View source for Radio Veronica

{{About|a historical Dutch radio station|the current radio stations|Radio Veronica (Talpa Radio)|and|HitRadio Veronica (Sky Radio)}}
{{distinguish|Veronica TV}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2015}}
{{More citations needed|date=April 2011}}
{{Infobox radio station
| name = Radio Veronica
| logo = Veronica stopt met radiouitzending. Het zendschip van Radio Veronica, Norderney, Bestanddeelnr 927-4206.jpg
| city = 
| area = [[Netherlands]]
| branding = 
| frequency = {{Plainlist|
* 192 meters (1562 kHz) (1960–1972)  
* 538 meters (557 kHz) (1972–1974)}}
| repeater = 
| airdate = {{Start date|1960|5|6|df=y}}
| format = [[Adult Contemporary]]
| power = 
| erp = 
| haat = 
| class = 
| facility_id = 
| coordinates = 
| callsign_meaning = 
| last_airdate = {{End date|1974|8|31|df=y}}
| former_callsigns = 
| affiliations = 
| owner = 
| licensee = 
| sister_stations = 
| webcast = [http://www.192radio.nl/192radioplayer/index.php Listen Live]
| website = 
}}
<!-- Image with unknown copyright status removed: [[File:Norderney - 1.jpg|thumb|right|220px|''MV Norderney'', Radio Veronica's second radio ship, at anchor off Scheveningen, date unknown]] -->
<!---Note to Dutch editors: This is something that surely already exists on the Dutch Wikipedia and should be translated and placed here. English language editors can always clean it up if you put it here first. This article was created because there wasn't even a stub for this station.-->

'''Radio Veronica''' was an [[offshore radio]] station that began broadcasting in 1960, and was on air for over fourteen years. It was set up by independent radio, TV and household electrical retailers in the Netherlands, to stimulate the sales of radio receivers by providing an alternative to the Netherlands state-licensed stations in [[Hilversum]].

Test transmissions began in Amsterdam on 16 December 1959.<ref name=":0">{{cite web |url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/BOOKSHELF-ARH/Business/Pirate-Radio-Then-and-Now-Henry-Von-Joel-1984.pdf |title=Pirate Radio Then and Now |date=1984 |accessdate=8 May 2024 |page=13}}</ref> Test broadcasts on ''Borkum Riff'' began on 18 or 21 April 1960. Regular broadcasts began on 6 May 1960.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Sixties City - Pirate Radio and Sixties Radio |url=https://sixtiescity.net/Radio/PirateRadio.shtm |access-date=2024-05-22 |website=sixtiescity.net}}</ref> The station first named itself as VRON (Vrije Radio Omroep Nederland; Free Radio Station [of the] Netherlands) but later changed to Radio Veronica, after the poem "Het Zwarte Schaap Veronica" &mdash; The Black Sheep Veronica &mdash; by the children's poet [[Annie M. G. Schmidt]].

After the station's closure, some of its staff applied for a broadcasting licence and continued as a [[Veronica (media)|legal organisation]] with the same name.

The original Radio Veronica became the most popular station in the [[Netherlands]]. It broadcast from a former [[Lightvessel|lightship]] ''Borkum Riff'', anchored off the [[Netherlands|Dutch]] coastline. The ship was fitted with a horizontal antenna between the fore and aft masts, fed by a one-kilowatt transmitter. Most of its programmes were recorded in a studio on the Zeedijk in Hilversum. At the end of the 1960s, the studios and offices moved to bigger premises on the Utrechtseweg in Hilversum. Initially, advertisers were reluctant to buy airtime, but those that did reported increases in sales and the station's revenue improved gradually.

For a short time, the station also ran an [[English language]] service under the call letters [[Commercial Neutral Broadcasting Company|CNBC]] (Commercial Neutral Broadcasting Company) not related to [[CNBC]] or [[NBC]]. Although short-lived, CNBC was presented by professional broadcasters who were able to give invaluable technical advice to Veronica's Dutch staff.

==Expansion and competition==
The station faced its first serious competition in 1964 when Radio Noordzee and ''TV&nbsp;Noordzee'' began broadcasting from the {{nowrap|[[REM Island]]}}, an artificial structure. The Dutch government passed a law banning broadcasts from such structures and raided the REM&nbsp;Island, but left Veronica alone because of its popularity.

