Veronica is a brand name of successive Dutch commercial and public radio and television broadcasters. It began its life as an offshore radio station, Radio Veronica , on 17 May 1960. The name comes from its first name VRON – Vrije Radio Omroep Nederland ( Dutch for 'Free Radio Station [of the] Netherlands'). "Free" was a reference to the laws at the time that did not allow commercial radio broadcasters to operate from a location within the (land) territory of the Netherlands.
17-523: Though Veronica's appeal and power have waned, most of the Dutch commercial radio and television landscape has been formed by Veronica and its spin-offs. The Association resulted from a pirate radio station , Radio Veronica , which broadcast from a ship on international waters off the coast of the Netherlands between 1959 and 1974. The wave appearing in the logo hearkens back to that time. The name Veronica
34-548: A decision of the supreme court in 1976 decided that every citizen has a right to broadcast on radio (and the government was supposed to be in charge of a new plan of frequency). See Radio Alice , linked to the Autonomist movement. (See also Belgium) In the 1980s, there were hundreds of short broadcasts of pre-recorded programs prepared and aired by a clandestine network of activists who called themselves Solidarity Radio ( Radio Solidarność ). Those programs, sometimes preceded by
51-714: A leaflet campaign announcing an up-coming broadcast, were part of the broad-based Solidarity ( Solidarność ) workers, pro-democracy movement, which eventually succeeded in overcoming communism in Poland. Many Solidarity Radio organizers served time in prison for their activities. Many household names that later broadcast from the BBC started their careers with the offshore broadcasters, including : Tony Blackburn , Dave Cash , Kenny Everett , John Peel (briefly), Emperor Rosko , Keith Skues , Ed Stewart , Dave Lee Travis and Johnnie Walker . Radio Verte Fessenheim Radio Dreyeckland
68-765: A stand-alone setting. In 2001 SBS Broadcasting B.V. , then the Dutch branch of the SBS Broadcasting Group , already bought the Dutch TV channel Fox 8 from the News Corporation and renamed it into V8 in anticipation of Veronica . However, the negotiations between the Veronica Association and SBS Broadcasting were not going as planned and no agreement could be set. In the course of 2002 Veronica cooperated with MTV Networks Benelux and started time-sharing with MTV's Kindernet . The ratings were poor though. At
85-538: Is a derivation of the abbreviation VRON (Vrije Radio Omroep Nederland / Free Radio Broadcasting station Netherlands). After the pirate-activities became legally impossible (31 August 1974), Veronica transformed itself into the Veronica Broadcasting Association (Veronica Omroep Organisatie, short VOO), enabling it to gain a legal radio and television license within the Public broadcasting system . It finally
102-582: Is a radio station in Mulhouse , Alsace , France . Another station with the same name operates in Freiburg im Breisgau , Germany. Both stations are successors to Radio Verte Fessenheim which was started by opponents to the Fessenheim Nuclear Power Plant during the 1970s and was renamed 'Dreyeckland' in 1981. During the eighties and early nineties people from Switzerland were cooperating with
119-637: The Holland Media Groep , running three mostly successful national TV-stations and three less successful national radio stations. BNN became a public broadcasting association as a part of the Netherlands Public Broadcasting system and replaced Veronica on 15 August 1997, after Veronica gave up public broadcasting and entered a joint-venture with CLT . BNN first stood for the Brutaal News Network (Flagrant News Network). The name
136-691: The 1960s and 1970s, gaining popularity in countries such as Denmark, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Offering alternative music and content across the British Isles and continental Europe, pirate radio challenged government control of the airwaves in the region until changes in legislation either legalised or shut down these stations. Despite suppression, pirate radio left a lasting cultural impact on European broadcasting. (See also Netherlands; many Dutch language stations were aimed at both countries) In Finland, most pirate radio stations operated in
153-742: The 1970s and the early half of the 1980s, because Yleisradio was the only legitimate broadcaster. In 1985, licenses were granted for local FM radio stations, which were able to offer a much wider variety of music, thus lessening the need for pirate radio stations. Since the end of the 1990s, FM piracy in Finland has all but died out. The first wave was a political movement based mainly within French territory. Most of these stations were short-lived. The first wave included Radio Verte, Radio Ivre, Radio Active and Radio Lorraine Coeur d'Acier. A few, such as Radio Verte Fessenheim became licensed stations. In January 1978,
170-927: The CNCL are at the same time prosecuted for "confiscation". Weakened by these controversies, the CNCL was replaced in 1989 by the Superior Council of the Audiovisual which obtains increased competences, a greater independence of action in order to regulate the allocation of frequencies, ensure the quality of transmissions and better legal support to apply these decisions. 1942–44 Magyar Szabadság Rádió [ hu ] 1956 Szabad Kossuth Rádió [ hu ] , Szabad Petőfi Rádió [ hu ] , and Csokonai Rádió 1991 Tilos Rádió , Szokol Rádió , Fiksz Rádió, Civil Rádió [ hu ] , and Zöm Rádió 2020 RiseFM In early 70's some pirate radio started to broadcast using FM. They were illegal untll
187-408: The CNCL in 1987 are the subject of several scandals: several commercial stations to the detriment of free radios and non-commercial associative radios; but also the lack of transparency in the choice of frequencies. A small associative station, Radio Laser, which is one of the radio stations excluded, thus initiates a lawsuit against Radio Courtoisie for "active corruption" of the CNCL and the members of
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#1732885036590204-599: The DST arrested eleven people accused of radio piracy. In May, the President of the Republic, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing asked the government to put an end to pirate radio stations. On 17 May, the Lecat law confirmed the monopoly of state radio stations and toughened the penalties for offenders. The socialist opposition supports the fight of free radios for freedom of expression without promising
221-629: The French Dreyeckland running broadcasts aimed at listeners in Basel and its surroundings using the transmitter in France, because they didn't have a license for Switzerland. Dreyeckland Freiburg in Germany was started as a pirate station in 1985 and has transmitted legally since 1988 as a separate station but in the same spirit as the one from Alsace. While radio Dreyeckland from southern Alsace developed into
238-594: The end of 2002 the Association is even talking with HMG again. Eventually Veronica Association closed a deal with SBS, and V8 was rebranded as Veronica on 20 September 2003. Pirate radio in Europe Pirate radio in Europe emerged as unlicensed radio broadcasting stations, often operating from offshore vessels or undisclosed land-based locations. The phenomenon began in the mid-20th century and became widespread in
255-572: The end of the monopoly. In 1981, after the election of François Mitterrand , the law of 29 July 1982 on audiovisual communication abolishes the state monopoly and authorizes free radios. In February 1983, 22 stations obtained authorization to broadcast in Paris. From 1982, a High Authority for Audiovisual Communication was created and replaced in 1986 by the National Commission for Communication and Liberties (CNCL). The frequency authorizations issued by
272-477: Was given a license on 28 December 1975. The first television broadcast of Veronica was on 21 April 1976. Within a decade it became one of the largest public broadcasters and the trademark was tested as being more popular than Coca-Cola . In 1995 the Veronica Association gave up public broadcasting and entered a joint-venture with CLT , parent company of RTL 4 and RTL 5 , VNU and Endemol , called
289-484: Was later changed to Bart's Neverending Network after founder Bart de Graaff's death at age 35 from kidney failure caused by a rejection of a kidney transplant he received in 1999. Conflicts let to the dissolution of this co-operation in Spring of 2001. RTL rebranded Veronica into Yorin which would finally be rebranded into RTL 7 . In 2002–2003, the Veronica Association learned that it could not realise radio and TV in
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