Offshore radio in England in the 1960s as well as the fact the major labels had left little to no airtime to less established acts. The Radio Caroline name was used to broadcast from international waters, using five different ships of three different owners, from 1964 to 1990. Radio Caroline was the brainchild of Ronan O'Rahilly, who dreamed up a way to air music by "unestablished" rock and roll artists Other well-known stations of the period were Radio Atlanta, Radio London, Radio 270 (broadcasting of the coast of Filey, Yorkshire) Radio 390, Radio Scotland, Radio Northsea International and Radio City. Most offshore
Radio Mercur ship. It broadcast to the southern province of Sweden, Skåne and was run by a young man, Nils-Eric Svensson, who had studied radio and TV in USA and had worked at the government run Swedish Radio for a very short time Radio Mercur was probably the first commercial offshore radio station in the world and gave inspiration to a whole number of offshore radios or pirate radios in Sweden, Netherlands, Belgium and United Kingdom during the 1960s. The Danish press soon began to use the expression "pirate radio" on Radio Mercur, and a number of cartoons in newspapers and magazines