[BLOG] I had just planned to take a few weeks off, NPO Radio 2 DJ Ruud de Wild decided my brother live on the radio. Yes, of course I have to climb into the pen, if only because I heard an interesting story about the gentleman De Wild about the week. And, despite the cucumber time, there is a lot of other noise in radio land.
Let’s start positive. I have always thought Ruud de Wild is a good, unconventional disc jockey. The program he made at the time together with Sander de Heer and Jeroen Kijkindevegte on 3FM can be counted as one of the best shows on that channel and on Dutch radio. And not even because I then selected the music for them. After that I actually lost him a bit, during his time at QMusic I was doing the morning at Radio Veronica myself and I never pulled that worked-up tone of 538, also with him in the afternoon. Since his return to NPO Radio 2 I occasionally hear him again and I especially liked the banal jokes he lets listeners tell, who then go viral. And the ridiculous ‘Best of Ruud de Wild’ which he showed at the start of the holiday, on prime time, when he was gone. Which took not even fifteen minutes but a full two hours!
So I understand that when he hears my name, he feels a shot of pain shooting through his body. Because our Dutch star disc jockeys are only used to being showered with praise, money, attention and gifts. The column from a few weeks ago about favoritism at NPO Radio 2 and 3FM seems to have been hit like a bomb there in the Radio House. NPO radio boss Jurre Bosman was even afraid of it and slept badly at least one night. I then think in turn: then you will have even more to hide. Stenders visibly enjoyed that I attributed so much influence to him and even talked about it on the radio. According to insiders, that column only touched the tip of the iceberg. Of course Ruud does not like that his radio station is under attack.
Nevertheless, we have every right to keep a close eye on our public channels. What is made with our joint money. It is doubtful whether Ruud is really that loyal to the station where he works. For a few euros extra he once abandoned his discoverer Erik de Zwart. Years later he left BNR within two months, while Sjors Frohlich had just spent a few hundred thousand to promote Ruud for his channel. And last week I received the message that De Wild was recently spoken to for the morning show on Radio Veronica. Could be a good match, the cheeky De Wild with a nice cool pop / rock format, as a successor to Giel Beelen. Who in turn can do 16-18h instead of the inhuman time 04-06h. Only Ruud estimated his market value a bit too high, according to the ‘tam tam’ he wanted to earn 600,000 euros a year. In Hilversum and Laren they laughed heartily about it. And rightly so, those prices are outdated. Certainly not at a station that has been in the shop window for a while, just like sister station Sky. More about that in a minute.
Do the math. 600k divided by 12: that’s 50,000 euros per month. To shout ‘good morning’ a little early in the morning and start three more. Then you can be called Ruud de Wild, that is only worth one in radio land and that is Edwin Evers. What I think is cool about guys like De Wild, Van Someren and De Zwart is that they are street fighters. All from Amsterdam and like Ruud from a family of eleven children, he has four brothers and six sisters. Then you learn to stand up for yourself and fight for your place. If there is anything I would be jealous of Ruud, Rob and Erik, it is that. I actually got it all as a gift in my youth and radio career, so I soon thought it was okay if someone else wanted to do that shift or that time. That he thinks it’s necessary for my brother four years older embarrassed in a radio game, as far as I’m concerned, it once again shows how sad it is with the content on Dutch (public) radio. There is going to be tons of money and the only thing you can come up with is … a game.
Then channel coordinator Peter de Vries can proudly say that in an interview NPO Radio 2 is really not a commercial channelAs long as the majority of your disc jockeys can still effortlessly switch with their show for a lot more money to a commercial competitor, that’s a sham. Showing yourself ‘socially involved’ a few times does not change that. Giving the channel back to the audience is, by letting listeners have their say in a respectful way, showing real interest in them and not believing you are a deejay from the 80s or 90s who is in charge of it all.
Oh yes, about those other persistent rumors that are circulating: John de Mol’s Talpa wants to halve the radio branch or even sell it completely. There is interest from Belgium to Africa. ‘If corona hadn’t come, the deal would have been closed’, according to radio insider 1, 2 and 3. I give it to you to do your radio show there tomorrow, fresh and fruity, after the holiday period. First draconian measures, now the next unrest. I hope there will soon be a radio station run by a few real radio enthusiasts. Take De Zwart, Van Diepen and Harding. Maybe they can resuscitate at least one Talpa station and make the Veronica brand shine again. The story that Sky Radio is sold to DPG for that Joe NL broadcast, I don’t believe any of that. You are not going to help your competitor launch another nostalgia format on FM to compete with your own Radio 10, are you? Unless De Mol now wants to get rid of all the stations for the highest price in one go, it no longer matters to him who buys what, as long as they dig deep into their pockets. If it is the case that Sky is going to be Joe, maybe De Wild can fill his pockets again there? They have plenty of money.
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