Radio Elizabeth

Radio Elizabeth is an El Kadsreian radio network owned by Radio Network United El Kadsreian Nations. Founded in 1970 as an offshore radio station using disc jockeys from the, and , Radio Elizabeth broadcast as a offshore station continuously between August 11, 1970 and May 14, 1988. In May 1988, Radio Elizabeth finally gained a legal broadcasting license after it's assets were bought by MatsuMedia and moved onshore.

Origins
In July 1968, 38-year old broadcaster Bernard Pierlot convinced regionally-known -based benefactor Hugues Prévot to fund an offshore radio station for listeners in the El Kadsreian Islands.

In October 1969, Bernard and Hugues obtained an ex- fuel oil barge, YOG-112, which was re-registered in, and converted into a radio ship at  in , with an AM transmitter mast imported from. Hugues named the in-planning station after Elizabeth Wayne, an Anglo-Quebecer friend from.

1970-1977: First transmissions and M/V Elizabeth
YOG-112 was re-named M/V Elizabeth and was sailed via the and  to an anchorage off the coast of, , where it began test transmissions on August 2, 1970.

On August 11, Radio Elizabeth began regular broadcasting in the morning on 1150 kHz, with "Friendly" Martin Berger (fresh out of CKAZ-FM in ) as the disc jockey on duty. Radio Elizabeth's original theme was "Visa To The Stars" by. With only Radio 21 and Radio 22 for competition, Radio Elizabeth gained an audience of 10 million. Officially, Radio Elizabeth was managed from offices in Quebec City and Montreal, with advertising from the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. In practice, day-to-day servicing was carried from New Zealand and Singapore. Most disc-jockey presentations were broadcast live from the Elizabeth, while others were pre-recorded in Radio Elizabeth's studios on in.

Broadcasting personnel
Martin Berger, better known then as "Friendly" Martin Berger, was the first disc jockey on duty on the launch day of August 11, 1970. Several other DJs including Davey Dee Beanland, Felix Halper, Clint Blight, Sunny Cynthia Dyson, and Jonas Tchividjian became well-known. Radio shows from the United States, United Kingdom and Australia and recorded religious programs such as Music & the Spoken Word were also broadcast.

M/V Elizabeth runs aground
On May 16, 1974, M/V Elizabeth broke free from it's anchor, drifted and ran aground on Polihua Beach in Lanai after encountering a storm. The crew and broadcasting staff were rescued unharmed, but the ship's hull was damaged and repairs were carried out in,. Between May 26 and August 4, Radio Elizabeth broadcast from the vessel M/V Wolfman I, loaned from Australian offshore station Radio Crown who were using it as a backup vessel at the time after moving to M/V Wolfman II. The transmitters of Wolfman I and Elizabeth were swapped during this period to maintain the same frequency of 1150 kHz.

The M/V Elizabeth returned to broadcasting Radio Elizabeth's 1150 kHz frequency on August 15 with a new RCA antenna mast. A second antenna mast was added for shortwave broadcasts.

Goodbye to the M/V Elizabeth
In June 1977, with repairs being costly, the decision was made to sell off Elizabeth and move to another ship. The last broadcast from Elizabeth was by Clint Blight, who said to listeners "We'll be back eventually, but until then, stay classy!"

The Elizabeth was then sold to Mexican interests who planned to start broadcasting from the ship as that country's first offshore radio station from an anchorage in international waters off the coast of the U.S. state of. However, this plan fell through, and it was then sold to the government, sailing to North Korea in mid-1978 where it operated for some time in international waters off the coast of  relaying Radio Pyongyang (now known as ). Later its broadcast operations ceased, and it was sunk in 1986 when it was targeted for North Korean anti-ship missile practice.

1977-1988: M/V Montreal Queen
The station resumed operations in October 1977 from a new radio ship, the M/V Montreal Queen, an ex-British fishing trawler formerly operated by (MAFF) as Henry Chaplin, and a former sister ship to the Sir William Hardy, which later became 's. It had an antenna system radiating on the same 1150 kHz frequency as the previous ships from a 180-foot (54.8 m) high mast. The ship departed from and traveled via the  to a new anchorage in international waters off the coast of. Original DJ Martin Berger recorded a special "Welcome Back" speech in that was played on the night of the first broadcasts from Montreal Queen.

While the Montreal Queen was smaller than Elizabeth, it had more elaborate transmitting equipment: one 50 kW RCA transmitter for AM broadcasts and two RCA 200 kW units for shortwave broadcasts.

Disc jockeys included Andrew Archdale, Sunny Cynthia Dyson, Clint Blight, Darren Kimmelman, George Samuelsen and Shane Redish. Evening programming strands included the Christian Uplifting 1150 hosted by Henrik Dalgaard (George Samuelsen's cousin-in-law) and the reggae program Elizabeth Jams with Jack Ernest Cramton and Nathan Edwardes.