Born Robbie Robinson in Littleborough (Lancashire) in 1940, Robbie Dale began his working life as a bellboy at the Mayfair Club in London. Other jobs included work as an antique dealer, press agent, and in sales promotion, as well as five years with the Army. He toured the Far East and spent three years in South East Asia.
Robbie joined Radio Caroline South in April 1966 as a DJ without any previous broadcasting experience – thanks to Radio Caroline executives who believed he had potential.
He more than justified their faith and amassed a large and loyal following as “Admiral” Robbie Dale (a nickname given to him by fellow DJ Dave Lee Travis because Dale was notoriously strict about keeping the ship’s compact studios orderly and “shipshape”).
Commanding a peak audience of 23 million listeners during the mid-1960s, Dale’s charm, rebellious spirit, and distinctive on-air persona cemented his legacy as a true pioneer of commercial radio broadcasting.
When Radio Caroline shut down (after the British government enacted the Marine Broadcasting Offences Act in August 1967), many DJs fled to the mainland to avoid prosecution.
Dale fiercely resisted, though, and alongside Johnnie Walker, he chose to stay out at sea on the MV Mi Amigo to keep Radio Caroline on the air illegally (pictured).
He was promoted to Senior DJ and joint Programme Controller, and kept broadcasting through terrible winter conditions until January 1968, when a severe stomach ulcer forced him to finally return to land for medical treatment.
He continued coordinating the station from shore until March 1968, when creditors finally boarded the pirate ships and towed them away. He then worked for the Dutch pirate radio ship Radio Veronica from May 1968 to August 1969, and then for the Dutch broadcaster TROS, where he hosted a regular radio show on Hilversum 3.
His immense popularity in the Netherlands opened the door to a Dutch TV career, hosting the flagship teenage music magazine show JAM for the TROS national broadcasting network.
In 1980, he started up and successfully ran Sunshine 101 in Dublin, which became one of the most popular pirate radio stations in the Republic of Ireland, until unlicensed radio was outlawed in the country in 1989.
After retiring from media management, Dale shifted gears entirely and spent his final years living peacefully in the sun in Lanzarote, Spain, where he successfully ran the San Francisco Park holiday apartments until his full retirement in 2010.
He died from dementia complications on 31 August 2021, at the age of 81.
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He more than justified their faith and amassed a large and loyal following as “Admiral” Robbie Dale (a nickname given to him by fellow DJ Dave Lee Travis because Dale was notoriously strict about keeping the ship’s compact studios orderly and “shipshape”).
Dale fiercely resisted, though, and alongside Johnnie Walker, he chose to stay out at sea on the MV Mi Amigo to keep Radio Caroline on the air illegally (pictured).
In 1980, he started up and successfully ran Sunshine 101 in Dublin, which became one of the most popular pirate radio stations in the Republic of Ireland, until unlicensed radio was outlawed in the country in 1989.
