Pirate radio in the United Kingdom A number of DJs of the newly created pop music service BBC Radio 1 came from pirate stations. The UK Government also closed the international waters loophole via the Marine Broadcasting Offences Act of 1967, although Radio Caroline continued to broadcast (with some sizeable off-air periods between 1968 and 1972 and 1980–83) until 1990. The 1967 Marine Broadcasting Offences Act officially outlawed offshore stations, but unlicensed radio continued, moving from ships and sea-based platforms to urban areas in the latter part of the 1960s (they were already illegal under the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949). During this period, home-made medium wave
John Peel he moved to KMEN in San Bernardino, California, using the name John Ravencroft to present the breakfast show. While in Dallas, in 1965, he married his first wife, Shirley Anne Milburn, then aged 15, in what Peel later described as a "mutual defence pact". The marriage was never happy and although she accompanied Peel back to Britain in 1967, they were soon separated. The divorce became final in 1973. Milburn later took her own life. Peel returned to England in early 1967 and found work with the offshore pirate radio station Radio London. He was offered the midnight-to-two shift, which