"My first memories of Radio Caroline, are seeing it from my bedroom window on the Essex coast in the 60's. I had no idea then that I would join the station, but it certainly influenced my interest in music and radio."

After a brief stint as a bingo caller, Tom Anderson joined Radio Caroline in 1976, on board the Mi-Amigo. He was on the radio ship when it sank in 1980. Tom is famous for going back to save the ship's canary before leaping on to the lifeboat. Tom helped fit out the replacement ship Ross Revenge in Santander, Spain and was  first on-air when Radio Caroline returned from the high seas in 1983. To counter-point a pop direction that the station took in the mid-80's, Tom Anderson launched the Overdrive night-time rock music service. It was widely followed throughout the UK and Europe for it's blend of seminal rock, cutting edge new music and choice R&B and reggae selections.

"I was playing REM when they were unknown, and now they are one of the biggest rock bands in the world."

Tom joined Sunshine Radio, Antibes in 1987. He was part of the team on the pioneering satellite radio service Radio Radio, run by Virgin in 1988/89. He then joined Radio Production house PPM Radio Waves and won a bronze award at the New York Radio Festival for the Best Produced Documentary ‘End Of The Decade’ in 1990. Tom worked at GLR in 1991/92 and joined Monte Carlo's Riviera Radio in 1993.

Overdrive returned to the airwaves of Radio Caroline in February 2001 and can still be heard occasional weekends. Tom hopes to return on Caroline South on a regular basis in 2003.

"It is impossible to categorise an Overdrive listener" says Tom explaining, "If you were at the Isle of Wight Festival, If you remember where you were when John Bonham died, if you thought Simple Minds sold out after ‘On The Catwalk’...it could be you."

Tom Anderson relaxing at home in Antibes, France