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41-585: In the Netherlands, the Sky Radio Group is next to the main station Sky Radio also owner of Radio Veronica , HitRadio and Classic FM and was also briefly seller of advertising time on Kink FM . The now defunct Kink FM was part of the Vereniging Veronica. From October 1 till December 27, 2006 the Sky Radio Group provided to the cable signal of the former Dutch pop station RTL FM , the last time under

82-688: A merger of the cable station Radio Veronica of the Vereniging Veronica and the golden oldie station Radio 103 of Sky Radio Ltd. In return, received the Vereniging Veronica 3.5% of the shares of the Sky Radio Ltd. in hands. In 2006, this interest was expanded to 10%, after the Telegraaf Media Groep NV and ING acquired the Sky Radio Group and those in Sienna Holding BV - operating under the name Sky Radio Group accommodated. In 2007,

123-955: A number of spin-off stations which are available only via the Internet: Radio Veronica 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. Test broadcasts on Borkum Riff began on 18 or 21 April 1960. Regular broadcasts began on 6 May 1960. The station first named itself as VRON (Vrije Radio Omroep Nederland; Free Radio Station [of the] Netherlands) but later changed to Radio Veronica, after

164-473: A tongue-in-cheek rivalry aimed at poaching Veronica's listeners. Veronica returned to the air on 557 kHz as scheduled, and listeners in the Netherlands and Belgium reported improved reception. On the same day, the Mi ;Amigo began test transmissions in preparation for Radio Caroline's return. RNI 2 broadcast for a few days and then went off the air. Radio Veronica broadcast a top 40 format during

205-477: Is a Dutch commercial radio station owned by Mediahuis since June 2023, before that it was a subsidiary of Talpa Network . The station runs a mixed playlist of pop and rock music from the 1970s until the 2000s, additional with current hits. The station can be compared with Absolute Radio and Radio X (United Kingdom) in the United Kingdom. Radio Veronica in its present form was created on 31 August 2003 by

246-412: Is comparable to NPO Radio 2 by their similarity of decades (1970s - today). The only difference is that NPO Radio 2 does play more genres than rock music. In April 2023 Talpa Network sold the station to Mediahuis , due to a legal change it was no longer allowed for a single party to hold more than three fm-frequencies. Uunco Cerfontaine was since 2003 the program director of the station. Early 2013

287-678: The REM Island , an artificial structure. The Dutch government passed a law banning broadcasts from such structures and raided the REM ;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 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

328-466: The Borkum Riff was sold for scrap. During 1965, the station was influenced by English-language pirates like Radio London and adopted a faster format with jingles . When another UK pirate, Swinging Radio England , went bankrupt, it was briefly replaced by two Dutch-language successors, Radio Dolfijn and then Radio 227, which targeted Veronica's audiences, but competition was short-lived because of

369-630: The 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

410-715: The Norderney for a few days. In the summer of 1973 Britain's Independent Broadcasting Authority began test transmissions on 557 kHz from an antenna at Lots Road Power Station in west London . In October 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 ;1973, offered it new rivalry in July, in

451-440: 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

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492-537: The British Marine Broadcasting Offences Act 1967 which had closed most of the similar British stations by August 1967. The arrival of a more powerful rival was to cause repercussions for Veronica. Radio Nordsee International (RNI), owned by two Swiss businessmen, initially broadcast German and English programmes from its ship MV Mebo II anchored off the Dutch Coast. It moved to

533-623: The British coast in early 1970 but was jammed by the British government. The jamming stopped when the ship returned to the Netherlands, taking up position just 1 mile (1,600 m) from the Norderney . The German language programmes were subsequently replaced by all-English programmes. The Mebo II was equipped with a 100 kW AM transmitter as well as 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

574-651: The Government began to draw up plans for anti-pirate legislation, the two stations began to campaign against it. In September 1972, the two radio ships were joined by Radio Caroline 's MV Mi Amigo , which anchored between the Norderney and Mebo II . Veronica had been experiencing interference on 1562 kHz (192 m) from the Beromünster transmitter in Switzerland. Originally allocated 10 kW on that frequency, Beromünster had upgraded to 160 kW and

615-594: The Internet: In 2011, Sky Radio Group began developing MyRadio, an online platform for personalized radio. MyRadio offers about 25 stations based on various genres, from Urban to Indie and Pop to Opera. The stations are compiled and maintained by music directors, experts in each genre from the Dutch radio world. The user chooses a station, then MyRadio compiles a playlist according to radio traditions. The listener can like tracks, dislike or skip ('not right now'). MyRadio fits on

656-476: 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 September 2003. Starting on 31 August 2003, the radio station became part of the Sky Radio Group , where it currently remains. Lex Harding and Erik de Zwart also founded the station Radio 538 in 1992, referring to the former wavelength of

697-462: The Telegraaf Media Groep NV acquired 85% (now 22.85%) of the company owned and thus control over the company. The brand "Radio Veronica" has a long heritage in the Netherlands going back to the offshore station (VRON) in the 1960s and early 1970s later becoming (as VOO ) part of the Dutch public broadcasting system before once again becoming a private venture however the station/brand has undergone several changes of ownership since. Radio Veronica

738-621: 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 , the VOO was finally granted a licence and was invited to open the new Hilversum 4 radio network on 28 December 1975. Hilversum 4 was a classical music service, and

779-428: The air, listeners heard RNI's theme tune on 1562 kHz. RNI DJ Tony Allan , in Dutch, thanked Veronica for its 12½ years of broadcasting and reminded listeners of Veronica's new frequency, then welcomed them to the new sound of "RNI 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

