The Rotterdam presenter Herman Stok has passed away at the age of 93. A family member of his announced this on Facebook.
Stok had had health problems for some time, and said last month in De Telegraaf that he did not know whether treatment for malignant spots on his intestines was still possible. “I’m prepared for anything,” he said at the time.
The presenter was at the cradle of various youth programs on radio and television. In 1961, for example, he was the first with a music program for young people on television, the VARA program Top of Flop, which aired until 1965.
In the program recently released songs were judged by a jury. If the jury was positive, Stok rang a bell, but if the jury didn’t like it, the artists were blown off with a squeeze horn.
The often very conservative judges weren’t as enamored with long-haired guys as The Beatles, who also played their single I want to hold your hand heard the squeeze horn. “The Beatles with their long hair remind me a bit of Urk fish women,” was one of the comments.
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