Analysis of Coen and Sander’s New Radio Show Launch with Merel Westrik: Will They Make a Difference?

[BLOG] Yes, of course I also see that (some of) my predictions here are not (yet) coming true, so for now I will focus on what you are here for: diving ​in depth when it comes to radio shows, especially if they are new. Although it’s new?! Coen and Sander have had a radio marriage for almost twenty years, so you might as well talk about a duo that has to reunite every five days based on name recognition. This time not in the evening at a station with the wind at our back, then successful 3FM and later 538, but at a brand new station that is yet to be confirmed. What do these gentlemen have in store for us and will they really make a difference? Just an analysis of the resurrection of the salt and pepper shaker of Dutch radio.

At first I was excited. Coen and Sander draw a big name as newsreader, Merel Westrik. I think: look, this has been thought of. You could read it here already last Saturday, King’s Day. But the gentlemen put it on Wednesday, at a real press conference, as if they were making world news. Anyway, I have my doubts about launching your morning show this way. You haven’t made a single tooth in a butter paste yet, you have to start again and you have to win over the listener JOE one by one. It’s just like investing: past success does not guarantee the future. Although C&S may think differently about that. It’s us! And people remember us from the past. The Americans say ‘you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression’. Think of it as a kind of date with a lot of new potential listeners, who don’t know you yet or are willing to change their opinion (baby, talk too much) about you.

How can you judge in advance if it will be something while they still have to start, Kicken! Well, for example, I see on JOE and Coen’s Instagram stories that they want the ‘JOE model’ thing: What can men do better than women? Sigh, here we go again I thought. Again making your listener pay for the fun content, while you are sitting there for a fortune. Something that happens (too long) often on other morning and evening performances. Is that the best thing you could do during your six month vacation? And the item name ‘JOE model’ also conveys that old arrogant tone of standing above your listener. If you want to win in the morning you need to create HIT content that audiences can’t find anywhere else. A radio column by Maarten van Rossem, for example, or René van der Gijp, for which everyone turned on my morning show on Veronica on Monday morning at 8:15 am. Playing ABBA every day and saying you’ve been to Sweden and then playing that Swedish chef from the Muppets: you can’t deal with that anymore.

The boys are used to hanging out in the evening on a big channel that was already successful. Now they will have to do what they can to pull the cart at a new station so that things start running there. That’s something completely different. The fact that they had already asked (as I hear) if they could start at 7am also makes me skeptical. It is a major sport, the morning show every day and requires iron control. Lantinga is 47 and has four young children, Swijnenberg mainly sees radio as a well-paid hobby. Also the fact that I see on JOE social networks that Kai is interviewing Coen and Sander as if they were Maxima and Willem-Alexander, ouch and phew. You can’t get away with that trend on the radio in 2024. It’s sure to be a blast at first, but can you sustain it when everyone’s barbecuing a- out until 10pm and have to lie in bed for a long time? Or if they start blocking the content from Flanders?

Patrick Kicken

PS: Mark Labrand was actually talking to NPO Radio 2. And I still see Van Someren going from 10 to 100, even if Staverman is parked first during the weekend . If Swijnenberg and Lantinga have confidence, they will ensure that the team of competitive morning shows do not sleep a wink on Sunday night. I’m sure you can find an intern who would be willing to call them at 2am and 3am. I’m sure everyone is talking about it, even among competitors. And then just announced on Wednesday that it’s the newest morning show in the Netherlands. But think about that again, something so exciting on Dutch radio…