has always employed a wide variety of LGBTQIA+ people, it was with the offshore pirate radio stations of the sixties and seventies that a deejay called Tony Allan came out, to be followed by others such as Andy Archer. Tony had first been employed by Swinging Radio Scotland, anchored off the coast of Dunbar in 1966 when he was just sixteen years of age. In the early seventies, he worked for Anglo-Dutch pirate Radio Nordsee International and later the legendary Radio Caroline, then broadcast from the rickety coaster Mi Amigo. It was on Caroline that he first came out publicly on air, inviting LGBTQIA+ people to write to him. This was radical stuff, even given the progressive atmosphere of the seventies pirates. Thanks to Tony's contacts, Radio Caroline gave airtime to groups like Greenpeace and environmental organisations. In the eighties, Tony worked for Radio Nova, a land based pirate station in Dublin which helped revolutionise broadcasting in the Republic of Ireland. He returned to the now legal Caroline in the noughties for his final broadcasts before sadly passing on from cancer in July 2004. In early August, Radio Caroline will be celebrating its nineteen seventies sound with original DJ's reunited to play the progressive rock that they used to beam out from the North Sea. A special three hour feature on Tony and featuring original sound recordings will be broadcast. Tony, who was known on the ship as "Doris", would be delighted that his favourite station will be remembering him in this way. Radio Caroline today broadcasts online, on DAB radio in certain cities, and on 648 kHz around the South East of England.