820-454: 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. Worse was to come. On the night of 15 May 1971, three men in a rubber dinghy started a fire on the Mebo ;II which damaged the stern. RNI broadcast mayday calls. All on board were rescued and the fire

861-467: The air. RNI closed on 24 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 million guilders to go off the air for two months and, to enforce that agreement, Veronica replaced the Mebo II's crew with their own staff. RNI's management became unhappy with that arrangement and, once

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902-414: The basis of those signals of the playlist on the taste of the user by among other artist and track selection, mood and energy to send to the station. Each station is so completely personalized. Additionally, a user can create their own stations by combining two to eight base stations with freely adjustable proportions. Even these personal stations while listening always automatically adapted to the behavior of

943-442: The clock, Caroline's technicians put the Mi Amigo back on the air on 11 April 1973, transmitting Radio Veronica programmes on Caroline's frequency of 1187 kHz (253 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 April and soon returned to the air. Thereafter the Mi Amigo relayed Veronica programmes from

984-625: The daytime, but in the evenings and late at night some specialist shows were aired, some in Indonesian. Following its move to 538 metres, Veronica became known for its well-crafted jingles and commercials. News summaries were broadcast each hour, at 2 minutes before the hour. As the Dutch government drew up its legislation Veronica organised a major rally that was due to take place in The Hague on 18 April 1973, and planned to broadcast special programmes in support. Unfortunately on 2 April

1025-429: The evening of 31 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. After 1974 some of Veronica's staff set up

1066-448: The form of Belgian millionaire Adriaan van Landschoot's Radio Atlantis , which hired airtime on the Mi 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 January 1974 from the Mi Amigo . Despite all the pro-Veronica campaigning, the Dutch government passed its anti-pirate legislation and announced that

1107-476: 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 Dutch State broadcasting System , but in 1995 Veronica formed a joint-venture with CLT to create the new Holland Media Groep and became a commercial independent broadcasting station in

1148-491: The law was to come into effect on 1 September 1974. Veronica chose to close down at 6:00 pm on 31 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

1189-588: The listener. In November 2012 MyRadio is publicly launched. In the first half of 2013, all internet stations of the Sky Radio Group one by one placed with MyRadio so those stations can also be personalized. The only exception is the Veronica Top 1000 Allertijden station, which has a fixed playlist (the latest edition of the Top 1000 Allertijden played in the order listed) and are therefore not suitable for personalization. Radio Veronica (Sky Radio) Radio Veronica

1230-489: 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 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

1271-417: The name RTL FM, Sky Radio presents The Christmas Station. The cable network RTL FM BV was then taken over and BV was renamed Hitradio BV. In late 2006 TMF Radio started on this channel, until November 2008 a joint venture of Sky Radio with MTV Networks BV. Since October 1, 2008 this station is fully owned by Sky Radio Group. On April 3, 2009 the name of TMF Radio was changed to TMF HitRadio . On November 1, 2009

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1312-517: The name of the radio station changed again, this time in HitRadio. HitRadio brings non-stop hit music. On Sunday 21 August 2005, The Sunday Express reported that the News Corporation , Sky Radio Group (including Veronica and Classic FM ) was put for sale for an amount of €295 million. The British division of Sky Radio Ltd. suffered in the year 2005 a loss of about £5.6 million. The reporting time

1353-472: The poem "Het Zwarte Schaap Veronica" — The Black Sheep Veronica — 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 legal organisation with the same name. The original Radio Veronica became the most popular station in the Netherlands . It broadcast from a former lightship Borkum Riff , anchored off

1394-508: 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 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

1435-488: The station's revenue improved gradually. For a short time, the station also ran an English language service under the call letters 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. The station faced its first serious competition in 1964 when Radio Noordzee and TV Noordzee began broadcasting from

1476-511: 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 January 1971, Bollier boarded the Mebo II , dismissed the Veronica-appointed captain, and took command himself. It was claimed that Veronica's staff had sabotaged RNI's equipment but, by February 1971, RNI was back on

1517-462: Was Niels Hoogland appointed as program director. On 4 November 2013 the station was a new course. This meant the dismissal of Erwin Peters , Bart van Leeuwen , Luc van Rooij and Dennis Hoebee . The change did not achieve a higher market share. Between January 2013 and October 2014, the market share decreased by 2%. Also Rob van Someren was replaced in autumn 2014 by Jeroen van Inkel . Niels Hoogland

1558-459: Was extinguished. The studios and transmitters were undamaged and RNI went back on the air the following morning. On 17 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 II into Dutch waters so that the ship would be seized. Verweij denied any intention of endangering

1599-471: Was not officially confirmed by News itself. In February 2006, a consortium of De Telegraaf Media Groep NV and Vereniging Veronica with ING all shares. In mid-2007 the Telegraaf Media Groep took part of ING on which the publisher 85% of the company got hold of. In addition to online listening choice of three radio stations Sky Radio Group offers some radio channels which can only be listened to via

1640-494: Was planning 300 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 September 1972, Veronica broadcast a half-hour retrospective documentary. The station then closed at 12:30 pm, a time chosen to symbolise the station's 12½ years on the air, announcing it would reopen at 1:00 pm on its new frequency of 557 kHz (538 m). A moment after Veronica went off

1681-536: Was replaced on 1 November 2014 by Erik de Zwart . Erik de Zwart presented on 2 February 2015 a new programming. In this new course old items, such as "De Stemband", "De plaat en zijn verhaal" and Veronica FM program "Rinkeldekinkel" returned. The design of the station appears again in the eighties, but adapted to the present time. Further De Zwart took the DJs Bart Van Leeuwen and Dennis Hoebee back. Radio Veronica and former radio and TV personnel also broadcast

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