ABSTRACT
Pirates have entered the collective imagination as the daring and merry figures of resistance against the rules and regulations of the powers that be. By the mid-1960s pirate radio vessels formed a small flotilla in the North Sea. The powerful transmitter of Radio London added its voice to the pirate choir with its carefully packaged programs such as The Fabulous Forty. This time Willem Van Kooten made his case heard and in June 1964 he went to the United States for a 1-week study-tour of US commercial pop radio formats. National connotations of piracy—with rebellion against oppression, with the freedom-loving nature of the nation and with financial gain through clever operations by individuals—may add to the explanation why a pirate radio was instantly popular. Radio Veronica cheerfully exploited its pirate image. Veronica had shown the dark side of its pirate image and the cost of the bombing in terms of public sympathy was considerable.
