Andy Archer (born Anthony Andrew Dawson)
[''Pop Went the Pirates II'', page 604.] is an English radio presenter, best known for his work on
pirate radio stations in the United Kingdom
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...
in the 1960s and 1970s. He later worked for
Independent Local Radio
Independent Local Radio is the collective name given to commercial radio stations in the United Kingdom. As a result of the buyouts and mergers permitted by the Broadcasting Act 1990, and deregulation resulting from the Communications Act 2003, ...
and
BBC Local Radio
BBC Local Radio (also referred to as Local BBC Radio) is the BBC's local and regional radio division for England and the Channel Islands, consisting of forty stations.
History
The popularity of pirate radio was to challenge a change within ...
.
He was born in
Terrington St Clement
Terrington St Clement is a village and civil parish in King's Lynn and West Norfolk borough and district in Norfolk, England. It is in the drained marshlands to the south of the Wash, west of King's Lynn, Norfolk, and east of Sutton Bridge, L ...
in
Norfolk
Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...
, on 22 January 1946.
[''Pop Went the Pirates II'', pages 231-2.] He had a brief stint as a presenter on the pirate station
Radio City in 1965, but had already signed-up to join the
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
, and left the station after just one week.
He bought himself out of the RAF after two years, and in 1967 joined
Radio Caroline
Radio Caroline is a British radio station founded in 1964 by Ronan O'Rahilly and Alan Crawford initially to circumvent the record companies' control of popular music broadcasting in the United Kingdom and the BBC's radio broadcasting monopoly. ...
, remaining as a presenter until the station shut down the following year.
He presented on
Radio North Sea International
Radio North Sea International (RNI; ; ) was a European offshore radio station run by the Swiss firm Mebo Telecommunications, jointly owned by Swiss engineer Edwin Bollier and his business partner, Erwin Meister.. The company, registered in Switz ...
in 1970 and 1971, and then returned to
Radio Caroline
Radio Caroline is a British radio station founded in 1964 by Ronan O'Rahilly and Alan Crawford initially to circumvent the record companies' control of popular music broadcasting in the United Kingdom and the BBC's radio broadcasting monopoly. ...
when it resumed broadcasting in 1972.
In 1975 he moved to on-shore broadcasting when he joined
Radio Orwell, broadcasting from
Ipswich
Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...
in
Suffolk
Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...
, where he was the
drive time
Drive time is the daypart in which radio broadcasters can reach the most people who listen to car radios while driving, usually to and from work, or on public transportation. Drive-time periods are when the number of radio listeners in this c ...
presenter.
He was an extremely popular presenter in the local area during his time at Orwell. During this time he also worked as a
continuity announcer
In broadcasting, continuity or presentation (or station break in the U.S. and Canada) is announcements, messages and graphics played by the broadcaster between specific programmes. It typically includes programme schedules, announcement of the ...
for
Tyne Tees Television
ITV Tyne Tees, previously known as Tyne Tees, Channel 3 North East and Tyne Tees Television, is the ITV (TV network), ITV television franchise for North East England and parts of North Yorkshire.
Tyne Tees launched on 15 January 1959 from stud ...
and
Television South West
Television South West (TSW) was the ITV franchise holder for the South West England region from 1 January 1982 until 31 December 1992, broadcasting from studios at Derry's Cross in Plymouth, Devon.
History
Origins and Launch
On 28 Decembe ...
.
He subsequently worked for several commercial stations, including
DevonAir
DevonAir Radio was the independent local radio station serving East Devon, Exeter and Torbay.
History
On 27 March 1978, the Independent Broadcasting Authority invited applicants for the licence to serve the Exeter and Torbay area. Three appli ...
,
Centre Radio
Centre Radio (officially known as Leicester and Leicestershire Local Radio plc) was the first independent local radio station to serve Leicestershire. It was based at Granville House, Leicester, England.
History
Centre Radio was launched on ...
,
County Sound
County Sound Radio was an analogue commercial radio station covering Surrey and north-east Hampshire in the United Kingdom. One of its closing forms in 2012-2014 formed Eagle Extra occupying 1566 MW following an internal split between older an ...
and
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
's
Radio Nova and
Radio ERI.
At Nova, he was the programme director.
In the 1980s he also returned to working for Radio Caroline and later Radio Orwell for periods, before in 1990 becoming programme controller at
Invicta Supergold
Supergold (Europe) was an oldies radio sustaining service originally operated by the Telstar Satellite Music Network (TSMN) and later by Chiltern Radio Network in the United Kingdom. Originally devised by entrepreneur and DJ Graham Kentsley, i ...
.
In 1996, Archer made the move to working for the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
.
where he presented shows such as ''The Morning Mix'' and later, from 2002, ''Drive Live''. In 2003 he returned to commercial radio, presenting a mid-morning programme for
" as a lexical description for an obsessive fan, using the term for fans of offshore radio in the early 1970s, who chartered boats to come out to sea to visit the radio ships.