BBC Essex presenter Ray Clark with his Gillard Award

BBC Essex Saturday morning presenter Ray Clark has won a prestigious radio award for his documentary about the fortieth anniversary of offshore pirate radio.

RADIO FEATURE

All At Sea was written, produced and narrated by BBC Essex Saturday morning presenter Ray Clark.

Ray Clark

It won Gold at the Frank Gillard Award for Best Radio Feature, beating entries from more than 40 other BBC local radio stations.

"It's the story of how pirate radio started and why it was so successful through the ears of those who were listening to it back in 1964," said Ray Clark. "I managed to trace a handful of listeners who had either recorded bits from their favourite offshore stations or kept diaries of what they'd listened to and the pirate presenters they had met."

Ray also managed to get interviews with original pirate broadcasters like Johnny Walker and Roger Day and a very rare interview with the founder and former owner of Radio Caroline, Ronan O'Rahilly.

The 55 minute documentary was broadcast at the end of Pirate BBC Essex, the week long station celebrating the fortieth anniversary of pirate radio last Easter which broadcast from an old lightship a mile off the Essex coast.

BBC Essex has been named as one of Britain's favourite BBC local radio stations.

The station, which is heard by almost 30,000 listeners a week, won a silver award in the Station Of The Year category at the Frank Gillard Awards in Birmingham.

BBC Essex's Tom Warmington and Anton Jarvis on an outside broadcast.

The annual radio industry awards are held in memory of the founder of BBC local radio Frank Gillard, who was also a radio reporter in the Second World War.

Judges including a director of the Radio Academy and a BBC Governor said that BBC Essex has the ability of turning "the ordinary into the extraordinary to make compelling radio." They were presented with a 30 minute recorded montage of 17 broadcasts over the past year.

BBC Essex Programmes Editor, Tim Gillett, who put together the entry said:"The entry gave the judges a flavour of the variety of BBC Essex. From our Pirate BBC Essex broadcasts aboard the LV18 off Harwich at Easter to the church service we broadcast live from the D Day beach of Arromanches, from the humour of Etholle and John each breakfast time through to the live football commentary every Saturday afternoon, it illustrated the wide spectrum of Essex life and entertainment we're proud to be at the heart of."

BBC Essex competed with more than 40 other BBC local radio stations to walk away with the silver award. BBC Essex Acting Managing Editor Lynne Wilson said: "It's a wonderful accolade and a credit to all of the dedicated staff at BBC Essex, and to our listeners who drive our talented producers and presenters to create some of the best radio on the UK dial."

The award comes in the year BBC Essex comes of age. "We're 18 years old this autumn," said Tim. "It's a fitting birthday present for a station that's become so well renowned in the industry. This is a good excuse for a party!"

OUTSIDE BROADCAST

The awards didn't stop there; Pirate BBC Essex, the week long radio station last Easter which broadcast from an old lightship off the Essex coast to mark the fortieth anniversary of offshore pirate radio, has won a top national award.

Vetran broadcaster Dave Cash aboard Pirate BBC Essex.

The station, which picked up hundreds of thousands of listeners around the world via the internet, was awarded bronze in the Best Outside Broadcast category by any BBC local radio station over the past year. It was given the title in the Frank Gillard Awards, which annually recognises the best in BBC local radio.

Pirate BBC Essex brought some of the original pirate broadcasters from the Sixties like Dave Cash and Roger Day together with some of the broadcasters of today like Steve Scruton and Tim Gillett in a seven day extravaganza of music and fun.

The venture, which included a ship to shore wireless link to send Pirate BBC Essex onto the world wide web, attracted more than 5,500 e-mails, thousands of texts, and more than one million hits from surfers eager to see the pirate broadcasters aboard the LV18 a mile off Harwich.

"We were all taken aback at its success," said BBC Essex Programmes Editor Tim Gillett. "I think the main reason for its success is because it sounded just like pirate radio did in 1964. The music was authentic and some of the songs hadn't been heard for 40 years. We managed to persuade original pirate presenters to come out of retirement into a studio using equipment they had used all those years ago."

The pirate broadcasters were urged by many listeners to continue Pirate BBC Essex after its agreed last day of the week long venture. In fact a tug did draw up alongside ready to tow the LV18 out into international waters. "We did talk to some BBC senior suits about it," said Tim Gillett, " and we agreed that we could continue for a few extra hours."

BBC Essex presenter, and the man behind Pirate BBC Essex aboard the LV18.

When the merry band eventually came ashore, they were met by more than 500 pirate radio fans eager to meet them and wanting autographs and photos. Pirate BBC Essex presenter Steve Scruton said: "It was an amazing reception. It was a realisation of a dream and the highlight of my career."

Pirate BBC Essex beat off more than 40 other BBC local radio stations to win the award. It was praised by among others, Johnny Walker, the celebrated King of the Pirates, who refused to give in to the Government in 1967 which outlawed offshore pirate radio. He hailed the week as "magnificent."

"Pirate BBC Essex marked a national anniversary - probably the most important in modern British radio history," said Tim Gillett. "We showed that it was us in local radio at BBC Essex who could relive that dream for hundreds of thousands of listeners. Many of them want us to do it again."