In August 1964, the station acquired a new ship, a converted [[fishing trawler]] named ''[[MV Norderney]]'', and equipped it with a more efficient antenna and a 10&nbsp;kilowatt transmitter, as well as an [[anchor]] designed to keep it correctly oriented. The ''Norderney'' took over Veronica's broadcasts in November that year and the ''Borkum Riff'' was sold for scrap.

During 1965, the station was influenced by English-language pirates like [[Wonderful Radio London|Radio London]] and adopted a faster format with [[jingle]]s. When another UK pirate, [[Swinging Radio England]], went bankrupt, it was briefly replaced by two Dutch-language successors, Radio Dolfijn and then Radio&nbsp;227, which targeted Veronica's audiences, but competition was short-lived because of the British [[Marine, &c., Broadcasting (Offences) Act 1967|Marine Broadcasting Offences Act 1967]] which had closed most of the similar British stations by August&nbsp;1967.

==Veronica versus RNI==
The arrival of a more powerful rival was to cause repercussions for Veronica. [[Radio North Sea International|Radio Nordsee International]] (RNI), owned by two [[Switzerland|Swiss]] businessmen, initially broadcast German and English programmes from its ship {{nowrap|''[[MV Mebo II]]''}} anchored off the Dutch Coast. It moved to the British coast in early 1970 but was [[radio jamming|jammed]] by the British government. The jamming stopped when the ship returned to the Netherlands, taking up position just {{convert|1|mi|m}} from the ''Norderney''. The German language programmes were subsequently replaced by all-English programmes.

The ''Mebo&nbsp;II'' was equipped with a 100&nbsp;kW AM transmitter as well as [[frequency modulation|FM]] and [[shortwave]] equipment. Although power did not guarantee RNI an audience, Radio Veronica's management were sufficiently worried about loss of advertising revenue that they planned to put RNI off the air.

RNI closed on 24&nbsp;September 1970, claiming it was trying to stop the Dutch government from passing legislation that might force Veronica, "so dearly loved by the peoples of the Netherlands", to close. In fact, Veronica had paid RNI 1&nbsp;million guilders to go off the air for two months and, to enforce that agreement, Veronica replaced the ''Mebo&nbsp;II's'' crew with their own staff.

RNI's management became unhappy with that arrangement and, once the two months were up, one of RNI's Swiss directors, Erwin Bollier, attempted to refund the money. Veronica refused, claiming the right to renew the contract. On 5&nbsp;January 1971, Bollier boarded the ''Mebo&nbsp;II'', dismissed the Veronica-appointed captain, and took command himself. It was claimed that Veronica's staff had [[sabotage]]d RNI's equipment but, by February&nbsp;1971, RNI was back on the air, with a Dutch as well as an English service. In March, Veronica sued RNI for [[breach of contract]]. The court found in favour of RNI and the case tarnished Veronica's reputation.<ref>The Dutch court found the case inadmissible as the ship Mebo II was anchored in international waters which were out of its jurisdiction.</ref>

Worse was to come. On the night of 15&nbsp;May 1971, three men in a rubber dinghy started a fire on the ''Mebo&nbsp;II'' which damaged the stern. RNI broadcast [[mayday (distress signal)|''mayday'']] calls. All on board were rescued and the fire was extinguished. The studios and transmitters were undamaged and RNI went back on the air the following morning. On 17&nbsp;May 1971, Veronica's advertising director Norbert Jurgens was arrested and, on the following day, Veronica's director [[Bull Verweij]] was also arrested. In a television interview, Verweij claimed he had paid a man to tow the ''Mebo&nbsp;II'' into Dutch waters so that the ship would be seized. Verweij denied any intention of endangering the lives of RNI's crew but was found guilty, together with Jurgens and the crew of the dinghy. All five were sentenced to a year in prison. The damage to Veronica's reputation was incalculable and, just as the 1966 [[Radio City (pirate radio station)|Radio City]] shooting had motivated the British government to pass anti-pirate legislation, the RNI fire similarly motivated the Dutch authorities.

Both Veronica and RNI continued to broadcast without further incident but, as the Government began to draw up plans for anti-pirate legislation, the two stations began to campaign against it.

In September&nbsp;1972, the two radio ships were joined by [[Radio Caroline]]'s {{nowrap|''MV Mi Amigo''}}, which anchored between the ''Norderney'' and ''Mebo&nbsp;II''.

