Radio 270 - Close Down

Close Down

The pirate radio stations attracted opposition from within the British political establishment. It was claimed that their broadcasts interfered with emergency service communications, and this led to enactment of the Marine Offences Broadcasting Act of 1967, which took effect at midnight on 14 August of that year. This Act prohibited the management, funding, support or supply of pirate radio ships from the British mainland.

The pirate stations campaigned against the Act during the early months of 1967. Radio 270 was prominent in this campaign and its contributions to the campaign took on an overtly political dimension. A group of Conservative MPs and activists became involved with Radio 270. These included the MP for Beverley, Patrick Wall. The station gave airtime to a number of political causes including a broadcast by Wall in which he advocated British recognition of the white minority UDI regime in Rhodesia. Radio 270 broadcast advertisements supporting Conservative party candidates in the Scarborough municipal elections of 1967. Harvey Proctor, then Chairman of the University of York Conservative Society, made regular half hour current affairs broadcasts. Proctor went on to have a controversial career as a Conservative MP and prominent member of the Conservative Monday Club.

This appeared to harden the Labour government's resolve to deal with the pirates. Postmaster-General Edward Short stated about Radio 270 that "It is the first time in peacetime that this country has been subjected to a stream of misleading propaganda from outside our territorial waters and I do not think this is a matter for joking".

As 14 August approached, it was initially suggested that Radio 270 could continue broadcasting but with Ocean 7 being supplied from the Netherlands and the station's management being shifted to that country. However, it was soon realised that this was not a viable option. DJ Vince "Rusty" Allen closed the station at one minute to midnight on 14 August 1967.