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Foutemuziekradio.nl presents the Joepie Top 50 from November 24th 1974 with Ferry Eden. It was obvious to Mi Amigo owner Sylvain Tack and his crew: continuing with the broadcasting of the station, were all the other Offshore Radiostations closed down on August 31th 1974, would course immense problems. Nevertheless, Autumn 1974 the M.V. Mi Amigo in the Thames Estuary was the only radioship still on air, despite the (new Dutch) law against offshore radio. Officially it was not allowed to support or work for Radio Mi Amigo and Radio Caroline and both, Dutch, Flemish and British authorities collaborated in their afford to stop offshore radio. Most of the time, there was music on 259 meters Medium waveband (1187kHz), but because of technical and other problems the station sometimes was silence. Supplying the ship, for instance, had become a big problem. This was due to bad weather as well as actions from the authorities. At times, new programs did not get to the ship and therefore older programs had to be repeated. In fact an eyes was kept on harbours if there were tenders leaving for the M.V. Mi Amigo. Also on certain occasions there was a survey ship observing the situation on full sea. The extra costs for solving all the problems had to be earned by advertisement on the radio, both commercials as well as paid airplay for some plug records. Because that was forbidden by law, it was important to spread mist around this subject. There were not-ordered or so called fake commercials on Radio Mi Amigo, so without knowledge of the relevant company. Of course there was also real advertisers, who of course also denied to have ordered for this ‘illegal’ radio advertisement. There was also a possibility to order and pay for advertisement in the Flemish teenage magazine Joepie, initiated by Mi Amigo boss Sylvain Tack, but meanwhile owned by a befriended company. The advertisement in Joepie was official, the commercial on Radio Mi Amigo was a surprise bonus. They all came on the air when the deejay announced on forehand ‘Read for you in Joepie’. To keep out of the hands of authorities, Tack used his holiday home in Playa d’Aro as new address, as Spain had not rectified ‘the Stassbourg anti free radio treaty’ at that stage. All the fuzz and problems around the continuing of Radio Mi Amigo and Radio Caroline also caught unwanted attention of newspapers, magazines and even television, were operating in silence would be preferable. Three months after the closedown of Radio Veronica and Radio Northsea International, the M.V. Mi Amigo was a bit of a hype and many people felt sympathy for ‘the lawbreakers’. So it was good publicity for the station, but the disadvantage was, that authorities also got unwanted information from the press. The studio facilities, for instance, had to remain secret, because Dutch and Flemish authorities were eager to confiscate it, which actually happened early 1975. Autumn 1974 this was not yet the problem. On Saturday November 24th a Caroline deejay, on board the radioship, started the Mi Amigo Top 50 on tape at twelve o’ clock sharp. It was a prerecorded program ‘on land’ by Peter van Dam, over a week earlier. In this 46th edition of the Top 50, there were only four new releases and five former ‘Lievelingen’. There are many well-known butt also not so famous records in this chart and of course the original commercials and jingles. This is really a reason to listen to the retro version by Ferry Eden on www.foutemuziekradio.nl on Saturday November 25th 2017 between 12 and 15 hours. And good news: this internet station and the Top 50 wil go on in 2018!