==Frequency change and RNI2==
Veronica had been experiencing interference on 1562&nbsp;kHz (192&nbsp;m) from the [[Blosenbergturm|Beromünster]] transmitter in Switzerland. Originally allocated 10&nbsp;kW on that frequency, Beromünster had upgraded to 160&nbsp;kW and was planning 300&nbsp;kW. Veronica had been considering a new frequency since the late 1960s, and the threat of increased interference made a change imperative.

At noon on 30&nbsp;September 1972, Veronica broadcast a half-hour retrospective documentary. The station then closed at 12:30&nbsp;pm, a time chosen to symbolise the station's 12½&nbsp;years on the air, announcing it would reopen at 1:00&nbsp;pm on its new frequency of 557&nbsp;kHz (538&nbsp;m).

A moment after Veronica went off the air, listeners heard RNI's theme tune on 1562&nbsp;kHz. RNI DJ [[Tony Allan]], in Dutch, thanked Veronica for its 12½&nbsp;years of broadcasting and reminded listeners of Veronica's new frequency, then welcomed them to the new sound of "RNI&nbsp;2". RNI's management claimed the new service had been launched to prove that RNI could broadcast additional frequencies in case of emergency, but it was widely seen by listeners as a tongue-in-cheek rivalry aimed at poaching Veronica's listeners.

Veronica returned to the air on 557&nbsp;kHz as scheduled, and listeners in the Netherlands and Belgium reported improved reception. On the same day, the ''Mi&nbsp;Amigo'' began test transmissions in preparation for Radio Caroline's return. RNI&nbsp;2 broadcast for a few days and then went off the air.

Radio Veronica broadcast a top&nbsp;40 format during the daytime, but in the evenings and late at night some specialist shows were aired, some in Indonesian. Following its move to 538&nbsp;metres, Veronica became known for its well-crafted jingles and commercials. News summaries were broadcast each hour, at 2&nbsp;minutes before the hour.

==1973&ndash;1974: Co-operation and rivalry==
[[File:Veronicagestrand.jpg|thumb|250px|Veronica ship "The Norderney", Scheveningen, 7&nbsp;April 1973]]
As the Dutch government drew up its legislation Veronica organised a major rally that was due to take place in [[The Hague]] on 18&nbsp;April 1973, and planned to broadcast special programmes in support. Unfortunately on 2&nbsp;April the ''Norderney'' lost its anchor in a storm and ran aground on [[Scheveningen]] beach. The ship suffered no serious damage and the crew were taken ashore safely, but it seemed unlikely that the ship could be refloated in time for the rally. RNI offered its facilities, but Veronica refused because of the bad blood between them. Caroline, although off the air with technical problems, also made an offer and Veronica accepted.

Working around the clock, Caroline's technicians put the ''Mi&nbsp;Amigo'' back on the air on 11&nbsp;April 1973, transmitting Radio Veronica programmes on Caroline's frequency of 1187&nbsp;kHz (253&nbsp;metres, announced as 259). Meanwhile, work on refloating the ''Norderney'' continued. This took several days, but the ship was in fact back at sea on 18&nbsp;April and soon returned to the air. Thereafter the ''Mi&nbsp;Amigo'' relayed Veronica programmes from the ''Norderney'' for a few days.

In the summer of 1973 Britain's [[Independent Broadcasting Authority]] began test transmissions on 557&nbsp;kHz from an antenna at [[Lots Road Power Station]] in west [[London]]. In October&nbsp;1973 [[Capital Radio]] was launched on the same frequency. These broadcasts caused serious interference to Veronica in Britain and Belgium, although Dutch listeners were largely unaffected.

Meanwhile, Caroline, which had helped Veronica in April&nbsp;1973, offered it new rivalry in July, in the form of Belgian millionaire Adriaan van Landschoot's [[Radio Atlantis]], which hired airtime on the ''Mi&nbsp;Amigo''. This lasted until October. Radio Atlantis subsequently resumed broadcasting from its own ship, while a new Dutch / Flemish station ''Radio Mi Amigo'' was launched on 1&nbsp;January 1974 from the ''Mi&nbsp;Amigo'' .

