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 Switzerland, used the German name, whereas references in the UK were to Radio Northsea International. DJs on air mixed the usage. The Souvenir Book, in 1971, although in English, swaps between English and German. This article, predominately about the English service, and written in English, uses the English variant. Some publications have a tendency to split the "Northsea" into two words RNI broadcast for less than five years in the early 1970s and, courting both disaster and success, made a modest financial profit.Souvenir Book of Radio North Sea International by Victor Pelli

Radio Gloria In 1968 Erwin Meister and Edwin Bollier were among a group intending to broadcast as Radio Gloria from the former Wonderful Radio London ship Galaxy. On 2 July 1968, the German government banned off-shore broadcasting. The Gloria project collapsed.Bob Leroi's RNI Scrapbook Meister and Bollier bought their own vessel, the Bjarkoy, and set up a radio station. They renamed their ship Mebo, then Mebo I, and, after transmissions ended, Angela.RNI Timeline Before fitting was completed, the Mebo was found to be too small for broadcasting but too big as a tender. However, she was used while the Mebo II was operating off England.

Mebo II

Originally Silvretta, and built in Slikkerveer, Netherlands in 1948, the 630-tonne vessel was wide, deep and long. In 1969 Mebo Telecommunications bought Silvretta, fitted her as a floating radio station, and renamed her Mebo II. Since Mebo was too big to tender Mebo II off the Netherlands, RNI used a smaller vessel, Trip Tender, which Radio London had also used (when she was called Offshore 1.) The psychedelically-painted Mebo II carried a MW transmitter at 105 kilowatts (more than twice the 50 kW TXs used by Radio London and Radio Caroline), though it operated at 60 kW or less.

One of five RCA-built prototype transmitters, and the only one still in service, it rarely if ever broadcast at full power. It had the highest power of any ship-based pirate station, and the second-highest of any ship-based broadcast station. The Voice of America's MV Courier in the 1950s had the highest, with 150 kW on mediumwave. Mebo II also had SW and FM transmitters, able simultaneously to broadcast four different streams on four different channels. The RNI FM installation transmitted with a power of 1.5 kW.

On 23 January 1970, Mebo II began test broadcasts from the Dutch coast, in English and German. When regular broadcasting began on 11 February 1970 it was more popular in the United Kingdom than the Netherlands or Germany. On 23 March 1970 Mebo II sailed to the East coast of England, arriving at 09:00 on 24 March 1970 and anchoring in international waters, five miles from Clacton.

Jamming The Labour government in Britain began jamming Mebo II'''s MW signal at 2030 hours on 15 April 1970. RNI responded with pro-Conservative political messages for the general election on 18 June 1970. On 13 May 1970, RNI responded to complaints about interference by changing its MW channel to 1230 kHz (244 metres) for testing. On 16 May 1970 this was an improved reception for the regular programs but was adjacent to the pop music service of BBC Radio One on 1214 kHz (247 metres). Jamming followed five days later, causing interference to BBC Radio as well as RNI, especially in Kent, south-east England.

Radio Caroline International

On 13 June 1970, five days before election day, Radio North Sea International changed to Radio Caroline International and launched a campaign in support of the Conservative party. The name change and political campaign were supported by Radio Caroline's founder Ronan O'Rahilly. Listeners were told that their freedom to listen to the radio station of their choice was under threat and that, if the Labour party were returned to power, the station would close: their vote should therefore be Conservative, the only party that supported commercial radio. O'Rahilly headed the campaign on land, using a double-decker bus and posters depicting Harold Wilson as China's Chairman Mao.

They believed the Conservatives would end jamming. Conservative policy was to establish local land-based commercial radio in the UK. At a Fight for Free Radio rally the weekend before the election, Conservative loudspeaker-vans urged 'Vote Conservative and fight for free radio'. The Conservatives won.

Reversion to RNI Two days after the election, the station reverted to RNI. Because jamming continued, Mebo II returned to the Dutch coast on 23 July 1970.

