Reg Calvert

Pearce Reginald Hartely Calvert (born June 1928 in Spilsby , Lincolnshire , England , † June 21, 1966 in Wendens Ambo, Essex , England) was a British musician, music manager and radio pirate . He is considered one of the pioneers of the early British rock scene as well as the offshore radio scene. Calvert was married to the same age Dorothy Calvert born Rowe since 1946, with whom he had two daughters.

Concert promoter and manager

Calvert was the son of Ada Calvert and Edward Pearce. Both were professional musicians. He grew up with his grandparents in Huddersfield , while his mother - unusual for this time - continued her professional activity as a saxophonist and clarinetist , among others with Ivy Benson . Calvert was a trained hairdresser. In 1946 he was drafted into the British Army. He served as a hairdresser at the Catterick site and met John Dankworth , who was also stationed there, and played the saxophone, clarinet and piano in his band. After his discharge from the army, he lived with his family as a flying confectioner on fairgrounds. He achieved additional income through evening appearances as a pianist in music clubs. At times he also ran a candy store in Southampton . As rock 'n' roll grew in popularity , he began organizing rock 'n' roll dance events in the 1950s. In the mid-1950s he was the manager of several dance halls in the English Midlands , for which he was constantly looking for and hiring new musicians and bands.

Most of his musicians lived in his home in Clifton Hall near Rugby , which also had rehearsal opportunities. Accommodation and meals were part of the musicians' salaries. His old house in Southampton was home to a printing company that printed his leaflets and event posters. Since Calvert looked after more and more well-known bands, including the groups The Fortunes and Pinkerton's Colors , he founded the artist agency "King's Agency" with his partner Terry King, based in the London district of Camden (7 Denmark Street, London WC2). In May 1962 he engaged the musician Screaming Lord Sutch and his band The Raving Savages for the first time . On the mini tour, Carlo Little and Ritchie Blackmore , members of Sutch's band, made their debut . Calvert then looked after Sutch as his manager.

In order to increase the popularity of the Screaming Lord Sutch, known for his eccentric demeanor, Calvert advised him in 1963 to be a candidate for election in the wake of the Profumo affair in Stratford-upon-Avon . Calvert's wife, Dorothy, proposed to run by calling for “ Votes for 18 year olds” . From then on, until his death, Sutch ran again and again as a candidate in elections in Great Britain, largely with satirical election campaigns and absurd demands.

Radio pirate

Radio Sutch

See main article → Radio Sutch

In 1964, Calvert and Sutch decided to start their own pirate station as a further advertising campaign. The station " Radio Sutch " was presented in an effective manner. To circumvent British broadcasting regulations, which private broadcasters did not provide, broadcasts were carried out from a fishing vessel as soon as it had left British territorial waters . After just two weeks, the ship was no longer available as a transmission platform, so the transmitter switched to the abandoned military base Shivering Sands, which was outside British territorial waters, and used it as a transmission platform without permission. Calvert was the first radio pirate to broadcast from an artificial island on the high seas. In the fall of 1964, Sutch lost his interest in the station and sold his stake to Calvert, who increasingly identified with his role as the operator of a music station.

Radio City

See main article → Radio City

After Calvert had completely taken over the station, he modernized the technology and continued to operate it under the name “Radio City”. His wife and two daughters also played an active part in broadcasting , including as DJs . “Radio City” was one of the well-known offshore radios.

Merger plans

Since September 1965, Calvert had talks with other pirate broadcasters with the aim of merging. His interlocutors were initially the operators of Radio Caroline South , who also wanted to settle on Shivering Sands in order to save the high operating costs of their ship. The talks were well advanced, with some Calvert already broadcasting programs for Radio Caroline, and a new, more powerful station was installed on Shivering Sands. However, since the negotiations stagnated, Calvert got in touch with the operators of Wonderful Radio London , also known as Big L on. It was agreed to jointly found a new station called "United Kingdom Good Music" (UKGM) , which should be operated on Shivering Sands. A dispute broke out with Calvert's previous interlocutor, which ended tragically.

death

In 1966 there was an open conflict between Calvert and Oliver Smedley, who was interested in Radio Caroline South . With the intention of merging Radio City and Radio Caroline South , Smedley financed a transmission system which was installed on Shivering Sands near Radio City and which should also broadcast programs for Radio Caroline South . When it became clear that the merger would not take place, the dispute escalated. Dockers recruited by Smedley broke into the station on the night of June 20 and dismantled parts of the system, putting Radio City out of service. Calvert stormed Smedley's house on June 21st to confront him. A physical argument developed in the course of which Smedley shot his opponent when he threatened an employee with a statue. The police are said to have later found a gas pistol near Calvert. Smedley was acquitted and the court ruled in self-defense .

Calvert's grave is in St. Peter's Cemetery in Dunchurch near Rugby. He left a wife and two daughters.

Others

• The violent death of Calvert in the dispute over the operation of a pirate station contributed significantly to the passage of the "Marine Broadcasting Offences Act", a law that closed the loophole that had previously made it legally impossible to take action against the pirate stations. MEP Hugh Jenkin said in the English Parliament: "The extraordinary and tragic events of the past 24 hours have made it clear to everyone that piracy is piracy."
• Calvert's widow, Dorothy, continued to operate Radio City until she was charged under the aforementioned law in 1967 and forced to shut down the station.
• The death of Calvert and the change in law initiated a development that brought about the rapid end of the offshore radio scene. At the same time, however, BBC broadcasting began to open up to popular music. Numerous DJs who became known from the pirate broadcasting scene came to public service broadcasters.
• Dorothy Calvert died on February 21, 2010 at the age of 81. She is buried at her husband's side.
• Calvert's daughter Susan Moore published the book Popcorn To Rock'N'Roll in 2014, in which she tells the story of the Calvert family and their work as radio pirates.

literature

• Adrian Johns: Death of a Pirate: British Radio and the Making of the Information Age , WW Norton & Co, New York, 2011, ISBN 978-0393068603
• Susan Moore: Popcorn To Rock'N'Roll, Fillongley Publications, 2014

References

1. ↑ ^{a b} Calvert's tombstone at Find a Grave
2. ↑ ^{a b} Andrew Hirst: Amazing story of pop band and pirate radio station manager Reg Calvert who was shot dead in 1966. The Huddersfield Examiner, October 8, 2014, accessed October 22, 2017 . 
3. ↑ The Book of Bands , private website, citing Dorothy Calvert and Susan Moore geb. Calvert, accessed January 26, 2011
4. ^ The Pirate Radio Hall of Fame. offshoreradio.co.uk, accessed January 26, 2011 . 
5. ^ Tom Edwards: My stormy life aboard the boat that rocked Britain. Mail online, February 28, 2009, accessed January 26, 2011 . 
6. ^ Edward Ian Armchair: Reg Calvert. Tamworth Bands, accessed January 26, 2011 . 
7. ^ Extract from the National Archive, accessed January 26, 2011
8. ↑ Rachel Lewis: How Pirate Radio Ships Paved the Way for Britain's Rock 'n' Roll Revolution. Time, September 28, 2017, accessed October 22, 2017 . 
9. ^ Dorothy Calvert: rock'n'roll entrepreneur and pirate radio pioneer. The Times, March 8, 2010, accessed January 26, 2011 .