updated on Monday May 15th 2023

 

 

Click on the picture for more information.

 

 

For nearly 4 decades, the annual Dutch "Radio Day" has been a "must" for all (offshore) radio experts and enthusiasts. This website has galleries of photos from previous events and will keep visitors up to date.

The Radio Day in retrospect

Time-Table

 

Ben's Radio Visuals

Overview  

  Radio Day 2000   Radio Day 2001   Radio Day 2004   Radio Day 2005   Radio Day 2006   Radio Day 2007     Radio Day 2008   Radio Day 2009   Radio Day 2010   Radio Day 2011   Radio Day 2012   Radio Day 2014

 

 

 

The 2004 Radio Day saw the Radio Caroline 1973/74 reunion with many former deejays, technicians and crew members, and in 2005, "RNI in 1970" attracted several former Radio NorthSea employees who had a magnificent discussion on the podium. In November 2006, the Voice of Peace reunion formed a major highlight, as 20 former VoP jocks and technicians got together from all over the world.

But the biggest event ever was the 2007 one with 450 visitors. We listened to Tom Mulder (Klaas Vaak) and saw the Swinging Radio England reunion. And we were fascinated to hear Johnnie Walker, Robbie Dale, Roger Day and other well known jocks telling their stories on Radio Caroline after Monday August 14th 1967... In 2007 we also introduced the "Radio Day Awards" as a bi-annual event to acclaim the efforts of several special people who stood up for free radio without governmental control.

The 2008 Radio Day included an in-depth interview with Radio Atlantis' Adriaan van Landschoot and saw "Radio Caroline in the late seventies (1977-80)" as a main topic. Four panels discussed that exciting era just before the MV Mi Amigo sank in March 1980. This included nearly all the English and Dutch colleagues who worked for the legendary offshore radio station around thirty years ago. Again it became a big class reunion.

In 2009, we celebrated the 25th anniversary of Laser 558 with a Laser Reunion including Jessie Brandon, Charlie Wolf, Mike Barrington, Johnny Lewis, Ray Anderson, Dennis Jason, Leendert Vingerling, Paul Jackson and Jim Perry. Keith Skues had been celebrating his 70th birthday plus "50 years on the radio" a few months earlier. He was interviewed by the Dutch radio legend Tom Mulder. A most intensive dialogue between Steve Conway and Nigel Harris (Stuart Russel) fascinated the audience. Ingo Paternoster pleased everyone with an interesting "AFN in Germany" presentation. Last but not least, 2009 saw the second Radio Day Awards celebration.

2010 saw a superb Radio Mi Amigo panel. Marc Jacobs chatted with Hugo Meulenhof, Ferry Eden, Will van der Steen and Bert Bennett. One of the highlights was the "Radio 390 Reunion". Brian Cullingford, Roger Scott, Mark Hammerton, John Stewart and Graham Gill took part in a fascinating panel with Trevor Adams from Project Redsand as the moderator. We welcomed Seve Ungermark from Sweden who has worked for the Scandinavian offshore radio pioneer Radio Nord. An "RNI is 40" reunion included the following guests: Victor Pelli, Graham Gill, Arnold Layne (Roger Scott), Peter Chicago, Bob Noakes, Peter Ford, Hans ten Hooge (Hogendoorn), Peter Jager, Marc van Amstel, Pieter Damave and Leo van der Goot. Nico Steenbergen and Robbie Owen chaired both panels. Chi Coltrane concluded the Radio Day 2010 with three of her songs.

In 2011, we started with a dialogue between Jonathan Marks and Andy Sennitt on the “History of Radio Netherlands’ Media Network”. Then, Josje de Munck was presented with the prime copy of the Hans Knot’s new book “Laser 558 – All Europe Radio”. You could watch parts of a new video containing an interview with Gerard van Dam who chatted with Leendert Vingerling on the podium. Gerard and several of his former colleagues then took part in an interesting panel about Radio Delmare. “The forgotten stations from former wartime defence forts” was the title of the second panel in the English language. Radio Veronica followers were fascinated by Juul Geleick and his dialogue partners "op volle kracht". “Get Your Kicks On 266 with Radio London memories” was our final panel in 2011 which saw several several guests coming from abroad and even from Australia! Finally, the third Radio Day Awards Ceremony was held.

The 2012 event started with Sonja van Proosdij who was interviewed by Jan Parent on her memories of the REM-eiland, home of RTV Noordzee in 1964. Jan had arranged an additional video interview with Marc van de Mosselaer, who had served as a technician on that platform. The Flemish impact on Radio Mi Amigo and the VVVR programme on that station were central in an interesting panel led by Walter Galle. "Caroline 558" was the famous offshore station's title during the latter part of the 1980s. 10 former deejays and technicians relived their memories on our podium. "Radio 270, Yorkshire's part of the beat fleet" meant the next nostalgic panel which was moderated by Bob Preedy and completed by singing deejay Mike Hayes. Marconi Oeuvre Award winner Felix Meurders chatted with Bert van der Laan on his impressing radio career. And last but not least, Radio Caroline North occupied centre stage. BBC journalist and Caroline expert Paul Rowley chatted with five former Caroline jocks and expert Andy Wint. Wally Meehan pleased us with two of his Caroline hymns.

In March 2014, it was exactly 50 years ago that Radio Caroline started its transmissions from the MV Fredericia off the British coast. And beyond that in August 2014, it was 40 years ago that Radio Veronica and Radio Nordsee International as the most prominent watery wireless stations off the Dutch coast had to close down. This is the reason why we thought that the Radio Day 2014 had to become an even bigger event than usual. 425 people from Ireland, Scotland, Wales, England, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, France, Spain, Seborga (Italy), Canada, Mexico, Dubai, the USA, Australia, Thailand and of course the Netherlands visited the Radio Day in Amsterdam on Saturday March 22nd 2014. For the fourth time, we gathered in the new Hotel Casa 400 in the Eerste Ringdijkstraat 4 in Amsterdam. With its modern facilities and technique, the new building allowed us again to open a big "Radio Day Marketplace" including several stands with offshore merchandise, a bar and most of all enough place to meet and greet. In addition the enlarged "Radio Day Conference Hall" with capable loudspeakers, several headlights and a modern projector meant "easy listening and viewing" for up to 350 visitors in the room.

 

 

Click on the banner to download an enlarged version of the Radio Day poster.

 

Click here for 634 pictures

Watch Alex van den Hoek's great video


The Radio Day Awards 2017

The Radio Anoraks Award: Wim van de Water

An outstanding contribution to offshore radio: Paul Rusling

Offshore Radio Top Technical Support: Walter Galle

Offshore Radio Top Technical Support: Caroline Support Group (received by Peter Clayton)

Offshore Radio Writers and Historians: Hans Knot, Martin van der Ven and Rob Olthof †

Read Jan van Heeren's laudatory speech

 

 

 


Former Radio Day organisers Martin van der Ven, Rob Olthof and Hans Knot

 

Stichting Media Communicatie

HansKnot.com

The Offshore Radio Guide

Freewave Nostalgie

 

 

Impressum