Mike Stevens The Pirate Radio Hall of Fame asked Mike for a few details about his life and career. He very kindly wrote the following: “Mike Stevens became interested in radio in the early 70s when he was involved with hospital radio in Maidenhead and campus radio at the University of Bath. In 1976 he was sending out demo tapes to numerous stations - including Radio Caroline - with conspicuous lack of success so he decided to give up his job and move to Ipswich to try and worm his way into Radio Orwell. Within a week of moving there he had stopped listening to Orwell and his radio was firmly tuned to Caroline. Coming from the West Country he had no history of listening to offshore stations and was just blown away by the great music and fantastic atmosphere coming out of the North Sea. So it was just amazing that, within four weeks of quitting his job, he got the call from Caroline. They had eventually listened to his tape and offered him a job. He did not need asking twice. He was under the impression he had been hired to play out tapes for (the daytime) Radio Mi Amigo but, when he got out to the ship, he found two Dutch DJs running Mi Amigo and just three English DJs to cover 24 hour broadcasting (on Caroline) so he immediately found himself on air - for six hours a day, seven days a week. He joined Caroline in November 1976 and, apart from a six month stint on the Voice of Peace in 1979, was there until March 1980, coming off just a couple of weeks before the Mi Amigo finally met her end. When he got the job on Caroline, Mike was just pleased to working in radio. However, it wasn't very long before he was completely in his element. He particularly enjoyed the freedom to play quality music unfettered by any kind of playlist. He found the whole Caroline experience a great adventure. The clandestine nature of the operation was always interesting - trying to load a very large colour TV onto a small fishing boat in Harwich Harbour while trying to look inconspicuous was just one example. One tender ride was memorable as it was on a totally unsuitable speedboat out of Whitstable. At one point there was doubt as to whether they had enough fuel to get there and all the guys arrived on the Mi Amigo soaked to the skin. Things were not always particularly comfortable. Living on sardines and potatoes for days because the weather was too rough to get a tender out - and more importantly running out of cigarettes - was not fun. By the end of the Mi Amigo's days there was no running water which made showering an interesting operation. In the good and bad times the thing that stood out for Mike was the spirit and comradeship on board, and the fact that whatever the situation, Caroline always produced fantastic music radio. After the Mi Amigo sank, Mike did a three month spell on Radio Nova in Italy in 1981, but that was his last full time radio job. He did some programmes for Radio Clyde in 1990 but was sacked for being too old. A short involvement with Q96 ended when he was sacked for being too patronising. He also deputized for Sydney Devine on West Sound, but doesn't like to talk about that! He took part in the Easter 2008 Caroline veterans reunion broadcast from the Ross Revenge, which he thoroughly enjoyed. Living and working on a radio ship again - albeit only for four days - completely recaptured the days of good company and good music radio. Now married with three children he runs a small business in Glasgow and looks forward to retirement.”less