[BLOG] It’s hot isn’t it? And that means things are getting heated in some households. This is also the case with the Coen and Sander family, from the Coen and Sander Show. About 8 days ago we reported from Speak tube that they are in the new radio season have to give up their spot to Frank Dane, who can then liven up the afternoon show at 538. This, of course, creates turmoil, even in the best marriages. So Sander Lantinga decided it was time for something else, namely: Radio Veronica. Coen, stiff as he is, wants to keep pumping hits at 538 at all costs. So: Lantinga to Veronica and C&S apart, as was circulated 3 days later. But, the Suske and Wiske of the radio are, secretly, still looking to see if the matter can still be glued.
Yes, it is not only the TV branch of Talpa that various scenarios come and go. WE STOP IT, they shouted at Today Inside. NO NOT, a few weeks later. It is also not easy to have your own will under John de Mol. The same goes for the radio branch. Then Coen and Sander may want to do something without each other again, then they forget for a moment that they are under contract with and therefore owned by Meneer de Mol. Just like Genee, Gijp and Derksen. And who pays, decides. So it seems it has been decided that the roads for Swijnenberg and Lantinga will not part yet, apparently a last attempt is being made to keep the duo, which costs quite a bit of money and also brings in quite a bit of money, together. The Johan Derksen scenario, but in radio land. But then on another Talpa radio station, namely Rob Stenders’s Radio Veronica, the least listened to of the four. (538, Sky, Radio 10 and Veronica are all owned by De Mol).
I have to tell you I choked on my chicken breast sandwich when I heard this scenario this afternoon. What an unpredictable, uncertain and anxious existence it is as a Talpa employee. One moment you decide this, the next you have to do the exact opposite of your employer. I would have given them both so much, finally reinventing yourself. Coentje in the place of the now overstrained Niek van der Bruggen from 12 to 2 pm on Radio 538, Lantinga & Marisa in the afternoon from 4 to 7 pm on Radio Veronica. How cool does that sound! It had been a welcome change in the afternoon, which is mainly dominated by a surplus of men. You could have launched your own Mattie & Marieke under the Veronica flag.
Coen himself wanted lost nothing at Telegraaf TVexcept he thinks I’m just writing nonsense here. Because the scenario Coen & Marieke at 538, which I suggested a while back, will not take place either. No, that’s not going through Coentje yet. If you’re smart about it, you’ll just stick with 538 and it could still become a reality for you someday, if Dave Minneboo manages to pry her loose at QMusic. But no, every Talpa employee withdraws his or her droppings at the slightest thing. What a bad feeling it must give you, that you know that you actually have nothing to say. Like a pawn on a chessboard, you are simply moved to another channel, even if you don’t feel like it yourself. I can still discover a positive point about this radio soap: finally something sexy is happening that people are talking about, instead of all that good picture/talk stuff at the national stations, whether or not whispered to each other by that rascal Domien who wants to be the most well-behaved boy in the class.
From a commercial point of view I can imagine that you think ‘let me choose eggs for my money and stay together in this relationship. At least now I know what I have’. And they can gobble it up as a drive in duo for years to come. But where have those daredevils gone who want to innovate, not if Jacques Herb but have to sing Manuela every day but think: ‘I have more to offer. Die De Mol can do something for me, I’m going to do it solo again, if necessary with QMusic’. Yes, they are under contract with Talpa, but I’m sure if you take it to court you will have more control over your own future. It’s not for nothing that Swijnenberg was stressed a while ago. Ever heard of the term ‘bore out’? That you don’t give a damn about what you’re doing and that you burn yourself out. A silent killer, I know all about it.
It will be the same scenario as Giel Beelen with Veronica: you don’t just copy a formula from one station to another. That was actually already the case when Coen and Sander went from 3FM to 538, by then they were already past their peak. That Stenders now gets this double licked sandwich split in his stomach makes me very sad to hear. Let’s get something new on the radio! Look for new, more exciting combinations. The listener deserves that and so do the makers. If the radio carousel stands still any longer and no spots become available for new, successful prime-time jocks, then I’m afraid that the medium of radio will still exist in 10 years’ time. It will be Coen and Sander worst, by that time they have chewed themselves so much that they can still throw away their last shred of self-respect as a kind of Bassie and Adriaan as a camp act at parties and parties.
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