RADIO MERCUR, DENMARK.

Radio Mercur, Denmark was the very first commercial radio station in northern Europe, based on a ship, offshore, between Copenhagen and the southern province of Sweden, Skåne. The Danish law made it illegal to broadcast from Danish territory by any other radio station than Danmarks Radio, the state radio. The law did not make it illegal to broadcast in Danish from outside the Danish border. Radio Mercur started regular broadcasting from a ship in international waters in August of 1958 and continued until July 31, 1962, when the Danish and Swedish "Pirate Radio Laws" made it impossible for the Danish Radio Mercur to continue broadcasting. (In spite of the law the Swedish station Radio Syd continued). Danish Radio Mercur used three different ships to broadcast during the years it broadcast offshore in the Straight of Öresund (The Sound). The first ship was "Cheeta", a small ship (100 dWt). "Cheeta" was replaced in January of 1961 by a Norwegian coastal ship "Mosken" (450 Dwt) christened to "Cheeta II"). The third and last ship was "Lucky Star", or "Nijmah al Hazz", sailing under Lebanese flag. "Lucky Star" was the ship from DCR and when the two stations merged in January 1962 it hosted the transmitter from Radio Mercur.
"Cheeta II" changed later name to "San Pedrito" shortly after the broadcasts had stopped during the summer of 1962. She was then first moored in Copenhagen harbor, then moved to Flensburg in Germany and later back to Copenhagen again. On board "Cheeta II" were two transmitters, one serving Danish Radio Mercur on 88.0 Mhz and one serving the Swedish Skånes Radio Mercur on 89,5 Mhz. At this time, regular stereo transmissions started, using the transmitters at 88.0 MHz for the left channel and the second transmitter at 89.5 MHz for the right channel. This meant, of course, that the listeners had to have two radios placed a few meters away from each other. The stereo programs started in April, 1961. The first programs were only one hour long and were transmitted between eight and nine in the evening. The first transmitter on board "Cheeta" transmitted only 1.5 KW, but with the antenna directed towards Copenhagen covered most of Sjaelland and the western parts of Skåne. The transmitter on board "Cheeta II" was considerably more powerful and produced 21 KW at the same time the hours of broadcasting for both radio stations increased. "Cheeta" was, repaired and serviced in Kristiansand in Norway after it was replaced by "Cheeta Mercur II" in January, 1961. It was then anchored in "Stora Bält". It began transmitting November 25, 1961, but it soon turned out that "Cheeta" was too small for the rough waters of "Stora Bält" and it was decided to exchange the location of the two ships after only one week. This meant that Skånes Radio Mercur once again had to limit the time on the air because there was only one transmitter on board the small "Cheeta" and broadcasting time had to be shared when Cheeta was moved back to The Sound. During the last months of Danish Radio Mercur, almost all of Denmark was covered by the two transmitters from The Sound and Stora Bält. On April 3, 1962, the Danish Minister of Communications, Kai Lindberg, introduced a new law to the Danish parliament, "Folketinget". This law was designed to stop the broadcasts of Radio Mercur and became law on August 1, 1962. Danish Radio Mercur closed down July 31 at 2400. More than 100 people lost their jobs. In a questionable action, two Danish custom patrol boats with 16 policemen boarded "Lucky Star" at 4 o'clock in the morning on August 16, 1962. The reason for the action was that Radio Mercur had returned to the air three days earlier. This action by the Danish government was hotly debated in the media and in "Folketinget" because the boarding took place on international waters and the legality was in question. Many passing ships demonstrated against the boarding by lowering their flags to half mast. Was this High Sea Piracy carried out by the Kingdom of Denmark? "Lucky Star" was brought to Copenhagen and a long legal battle followed. The ship's papers were missing and it was not clear as to the ownership. "Etablissement de Technique", Liechtenstein was fined Dkr 8,000 for illegally broadcasting radio programs. On June 4, 1963, the Danish financier Brask Thomsen was fined Dkr 20,000, Benny Knudsen Dkr 3,000, the ship's captain Dan Kranker Dkr 300 and the engineer, Leif Knudsen 300. The transmitter was taken apart and destroyed. The popularity of Radio Mercur forced the Danish State Radio to start a new broadcasting format, " Melodiradion", on January 1, 1963. Even if Radio Mercur could not survive, it won the battle. The broadcasting format of the monopoly radio was forever changed and it was the beginning of the end of the radio monopoly.