VOLA - the Voice of Loving Awareness

WELCOME!  (and in case it's needed - here's a bit of an explanation!)

What on earth is VOLA?  

Easy answer is - VOLA = the Voice Of Loving Awareness. So - what is Loving Awareness? If you know, you know... if not - read on!

It's a concept, an ideal, a way of thinking. If you search online you'll likely find the teachings of Ram Dass, & if you're lucky you may stumble across references to Radio Caroline, Ronan O'Rahilly & the 'Loving Awareness' band.

My introduction to 'LA' (Loving Awareness) was in the mid 1970's as a teenager listening to Radio Caroline, an unconventional free radio station broadcasting from a battered ship in the international waters of the North Sea, outside of government control. Caroline had been established in 1964 by Ronan O'Rahilly, a young, free thinking, inspirational entrepreneur. In the 1960's Caroline was a highly successful pop music station, run on a commercial basis but always with the underlying influence of the charismatic Ronan forging it's ethos. 

In the 1970's Caroline took on a new direction by concentrating on album music rather than pop, & so attracted an audience & presenters of a different kind - those who preferred listening to the likes of Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Supertramp, Doobie Brothers... & similar. The station was still led by Ronan O'Rahilly, someone who was open to alternative ways of thinking & now was greatly influenced by the philosophy of Loving Awareness - LA. Possibly with roots in the peace & love ideology of the 1960's, but with a more practical, simple & common sense concept - just treat people in a positive way & make this the default response to people & events rather than our normal defensive guarded reaction.  

Radio Caroline promoted this philosophy in their programming & after a while it no longer seemed strange to hear presenters talking about LA & to hear adverts for the LA way of thinking. Ronan also put together a group of musicians to make a Loving Awareness album, a piece of music that is still influential to many listeners from this time.

Fast forward 50 years & Radio Caroline is still on the air & occasionally LA is still mentioned, although not in the same depth or detail as the 1970's. Ronan O'Rahilly unfortunately passed away in 2020 but his ideology still resonates with many of us who listened to Caroline in the 1970's, particularly those like me who were in their formative teenage years.  

I'm not sure where Ronan got his knowledge of LA from. I've read various accounts saying he was inspired by the teachings of Ram Dass, but in the few interviews with Ronan on the subject of LA he does not mention this & I prefer to draw a conclusion based on his own words...

'my own influence came from Ghandi & Martin Luther King - King got it from Ghandi - and that the whole idea of loving energy rather than all the hate energy ... that exists in man ... I mean both energies are there only we've tapped and used and played with the defensive one and we haven't explored in any serious way the loving one'

'the LA consciousness thing - I've been through everything from scientology to the Maharishi Yogi, I've gone into all those different head trips and the LA thing was something that ... has to do with the whole consciousness of what the brain is and that it is a creature of habit basically, and that if you develop any habit the habit becomes a fact at a certain point. It's effort initially - I mean to be LA is effort and people say I couldn't possibly do it, but the moment the effort is over - that becomes a reality'

'the exiting thing about this LA / DA thing is that the loving consciousness is without a doubt a habit that is conducive to the individual, I mean the individual enjoys the habit'

'the Loving Awareness message is a thing that we tend to repeat as often as possible and hopefully - you know hopefully we've made a little bit of difference to a few people - somewhere'  

(extracts from interviews with Ronan O'Rahilly 1970's - 1990's)

My interpretation is that Ronan's version of LA is far simpler & straightforward than the deep spiritual & meditative form found in other teachings, & is actually a 'one size fits all' philosophy regardless of religion or creed. Perhaps that is why it appealed to a significant number of people, & I for one am grateful to have listened to the message.

That said - I completely understand that to many people now the concept of LA may appear bemusing, especially to those hearing it for the first time. I may have thought the same all those years ago at the beginning, yet really it's all just a question of attitude... 

'the LA habit grows & grows, overflowing onto those around you, making them happier - making you happier...'

Pictured below - Ronan O'Rahilly, the Radio Caroline vessel Mi Amigo, posters & sleeve from the LA album.

So - why this programme now? Well - I thought it would be interesting to take another look at some of the memorable LA announcements & the type of music played, & see if an updated version is of any interest today.

Who am I? OK - if you're reading this after looking through the rest of this website then you'll know! If however you've arrived via our www.volaonair.com address then maybe you won't know! If you trawl through this website then the 'Home' & 'About Me' sections will explain. Basically - I am a radio enthusiast / anorak & enjoy making amateur (very...)  programmes. I hope you enjoy what you find here.

Please feel free to get in contact at   volaonair@gmail.com 

Oh yes - finally - a big thank you to our good friend Kat who voiced the LA announcements - hopefully more to follow!