Paul Alexander

Uit Radiopedia

Paul Alexander Rusling is an East Yorkshire public house and restaurant owner, disc jockey and also a radio and publishing entrepreneur. He began his radio career on RADIO CAROLINE INTERNATIONAL in 1973, where he hosted the breakfast show and other programmes.

After school in Hull, England ahe worked as a disc jockey in night clubs and ballrooms, while he paid to study radio engineering at Hull College of Technology. He became qualified as a ship's radio officer.After a short time on Caroiline he moved to London with his wife Anne and they managed several public houses (bars).

In 1981 Rusling became a broadcast consultant and worked at several radio stations, including Laser 558 which he was intsrumental in setting up. Rusling served as a consultant to broadcast projects in the Middle East, Europe and Scandinavia and assisted with license applications for stations in the United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Poland and Russia, including work with Nozema, Sky Radio, Classic FM, and Radio 10 Gold. He was a director of several radio companies, including Yorkshire Coast Radio. On the Isle of Man Rusling was founder of a public company (Isle of Man International Broadcasting plc) which was licensed to launch a 500,000 Watt international broadcasting station MusicMann279.

Rusling chaired forums at the Mix Mag International DJ Convention in London and at several technical forums, e.g. IEEE conference in Washington. He has published several books including training manuals for radio stations and other speciality publications including The Lid Off Laser 558 (ISBN 0-948055-00-6) and "Who's Who in British Radio" (ISBN 1900401045). Rusling and his wife published a weekly paid-for newspaper in East Yorkshire called the Haltemprice Herald which was the first paid-for weekly to be printed in full colour.

In 2006 Paul and Anne Rusling bought the Triton Inn in Brantingham, East Yorkshire. They developed it as a restaurant and ballroom, catering for functions such as weddings and conferences. The Triton was very successful, opening seven days a week for lunch and dinner and serving up to 700 meals a day. The Ruslings sold the business in August 2013 to a local businessman, Bob Carroll. Paul Rusling returned to radio work as a broadcast consultant, advising on new licence applications and radio station operation. He set up a charity to broadcast radio programmes as Free Radio Peace to the Levant region of the Middle East and published "Internet Radio 2016" describing how to launch and operate an online radio station. In September 2016 Paul Rusling authored another book called "Radio Adventures of the MV Communicator", telling the story of eleven radio stations which broadcast from that ship over its 21 years history as a radio ship. The stations included three incarnations of Laser, Holland FM, Veronica Hit Radio, Q The Beat and the Super Station. The book is published by World of Radio and available as a paperback (ISBN 978-1-900401-12-8) and in hardback (ISBN 978-1-900401-14-2). In 2017 Rusling published a further book about the programme format and other aspects of the output of the offshore radio stations known as Laser. The book is called 'Laser Radio Programming' (ISBN 978-1-900401-17-3) World of Radio.

In May 2017 PAUL ALEXANDER RUSLING was presented with a 'Golden Microphone Award' for "outstanding contribution to radio" at the Zeezenders RadioDag ceremony in Harlingen, The Netherlands. In 2017 he and his wife returned to the licensed trade and took over the management of the Ferns Farm Hotel near Bridlington for the Old Mill Brewery.

In 2019, Paul assembled a huge book, the Radio Caroline Bible, which tracks the story of how Radio Caroline was launched, and all the excitement and drama of its six decades of broadcasting. In November 2021, a new 558 page edition was published. Stories include input from many of Caroline's major backroom team, including Ronan's PA Oonagh in the 60s and 70s, and station managers such as Kate Cary, Ben Bode, Vincent Monsey and Peter Moore. (ISBN 978 1 900401 26 5).


[1] - Story of Laser 558 [2] Laser 558 web site icce.rug.nl - Paul Rusling on Radio Caroline. offshore-radio.de - Offshore radio reunion. [3] Paul Alexander on Radio Caroline [4] - Pirate Radio Hall of Fame [5] - The King David, a Mediterranean radio ship [6] The Crossed Field Antenna [7] Radio Adventures of the Communicator [8] Laser Radio Programming [9] Ferns Farm Hotel website