==Final broadcast==
Despite all the pro-Veronica campaigning, the Dutch government passed its anti-pirate legislation and announced that the law was to come into effect on 1&nbsp;September 1974. Veronica chose to close down at 6:00&nbsp;pm on 31&nbsp;August 1974. The final hour was, like most of Veronica's programmes, pre-recorded in the station's studios in Hilversum. However, the station's final news bulletin was read live from the news studio on board the ''MV Norderney''. A number of the station's directors, including Bull Verweij and his brother Jaap, were on board the ship during the final hour, as were many of the staff. In his final speech DJ Rob Out said "Part of the democracy in the Netherlands is dying with the closure of Radio Veronica and that is a tragedy for the country". Following the [[Het Wilhelmus|Dutch National Anthem]], a Veronica jingle was played and the transmitter was switched off halfway through. Photos of the scene in the studio show workers openly weeping.

Radio Atlantis and RNI also closed on the evening of 31&nbsp;August 1974. Radio Caroline had already decided to continue, as it had in 1967 (although as a precaution the ship moved to a new anchorage to reduce the likelihood of a "raid" by Dutch authorities), and after some debate, Radio Mi Amigo also decided to stay on the air. After Veronica's closure, Radio Mi Amigo "borrowed" many of Veronica's programming formats.
<gallery>
File:Norderney.JPG|Norderney - Antwerp, 2011
File:Norderney - Maurice van Bruggen.jpg
File:Norderney 2 - Maurice van Bruggen.jpg
File:Norderney 3 - Maurice van Bruggen.jpg</gallery>

==Veronica applies for legal status==
After 1974 some of Veronica's staff set up the Veronica Broadcasting Organisation (in Dutch ''Veronica Omroep Organisatie'', abbreviated as VOO) in the hopes of applying for a broadcasting license. After some bureaucratic obstruction, which one critic described as a mini-[[Watergate scandal|Watergate]], the VOO was finally granted a licence and was invited to open the new [[NPO Radio 4|Hilversum&nbsp;4]] radio network on 28&nbsp;December 1975. Hilversum&nbsp;4 was a [[classical music]] service, and the irony was not lost on Veronica, which began its first legal programme by "accidentally" playing a snatch of [[The Beatles]]' "[[Long Tall Sally]]" instead of the announced classical piece.

Beginning in 1975, the VOO was part of the [[Netherlands Public Broadcasting|Dutch State broadcasting System]], but in 1995 Veronica formed a joint-venture with [[RTL Group|CLT]] to create the new [[RTL Nederland|Holland Media Groep]] and became a commercial independent broadcasting station in the Netherlands. This ended in 2001; in 2000 it sold its shares, and in 2001 the television station V8 was renamed [[Veronica TV]], which began broadcasting on 20&nbsp;September 2003. Starting on 31&nbsp;August 2003, the radio station became part of the [[Sky Radio Group]], where it currently remains. Lex Harding and Erik de&nbsp;Zwart also founded the station {{nowrap|[[Radio 538]]}} in 1992, referring to the former wavelength of the offshore Radio Veronica.

==Radio Veronica deejays==
DJs on Radio Veronica included:
* {{Interlanguage link multi|Ad Bouman|nl}}
* {{Interlanguage link multi|Bart van Leeuwen (presenter)|nl}}
* {{Interlanguage link multi|Hans Mondt|nl}}
* {{Interlanguage link multi|Jan van Veen|nl|3=Jan van Veen (presenter)}}
* [[Joost den Draaier]]
* Sandman
* {{Interlanguage link multi|Lex Harding|nl}}
* {{Interlanguage link multi|Stan Haag (presenter)|nl|3=Stan Haag}}
* [[Tineke de Nooij]]
* {{Interlanguage link multi|Tom Collins (presenter)|nl|3=Tom Collins}}
* {{Interlanguage link multi|Will Luikinga|nl}}

==News anchors==
* [[Arend Langenberg]]
* [[Harmen Siezen]]
* {{Interlanguage link multi|Jan van Veen|nl}}

==See also==
* [[List of radio stations in the Netherlands]]
* [[Radio Veronica (Sky Radio)]], the current station with the same name.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/VOLUME02/Years_of_Veronica.shtml History of Veronica in English (soundscapes)]
* [http://www.webcamsue.nl/ Radio Veronica Reunion, recorded 31 August 1996, Video Menu]

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{{Offshore radio}}

[[Category:1960 establishments in the Netherlands]]
[[Category:1974 disestablishments in the Netherlands]]
[[Category:Defunct radio stations in the Netherlands]]
[[Category:Offshore radio]]
[[Category:Pirate radio stations]]
[[Category:Radio stations established in 1960]]
[[Category:Radio stations disestablished in 1974]]
[[Category:Rock radio stations]]