Pirate radio DJ 'leaves wake' | Entertainment | London Free Press

Tom Lodge, the former Londoner who was a real-life "Pirate Radio" DJ off Britain's shore in the 1960s, has died in California.

Lodge had been battling cancer and died Sunday at the age of 75. That was 46 years to the day after he was whisked off the Radio Caroline broadcast ship to interview the Beatles in an exclusive session at London, England.

It was one history-making moment in many for Lodge, who knew many of the British Invasion rock-and-roll stars, broke hit records in Britain and St. Thomas, ran a drop-in centre in London, helped start the Fanshawe music industry arts (MIA) program and later studied Zen.

Ex-Beatle Sir Paul McCartney once said Lodge should get a knighthood for his work in getting the British Invasion bands on the air, Lodge's former dean at Fanshawe recalled Monday.

"He was the energy behind it. He was the idea man. He was the catalyst," London artist and retired Fanshawe dean of the faculty of arts Eric Atkinson said of Lodge's role in the founding of the MIA program, "I'll miss him enormously."

Family and friends were mourning Lodge and celebrating his life on Facebook and other social media on Monday.

The British-born Lodge first came to Canada in the early 1950s. After other jobs, Lodge joined CBC Radio as an announcer, became a station manager and then returned to Britain as a correspondent. He took a job as a disc jockey and program director on Radio Caroline, the pirate radio station broadcasting rock and roll hits from a ship that operated off the coast of Britain to dodge the BBC's monopoly.

After Radio Caroline was shut down, Lodge found his way back to Canada, working for a time at the old CHLO-AM radio station in St. Thomas. He continued to break hit records there, giving bands such as Creedence Clearwater Revival a first shot at Canadian airplay.

Over its label's objections, Lodge played CCR's Suzie Q on CHLO after buying the record in Detroit. The label had not released the song in Canada. "They didn't want it out," he said in a Free Press interview about a decade ago. "I told them, 'I'm going to play this record. You better release it.' "

Lodge published several versions of his pirate radio days. A Free Press critic said The Ship That Rocked The World, the 2010 edition, is the one to get.

Radio Caroline and Lodge's story loosely inspired the comedy flick Pirate Radio.

In the mid-1970s, Lodge moved to California where he began practising Zen.

Tom Maguire, a London musician and longtime friend, looked to Radio Caroline for an image about him.

"He did leave a wake in his passing," Maguire said.

James Reaney is a London Free Press arts & entertainment columnist and reporter.

E-mail james.reaney@sunmedia.ca, read James' Brand New Blog read his column or follow JamesatLFPress on Twitter.

Source: http://www.lfpress.com/entertainment/2012/03/26/19550621.html

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