The British government jammed Mebo II's broadcasts with tones, usually an 800 Hz heterodyne supplemented with a pulsed beep (whistle and "pip pip"). Norway's interference with RNI on 6215.0 kHz was explained thus:

This is a transmission from the Norwegian coast station Rogaland Radio operating in single side band mode, upper side band, with a carrier frequency of 6215.0 kHz. The purpose of this transmission is to clear the channel of unauthorised and out of band broadcasting, to improve reception conditions for ships wishing to communicate with coast stations on this frequency or on adjacent maritime channels.

Paul Harris's book Broadcasting from the High Seas, published in 1976,Broadcasting from the High Seas (Edinburgh, Paul Harris Publishing, 1976), suggests the UK government suspected RNI's shortwave equipment was sending coded messages to unfriendly countries, in particular the German Democratic Republic (GDR).

Harris also claimed Edwin Bollier vowed to take revenge on the British government because he felt RNI had been singled out for jamming. Harris's theories are controversial and there has never been evidence to support them.

Attempted hijacking

On 12 August 1970, Kees Manders, a nightclub owner involved with Radio Veronica, became commercial director of RNI. But RNI's managing director, Larry Tremaine, said nothing had been agreed. Bollier and Meister had invited Manders to start a Dutch service from the Mebo II, and offered him a directorship in RNI, but withdrew when Manders leaked the story. A few weeks later, on Saturday, 29 August 1970, a salvage tug named Husky approached Mebo II at about 13:30. Accompanying the tug was a launch, the Viking, aboard which were Kees Manders with a woman and a child. In the studio, DJ Andy Archer interrupted his programme with appeals to listeners to tell RNI's offices of what appeared a threatening situation:

Seven minutes now away from two o'clock, and we have to apologise to you for interrupting our normal programme schedule with these urgent messages, but as you can probably appreciate, something rather drastic has happened. Or they're trying to make something happen which we won't stand for. We're refusing to allow anybody this radio ship, and if you've just joined us, perhaps you'd like to be put in the picture, that a tug has come alongside, along with a person by the name of Kees Manders, who apparently is a well known figure in Holland, and he is trying to take the ship away. Our Captain has only allowed him on board, and nobody else, and that will remain that way. We're not going to let anybody else on board the ship, only Mr Manders, to hear what he's got to say, but Radio North Sea International will stay broadcasting until we receive a definite order from our Head office in Zurich. So if anybody is listening in Zurich, or in London, or in our office in The Hague, in Scheveningen, perhaps they would like to do something, perhaps send a boat out, or perhaps try to make contact with us on the short-wave. . . Well, the situation is. . . none of us are sure what's happening at the moment but this certainly isn't an authorised tug. . . we have no tugs. . . the Mebo is in no need of a tug because we have perfectly good engines. . . The Captain allowed one of the men on board, but he refused to let any more on board, which is his prerogative. . . and this is the way it's going to stay until we receive details or instructions from our head office. So, once more we'd like to make a call to our head office in Zurich, or if anyone is listening in our London office, or in The Hague, perhaps you could try and get a message out to us on the short-wave link.

Spangles Muldoon reported:

It seems they're gonna spray water onto the antenna, which apart from tripping out our transmitter, would give whoever did it a very lethal shock. . .. So by all means, spray the aerial with water, if it makes you feel any better.

Andy Archer:

. . . and the banging you can hear in the background is that we are taking all security precautions, and locking up the hatches to save anybody from coming down into the studio itself. So once more we must tell you that there's a raid taking place at the moment. . . an unauthorised raid, and we're doing our best to stop everybody coming on board, so all we ask for our friends on the shore. . . to send out help to us. . .

Manders' demands were refused. He returned to the Viking, threatening to cut the anchor chain and tow the Mebo II to port. Crewmen on the Husky made to use a water cannon on the radio mast, but decided against, presumably having heard they risked electrocution. While Archer and Muldoon continued to broadcast, others armed themselves with knives and petrol bombs to repel boarders. Switchboards in London, The Hague, and Zurich received calls from listeners. Erwin Meister arrived on a launch, followed by the Eurotrip tender and other craft. Husky and Viking left, and were never seen again. Later that day van Ness, a frigate of the Royal Dutch Navy stood by. As the day ended, Larry Tremaine went on air with this statement: