Radio Conferences
In the 1980s, Paul edited radio pages for the international DJs magazine Mix Mag, run by another Radio Caroline DJ, Tony Prince. Paul also chaired forums at the International DJ Convention in London in 1985/6 & 7 for the DMC.
Later, wearing his engineer's hat, he was a guest speaker at several technical forums. These included the prestigious IEEE conference in Washington,DC. and at the annual National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas. Among the topics he was invited to speak on were trans-border transmissions, broadcast operations in several countries and the future of AM broadcasting.
Wandering up & down the radio dial
Licensing - National & Local
Classic Virgin Sky Radio 10
Licensing became Paul’s forté and he achieved 18 successes from 24 applications, 9 of them ‘national’ awards. Locally, Paul set up Scarborough ILR station Yorkshire Coast Radio with Wilf Proudfoot who had managed Radio 270 in the 1960s. Paul was involved in bids for several national broadcasters including Virgin Radio and Classic FM, for whom he managed an unusual application in Holland where his was one of over two dozen applicants; he persuaded the Dutch authorities to award one of the two national FM networks, for a unique blend of jazz and classical music.
Paul later worked with Sky Radio to release a national 100kW FM frequency after a high profile court challenge. He also consulted for Radio 10 Gold and engineered their launch on 675AM with a 120kilowatt signal, heard over most of western Europe. The mid-nineties were a very busy time with contracts for the Dutch state transmission company and further stations in Holland, Germany and other EU countries.
Born only yards from the North Sea, Paul's life was heavilly influenced by the offshore radio stations Radio 270, and Radio Caroline. His radio career began in the 1970s as the host of Radio Caroline's breakfast programme, on its Top 40 formatted ‘International’ service.
He returned to night clubs and hospitality to work with his wife Anne but kept a keen interest and links with radio.
In 1983 he was part of the team that launched a new radio ship, LASER. Within a month LASER 558 had five million listeners in the UK and a similar number on the continent, which its 50,000 transmitter covered.
Summary of Paul Rusling's broadcast career
Author & Writer
Paul's first commissioned article was in 1973 for a radio magazine. This was a radio publication, aimed at radio listeners in the UK and called 'Script'. In the article Paul told of his life on Radio Caroline.
A few years later he was commissioned to write a lengthy article for Ships Monthly about the various radio ships that had broadcast to Europe. That led to Paul being retained by Broadcast (a weekly trade paper) to write about the developing market of Commercial radio in Europe.
In the 1980's he also worked for the Yorkshire Post as a stringer and had 30 pieces published by the Sunday Times. His ST work included commissioned articles about radio and the music business.
World Broadcast News
Paul was the UK correspondent for World Broadcast News throughout the 80s and 90s. World Broadcast News was a leading American monthly glossy publication covering radio stations globally. His work was also carried in a wide variety of other media and music business publications in five countries.
Books about Laser 558
AUTHOR
Paul's first commissioned article was in 1973 for a radio magazine. This was a radio publication, aimed at radio listeners in the UK and called SCRIPT. In the article Paul told of his life on Radio Caroline.
Paul wrote many further pieces over the years for titles as diverse as Practical Wireless, Ships Monthly and Billboard in the 1970s.
In the 1980's he also worked for the Yorkshire Post as a stringer and for the Sunday Times. His ST work included many commissioned articles, mostly about radio but also the music business.
in 1995 Paul co-edited a book with his daughter Dawn called Who's Who in British Radio. This was a directory of people working in the radio business, in front of and behind the microphone. This sold so well they published a further edition in 2002 which was over 600 pages long.
World Broadcast News
Paul then became the UK correspondent for World Broadcast News throughout the 1980s. World Broadcast News was a leading American publication covering radio stations around the world.
Mix Mag
In 1984 he was invited by Tony Prince to write for DMC (Disco Mix Club) - a glossy mag aimed at DJs and the clubbing scene. His occasional radio pieces were expanded into a regular monthly 'column' which eventually covered several pages of news from the radio business around the world.
Paul also chaired discussion panels on radio at the prestigious annual World DJ Convention held in London - usually at the Hippodrome or the Appollo and Dominion in the West End.
Far and Wide
Paul worked for several other radio ventures including Voice of Hope, a 'border-blaster' serving Israel and the Middle East. He was also involved in the launch of three other offshore stations and worked on stations from the Azores to Egypt, as well as in Filnad, Sweden and other points between!
In 1989 he was involved in launching Solidarity FM in Poland and planned a high power AM station there Baltic Radio to broadcast across the sea to Sweden, which had no commercial radio - one of the last virgin western markets. He moved the project moved to nearby Lithuania, where he also set up a UHF TV service in Vilnius, relaying Sky News to the capital.
Paul was now running an international broadcast consultancy, providing mainly engineering services but also licensing and administration advice for stations far and wide. He also advised the licensing bodies of threee governments on the introduction of commercial radio and on frequency planning matters.
Radio Books
Over the last twenty years Paul has written a variety of books about broadcast management and programming as well as three historical broadcasting works covering one of the most listened to radio stations ever, LASER. He has also written training manuals for radio companies, mostly clients of Worldwide Brodcast Consultants. He edited and published Internet Broadcasting, a guide to building and launching online radio stations.
