Spark FM to stage North Sea live shows

To celebrate 50 years of pirate radio and the birth of Radio Caroline, four University of Sunderland students will broadcast live from the North Sea.

Anthony Kane, Thomas Hannett, Harrison Stock and Scott Hastie will be marking 50 years of pirate radio with two radio shows.

Thomas, 21, from Gateshead, and Anthony, 21, from South Shields, will be paying homage to the pirate radio movement of the 1960s. They will broadcast live on-board a P&O ferry on the Hull to Rotterdam route speaking to DJs from the original Caroline line up.

They will recreate the sound of the 1960s and the lives of pirate radio presenters.

Harrison Stock, 20, from Huddersfield, and Scott Hastie, 21, from Fife, will then broadcast a show live from the city of Rotterdam, representing pirate radio from the late 1980s and 1990s and the shift from the seas to the inner cities. They will be looking back at the music pirate radio championed from Acid House to Garage, from Grime to Dubstep.

Pirate radio was a milestone in radio broadcasting and some say it shaped the way we hear radio in the UK today.At a time where radio was dominated by educational programming, pirate radio delivered popular culture.

Dates of broadcast:

• Thomas Hannett and Anthony Kane, Spark at Sea Monday 10th March 8pm – 10pm

• Harrison Stock and Scott Hastie, Pirate Radio: From sea to shore, Tuesday 11th March 12pm – 2pm