Robbie Robinson (21 April 1940 – 31 August 2021), better known by the name Robbie Dale and nicknamed The Admiral, was a British radio disc jockey who was the chief DJ of

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 ...

during the 1960s.

Pirate radio

Dale was born in Littleborough, Lancashire, England, in April 1940. He was chief DJ on the offshore pirate radio ship

. Dale was one of the DJs on Radio Caroline on 14 August 1967 with

Johnnie Walker Johnnie Walker is a brand of Scotch whisky now owned by Diageo that originated in the Scottish burgh of Kilmarnock in East Ayrshire. The brand was first established by grocer John Walker. It is the most widely distributed brand of blended Sc ...

, when the

Marine Broadcasting Offences Act The Marine, &c., Broadcasting (Offences) Act 1967 (c. 41), shortened to Marine Broadcasting Offences Act or "Marine offences Act", became law in the United Kingdom at midnight on Monday 14 August 1967. It was subsequently amended by the Wirele ...

came into effect. At its peak, the station had 23 million listeners. After the closedown of

he worked for the Dutch pirate radio ship

Radio Veronica Radio Veronica was an offshore radio station that began broadcasting in 1960, and broadcast offshore for over fourteen years. It was set up by independent radio, TV and household electrical retailers in the Netherlands to stimulate the sales ...

from May 1968 to August 1969. In the mid 70s he was found on the Dutch broadcaster TROS, where he did a regular radioshow on Hilversum 3 on Thursday afternoons. He was given the nickname "The Admiral" by

Dave Lee Travis David Patrick Griffin (born 25 May 1945), known professionally as Dave Lee Travis, is an English disc jockey, radio presenter and television presenter. Travis began his broadcasting career on the pirate radio station Radio Caroline in 1965. He ...

because he reportedly liked the boat to be "shipshape"; he sometimes wore an admiral's uniform while doing his show. He was involved in popular music in other ways. He recorded a single, "Soul Mama" for Pink Elephant records, released in 1969. He also wrote the 1969 single "Soul Entertainer" for the funk-soul band Respect. Dale is a member of the Pirate Radio Hall of Fame.

Later life

During the 1970s, Dale retired from broadcasting, ran a contract cleaning business in London, and one of his major contracts was with

Capital Radio Capital London is a radio station owned and operated by the Global media company as part of its national Capital FM Network. As Capital Radio it was launched in the London area in 1973 as one of Britain's first two commercial radio stations. ...

. In 1980, he returned as manager and regular DJ on Sunshine 101, which became one of the most popular

pirate radio station Pirate radio or a pirate radio station is a radio station that broadcasts without a valid license. In some cases, radio stations are considered legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are received—especially ...

s in the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...

, until unlicensed radio was outlawed in the country in 1988. Dale moved from

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

to Lanzarote, Canary Islands, in 1989, where he operated a holiday apartment complex. Dale died from

dementia Dementia is a disorder which manifests as a set of related symptoms, which usually surfaces when the brain is damaged by injury or disease. The symptoms involve progressive impairments in memory, thinking, and behavior, which negatively affe ...

complications in Lanzarote on 31 August 2021, at the age of 81.

References

External links

* 1940 births 2021 deaths English expatriates in Ireland English expatriates in Spain English radio personalities British radio presenters Pirate radio personalities Offshore radio broadcasters British radio DJs People from Littleborough, Greater Manchester Deaths from dementia in Spain {{UK-radio-bio-stub