Paul assembled the definitive RADIO CAROLINE BIBLE in 2019, and in 2020 his RADIO FORMAT in the UK and US, became the first international guide to radio station programming formats. At the end of 2020 he wrote a guide to the development of DAB radio in the UK, called
DAB & DAB+
the Future of Radio
Paul Rusling
It's nice to be important,
but more important to be nice
This book describes the development and summarises the existing DAB stations already broadcasting on the National, the Regional, the Local and the Small Scale DAB multiplexes.
Radio is on the cusp of an explosion as hundreds of new stations are being launched on small scale DAB multiplexes. How DAB came about is explained in this new book, all about
DAB & DAB+,
the Future of Radio.
The book has the story about how and why the new small scale DAB+ multiplexes are being launched, enabling hundreds more stations to be heard on traditional radios.
This guide to radio formats was written to answer many of the queries about radio programming that continue to be raised by professionals within the industry and by listeners and enthusiasts. What do all the radio format names mean and why are there so many variations?
The RADIO FORMATS in the UK and US book traces the development of radio output over the last hundred years, up to the multi-formulas practiced by the industry today. In the 1920s, radio stations offered a little of most subjects as they tried to maximise their audience by being all things to all men. CLICK for more details
The Radio Caroline Bible is a 538 page collection of stories from the station's genesis, right up to date, (Latest pressing is January 2022). Widely regarded as THE definitive guide to the world's most famous radio ship, the book can be found on Amazon, in the Rock Art Museum in Holland, on the Radio Caroline website or direct from the publishers.
www.RadioCarolineBible.com
Read the story behind the world's most famous radio ship, told by those who made this exciting adventure happen.
Latest radio books
by Paul Rusling
RADIO FORMATS book.
This guide to radio formats was written to answer many of the queries about radio programming that continue to be raised by professionals within the industry and by listeners and enthusiasts. What do all the radio format names mean and why are there so many variations?
The RADIO FORMATS in the UK and US book traces the development of radio output over the last hundred years, up to the multi-formulas practiced by the industry today. In the 1920s, radio stations offered a little of most subjects as they tried to maximise their audience by being all things to all men.
CLICK for more details
The guide describes all the equipment needed, why and where it can be obtained; in many cases price details are included with a direct clickable links to the various suppliers.
As well as equipment, the book looks at the law relating to radio broadcasting, copyrights, staffing and getting programmes transmitted around the world. For more details see the BOOKS page on World of Radio's own web site.
Internet Radio
How to launch and operate your own radio station
An Online Radio "how to" guide, explaining how to set up and run all kinds of streaming media and your own Internet radio station.
Paul has written several books including training manuals for radio stations plus many other speciality publications such as the trio about the LASER RADIO phenomenon..
The Lid off Laser 558 was written about the period in 1983 and 19834 when he was involved in setting up offshore radio station LASER 558, an incredibly successful radio station in the mid 1980s. By living in Florida during conversion of the radio ship (at Port Everglades) Paul was subject only to US laws, so not breaking the UK legislation, which normally prohibits such work.
The resulting radio station, LASER 558, was totally legal as it employed only American DJs, it was located on a Panamanian ship and anchored in international waters. (See the Laser page on this site for more details of Laser 558).
Born only yards from the North Sea, Paul's life was heavilly influenced by the offshore radio stations Radio 270, and Radio Caroline, which he later joined as a disc jockey. Since then he has -worked in radio, publishing and hospitality in various parts of the world, while raising his family.
Paul Rusling’s radio career began in the 1970s as a Top 40 breakfast show DJ on Radio Caroline’s ‘International’ service. He returned to night clubs and hospitality to work with his wife Anne but then built a broadcast consultancy. In 1983 he was part of the team to launch a new radio ship; within a month LASER 558 had five million listeners in the UK and a similar number across the Benelux.
Paul's focus turned to getting a licence to cover the whole of the UK and Ireland, which he achieved by assisting the Isle of Man Government to get UK approval for a 500 kilowatt LW transmitter. The station was designed to cover the whole of the UK and Irealnd, plus some of the nearby continent. Protracted planning battles ensued and Paul left the Island to spend more time with his family. They bought a large pub and Paul's forays into radio became less frequent. In recent years he published a dozen books about radio (see below).
Today, his expertise in the fields of licensing, programming and engineering have continued to be in demand and he is now working on a global radio project, promoting British exports.
Summary of Paul Rusling's broadcast career
Summary of Rusling's broadcast career
Paul commissions the 120kW
Radio 10 Gold
MW transmitter
Radio Formats in the UK and US
click book covers for more details
He returned to night clubs and hospitality to work with his wife Anne but kept a keen interest and links with radio.
In 1983 he was part of the team that launched a new radio ship, LASER. Within a month LASER 558 had five million listeners in the UK and a similar number on the continent, which its 50,000 transmitter covered.
Born only yards from the North Sea, Paul's life was heavilly influenced by the offshore radio stations Radio 270, and Radio Caroline. His radio career began in the 1970s as the host of Radio Caroline's breakfast programme, on its Top 40 formatted ‘International’ service.