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Benn's diary January 27th 1965

This afternoon I went to see the Attorney General about the Pirate Broadcasting Bill...it is a massive document creating dozens of new offences all designed to strangle the pirates. I have the gravest doubt as to whether it will be effective and the Government will have no time to introduce it in this session. It is obvious before it is done an alternative of our own will have to be put forward. The pirates are establishing themselves firmly in public favour and if we killed them it would be extremely unpopular. I can see ourselves moving steadily towards the starvation of the BBC through failure to raise the licence fee and ultimately capitulation in favour of commercial sound broadcasting. That is unless we permit the expansion of broadcasting on the basis of public service with advertising revenue"

Opposition and government MP's criticised the delays in legislation. Bill Deedes, Conservative MP for Ashford, Kent, who was Minister of Information in the previous Conservative government, was one of them. In 1962 they'd accepted the recommendations of the Pilkington Commitee that there was no demand for commercial radio and the BBC should launch local radio.

In a the debate on the April 21st 1966 Queens Speech, which laid out Government policy for the forthcoming year, Conservative spokesman Quintin Hogg said that the Government should legislate against pirate radio, drop some of the other measures they were proposing and that if they did they would have their full support.

On the 6th April Frank Gillard had told Tony Benn that they could launch Radio 247 run by the BBC from 5am to 2am with "entertainment on the medium wave band" for the teenage audience". "His only problem is money. But it's mad to raise the licence fee for something that could be provided for nothing by advertising."

The Government came under more pressure from MP's on both sides of the house following the takeover of Radio City. On July 1st Tony Benn announced that legislation would be introduced before the summer recess, The day before Harold Wilson had told him he would become Minister of Technology, which also meant he would join the Cabinet. Edward Short then became Postmaster General.

Tony Benn then supported the plan put forward by the Labour committee on broadcasting, chairman was Hugh Jenkins, for a pop music service on 247 metres supported largely by advertising, run as a public corporation like Channel 4 is now, which would also be relayed at time by local radio stations also being able to have income from commercials. This was reported at first to have Cabinet approval. It had been introduced in Parliament early August as a 10 minute enabling bill.

Much of this I read in Paul Harris's book When Pirates Ruled the Waves, I was in regular touch with him including, as I've mentioned before, being appointed Impulse Publications representative for North East England and trying unsuccessfully to get independent booksellers in Middlesbrough, Scarborough and Whitby to stock it. He says on 73 and 74 that legislation needed to be introduced.

When the MOA was being debated the Conservatives said that they didn't want to mislead the public and they weren't voting against the bill but for a better alternative. The BBC had late 1966 decided that they could provide a pop music service without raising the licence fee, one thing they did was postpone the development of Pebble Mill. The Cabinet then decided to support them. Hence a part time Radio One.