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 of radio receivers by providing an alternative to the Netherlands state-licensed stations in Hilversum.

Broadcasts began on 21 April 1960. The station announced itself as VRON (Vrije Radio Omroep Nederland; Free Radio Station f theNetherlands) but changed to Radio Veronica, after the poem "Het Zwarte Schaap Veronica" — The Black Sheep Veronica — by the children's poet Annie M. G. Schmidt.

After the station's closure, some of its staff applied for a broadcasting licence and continued as a legal organisation with the same name.

The original Radio Veronica became the most popular station in the Netherlands. It broadcast from a former lightship ''Borkum Riff'' anchored off the Dutch coastline. The ship was fitted with a horizontal antenna between the fore and aft masts, fed by a one-kilowatt transmitter. Most of its programmes were recorded in a studio on the Zeedijk in Hilversum. At the end of the 1960s the studios and offices moved to bigger premises on the Utrechtseweg in Hilversum. Initially advertisers were reluctant to buy airtime, but those that did reported increases in sales and gradually the station's revenue improved.

For a short time the station also ran an English language service under the call letters CNBC (Commercial Neutral Broadcasting Company) not related to CNBC or NBC. Although short-lived, CNBC was presented by professional broadcasters who were able to give invaluable technical advice to Veronica's Dutch staff.

Expansion and competition

The station faced its first serious competition in 1964 when Radio Noordzee and ''TV Noordzee'' began broadcasting from the , an artificial structure. The Dutch government passed a law banning broadcasts from such structures and raided the REM Island, but left Veronica alone because of its popularity.

In August 1964 the station acquired a new ship, a converted fishing trawler named ''MV Norderney'', and equipped it with a more efficient antenna and a 10 kilowatt transmitter, as well as an anchor designed to keep it correctly oriented. The ''Norderney'' took over Veronica's broadcasts in November that year and the ''Borkum Riff'' was sold for scrap.

During 1965 the station was influenced by English-language pirates like Radio London and adopted a faster format with jingles. When another UK pirate, Swinging Radio England, went bankrupt it was briefly replaced by two Dutch-language successors, Radio Dolfijn and then Radio 227, which targeted Veronica's audiences, but competition was short-lived because of the British Marine Offences Act which closed most of the British stations by August 1967.

Veronica versus RNI

The arrival of a more powerful rival was to cause repercussions for Veronica. Radio Nordsee International (RNI), owned by two Swiss businessmen, initially broadcast German and English programmes from its ship anchored off the Dutch Coast, but later moved to the British coast in early 1970 but was jammed by the British government. The jamming stopped when the ship returned to the Netherlands, taking up position just one mile from the ''Norderney''. The German language programmes were subsequently replaced by all-English programmes.

The ''Mebo II'' was equipped with a 100 kW AM transmitter as well as FM and shortwave equipment. Although power did not guarantee RNI an audience, Radio Veronica's management were sufficiently worried about loss of advertising revenue that they planned to put RNI off the air.

On 24 September 1970 RNI closed, claiming it was trying to stop the Dutch government from passing legislation that might force Veronica, "so dearly loved by the peoples of the Netherlands", to close. In fact Veronica had paid RNI 1 million guilders to go off the air for two months, and to enforce this agreement Veronica replaced the ''Mebo II's'' crew with their own staff.

RNI's management became unhappy with this arrangement, and once the two months were up one of RNI's Swiss directors, Erwin Bollier, attempted to refund the money. Veronica refused, claiming the right to renew the contract. On 5 January 1971 Bollier boarded the ''Mebo II'', dismissed the Veronica-appointed captain, and took command himself. It was claimed that Veronica's staff had sabotaged RNI's equipment, but by February 1971 RNI was back on the air, with a Dutch as well as an English service. In March Veronica sued RNI for breach of contract. The court found in favour of RNI and the case tarnished Veronica's reputation.The Dutch court found the case inadmissable as the ship Mebo II was anchored in international waters which were out of its jurisdiction.

Worse was to come. On the night of 15 May 1971 three men in a rubber dinghy started a fire on the ''Mebo II'' which damaged the stern. RNI broadcast ''mayday'' calls. All on board were rescued and the fire was extinguished. The studios and transmitters were undamaged and RNI went back on the air the following morning. On 17 May 1971, Veronica's advertising director Norbert Jurgens was arrested and the following day, Veronica's director Bull Verweij was also arrested. In a television interview, Verweij claimed he had paid a man to tow the ''Mebo II'' into Dutch waters so that the ship would be seized. Verweij denied any intention of endangering the lives of RNI's crew but was found guilty together with Jurgens and the crew of the dinghy. All five were sentenced to a year in prison. The damage to Veronica's reputation was incalculable, and just as the 1966 Radio City shooting had motivated the British government to pass anti-pirate legislation, the RNI fire similarly motivated the Dutch.

Both Veronica and RNI continued to broadcast without further incident, but as the Government began to draw up plans for anti-pirate legislation, the two stations began to campaign against it.

In September 1972, the two radio ships were joined by Radio Caroline's , which anchored between the ''Norderney'' and ''Mebo II''.

Frequency change and RNI2

Veronica had been experiencing interference on 1562 kHz (192 m) from the Beromünster