I am not certain that RTE realises the responsibility it carries in ensuring and guaranteeing free speech in broadcasting and that the licence fee is one way of ensuring that it is financially independent and generally free of the influence of vested interests. Since the passing of the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1926, the regulation of radio broadcasting rested with RTE. Up to the launch of Radio 2, RTE Radio 1 was the only legal radio station in the country. In the mid 1960s, several illegal radio stations began to pop up in many urban communities. The legal station, Radio Luxembourg, broadcast wall to wall pop music in Britain and Ireland for decades. In the early 1960s, Radio Caroline broadcast from a ship of that name anchored near the Isle of Man. They were bound to whet the appetite of the public for their own non-stop music shows, instead of the mix of talk radio, sponsored programmes and céilí music which was the then staple diet of Radio Éireann.