Radio Caroline launches comeback

Radio Caroline, the original pirate station for three decades, has made a legitimate - and permanent - return to the airwaves on a digital network.

The station, which began the careers of Tony Blackburn and Kenny Everett in its heyday, is now broadcasting fully on Sky Digital after ten years of temporary 28-day transmissions on analogue satellite.

Caroline has positioned itself as "Europe's first and only album station", with a 24-hour schedule of predominantly easy rock which also broadcasts to Worldspace radio sets across the UK and Europe, the Middle East, Africa and India.

Caroline launched as a pirate station in 1964, and managed to avoid prosecution by broadcasting from ships moored outside British waters. However, the station effectively ceased transmissions in 1990 when its second ship ran aground, and the new Caroline now broadcasts from a Maidstone studio.

Although the non-profit station cannot afford the £20,000 cost for a slot on Sky's electronic programme guide, it can be tuned in manually on frequency 11.623 H.