RADIO SILENCE
Music businessman and Radio Caroline founder Ronan O’Rahilly has died on the verge of his 80th birthday. The one time manager of Alexis Korner started the pirate radio station on an offshore boat near Essex in 1964. The UK government turned maritime law against O’Rahilly to shut down his operations several times, but by focusing on album rock and contemporary music, the station changed the face of radio. In 1989, the latest Radio Caroline was famously taken off air mid performance by Dutch troops who boarded their ship and destroyed their equipment. He later became interested in the teaching of Ram Dass, and became a fellow of the Radio Academy, mixing with the same people who tried to block him decades earlier.
He also saved the James Bond franchise by convincing his friend George Lazenby not to sign up for multiple films. That this advice was based on Ronan thinking the films wouldn’t last, and not on the basis that George Lazenby was shite, is neither here nor there.
Ronan O’Rahilly was a unique pick for And Its Goodnight for Him.
Ronan O’Rahilly
21 May 1940 – 20 April 2020
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