[Description by contributor Mark Ogden] The Summer of Love was winding down, but onshore commercial-free pop radio in the United Kingdom launched like a Saturn rocket on this historic Saturday in September 1967. Here we have, in unscoped AM narrowband splendor, most of the sixth hour of BBC Radio 1’s first day on the air. A sneak preview this was not, with the national press in attendance at the studio and millions of young listeners across the British Isles and nearby areas of continental Europe tuned in to hear what the new “pirate killer” was all about. Young Emperor Rosko Hip New Yorkers had their Rosko (Bill Mercer), however, to Britons this Los Angeles-born Emperor Rosko (Mike Pasternak, son of Hollywood producer Joe Pasternak) became the epitome of the jive-talking American disk jockey during his several decades on the national airwaves. The Emperor’s skin may have been white, but he had clearly been consuming large quantities of soul gumbo in order to create this style of delivery. Reportedly Mike’s influences included Emperor Bob Hudson at KFWB and early Wolfman Jack, and possibly he had spent enough time on the home front recently to soak in a little of The Real Don Steele. The music selection in this show is mesmerizing — top-flight UK and West Coast rock, along with some tasty helpings of R’n’B and ska. The customized PAMS package captures the spirit perfectly, enhanced by several uses of the opening notes of Pink Floyd’s “See Emily Play” as a quick stinger. Pirate radio veteran Keith Skues is heard in the early moments, finishing off his Saturday Club show (in which he had been accompanied in the studio by the Bee Gees).